anywhereSF

Day 34: February 3, 2014: Billy Goat Hill

Heading home around sunset today, I opted to stop at a park just off my usual commute route, Billy Goat Hill. You may know it as the one with the big rope swing. If you don’t know it as the one with the big rope swing, you should definitely go try the big rope swing.

No rope swing for me today, though. I was here for a few photos of the city (and the rope swing was in use). Normally, I would have chosen a different film for this scene, but I still had the Cinestill 800T in my camera, and was keen to test it in new conditions, so why not see what it can do here?

I kind of set myself up for failure on this shot: There’s really little justifiable reason to use a high speed film for a tripod-based long exposure, where the shutter speed doesn’t matter. Sure, I’ll occasionally go to 800ISO or higher on my digital camera to catch stars on a dark night, but getting clean photos at high ISO levels is really one of digital’s major advantages. With film, you’re just asking for the small details to disappear in a sea of grain, right?

Maybe not. Honestly, I’m pleasantly surprised with the way this came out. ‘Tis a bit grainy, but I’m overall not displeased with the look. Sure, zooming way in, the far off details aren’t as crisp as they might be from a digital camera or lower speed film, but I’m digging the colors and all of those little halos that I mentioned the other day.

(Canon EOS3 with Cinestill 800T)