TRANSCRIPT

Hi everyone, Azriel Knight here, and welcome to another episode of Days of Knight. Before I get started, I have a giveaway for the month of April, and it's super easy to enter, all you have to do is join my monthly newsletter, and the link is in the description. On May 1st I will do a random draw, and the winner will receive one of my limited edition 2020 box sets. The box set contains seven limited editions 5x7 darkroom prints. Now that I have that out of the way, let's move on to the meat of the episode, today I'm going to be doing my first impressions on a Pentax 6x7 fisheye, and I have never shot a fisheye before. I've always found them intriguing, but they're, they're a specialty lens, and usually they're more expensive. I'm actually borrowing one from the Film Experience Camera Store in Longview Alberta, so thanks Dave for allowing to take that out for a spin. But yeah, let's get started.

[Intro music]

So here it is in all it's glory, the Takumar 6x7 35mm f/4.5, first thing you're going to notice is that the glass bows outward. So, definitely don't want to rest this facing down without a cap.

So one thing you might not know about this lens is that it comes with built in filters. It has a yellow filter, an orange filter, and a red filter, all built in. Why? Because there is no way you're getting a filter on the front of this. Now, because it comes with filters, I've decided to shoot black and white film today, and I'm going to be using trusty Ilford HP5, and for my location, I'm going to be going to an abandoned school that I originally shot a number of years ago, I just came across it by, you know, by accident one day while I was garage saleing, and it wasn't abandoned at the time, and I'm really sad to see that it is now, it's over 100 years old and it's all boarded up, so I thought I might as well get some shots of it before they tear it down, so let's take a look

[Music]

Here we go folks, not expecting any surprises today, Using my favorite camera with my favorite film,

one of my favorite developers, Xtol.

Heh, Very interesting.

Yeah, pretty much what I expected, as in practically perfect results, my Pentax 6x7 has been absolutely fantastic since I had it serviced. No complaints whatsoever. Not even a sliver of a light leak that I can see, and as far as I'm concerned, perfect exposures. I can't wait to dry these off and scan them, no waiting for you though, here are today's highlights and my contact sheet.

[Music]

I hope you enjoyed those, I personally didn't find these stunning, if I'm being completely honest with you, I think that I found the idea of creating a composition with this weird angle incredibly challenging. One of the major things was trying to keep it straight, even the slightest tilt just made the whole image look off center, so I did spend some time straightening my images, yeah every, it's just everything is in the shot, you can see here with this example that I did with no filter versus a red filter that, even though I didn't think it was in the shot, I still ended up being in the shot. Now that's because I don't have 100% of my viewfinder, so while I seemed out of the frame at the time, I was not out of the frame in the final image. So I guess that would be one tip, is don't just bring yourself just outside a frame if you're using an eye level finder on the Pentax 6x7, either use a waist level finder where its 100%, or just over compensate to make sure that any shadows or other elements that you don't want in the image are out of the image. Now while I think this lens is a bit more on the pricey side, I think that in some ways it's a really cheap lens, and that is because it comes with 3 filters, having a yellow, orange, and red filter on you at all times, I mean it's not only a necessity due to the curve of the front element, but it's, it's a money saver, sometimes filters are like 100 bucks a piece. So there's 300 bucks right off the final price right there if you take that into consideration. Would I shoot with this lens again though? I don't think so, I think that there are very few times where I would be like, man I really wish I had a fisheye on me. I think that my 55mm lens for my 6x7 is enough, and on any given 35mm, 24mm tends to be enough for me. But yeah, those are my thoughts however brief, I really don't have much to say on the matter, it is, it is a unique lens, it is a unique lens with unique properties, and I think that you have to go out with a very specific intention if you're going to shoot with one of these, and, you know, tell me I'm wrong in the comments below, but I don't know any photographer who uses a fisheye on a regular basis.

But yeah, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this episode, if you did, be sure and like, share, and subscribe, you can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and if you really like what I do around here, perhaps you will consider joining me on Patreon. On my Patreon I offer things like early access, free prints, and your name in the credits. And until next time, stay classic.

[Outro Music]

Subtitles By
Gabe Waldman