Friday, May 18, 2018

Shooting color with the Bessa I

Shortly after acquiring the Bessa I, while doing research on the camera I read that the Vaskar lens showed aberrations and color shift.  So, while the B&W tests came out fine, I thought, why not push a roll of color through the camera to see what it would produce.

I put in a roll of Portra 400 and started looking for opportunities.  Carrying it with me on several excursions provided enough opportunity to test this theory.  I also carried my Soligor digital spot meter to get some accurate exposure readings.

These images were scanned, dust spots removed, minor sharpening to adjust for scanning, and with only slight color corrections based on what I remember about the scenes.

The first image was during a trip to the central coast, and while exploring around town, I found a colorful garden, so I stopped, metered and snapped a picture.

A coastal garden, with a bit of vibrant color.


The next image was from a family fun day of wine tasting at a local winery. A bright, sunny afternoon.
Out doing some wine tasting, a bright sunny afternoon.


The last image was a very early morning... before blue hour... where I saw this shot, and thought it would be a good test of neon lights in low light.  With a tricky metering, I was surprised on how good the exposure was.  I think I metered the colored neon and put that at zone 6 or 7.  In this shot you do notice the slight corner vignetting, with some light falloff.

A early morning shot, with some neon lights.

Overall, I am very satisfied, as the color seems to be very good, with only slight adjustments for color balance, and shooting Portra 400 handheld is a viable option with this camera.  Could be a "go-to" or "carry at all times" film for this camera!