Old Gold

My first film images shot in nearly ten years were taken on a second hand Great Wall DF-2 during my most recent trek through China with a group. Two other folks on the tour decided to follow suit and bought themselves a Shanghai Seagull for similar purposes.

Here's what we got!









To my surprise the exposures were mostly on the mark. Film is very forgiving of exposure. The camera itself did prove super sharp within its focal sweet spot, but you didnt have to miss the mark by much to fall into the blurry zone. Medium format is not very forgiving of lazy focusing.

My unit also had a poor system to protect the film from scratches, plus a lot of rust and particles falling onto the film. Not exactly production quality, but still very happy with the results given the completely random nature of the purchase.

The experience has left me far more appreciative of the joys to be had shooting with reduced depth of field. I found myself using F2.5 on my Canon 5D a lot during the trip and making the most of the boker/sharpness divide.

Now that I have the prints in my hand I also have a new appreciation for the abilities of my Digital SLR equipment.