Narrow wooden planks called sotoba are placed near gravestones. They have engraved names, prayers and dates of death. Each anniversary a new sotoba is added. 😊
Nice video showing more of Tokyo than the average tourist gets to see. Regarding the focus issue. I think that even most of the "in-focus" objects in your image are softer than they should be. My first guess is that there is something wrong with the lens. If it's not the lens, then there are two other components in a manual film camera that could cause off focus. If either of these is off, the focus point that you see in the viewfinder can be different from the focus point on the film. One is the focusing screen, which sits below the pantaprism and above the mirror. Couldn't tell if you have an A-1 or an AE-1. I think the AE-1 has interchangeable focus screens, so that might open the possibility of an improperly seated screen. The screen has to be in exactly the right position if the focus you see in the viewfinder is the same as what reaches the film. The other possible problem is the mirror that flips up during exposure. It could be out of alignment. But if the mirror were off, your image might not be centered in the viewfinder, so this isn't likely the problem. One way to check the focus of the lens is checking the infinity focus. Turn the lens to infinity and take a picture of a far away object. Maybe a billboard over 100 m away, or the Tokyo Skytree. It should come out very sharp. Without film, you could focus to infinity, open the camera back, open the shutter (bulb) and press a small ground glass against the film rails, with the rough surface towards the lens. You can make a ground glass by using very fine sandpaper on a small rectangle of a flat, clear piece of rigid plastic -- like an old CD case.
As someone else suggested, you need to watch your shutter speeds, preferably keeping them at least as fast as the lens focal length (1/60 for a 50mm lens, 1/125 for a 100mm lens etc). It isn't common for a manual focus slr to have mechanical focus issues, but you could try the following to check that the film sees things in the same plain as the viewfinder; Fit the camera to a tripod and open the back door. Using a locking cable release and with the shutter speed set to bulb, open the shutter with the aperture set to it's widest setting (smallest number). Then put a strip or two of magic tape (looks cloudy, but is otherwise like regular cellotape) across the open film gate. Focus the lens on something close(ish) using the viewfinder. The image should also appear upside down on the tape. Check that both are focussed on the same thing. If they are, there is probably nothing wrong with the camera. That leaves either inaccurate focussing by yourself, or camera shake due to low shutter speed. Good luck. Jonathan
Sounds pretty complicated since I don’t have any of that on hand. All were shot at 1/500 at 35mm, so that’s why I ruled out shake/didn’t mention it. Thanks for the detailed rundown on how to check the focus. Hadn’t come across that in my search for solutions.
I wear glasses and for me manual focus is quite difficult. I have an amazing and cheap TTArtisan 50mm f 1.2. I normally use autofocus lenses, but on one occasion I wanted to try the manual focus of the TTArtisan lens. Of every 10 photos I only managed to take 1 or 2 which were nearly perfectly in focus. I think that lens is beautiful, the colours that it reproduces have a vintage look to them, but unfortunately manual focusing is extremely hard for me, so I didn't use that lens again. I will have to give it a try again at some point. Btw, your videos are excellent. Regards, Manu from the UK
It’s extremely challenging, but I think I may have figured out the issue unrelated to the lens. Will be posting about it in the next video. And thank you again for the comment and compliment!
You for sure have a focusing issue. The easiest way to test is to try another lens, if you get the same results then the issue is the camera itself. I know in my medium format camera, the focus was affected by the worn out interior foam. Shooting at 5.6-F11 should have given you far sharper results than this.
Hello :). Just subscribed and I am looking forward to seeing what you find.. I can toss another wrench or two into your quest lol. First off I see the film you are using is very grainy .. HP5 or something like it? Some films are just simply not as sharp as others.. Also vintage lenses are a strange thing . I have lots of vintage lenses cause I love to shoot film cameras often the older the better lol. But I have one lens that just kinda come to mind watching you shoot and seeing your results. The lens does not say anything at all about being macro but if you are very close to the subject you can get very sharp photos.. But soon as you stand back even five feet it quickly falls into this extremely soft look.. It might be worth simply seeing if you can borrow a different lens and try a better higher quality film stock and give it a go again.. Also on overcast days I would try to use at least 200 speed film because the lower speed the film the longer your shutter speeds will be and the softer your images will be hand held :). Otherwise I loved the shots you took . Just remember this older film gear can have problems you might not see because well yeah its old and things can just not be what they used to be when the camera was new but I personally would try a different lens and faster speed film ..
Hey, thanks for this awesome, nice, and well thought out comment! This makes me feel better about the whole situation and less like I’m losing my mind. I’ll see if I can get a hold of another lens or maybe try some closer shots to see if I have a similar experience as you. I have a few experiments in mind. Luckily, this camera is just for getting my feet wet with film, so I’ll hopefully upgrade to something newer/more trustworthy in the future. Which year/make is the camera/cameras/lens that you’ve shot with that gave you these issues? Did you find any other way to get around the problem or was swapping the lens out the main solution?
