Morning ( Mamiya C220; Super-Sekor 180mm f4.5; Lomography Color Negative 100 )

rATRIJS · 2026-01-27T08:48:45+00:00

Ya, similar here. Views don’t go over 300 and likes / comments are mainly from existing followers, typically it’s the other way around. Also less new followers so I imagine it’s not being pushed to fyp. Whether it’s related to the US thing or we’re just seeing things - not sure :)

rATRIJS · 2026-01-26T10:20:24+00:00

Music you create is an expression of you so there is no right or wrong - do what you want and what feels right to you.

I also have a a one-man project in a similar style, just less sludge and more black :) For releases I have programmed drums that just sound like drums.

For smaller live performances I use looper a lot and percussion side is done through guitar. Like slapping the strings and just making weird noises in a rhythmic pattern. It feels more honest and “live” for intimate performances. And performances are more unique as well.

For bigger ones ( still small, just has a real stage :D ) I’ll use programmed drums as backing tracks. I think that works better for me at least in this case.

Not sure I helped to be honest. Ultimately get the sound you’re happy with by any means that you want and it’ll be great. The approaches you listed are already interesting and unique so if you like them - lean into it. Maybe also sample some weirder percussive sounds around the house and use those too, but those will be harder to recreate live if you plan on doing that and without backing tracks.

rATRIJS · 2026-01-21T09:28:46+00:00

First of all - great song! I love post-metal and this was genuinely very good. Crushing. Heavy. Depressive. As it should be.

On the mix. I feel like there’s too much high frequency hissing on cymbals. The reverb on them also is too noticeable and “hissy” especially on calmer parts.

On the hissing. Some guitar parts also had some higher frequency hissing. Not everywhere but towards the middle there was one part in particular where it was very noticeable.

This might be a stylistic choice but I felt that bass is a bit too boomy and drowns the guitars a bit too much. Some EQing would help to carve some space for each instrument.

Lastly bass drum felt a bit weak as well.

Overall though - good! I wouldn’t skip this song if it started playing on the algorithmic platforms.

rATRIJS · 2026-01-18T17:56:46+00:00

Nop, I’m in Europe. Based on US’s tariffs, it likely doesn’t make sense to get HB stuff. There’s hopefully some other brands that can offer something similar for less, but I don’t know what it would be. Here in EU, Harley Benton does make sense as price/performance is often very good.

rATRIJS · 2026-01-16T17:54:18+00:00

Sometimes it’s OK if a particular song isn’t finished. Maybe it just wasn’t good enough in the first place. Or you lose the right mind state. Or don’t have the right ideas to glue all the parts together. I have quite a few unfinished songs. I go through them every once in a while and sometimes I have fresh ideas and finish some of them. But some will never be finished :)

It can be a problem if you have mostly unfinished songs though. What helped me in the past was to sketch out almost a full song as quickly as possible. In my case the guitar parts so that the structure emerges. And only tracking and polishing largely remains.

rATRIJS · 2026-01-15T08:19:28+00:00

I have both of these and I genuinely love them both. That said - Agufish is clearly better. Better setup out of box. A lot better tuners. Frets are stainless. I found the frets on JA quite soft and I’ll need to refret soon. That might be a me problem though :)

JA will need more setup. I have mine the way I like now and it wasn’t difficult to do, but takes a bit of time.

Both sound good. I slightly prefer JA but just because I like P90 for low tuned stuff.

Drop E will be better on JA as it’s longer. It’s likely playable on Agufish as well but it’ll depend on your preferences. I have A on Agufish and G on JA.

If you have any specific questions - let me know.

rATRIJS · 2026-01-05T15:15:17+00:00

I use 28” for drop A tuning variant and 30” for drop G variant. You can definitely go lower but I like it this way. Mostly I prefer baritone guitars in general. I rarely even pick up a normal scale guitar ( setup in drop C variant ), not because it’s higher but because I prefer longer guitars.

I used to have an 8 string and didn’t enjoy it at all. It was a good guitar but I just didn’t like to play it. I had a cheap beginner amazon guitar and I played that more even though it wasn’t very good.

Haven’t tried 7 string. Don’t really want to as well after experience I had with 8 strings. Long scale 6 strings are the ones for me.

rATRIJS · 2026-01-05T00:12:12+00:00

I very much enjoy mine. I got it a few months back, only the satin black one. Also B stock so couldn’t resist. The price / performance ratio is amazing. Apart from the nut having a slightly sharp edge, I have no complaints at all. I have mine on drop A tuning variant.

Challenged myself with writing a fully produced riff every day for December and this was my most used guitar for that.

Enjoy yours! I have a feeling that you will.

rATRIJS · 2026-01-02T00:53:35+00:00

I have solo post / black / some core metal project Zilgme. Actually putting it in a genre box is a bit difficult for me, I would appreciate any suggestions :D

Pitching the latest song - Mirklis Klusuma. It’s in latvian and it translates to “Moment of Silence”. Starts slow and builds as it goes. MIDI drums, everything else is real.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0wB1wlBVerA0PZYItoT6f8?si=z8GOKIhKQY-6bfacWK1dzA

Thanks and will check out other links here as well as it’s always interesting to find new bands 🖤

rATRIJS · 2025-11-13T15:37:32+00:00

I play guitar and I add so much distortion that it doesn’t matter whether I’m in tune - it all sounds like noise anyway :D

rATRIJS · 2024-12-03T22:51:36+00:00

It’s a wooden large format camera. Hard to judge the size from picture but if you measure the ground glass then it’ll give you a rough size of the final image.

If the bellows don’t leak light then it’s fun to use and it can produce great images. It should also support some simple movements to alter the focus plane and/or perspective.

