join me for a photowalk around munich and trying out my 617 camera handheld, no easy feat!
I decided to go for an extended walk with my Linhof Technorama 617S through some of the famous sites in Munich, I even opted for some shots handheld, which I have never properly done before. I had two rolls of film, Fomapan 100 and Ilford HP5 400 film. Here are the shots!
Setup shot of the grounds of Schloss Nymphenburg in the west of Munich
I really like how the final shot came out, strong contrast on Foma 100 film.
Setup shot with a Blimp in the background (also known as a ‘Pralluftschiff’ in German, translating to non rigid airship - pretty accurate!). Unfortunately it came round into the scene too quickly and I didn’t have time to compose for it in the final panoramic shot.
I always find it amazing that after Grand Central station in New York city, Munich has the highest number of train tracks going into a station (something like 32+). It is a pity I could not get the tripod higher than the bridge railings to make the shot less busy, but I still like the final composition.
Munich’s famous Eisbachwelle. I shot this handheld on Ilford HP5 and decided to remove the center filter (which usually takes 1.5-2 stops of exposure off) hence the corners are a bit dark as a result of some vignetting.
I prefer this second shot and love how much fits in the scene from the surfer coming back into the line on the left all the way to the crowd on the bridge on the right. A busy but exciting shot!
The cover shot of this blog.
The Chinese Tower beer garden in the English Garden.
My final shot a broad panorama shot in the English Garden, I love how many things are going on in this scene.
overall observations
I greatly enjoyed walking around Munich looking for panoramic shots, however this camera is certainly not incospicuous like the Hasselblad Xpan, this Linhof is a beast and basically impossible to hide. So for street photography and handheld it becomes a bit trickier. It can certainly be used with a tripod but similar to a large format camera it starts to attract a lot of attention. The only positive about this camera is that it is so wide that people on either end of the shot have absolutely no idea they are in the frame.
I think this camera will probably lend itself better to large landscape shots, but it is nice to challenge yourself every now and then and take it on a city tour.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed a sneak peak into some famous parts of Munich.
See you next time!
Neil
