 Ahoy, welcome back aboard another vessel you swar the sea dogs today's episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Well, it's mail day and you already know I got a huge package. That's right. Besides all the cease and desist letters, I actually got a new camera because I enjoy filling that metaphorical hole inside me with material possessions. But if you think I'm going to open up this box first thing in the video, then you clearly don't know how YouTube works. So let's talk about the future of this channel first. Some changes are coming to the channel, nothing too major, just no more jokes, no more swearing, and instead of film, we'll be talking about pottery from ancient Mesopotamia to the modern era. If that's your thing, be sure to hit the subscribe button and let's get freaky. What are my big plans for 2021? It's hard to say really. I think we all had big plans for not only 2020, but our lives and both of those turned out pretty disappointing. Well, I'd like to do more 8x10 videos as well as 8mm. We've actually already shot a new 8x10 video, it just needs to be edited. Back in October, Caleb and I went up along Highway 1 to Northern California to shoot, so of course there will be a video about that, it just needs to be edited. You're probably starting to notice a trend here. I have some tentative plans to travel with some friends, but with the world situation being what it is, nothing's really set in carbonite. Currently I'm in the middle of shooting some 8mm for the holidays, so I'm excited to see how that turns out. That should be the next video after this one. I'm also currently in the middle of shooting some very very old 8x10 sheet film. There will definitely be a video about it explaining everything, but the gist of it is, it's 60 years expired and still produces an image. But since it's over 60 years old, it hates the new generation of film photographers. New cameras, yes, kind of. I won't be purchasing any new cameras in 2021, but let's just say there are a few pieces of gear that haven't made their presence known on the channel yet. Two of them are new 35mm cameras and one is a medium format camera, which you will find out about at the end of the video. You're welcome to guess what they are, but I'll tell you now, you're wrong. I want to do more collaborations with other film photographers, but again with the world situation being what it is, it's kind of hard. Next up on the list, diffusion experiment. After all, it is fun to experiment and you don't just have to do it in college. So I saw a behind the scenes sort of breakdown video by Paul Thomas Anderson kind of describing his workflow for shooting film on his movie Phantom Thread. And here's a .55 with a low con. This .55 is a really super sharp lens, it's an old Nikon. A way to dirty it up was to use a low con filter. In the video, he describes pushing the .500T one stop, but shooting through a low contrast filter. I didn't think this idea was worth a whole video, but I thought it was kind of an interesting approach that might be kind of cool to try out. My black and white work is oftentimes very contrasty and harsh. So I shot a roll of Cat Labs 80 with a glow diffusion filter on the front of the lens and then added contrast in Lightroom like usual. I didn't have the lab push the film, instead I opted to add the contrast myself after the fact. I think the diffusion mixed with a slight low contrast look with a heavy amount of let's say post contrast looks pretty cool on black and white and gives these excellent glowy specular hits. I'm probably going to start using this technique a bit more. On this topic, I have a few other ideas for sort of experimental ways to shoot film. So be on the lookout for more stuff like that in the future. What else? I thought it might be a good time to revisit the topic of how I scan and edit my work. I made a video two years ago about it, but that might as well be 600 years ago because nothing matters anymore in time as a construct. But regardless, let me know if that's something you would be down for. New lenses. Yeah, so I'm planning on getting a new lens for the 8x10. The only lens I currently have is really more of a portrait lens. It's equivalent to a 47 millimeter lens on full frame 35 millimeter, whatever. So I think I'd like to have something a bit wider and frankly a bit lighter. The lens is about as heavy as the burden of knowing Kodak raises the prices again. Um, okay, so I got a new lens for the Pentax 6x7. It's the Takamar 55 millimeter f 3.5. The reason was pretty much the same. I only had the 105 2.4, which is godly, but I wanted something a bit wider for my work. Don't worry. I still have the 105. I would never sell my favorite child. Anyway, I had to test out the 55 so I hit the streets. If you've ever shot the Takamar 55 millimeter, drop a comment and let me know your thoughts because I think the jury's still out for me. Additionally, I've been thinking about getting the 65 millimeter lens for the Mamiya 7 and just trying it out because all I have right now is the 80 millimeter. Frankly, it doesn't really seem like that big of a difference, but I don't know whatever it I guess we'll see. If you have experience with either lenses, let me know. More camera and film reviews are coming. I think I might finally do an in depth review on the Nishika N8000, which might kill me. I also shot a review of a certain Kodak film stock that is no longer with us. The only clue that I'm going to provide as of right now is the heavy orange filter slapped on the front of the lens. The video, as you could probably guess, just needs to be edited. Ah, OK, a book. Yes, it's true. I am going to be putting together a book this year. Book, zine, cursed artifact, whatever the fuck you want to call it. I'm doing it. I'm still shooting some work for the project. I'd say it's about 30 percent completed, but yeah, I think it's going to be pretty cool. There will be an official announcement whenever the hell I actually finish it. Prints are still available. You can find the link in the description if you're interested. I just updated the print shop, actually added some more shots and took some away. So I guess the ones that are gone are now considered limited editions. You're welcome. Anyway, I'm going to be adding more and more images to the shop over time. So be sure to check back before we go any further. I'd like to thank today's sponsor, Squarespace. If you're a photographer looking to build an online portfolio for clients for fun or just to impress your friends, Squarespace has the smoothest and most intuitive user interface. If you're like me and enjoy achieving clean and professional results with little to no work, then look no further. Squarespace is an all in one website building platform. That means you don't need to download any plugins, patches or restart your computer to complete a software update every time you're in the middle of something important. Squarespace has professional, easy to use templates for whatever it is you do. Photography, music, medieval jousting, everything. As a photographer, I've been using Squarespace for four years now and it's simply been the easiest way to create an all in one hub for access to everything I do, like medieval jousting. If you're ready to build a website, you can start a free trial today at squarespace.com slash grainydays. And if you use the code grainydays at checkout, you can get 10% off your first purchase. All right, time for the grand finale. Let's open this baby. Okay. Hoping this camera is not damaged because there is kind of, it does look like it got slapped around a little bit. I think this is it. So it's a Plopple Makina 670. Why did I pick this up? Well, looking at it, it's pretty similar to the Mamiya 7 in many ways but there's a few areas where it kind of overtakes the Mamiya 7. Like the fact that the lens on this body is an 80 millimeter but it actually goes down to 2.8 instead of F4 on the Mamiya. The body is dominantly made of metal versus the Mamiya 7 is made of plastic. And this camera actually collapses in on itself which makes it a little easier to store and travel with. Where this camera lacks is the ability to interchange lenses as well as a few other design flaws that I won't really get into here. That's about it. I'm pretty excited for the future and hopefully you are too. Until then, keep it gangsta.