My Favourite Lens

Vintage Lenses | Film Cameras | Street Photography

Shooting for the Shitty Camera Challenge [Rollei Retro 400S]

The Shitty Camera Challenge was pretty much as the name suggested. That was… to shoot with a shitty camera. You could use any film you wanted and then were to post the results to Twitter.

There was a suitably bad first prize, which I don’t know who won right now but I hope it wasn’t me, and lots of fun to be had on the #shittycamerachallenge hashtag.

For me, it was an excuse to get out again with the Canon Sure Shot AF-7 and try some Rollei Retro 400S for the first time. This is how it went. Come take a look.

A Failed Photography Trip to Nanxun Water Town [Fujicolor Industrial 100]

Nanxun water town sits not too far from Shanghai, which makes it a good getaway from the city. It’s also a pretty photogenic place, if that’s what you’re into.

And if you are, you won’t want to make the same mistake I did which led to coming back with just four photographs – shot on Fujicolor Industrial 100 – to show for it.

Come read what happened, see how to avoid the same happening to you and why, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t really a failed trip at all.

The Beach and the Beer – a Qingdao Film Photography Essay [Ilford Pan 400]

Qingdao is synonymous in China for its beer, but there’s more to the place than drinking. Having said that, the Tsingtao brewery and beer street *is* a must visit if you’re in town.

So too are the beaches.

So with a single roll of Ilford Pan 400 to work with, I focused this photography essay on those two things – the beach and the beer. Come see how it turned out.

The Street Photography Look by Dmitri Tcherbadji [Ilford Pan 400]

You’ve probably noticed that a lot of street photography is presented in high contrast monochrome, but have you ever stopped to wonder why?

It’s now pretty much an accepted ‘street photography look’, but what are its origins? How and why did this look become a thing?

Dmitri Tcherbadji has a theory. It goes back decades, and stems from film photographers having to overcome a technical issue with their gear. Come read and learn what that is.

Shooting Ilford Pan 400 in Shanghai

More film photography, right here. And this time we’re shooting monochrome.

Ilford Pan 400 is a film available in Asia. It’s not expensive, but does that make it worth buying if you’re in the area? Or even getting some shipped if you’re not?

To find out, I shot some Shanghai street photography with it. Here, in this very article, you can come see how it turned out. Come one, come all. Come on. Come in.

Yuhuan – a Film Photography Essay [Ilford Pan 400]

Yuhuan is a small, industrial city on China’s east coast. I don’t think many people go there for the sightseeing.

I went there for a Chinese New Year and took my charity shop film camera and two rolls of Ilford Pan 400. I wanted to tell a story. I wanted to present Yuhuan as I saw it.

This film photography essay is the result of that. Come take a look.

Testing the Olympus Supertrip in Shanghai [Kodak ColorPlus 200]

Another new old camera, bought cheap in an English charity shop, and a roll of the only film they had in Tesco. Taken to Shanghai and tested out in the winter sun.

The images I got are presented in this article. There aren’t that many of them but what is here is worth seeing. I wouldn’t have shared them otherwise.

So come take a look and see how a camera that cost less than the roll of Kodak ColorPlus inside it fared on its first outing (I presume) in China.

Testing the Canon Sure Shot AF-7 @ Airport Square, Chongqing [Kodak ColorPlus 200]

We need to be honest here. Chongqing’s Airport Square is in no way a place you should ever visit. Chongqing the city certainly is. But spend your time seeing the good stuff in the city centre.

That said, Airport Square was good to me. It provided a nice little location to test out my new old camera – the Canon Sure Shot AF-7. The question is, how did the shots turn out?

The answer is in this post. So maybe you should come on in and find out. Please. Thanks.