low resolution photography by davin risk

Canon AE-1 (with zoneplate bodycap )

A bit of what I’d consider a failed experiment with this photo.

It was taken using a Canon AE-1 but instead of a lens I drilled a hole in the centre of a spare bodycap and taped a zoneplate inside.

I don’t really know what else I was expecting but I was pretty disappointed with my roll using the zoneplate. I knew that zoneplates produced soft glowing images because of their graduated concentric rings. But I guess even though I knew that’s what I would get, I missed the details and varied sharpness I usually strive for.

Ah, well, an experiment anyhow.

zoneplate tulip

poor poor disappointed davin. run a roll of tri-x through that zoneplate of yours before giving up on it. julie was part of a pinhole exchange a while back and some of the monochrome images were absolutely gorgeous.

i’d say the experiment was a success. really nice.

I think your experiment was a terrible success, the photograph featured is very striking and quite lovely. The soft pastel hues, the grainy picture and soft focus work well for the delicate scene.

The effort is a success, even though you don’t like it. It’s a success because you learned from it.

You now have another tool in your toolbox, even if you don’t think you’ll use it.

this looks like a still from a shampoo commercial from like 1980, and by that i mean, wicked!

Aw, shucks. Maybe I will try some black and white with the zoneplate. I usually go for HP5 though should I go for the Tri-X instead?

Wow. It reminds me of the early 20th century painterly photos taken by Edward Steichen and the photo-secessionists. Very interesting effect.

i think this is lovely. there’s a surprisingly generous curve to the shadow that made me look twice, the colours are true, and i like the grain. i am also very partial to the blue corner. no indeed: i wouldn’t throw in the towel if i were you.

the ilford should be fine. the only zone plate work i had seen (or known that i had seen) to this point was the work from julie’s pinhole exchange. now that i’m looking into it, it looks like a lot of folk are doing color as well… i’m sure you’ve seen the site already, but i was just browsing http://members.rogers.com/penate/customZP/customZP.html - which also has info on pinhole sieves. it’s really something i’d like to try. i saw that someone was making pinhole body caps in an m-mount…. maybe i’ll pick one up and do some experimenting of my own. in the meantime, keep playing with it so that you can advise me as to best practices.

I got my zoneplate from zoneplate.com. I got just the zoneplate and not the full mounted kit as I didn’t have a Canon EOS or Nikon body at the time.

From that Penate site, the photon sieve and pinhole sieve give really interesting results — except maybe too much like an odd Photoshop filter.

I might order a Nikon body zoneplate now that we have a D70 as that makes experimenting a lot cheaper.

I like the effect, especially since your composition is so perfect for the haziness. It actually looks a lot like film that has aged, when the silver begins to seperate. The results are tiny red or blue dots.