Finally can start doing these monthly film dumps again now that I have a capable camera body to shoot with. I’ve been shooting with this expired Fuji Acros 100II black and white film for a few months now but just was never able to produce any good photos with it. I think the main issue was shooting with a very basic film camera that didn’t have any light-metering capabilities. Being that the film is 100 ISO, it needs a lot of light and I was always trying to shoot any and everywhere which wasn’t always in the brightest setting…

Recently Nana Kogawa got me a vintage ’80s Nikon F3HP camera and boy has it made a world of difference. I was able to manage light and have so many more adjustments to tinker with to finally create some photos that I was happy with. Still learning how to use the camera of course, particularly figuring out how to manual focus. As it turns out, the film wasn’t crap after all, it was just me, lol.

Here are some photos that I shot recently at various places I was existing in. If these are just the initial practice shots with this camera, I look forward to seeing what I can do once I get the hang out it. Still don’t know if I want to keep shooting black-and-white film though, but we shall see…

For those wondering about all the technical stuff:

Camera: Nikon F3HP w/Nikkor 28mm F2. (From the serial number, it looks like this camera was manufactured in 1982)
Film: Fuji ACROS 100II BW (Expired October of last year)
The Film itself was developed by Last Good Film Lab in Los Angeles, California

Chuy’s JDM Honda Integra Type R never really moves in its resting place inside my shop, but at the right time of day it always produces some pretty dramatic imagery…

The sun was setting that afternoon and the light coming through our back gate hit that Yokohama logo just right…

This was captured a couple days after I took delivery on our new Toyota GR86. Never owned a new car before so it was a bit surreal to have those keys in my hands. I decided to try to capture the moment but the moment came out blurry…

I think the GR86 will be a nice little adventure outside of what we normally do around here so I’m excited to eventually tear into it once the parts start rolling in…

The choice for a new project came down to either a brand new GR86 or an EK Civic chassis but we already got plenty of those around here so this seemed like the right move…

My 16×8 Volk TE37 wheel off of my Honda Pilot while I was changing the brake pads and rotors on a random weekend…

The ironic thing about this photo was that it was a rare sight to have all 4 Honda chassis’ parked together in yellow…but the result was colorless…

My friend Pie, who is quite the capable photographer himself…

The prime spot at the Brews Cruise meet was taken by a Porsche 964…

Kenneth Li from Wekfest bringing his own coffee to a car meet hosted by a coffee shop…

I realized from a friend that the Nikon F3HP has a waist-level view-finder so I played around with it on a quiet Sunday afternoon…

My rear Yokohama Advan TC4 with Exceed rear big brakes…

Detail shots always seem to look so interesting in black-and-white…

Love how the texture of the tire is translated onto film…

Robert Chew’s Integra Type R inside Unit B awaiting a new engine mount bracket before a B18C5 goes back in…

My good friend Kemritte actually bought a GR86 a couple weeks after us but he’s already started modding his. Not only that, he also took it to a drift event already and was sliding it around…

Ryan Yamamoto’s Yokohama Advan RGII wheels on his 2GS…

A view into the shop…

The Q45 has been collecting quite a bit of dust lately so I finally had it washed, charged the battery and put it back inside the shop…

I had a couple of shots left on this particular roll of film so I decided to bring it down to Mike Burroughs’ shop so I can get some shots of his K-swapped Ferrari…

It seemed like a random trip but he actually needed a part for his K24 that we had at the shop so I brought it down to him so he could finally get his car fired-up…

This thing is coming along amazing and he actually got it started for the first time ever a few hours after I left…

The thing about black-and-white film is that it’s not necessarily the easiest to work with, especially in low light, but with some practice, you can get some pretty dynamic photos…

I’ve already gone and put a new roll of Kodak Portra 400 color film in the Nikon F3HP so I doubt I’ll be shooting anymore BW stuff for a while. So far this camera has been a lot of fun so I’m excited to see how the Kodak film will look. That’s all for today. Thanks for looking!…