Thursday, March 25, 2010

An Impossible Dream made Possible

Stocks of Polaroid instant film are now dwindling, but The Impossible Project, having taken over the last Polaroid production plant in 2008, have today started selling their first instant films. Interestingly they are black and white and one, PX100, is in SX70 format which never existed in black and white when made by Polaroid. I still have an SX70 camera somewhere so I might give this new film a try (I never thought I'd say that ever again).

Friday, March 19, 2010

Hipstamatic film & lens combinations test

I have been testing every combination of Hipstamatic lens and film, you can buy with version 150, in a none too scientific way. Iwas bored waiting for the next tube train to Leicester Square, so I started taking pictures of the London Underground roundel logo tiles at Highgate station. Being red and blue on a white background this was hardly the best colour chart to test, and certainly not under optimal lighting conditions (hence the blur). However it has given me a set of reference images that will help in predicting, to some degree, the possible outcome of my choice for any shot.

For those who don't know how Hipstamatic it is not like other iPhone photo apps in that you take a picture with a choice of "lens", "film" and "flash" to apply a set of transformations upon the image. There is no post-production processing choices and you cannot change your mind afterwards. This is fine if either you are happy with the randomness of applying creative filters (you can shake the phone to allow Hipstamatic to choose the film and lens) or you know what effect your choices will have on the pictures, so hence this little project [1].

Hipstamatic Test - raw
The plain vanilla London Underground tile

So here they are 48 (+ 1) pictures of the same thing - 6 lenses and 8 films. I have not included the flashes in the test as this would have taken many delays on the Norther Line to complete [2]. The plus one is the standard shot (above) taken with the default iPhone camera, no post process, except cropping to square format, and otherwise taken in the same non-scientific manner. I've grouped the pictures both by lens and by film, and you can click through to the full-size image in my test set on Flickr

The Lenses

Lens: John S

Hipstamatic Test: John S + BlankoHipstamatic Test: John S + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: John S + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: John S + BlacKeys B+W
Hipstamatic Test: John S + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: John S + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: John S + PistilHipstamatic Test: John S + Float
One of my favourite lenses and especially in use with Kodot Verichrome film. This one comes with the basic Hipstamatic.

Lens: Jimmy

Hipstamatic Test: Jimmy + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Jimmy + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + BlacKeys B+W
Hipstamatic Test: Jimmy + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + PistilHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + Float
Jimmy seems most useful for lightening images and increasing contrast when used with the black and white films BlacKeys B+W and BlacKeys SuperGrain

Lens: Kaimal Mark II

Hipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + BlacKeys B+W
Hipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II PistilHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Float

Lens: Helga Viking

Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + BlacKeys B+W
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + PistilHipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + Float
I particularly like this lens with Float film, but I also use it with Ina's 1969, Kodot Verichrome and the BlacKeys films.

Lens: Lucifer VI

Hipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + BlacKeys B+W
Hipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + PistilHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + Float

Lens: Roboto Glitter

Hipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + BlacKeys B+W
Hipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + PistilHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Float
Worth looking at the full-size versions of these images as these thumbnails don't do justice to the effect.

The Films

Film: Blanko

Hipstamatic Test: John S + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Blanko
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + BlankoHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Blanko

Film: Ina's 1969

Hipstamatic Test: John S + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Jimmy + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Ina's 1969
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + Ina's 1969Hipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Ina's 1969

Film: Kodot Verichrome

Hipstamatic Test: John S + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Kodot Verichrome
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + Kodot VerichromeHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Kodot Verichrome

Film: BlacKeys B+W

Hipstamatic Test: John S + BlacKeys B+WHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + BlacKeys B+WHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + BlacKeys B+W
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + BlacKeys B+WHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + BlacKeys B+WHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + BlacKeys B+W
Perhaps the most useful comparison of lens effects with a film is with black and white films as there is a much more subtle difference in choice of lens.

Film: BlacKeys SuperGrain

Hipstamatic Test: John S + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + BlacKeys SuperGrain
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + BlacKeys SuperGrainHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + BlacKeys SuperGrain

Film: Alfred Infrared

Hipstamatic Test: John S + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Alfred Infrared
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + Alfred InfraredHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Alfred Infrared

Film: Pistil

Hipstamatic Test: John S + PistilHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + PistilHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II Pistil
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + PistilHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + PistilHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Pistil

Film: Float

Hipstamatic Test: John S + FloatHipstamatic Test: Jimmy + FloatHipstamatic Test: Kaimal Mark II + Float
Hipstamatic Test: Helga Viking + FloatHipstamatic Test: Lucifer VI + FloatHipstamatic Test: Roboto Glitter + Float
I love the through the viewfinder effect

[1] It is a lot easier with other creative iPhone apps to demonstrate the different outcomes with post-production transformations on any one picture.

[2] There are 288 possible combinations of flash, film and lens for all available add-ons for Hipstamatic 150

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