Photography is something I've recently started exploring. As a way to be creative, as a way to be technical, and maybe even as a way to actually remember things for once.

film

When shooting film, I use a Nikon F with a Nikkor-S Auto 1:1.2 f=55mm lens. I received both the camera and the lens, likely manufactured around 1969, as a hand-me-down. The light meter in the attached Photomic FTn viewfinder is miscalibrated (even with zinc-air batteries), so I use either a light meter app on my phone or the sunny-16 heuristic.

The size and weight of this setup, together with the lack of a light meter, sometimes makes taking photos with the Nikon F a rather slow affair for a beginner like me. The limitations of film -- 36 exposures, lack of immediate feedback -- give every frame weight, make every composition an intentional choice... and every failure a more painful lesson.

On my first roll, more than half of my shots were a blurry mess. An expensive lesson in shutter speeds on a camera with no in-body stabilization.

digital

When traveling, dealing with tricky lighting, or when a 55mm focal length doesn't feel quite right, I use a Fujifilm X-S10. I bought it (used) in 2023 and with it learned the very basics of the exposure triangle. It's comfortable, small, and I'll probably never outgrow it.

editing

I use darktable for raw development and basic film photo editing. For small tasks (especially those that need to be performed in bulk) I use ImageMagick. On occasion I also use gimp.

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