People have been emailing me asking me questions about the different equipment I used to shoot the project, The Culture that recently appeared on my portfolio. I’ve decided that instead of writing the same thing over and over again in emails I would just make a short blog post outlining the equipment I used for the project.
The project was shot primarily on two cameras and on two types of film. I wish I had shot the entire thing with one camera, one lens, and one type of film but it wasn’t really realistic for the type of project it was. Also, during such a long process I would switch between the two cameras to stir a bit of creativity if needed.
The first of the cameras was a Leica M5 with the lowly 40mm Summicron attached. The ugly duckling pair did a fine job for me and this is still the camera lens I carry every day. I used Neopan 400 pushed to 1600 in the Leica the entire time.
I used this camera / lens / film combination for 80 percent of the project. The negatives were scanned by my friend Tyler.
I wanted the scans to be dirty.
The second camera I used was the Ricoh GR1V. It was the camera I kept in my pocked most of the time when I was with the family. It was less intimidating than the Leica and gave a bit of a different look. I shot HP5 in the Ricoh also pushed to 1600.
The Ricoh photos were much sharper than those from the Leica. I suppose, during the project I started to use the Leica when I wanted a shallower depth of field. It became a little about feeling what I wanted the the photo to look like and using the right camera based on my feeling. It’s better to keep your gear to a minimum and also to keep it consistent when shooting this kind of project. The more looks you have the less together your project will feel. If I had my time back I would have shot the entire thing on one camera, but it’s too late for that now.
Live and learn.
If you have any questions about the gear I used or anything about the project as a whole feel free to ask in the comment section or send me an email at jtinseoul@gmail.com
The project can be seen in it’s entirety here:
jtinseoul 
Can you maybe explain a bit more about the scanning process? Thanks
Unfortunately, I didn’t scan the film myself. As I said, my friend Tyler did all the scanning for me. As far as I know he used the Epson V600. It’s relatively cheap and does a decent enough job. When I said I wanted them to be “dirty” I just meant that he wouldn’t dust the negatives before scanning them so the photos appear to be a little dirty.
I agreed, It’s always best to settled with just one main camera. Any other that has sentimental values, lock it in a cabinet; or those that are just extra laying around, sell them for good. The longer we use the camera, the more it becomes to us. A year ago, I thought I knew how to ‘use’ it. Until this day, I found myself still learning how to ‘shoot’ with it. That’s the difference I figured.
Yes Alan, I completely agree.
Great project and interesting approach to the tools used to execute your vision. I have been toying with abandoning my typical work as of late in order to focus on a long term personal project, and your work is a big inspiration for that direction!
I appreciate that, Andy. Typical is certainly not my thing.
Good luck.
Nice work, inspiring approach. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Alice.