@@developingtank Oh the lens I speak of is probably 40s or 50s M42 mount lens.. I had even asked if maybe someone had taken the lens apart to clean it and maybe one of the elements was upside down lol. I kept the silly lens cause its amazing how sharp it is up close but every shot I took with it from like five feet or more away was just crazy soft .. Closing the lens up did help some but its just soft no matter what.. My point was exactly how you took it lol. It very well may NOT be you at all lol. This gear is old and lets face it unless you have calibration gear and testers to really test what the camera is shooting at or even working at all you are just literally shooting in the dark and flipping a coin .. If the problems persist try and borrow a different lens or just another camera for that matter. Visit the local second hand stores and you can get very lucky sometimes .. I know I have :). But no matter what you do its very cool to see you are shooting Film at all in these days with the price of film and blah blah. I finally had to buy scanners and dev chems and learning how to dev it all myself and stuff now.. But it has really opened up new doors for me as I can shoot more now that I am saving quite a bit of money doing it all myself ..
Ah cool, I haven’t shoot with anything from back then. Seems fun to experiment with. The development/scanning aspects of it are just as interesting to me as the shooting is in some regards. I got yelled at in Japanese by some old dude from shooting film and not using digital the other day here, which was weird, but to me the process is worth the price of admission.
How was your shutter speed? If you're using higher f stops and slower film (e.g. ISO 100), plus the weather's overcast, then shutter speed will have to be quite low to compensate. I find hand held at 1/125 keeps most static shots sharp, or 1/250 or higher for moving subjects (like the guy crossing the street). Apologies if you've already ruled this out and I'm stating the obvious!
Yeah, I should’ve pointed that out in the video as well. I pretty much only shoot 1/500 to try and reduce motion in my shots, so I can’t see that being an issue. Luckily, I’m not at a point with film that I’m expecting to produce any career defining work, so this headache is something I can use to deepen my understanding. Thanks for the well thought out comment!
Narrow wooden planks called sotoba are placed near gravestones. They have engraved names, prayers and dates of death. Each anniversary a new sotoba is added. 😊
Oh okay, sounds like the inscriptions and thought behind them are as beautiful as they look. 🙏
Nice video showing more of Tokyo than the average tourist gets to see. Regarding the focus issue. I think that even most of the "in-focus" objects in your image are softer than they should be. My first guess is that there is something wrong with the lens. If it's not the lens, then there are two other components in a manual film camera that could cause off focus. If either of these is off, the focus point that you see in the viewfinder can be different from the focus point on the film. One is the focusing screen, which sits below the pantaprism and above the mirror. Couldn't tell if you have an A-1 or an AE-1. I think the AE-1 has interchangeable focus screens, so that might open the possibility of an improperly seated screen. The screen has to be in exactly the right position if the focus you see in the viewfinder is the same as what reaches the film. The other possible problem is the mirror that flips up during exposure. It could be out of alignment. But if the mirror were off, your image might not be centered in the viewfinder, so this isn't likely the problem. One way to check the focus of the lens is checking the infinity focus. Turn the lens to infinity and take a picture of a far away object. Maybe a billboard over 100 m away, or the Tokyo Skytree. It should come out very sharp. Without film, you could focus to infinity, open the camera back, open the shutter (bulb) and press a small ground glass against the film rails, with the rough surface towards the lens. You can make a ground glass by using very fine sandpaper on a small rectangle of a flat, clear piece of rigid plastic -- like an old CD case.
Thanks for this in depth comment assisting in the problem
As someone else suggested, you need to watch your shutter speeds, preferably keeping them at least as fast as the lens focal length (1/60 for a 50mm lens, 1/125 for a 100mm lens etc).
It isn't common for a manual focus slr to have mechanical focus issues, but you could try the following to check that the film sees things in the same plain as the viewfinder;
Fit the camera to a tripod and open the back door. Using a locking cable release and with the shutter speed set to bulb, open the shutter with the aperture set to it's widest setting (smallest number).
Then put a strip or two of magic tape (looks cloudy, but is otherwise like regular cellotape) across the open film gate.
Focus the lens on something close(ish) using the viewfinder. The image should also appear upside down on the tape. Check that both are focussed on the same thing.
If they are, there is probably nothing wrong with the camera.
That leaves either inaccurate focussing by yourself, or camera shake due to low shutter speed.
Good luck. Jonathan
Sounds pretty complicated since I don’t have any of that on hand. All were shot at 1/500 at 35mm, so that’s why I ruled out shake/didn’t mention it. Thanks for the detailed rundown on how to check the focus. Hadn’t come across that in my search for solutions.
