I set the camera settings to replicate some old film stocks on the D850 over the last 36 hours. Well, I have two so far, and I am looking for a couple more. I don’t have everything set exactly right as some setting are ISO and white balance, which are used more dynamically. But the first one I set was Silver Gelatine, which is not a film I personally used, but really wanted to, as it mimics what the portraiture of the 1940’s looked like to me in Hollywood. I will need to set up a flash and my beauty dish to really capture the look.
I laid on my bed and programmed the camera and the very first shot I took was this one, looking up ay my bedroom ceiling. I like the lines up that way, but I loved the tone and texture in this shot. Really shows promise! I need to experiment with skin tones in the photos, too.
Outside in direct evening sunlight, the images are highly contrasty. Maybe too much. I especially found this so when shooting into the sun. It would be useful for capturing silhouettes, and making cameos or the like. But it has not practical use otherwise. I think it will be better in controlled light, and more even light. The contrast is great, but it can easily be too much. Something a lot easier learned on digital than on film, that’s for sure!
The second film type I wanted to mimic was the same stock Stanley Kubrick used for the 1975 movie, Barry Lyndon. It is filmed with Kodak 100T 5254 using Carl Zeiss f/0.7 lenses that were custom build for NASA for astrophotography from satellites. I cannot mimic the f/0.7. I can however mimic the color science in camera. There are again settings that are more dynamic, and I will have to learn them, but for the static settings, I get something like this below.
Amazingly, this and the sliver gel above of the same scene are the exact same exposure at nearly the same time. The difference is astounding. I will try some in the daylight, and I foresee a bit of indoor work, too. But I need to make a correct identification of white balance, as the ones cited were for candlelight scenes shot at night and for daylight. Well, I doubt I will be doing as much candle work as Kubrick.
Next ones I have looked up are Porta 400 which I used to shoot with my Hasselblad, and Ektar 100. Both will ring nostalgic with me. I don’t think any will be all the time shooting for me. But it will be nice to recreate at will. There are places downtown that want for the older color sciences, especially as they will bring up memories of shooting in places like Maidstone, England, and Worcester. I may even break out the square format for it!