In 2019, I dedicated a photoshoot to the Popovy Dolls who continue to be an inspiration of art. I put together a small team consisting of a makeup artist, hair stylist, and models who were intrigued by my vision. I took on the responsibility of photography, wardrobes, props, and final presentations. These are the results.
Sure, I’ve been giving Leica a lot of praise in my posts because it’s really that great of a company that focuses on the essentials but it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. You’d expect such a high valued item to be closer to perfect but here are some things that could be better.
This review is not a spec review but a personal review of the Sony camera system. At the time of this writing, the Sony A7R IV has already been out for 10 months and I have already parted ways with my A7R III six months ago. It wasn’t for a direct upgrade because I feel like the A7R III was already good or better than good enough for most things. On the contrary, I opted for a completely manual system with less features on a spec sheet. Part of the reason for this was due to how my shooting style evolved. I’ll explain.
It’s been exactly two years now since I’ve purchased my first Leica, the Q. It was right around this time when I was going on a birthday trip to Mexico. I was a Sony A7R shooter and I believed then what I still do now: the Sony system is the most technological advanced system out there that delivered some of the sharpest results I’ve ever seen. But what it was lacking is what I was looking for in Leica.
A couple of trips around the world prior had me realize that I don’t want to be the person carrying around a backpack full of lenses and a large camera body. I wanted my family trips documented in the highest quality but at the same time what are supposed to be a trips of leisure and quality time shouldn’t feel like trips of added work… Thus the search for smaller systems…
“Ooo hello there Matador Noir! Now that’s a good looking strap.” … “What?!? $250!!! For a camera strap???” Yeah, those were my exact thoughts when I first laid my eyes on the “Matador Noir”. I glanced at a few pictures and thought yeah, that’s pretty nice. Glanced at the price, sighed, and closed my browser tab. A year has passed since then and Vi Vante camera straps have been my exclusive choice of leather on my Leica M and Q bodies. But how did this happen? How did I let this seemingly overpriced looking brand take over my precious Leica collection?
Below you’ll find my table of development times for color negative film using the Cinestill C-41 kit at 102 degrees F. These notes should work with Arista C-41 as well since the instructions are nearly identical for chemical reuse. Heck, it might even be the same stuff, just repackaged.
It’s handy to print this out and save it in your lab for quick references. It’s also a good idea to put a piece of gapher tape on your chemistry bottles used for storage and mark how many rolls have been developed with them by a sharpie.
| Rolls Processed | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | new chemistry | 3:30 |
| 1 | 3:34 | |
| 2 | 3:38 | |
| 3 | 3:43 | |
| 4 | 3:47 | |
| 5 | 3:51 | |
| 6 | 3:30 | |
| 7 | 3:59 | |
| 8 | 4:04 | |
| 9 | 4:08 | |
| 10 | 4:12 | |
| 11 | 4:16 | |
| 12 | 4:20 | |
| 13 | 4:25 | |
| 14 | 4:29 | |
| 15 | 4:33 | |
| 16 | 4:37 | |
| 17 | 4:41 | |
| 18 | 4:46 | |
| 19 | 4:50 | |
| 20 | 4:54 |
The way to read this is not by how many rolls you are going to develop, but how many rolls have already been developed. For example, if I were going to develop 5 rolls with fresh chemistry then I would start at 0. The next batch will start at 5 and so on.