Roll 17/52 Nara and beyond. Kodak Tmax 100/400 push 35mm

Nara; what an experience. The colours, the soft rolling landscape, the woody forests, and ever so daring deer. A day spent there is nay a day wasted, but get used to the ever present crowds; running at a slow hustle and bustle suited perfectly to the non business type of field trips.

Deer at Nara

Japan runs on their train network, and if you have been following along at home, it has been pretty clear our holiday abroad ran with the Japanese grain: on rails!

On the suburban rail network

The following shots were all done with the trusty Nikon FM3a using the lovely 24mm F2.8. These were shot on Tmax 100 pushed to 400. Having never used it at 100, my impressions pushed is thus; dont do it unless you really need to. Whilst im happy with the pictures overall, they remained somewhat flat in tone. Maybe the scanner compensated? I really dont know. The scans needed retouching, added contrast to remove the muddiness in tones, and give it the kick it needs to deliver what would have been expected, if thereabouts. I get these scans done at a basic quality, so that actually may be most of the problem, so i will let the viewer decide. Has anyone done the push with Tmax 100 before? What did you experience? Rant aside, the film did redeem itself by showing to maintain excellent detail on non organic forms, and solid shapes, where in my opinion it excelled, examples of this can be seen in the last few shots starting from the temple in Tokyo CBD. Food for thought I think…”Say are you stuck at dusk in the city with only 100 speed b&w?” …”Push it!”
Anyway on with the show.

Oh deer

And now a few snippets from CBD Tokyo near Shinjuku.

This last one absolutely surprised me, why? The bokeh’d windows, good sharpness and tonal range. How? No idea.

Next up is a Portra 800 in the heart of Shinjuku. Yes, in daylight. Well…mostly.
Till next time, Sayonara!