Álvaro Gómez Pidal's photostream  

All film pictures are scanned with an Epson V700, processed in Light Room 3, and then enhanced in PhotoShop Cs5

All B&W rolls are developed at home, using HC110-B, XTOL, Diafine, Acufine, Rodinal 1:100, D 76, Perceptol and other home made developer formulas. Four years looking for the perfect developer of my taste, still non of which I tried are perfect, and I feel none will. Acufine being my favourite.

None of the displayed images are prints.

Cameras I Use:

Mamiya 645 Super (broken malfunctioning shuter/electronics)
Rolleiflex Xenotar 3.5
Rolleiflex Planar 2.8 E2 (New)
Kiev 60
Yashica Mat 124G

Leica R4
Contax G1
Nikon F70 (Broken Door)
Nikon F65 (Erratic auto rewind)
Nikon D40
Nikon D300
Cosina CX-2
Kodak Retina IIa (heavy fungus case)
Zorki 4 (Slightly uncolimated/coupled)


Cameras I rarely use:
Seagull 4A (Erratic film transport)
Seagull 4B (Speeds under 1/15 are off)
Zeiss Ikon Nettar 512
Zenit 12XP (Erratic shutter)
Nikon EM

Wishlist:
Leica M3/M6,
Voigtlander Bessa R2M
Hasselblad 5xx
Rolleiflex Original/Standard
Mamiya 7
Mamiya c330
Contax RTS
Contax 645
Nikon FM2
Rollei 35
Leica III
Contax II
Nikonos II
Rolleiflex Baby
Kowa baby
Krasnogorsk 3 16mm
Arriflex 416
Arriflex SR3



Some people tend to make comparisons between film and digital as for vinyl and mp3. They get it very close, but I decided to make one on my own:

Instant coffee? Yes, it's a fine invention, it's cheap, easy, reliable, fast and has a decent taste, overall, a good thing.
Now, sit yourself in a quiet café where you can chat with your partner and listen to some music. Your coffee is to be ground, put inside the machine with the right pressure; you have to wait for it, it comes in a nice small cap. You taste it, it's intense, delicious, creamy... and you have it slowly, you enjoy it to the last drop.

That is how I feel about it, digital is a fine tool, like instant coffe, but film, a fine espresso, is way beyond that. You have to take your time, develop, print or scan, you brew it kindly and you enjoy it more, each picture gets more attention, becomes more important, takes it's place. And if you shoot a full manual camera, it feels even more like it.

Film is not dead, it is recording a latent image of your face, now as we speak!