Clee Hill in the Fog / 3rd roll with the Xpan II  

By Hamish Gill

If you’ve a keen eye, you might be wondering what happened to the second roll, I posted my first and now I’m in the third. Well if your really interested, you can see them on my Flickr. Some ok shots, but nothing particularly mind blowing. As such, I thought I’d skip to roll three where I have a few things to report, and hopefully some slightly more interesting shots.

The second roll, broadly speaking went quite well. Initial worries I had about the light meter are gone, I was of course just being a bit shit. Where the second roll went ok, the shitness returned for roll three, though this time I do have an adequate excuse. The biggest issue with this camera is a dicky rangefinder. It need vertically re-aligning, as at the moment it’s way, way out which can make for some slightly difficult focusing. I’d not really had a problem up until this point, since I’ve had time to think about what I’m doing, and have often just zone focused. For this third roll though I tried to use the rangefinder a bit more. Unfortunately it turns out its damned freezing on top of Clee Hill in January, and hurrying to get out of the cold does nothing for your results with a slightly wonky rangefinder. 

Clee Hill in the fog

Clee hill is a odd place, I’ve not really explored the extent of the abandoned works up there, I’m not even sure what it used to be; a quarry I think. Whatever it is, it’s quite erie in the fog. I’ve been up there before, funnily enough, also with a panoramic camera, the Minolta riva pano. It was damned cold then too, though not a patch on the other day. The other day was the sort of weather where when you take your hands out your pockets they go numb almost instantly. Not my favourite weather by a margin, but, needs must, and driving past me and James couldn’t resist stopping to take a few shots.

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Mostly ok, a few near misses with focusing. It’s these two shots are possibly the two that represent the most of my disappointment though.

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

Clee Hill - Xpan, HP5 + 2

I am keep to get to grips with portraiture with this camera, the aspect ratio lends itself to some very interesting compositions I think. These are two I would have been more than happy with… and to be fair, I still am… Just would have been nice if I’d not missed the focus. Ah well, I should just probably get that rangefinder calibrated.

Despite the continued bumpy start, I’m still really enjoying this camera … It’s providing me with every bit of the challenge and enjoyment I was hoping for!

Cheers

Hamish

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About The Author

By Hamish Gill
I started taking photos at the age of 9. Since then I've taken photos for a hobby, sold cameras for a living, and for a little more than decade I've been a professional photographer and, of course, weekly contributor to 35mmc.
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Comments

Huss Hardan on Clee Hill in the Fog / 3rd roll with the Xpan II  

Comment posted: 13/02/2017

Hamish

Adjusting the rf in the Xpan is incredibly easy. No joking. I did mine myself in about 15 minutes, and about 10 of those was removing the loctite on the adjuster. I had never done anything like this before, so it's not like I'm an expert. But it is this easy. Use the moon (or something really really far away) as your infinity point.

https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/xpan-rangefinder-adjustment.119602/

Big fan, long time listener, first time caller etc etc
And user of a TX1 and TX2 (amongst others, ahem..)

Best regards
Huss
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Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 13/02/2017

Awesome - I had someone do it for me in the end, but thats a great tip cheers!

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Alan on Clee Hill in the Fog / 3rd roll with the Xpan II  

Comment posted: 12/02/2016

I had a xpan 1 which needed adjustment of the rangefinder (horizontal, over infinity and little verticle). While I was in HK, I went to a hasselblad dealer to enquire about it. Unfortunately they said it would probably have to be sent back to Hasselblad to be properly repaired and that xpan rf was hard to maintain. They were able to calibrate quite well in the end without the need to send to hasselblad (horizontal), enough to be useful without being perfect. I don't know about the xpan ii, but it might be the same in being annoying ti calibrate.
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Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 12/02/2016

I've spoken to the chap I usually use, he's not worried at all, it's just a case of me getting around to sending it now.

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Daniel F on Clee Hill in the Fog / 3rd roll with the Xpan II  

Comment posted: 27/01/2016

I'd love to try one out but it seems difficult framing anything with this beast. I bet beautiful things could be made with this camera but unless the subject is perfect for these framelines, anything else just doesn't look right.
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John Lockwood on Clee Hill in the Fog / 3rd roll with the Xpan II  

Comment posted: 26/01/2016

"If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right"~ old adage. Since this film camera will be used thoughtfully, not spontaneously, I suggest an incident meter. With it, you could at least rest assured there's nothing wrong with the shutter or aperture function. If an incident meter yields consistent results (which is easily verified by an analog contact sheet) you have a great camera!
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Hamish Gill replied:

Comment posted: 26/01/2016

I'm not too worried about metering, I'm happy without a meter for the most part now. The issue the first time round was a reliance on the inbuilt meter not getting it wrong.

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