alex-nichol

[alex-nichol]

Farne Islands. Shot on Kodak Ektar 100 with my Leica M6. Hand processed.

[alex-nichol]

Just a few of the shots I took at a friends wedding. Shot on Ilford Delta with my Leica M6. Hand processed.

[alex-nichol]

Reed bed at Druridge Bay Country Park. Shot on Ilford FP4 with my Rolleiflex 2.8GX. Hand processed.

[alex-nichol]

Tynemouth. Shot on Fuji Acros 100 with my Mamiya RZ67 medium format camera. Hand processed.

[alex-nichol]

Meet Emo Horse - the most misunderstood of all equidae. He’s melancholy because he can’t paint his hoofs black; struggles with a brush, you see.

[alex-nichol]

Okay, so a loading mishap meant that I lost all of my film shots from this morning, which is annoying. Thankfully I had my trusty little Pen with me. Sadly, this is all I have to show for this morning's 5am excursion - somewhere in the vicinity of Howick in Northumberland (although it could almost be the Serengeti).

[alex-nichol]

Little Stampy, the King Charles Spaniel. Shot on Kodak Tmax 100 with my Leica M6. Hand-processed.

[alex-nichol]

Farewell Nocticron

I wish I could say it was fun while it lasted, but my short tenure with the Panasonic Leica DG 42.5mm f/1.2 Nocticron prime lens was a quagmire of bitter disappointment.

I’d read so many professional reviews lauding it as the perfect portrait lens for the micro four-thirds system, I was sure it was going to be the answer to all of my candid portrait prayers. Alas no.

On my Olympus Pen-f, it was sluggish and woefully inaccurate. It would hunt endlessly, focussing on the silliest things. I took it out on three occasions and after about 250 shots, ended up with exactly zero keepers.

At first, I thought it might have been due to the fact that I was using it on an Olympus body. But the Panasonic Leica DG 15mm f/1.7 is amazing on my Olympus (I’ll be buried with that lens).

To rule this out, I tested it on my tiny Panasonic Lumix GM5 too, figuring that it should work perfectly on a Panasonic body - but it was just as bad.

The few times this lens nailed focus, it was razor-sharp and crystal clear. The huge aperture delivers some beautiful depth-of-field effects too, which are otherwise near-impossible to achieve on a micro four-thirds camera. 

But by the time it nailed that focus, the moment had gone. 

Take the image below, for example; this shouldn’t be too tricky for a lens, right? By the time the Nocticron hunted back and forth between the grass and little Stampy’s muzzle, he got bored and turned back around.

It missed focus altogether the other 99 times. 

Crap lens. Good riddance.

[alex-nichol]

Highlights from Lisbon

[alex-nichol]

Lisbon is a beautiful city, especially in black and white. Shot on my Leica M6 + 50mm Summicron on Kodak T-Max 100. I also used an orange filter to help them pop.

[alex-nichol]

Other than a slight crop and dust/scratch removal, this is straight out of camera. Loving these Ektar colours! Taken with my Leica M6 + 50mm Summicron on Kodak Ektar 100.

[alex-nichol]

Estrela Basilica, Lisbon

[alex-nichol]

First test roll with the Leica M6 + 50mm Summicron on Kodak T-max 100. Metering seems optimistic by a stop, which is manageable. Otherwise, turned out alright.

[alex-nichol]

First test shot with the lovely Mamiya RZ67 + Sekor 110mm f/2.8 on Ilford HP5+. Came out okay for throw-away snapshot.

[alex-nichol]

Bottomless.

[alex-nichol]

Just a handful of shots taken on the Greek island of Rhodes with my trusty Lumix GM5 + Leica DG 15mm f/1.7

[alex-nichol]

Breathtaking view over the Greek islands from Kritinia Castle, on the west coast of Rhodes.