Vericolor III type s, expired 1990

I've nevered shot any expired film so I was happy when Glen at Color Services in Santa Barbara offered me some to run through my camera that was having a problem with spacing. Shot it with my Mamiya rz67. I have read a lot about using expired film. Some people say to lower the f/stop a couple stops and most say to lower the iso by so much depending on the age of the film. It was original 160 iso and Glen said to shoot at 80 iso.

It's hard to hand hold that low but I went in the sun and I'm really happy with the results. Took a few shots in San Ynez valley and hit the farmers market and around town. I didn't do any editing to the pictures. These are straight from the scan.

I'm hoping he has some more floating around. The colors just seem so naturel.

For being so old I didn't know what to expect. I might try some more expired stock down the road. I think that he has refrigerated it the whole time made the difference. If you bought online you just never know. Anyway I thought I would post these if anyone else is thinking about expired film. I always thought film was to expensive to take a chance on but if it was taken care of it;s worth it

Rainy day road trip

Nothing like taking pictures in the rain. We took a ride to our favorite canyon in the central valley to get some end of fall pictures. It was raining a light mist the whole time. It had been raining for a couple of days and for me its my favorite time to take pictures. All the bark on the oaks get really dark and the fall colors get saturated from the water. It was a weekend and we saw maybe 3 people the whole time. Saw a lot of deer and wild turkeys. We usually go to the Sierra for fall colors but they end around the end of September but here its December and I would say they peaked about 1-2 weeks ago.

We left pretty early and grabbed a few tamales from a street vendor for breakfast. Nothing like a fresh made tamale for breakfast on a rainy day.

There was a heavy mist hanging over the valley and it got better the further we drove. I brought my film camera but didn't want to take it out in the rain, I did manage to get a few pics when the rain stopped but went digital for the most part. We always go through this canyon when we are up in the valley because it changes so much as you drive through it. This was by far the best I have seen it. It seems we were stopping every half mile to take pictures before we decided to walk more. Stopped by this big oak for breakfast. We like places that are quiet and not many people so we were in heaven this day.

My wife loves taking pictures and as usual she disappeared somewhere to take pictures why I fiddled with the settings on my camera.

Took a little drive further up the road and found a town I have never heard of before. It was only about 4 blocks long but an old town. It looked to be an old farming town back in the day. I really enjoy when the vineyards change color. It seems some grapes are different colors. There would be huge fields of deep red leaves then whole fields of yellow and orange. I will look into that. Anyways it was a beautiful day in the rain. Enjoy what everyday gives you!

Fall Vibes

Fall in the Sierra is one of my favorite times. It has become our yearly trip. There are so many canyons and lakes that are beautiful to see it's hard to see them all every year. We usually take a hike up McGee creek but this year we had less time so we stayed around the Bishop area. Sabrina lake, North and South Lake are some of the prettiest colors. We took a trip up Rock creek but it was pretty crowded and not as many colors. There are several Facebook groups for the area so you an see how the colors are progressing in most places before you go.

I met more that a few people that were trying to duplicate Apple screensavers. Some people were getting very close. You always meet interesting folks taking pictures. A lot of telephoto lenes this year it seems. Chatted with a gentleman that had a lens from 1840 he had converted to fit on his digital camera. The shots he was getting were incredible. Almost looked like film.

Finished up with a trip to Alabama Hills to get a sunrise of Mt Whitney but it was a cloudless morning and didn't get a decent picture but its different everyday so you never know. Actually met a person I had met the day before a hundred miles away there. We were the only 2 people there. He took out his drone and I learned a lot about them I didn't know. I know I want one now!

I took quite a few film pictures for a change just waiting for them now. I seem to be shooting more film lately. I like the process a little more than digital. They both have their good and bad points. As long as I get a good picture I'm happy.