I wear glasses and for me manual focus is quite difficult. I have an amazing and cheap TTArtisan 50mm f 1.2. I normally use autofocus lenses, but on one occasion I wanted to try the manual focus of the TTArtisan lens. Of every 10 photos I only managed to take 1 or 2 which were nearly perfectly in focus. I think that lens is beautiful, the colours that it reproduces have a vintage look to them, but unfortunately manual focusing is extremely hard for me, so I didn't use that lens again. I will have to give it a try again at some point. Btw, your videos are excellent. Regards, Manu from the UK
It’s extremely challenging, but I think I may have figured out the issue unrelated to the lens. Will be posting about it in the next video. And thank you again for the comment and compliment!
Just what I needed before my trip to Japan :P
🤘🤘🤘
You for sure have a focusing issue. The easiest way to test is to try another lens, if you get the same results then the issue is the camera itself. I know in my medium format camera, the focus was affected by the worn out interior foam. Shooting at 5.6-F11 should have given you far sharper results than this.
That’s what I was afraid of, but I guess better that than feeling completely clueless. Thanks for the details on your similar experience!
Hello :). Just subscribed and I am looking forward to seeing what you find.. I can toss another wrench or two into your quest lol. First off I see the film you are using is very grainy .. HP5 or something like it? Some films are just simply not as sharp as others.. Also vintage lenses are a strange thing . I have lots of vintage lenses cause I love to shoot film cameras often the older the better lol. But I have one lens that just kinda come to mind watching you shoot and seeing your results. The lens does not say anything at all about being macro but if you are very close to the subject you can get very sharp photos.. But soon as you stand back even five feet it quickly falls into this extremely soft look.. It might be worth simply seeing if you can borrow a different lens and try a better higher quality film stock and give it a go again.. Also on overcast days I would try to use at least 200 speed film because the lower speed the film the longer your shutter speeds will be and the softer your images will be hand held :). Otherwise I loved the shots you took . Just remember this older film gear can have problems you might not see because well yeah its old and things can just not be what they used to be when the camera was new but I personally would try a different lens and faster speed film ..
Hey, thanks for this awesome, nice, and well thought out comment! This makes me feel better about the whole situation and less like I’m losing my mind. I’ll see if I can get a hold of another lens or maybe try some closer shots to see if I have a similar experience as you. I have a few experiments in mind. Luckily, this camera is just for getting my feet wet with film, so I’ll hopefully upgrade to something newer/more trustworthy in the future. Which year/make is the camera/cameras/lens that you’ve shot with that gave you these issues? Did you find any other way to get around the problem or was swapping the lens out the main solution?
@@developingtank Oh the lens I speak of is probably 40s or 50s M42 mount lens.. I had even asked if maybe someone had taken the lens apart to clean it and maybe one of the elements was upside down lol. I kept the silly lens cause its amazing how sharp it is up close but every shot I took with it from like five feet or more away was just crazy soft .. Closing the lens up did help some but its just soft no matter what.. My point was exactly how you took it lol. It very well may NOT be you at all lol. This gear is old and lets face it unless you have calibration gear and testers to really test what the camera is shooting at or even working at all you are just literally shooting in the dark and flipping a coin .. If the problems persist try and borrow a different lens or just another camera for that matter. Visit the local second hand stores and you can get very lucky sometimes .. I know I have :). But no matter what you do its very cool to see you are shooting Film at all in these days with the price of film and blah blah. I finally had to buy scanners and dev chems and learning how to dev it all myself and stuff now.. But it has really opened up new doors for me as I can shoot more now that I am saving quite a bit of money doing it all myself ..
Ah cool, I haven’t shoot with anything from back then. Seems fun to experiment with. The development/scanning aspects of it are just as interesting to me as the shooting is in some regards. I got yelled at in Japanese by some old dude from shooting film and not using digital the other day here, which was weird, but to me the process is worth the price of admission.
How was your shutter speed? If you're using higher f stops and slower film (e.g. ISO 100), plus the weather's overcast, then shutter speed will have to be quite low to compensate. I find hand held at 1/125 keeps most static shots sharp, or 1/250 or higher for moving subjects (like the guy crossing the street). Apologies if you've already ruled this out and I'm stating the obvious!
Yeah, I should’ve pointed that out in the video as well. I pretty much only shoot 1/500 to try and reduce motion in my shots, so I can’t see that being an issue. Luckily, I’m not at a point with film that I’m expecting to produce any career defining work, so this headache is something I can use to deepen my understanding. Thanks for the well thought out comment!
It might be your lens homie. Some are super soft. video is so good btw.
Thank you! I’ve shot a few rolls with this same set up and had significantly different results, which is why I’m so lost here.
when you visited japan?
This was over the summer
hello cretos! nice video
Thank you 🙏