• Home
  • Galleries
    • Urban
    • Landscape
    • Water
    • Black and White
    • Analogue
    • Portraits
    • Birds
  • Blog
  • My ‘tog Story
  • Contact Me
  • Home
  • Galleries
    • Urban
    • Landscape
    • Water
    • Black and White
    • Analogue
    • Portraits
    • Birds
  • Blog
  • My ‘tog Story
  • Contact Me

Film Photography 

Fomapan 200, a Nikon FM2 and the Irwell Valley

September 8, 2020  by raypcook 

A few weeks ago I thought I’d try a different black and white negative film. I’m slowly working my way through different ones trying to decide what works best for me. I bought four rolls of Fomapan 200, a film made in Czechia which has a good reputation in the analogue world. It also has […]

Read More


Film Photography  Vintage Cameras and Lenses 

My little proud beauties – 50mm vintage lens comparison

June 28, 2020  by raypcook 

Well, almost: one’s a 55mm. I recently acquired a vintage lens I have long coveted – the Asahi Pentax Super-Takumar 55mm 1.8. This means I am now the proud owner of a collection of 1960s-1980s 50mm lenses from what I consider the five leading consumer SLR brands of the 1970s, namely : Minolta, Olympus, Canon, […]

Read More


Film Photography  Vintage Cameras and Lenses 

More film photography : Nikon FM and Ilford FP4 Plus

May 10, 2020  by raypcook 

So, my love affair with film continues. This time it took 9 months to go through a 23 frame roll of Ilford FP4 Plus and by the time I came to develop it, I was a bit out of practice. This led to me adding the stop bath before tipping out the developer and breaking […]

Read More


General 

Last Tango in Stratford

May 10, 2020  by raypcook 

Just as the global pandemic was taking hold in China in February, we decided to take a mini-break in Stratford-Upon-Avon, birthplace and home of William Shakespeare. I had not been there for over 40 years and had never stayed there. As the shadow of the virus loomed. we visited sites owned by the Shakespeare Birthplace […]

Read More


Cities 

Empty Chairs

September 4, 2019  by raypcook 

So, I was in Tel Aviv. Been there loads of times. I was looking for something different. How about this.   I just saw this unusual idea of metal and wooden benches at the edge of the kerb in a residential area and thought it was kind of arty? Not sure the manhole cover adds […]

Read More


Film Photography 

The new old world of analogue – what happened next

June 24, 2019  by raypcook 

developer stop bath fixer wetting agent development tank for two rolls 3 x measuring jars 3 x storage jars 1 x small measuring jar pipette thermometer gloves changing bag film cartridge opener scissors clips for drying film squeegee funnel scanner Canon AE-1 with 50mm f1.8 FD Minolta XG-M with MD Rokkor f1.7 OM10 with Zuiko […]

Read More


Film Photography 

Back to the future with ‘analogue’

June 22, 2019  by raypcook 

So how did I become seduced, once again, by film? Why did I start a modest collection and need to use them? I last took a photograph with film in 2004. Before that I had always had a camera since 1968 and the first time I can remember using a camera was a little point […]

Read More


General 

Hygge, Castles, Water and great shops – that’s Copenhagen

January 9, 2019  by raypcook 

Well, there’s a lot more to it: crisp winter air, a million bicycles, English spoken everywhere. So what about photography? If you like architecture and street photography, plenty of water, bright lights at night, safe streets then you are bound to find lots to see and record. Here is a gallery of some of the […]

Read More


Lens performance 

Bye Bye Canon

March 12, 2018  by raypcook 

I just sold my Canon 7D and my 18-85 lens on eBay. Having now purchased the Sony 24-105 for my A7 II I don’t need that lens. Since discovering that I can put my camera in APS-C mode, mount my Tamron 70-300 and get the equivalent of 105-450mm, I don’t need the Canon for wildlife. […]

Read More

General  Lens performance 

Sony A7 II, fast prime, eye focus for portraits

October 10, 2017  by raypcook 

So, I decided to use my wife as a model. I’ve been watching videos of professional photographers isolating their subjects with fast primes and using flash or other lighting to fill in. Probably my sharpest lens is my Canon nifty fifty EF 1.8 50mm IS STM. So I decided to use this and the Yongnuo […]

Read More

123

  • Post Calendar

    May 2025
    S M T W T F S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031
    « Sep    
  • Recent Posts

    • Fomapan 200, a Nikon FM2 and the Irwell Valley
    • My little proud beauties – 50mm vintage lens comparison
    • More film photography : Nikon FM and Ilford FP4 Plus
    • Last Tango in Stratford
    • Empty Chairs
  • Categories

    • Cities
    • Film Photography
    • General
    • Lens performance
    • Photo Editing
    • Vintage Cameras and Lenses
    • Wildlife
  • Archives

    • September 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • September 2019
    • June 2019
    • January 2019
    • March 2018
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016


  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
Copyright 2016 by Ray Cook