Iphone 4s image processed with RFI Films app for iOS. Kodak E 200 emulation.
Welcome Back!
Going to try to collect a few news stories about photography of interest about once a week. Interestingness are stories I read that piqued my interest and I am hoping that they do the same for you, and hopefully some of it is news to you as well.
Galaxy Hyper Speed Direct Positive Paper
It is always great when there are new products coming for traditional photography. Galaxy Papers is trying to Kickstart a release of high speed direct positive paper. In actuality, the “high speed” is about EI 120, so it is about like shooting 100 ISO film. But that is extremely fast for paper exposure. This offers large format photographers a less expensive means to utilize their equipment, as the going offer is offering a box of 25 sheets of 4×5 for a $20 dollar contribution. The sample results look superb, I am really interested in getting my hands on this film.
To some a down side is that this method creates no negative. But scanning provides an efficient solution to reproduction. However I am wondering how well it would work to use the positive to make a paper negative for further darkroom duplications.
RNI Films for iOS
Really Nice Images has released an app for iOS called RNI Films. This is not a camera app, but a processing app. They have ported across a selection of film emulations from their RNI Film presets for Lightroom to create a quality post processing option to give iPhone images a good film look. RNI films comes with a selection of their emulation filters, with additional film packs made available for a 2.99 in app purchase.
I plan on reviewing this app in the near future, but from limited use today, I can say it looks nice. I got the basic free app and the 2nd Negative Film pack. To my eyes the color of the Agfa RSX II emulation is spot on and the Ektar emulation is very true to the film. From my experience creating film emulation presets for LIDF and the X-Equals XeL kits, these are quality emulation made by people who love film. I have not tried their Lightroom offering (as I have my own emulation solution there), but this app is frickin’ sweet.
One downside it that the application does not allow for camera use in app. It is post processing only. That takes some of the spontaneity out of its use. I prefer the Hipstamatic style of set and shoot, as opposed to shot and edit, but its still amazing. If the app would add camera access and lock me into one emulation for 24 shots, without image preview, it would be my daily camera app.
Really Nice Images – iOS App Store
CLERA – Transparent Camera
For those of you interested in the Galaxy Paper product, but have nothing to shoot it with, here is a unique option. Anton Orlov has created a fully functioning, transparent, large format camera. He has used this camera to create some beautiful tintypes.
The camera is mad from red polycarbonate, so it filters the light creating a safe light effect inside the camera box. Obviously you are not going to slap a 8×10 sheet of Ektar in there, but for black and white work it makes for a very interesting camera. You can see the image projected directly onto the paper if you are doing long exposure. It can even shoot and process Becquerel daguerreotypes!
The big news is that it seems he plans to sell these cameras to the public as well. He plans to offer these as low as $350 USD for a 4×5 up to $700 USD for an 8×10. If interested, email him direct.
Phogotraphy – The Photo Palace – thephotopalace@gmail.com
So that is a brief review of some of the stories that got my interest this week. Feel free to comment with any other interesting tidbits from the whole photography world I may have missed.
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by,
Michael