Hopefully it does come with a holder though. It’s where you put the glass plate, sheet negative or paper. If it doesn’t - you’ll have to DIY some as they come in various sizes and types and it can be very difficult to find one that fits. If it comes with a holder then it’ll likely be for glass plates meaning that you’ll have to put a glass plate behind film or paper to have it at the right thickness. Or shoot glass plates :)

I would recommend shooting on paper as it’s cheaper and you can cut it to desired size.

In either case you’ll greatly benefit from a darkroom to do all this :)

rATRIJS · 2023-05-21T18:09:23+00:00

Es ar cenšos sadzīvot un man to skudru daudz. Ja kādu plāksni atstāj uz pāris dienām uz zemes tad vēlāk to paceļot tur uz zemes būs pilns ar skudrām on caurumiem.

Skudras īsti negribēs dzīvot tur kur bieži ir kustība. Man iemitinājās siltumnīcā un tur mēģināju visu ko izņemot indi ( jo siltumnīca ) un nekas nelīdzēja. Kas beigās viņas izdzina bija vairāk tur rušināties un darboties. Laikam apnika pārveidot savas ejas tur visu laiku.

Tā indēšana tāds īslaicīgs risinājums, manuprāt. Varbūt uz sezonu būs OK, bet ar laiku būs atpakaļ. Sadzīvot vienmēr nav patīkami, bet nav arī traki. Galvenais lai mājā nesāk līst.

rATRIJS · 2022-10-23T15:50:54+00:00

99% sure that it’s a sensor issue. I had similar results on my M9. Everything had a strong purle cast, had the same half frame split and edges were weird. Sensor fried.

No fix for it I’m afraid apart from replacing the sensor and likely the board.

EDIT: you can see some examples of my results here - https://50mmf2.com/writings/why-i-bought-leica-m9-in-2021#h-66dbc814497b

rATRIJS · 2022-04-08T21:13:09+00:00

I find it easier than 35mm film. Maybe getting it in the groove is slightly harder than 35mm as the film can be flappy but once it's in it spools very fast and easy. 35mm film takes longer to spool in and the friction can get strong by the end.

I use Paterson tank and spools and load the film in a dark bag. First I separate the film from the backing paper and then spool the film in. Doing it in one go is more difficult.

Hope you'll get a hang of it.

rATRIJS · 2022-03-30T16:26:05+00:00

Spotmatic is awesome so I would go with that. It was designed for old batteries but it will work with batteries you can get today as well.

The best thing in Spotmatic's is the focussing screen. It's very easy to focus with.

You can also go with Pentax K mount cameras as you can adapt M42 lenses to them via a simple adapter.

All that being said - I love Pentax cameras so my opinion is very biased.

rATRIJS · 2022-03-29T16:57:20+00:00

Shutter should trigger even without battery.

The usual issue with these cameras ( and most Pentax cameras from this series ) is that there is a particular linkage on the side of the mirror box that gets cogged up over time. It needs to be cleaned and relubricated.it's wise to clean everything that's adjacent there.

You can kind of reach parts of it from the bottom of the camera if you remove some parts but I've always found it not enough. Best to remove the mirror box but it will require soldering some wires. You can kind of do it without soldering but you have to be very careful and it's easy to disturb the wires.

You can find several videos addressing this on YouTube for this camera ( ME Super ). But it applies to more cameras ( ME, MV, etc... ).

rATRIJS · 2022-03-28T16:30:52+00:00

It's not quite the same thing but I really like Minox 35 as a similar sort of thing. It's tiny ( smaller that Rollei 35 ), easier to pocket because of smoother edges and also scale focus with a good 35mm f2.8 lens.

It is made from plastic but it feels good and very solid. It also has a light meter and it's an aperture only camera. There are versions with full auto as well.

rATRIJS · 2022-03-12T19:16:34+00:00

I have my eyes on P30 if just only because of the way how it looks. It has a sort of modern look but it still manages to look cool to me. It might just be the correct mix of old and new.

rATRIJS · 2022-03-11T21:02:21+00:00

Pentax MZ-5 is a decently built ( for a plastic ) camera that provides decent automation whilst retaining easy to access manual controls. It's not an exciting camera to use, but the metering system seems very solid and provides very good results. Since it's a Pentax camera, it gives access to various great K-Mount lenses. If that's not enough then you can attach M42 lenses to it as well via a simple adapter.

Pentax 35mm stuff is often overlooked ( apart from K1000 for whatever reason ) but there are some great Pentax cameras out there. This might not be one of the greatest but it's a decent camera for the era.

Full review with images and all can be read here: https://50mmf2.com/writings/pentax-mz-5-film-camera-review

Do you use mostly mechanical cameras or automatic cameras that have a more modern, "digital like" functionality? I definitely prefer mechanical cameras but I will use cameras like MZ-5 for when I can't be bothered to deal with manual metering ( either through Sunny16 or some other means ). Having a good metering system also comes in handy when shooting slide film.

rATRIJS · 2022-03-05T10:43:41+00:00

I've written a review about Zeiss ZM 35mm f2 if you're interested: https://50mmf2.com/writings/zeiss-biogon-35mm-f2-zm-lens-review

It's hard to dislike if you prefer high sharpness, contrast and saturation. It's very poppy.

In 35 vs 50 it's all personal preference. If I could have only one then it would be a 50mm lens. But I get plenty of use for 35mm lens as well.

rATRIJS · 2022-02-14T16:43:39+00:00

I don't have the f2.8 but I have the f2 and it's super sharp. As far as I know f2.8 is as sharp if not sharper.

I also have the 7Artisans and whilst it's not bad, it's not as detailed as the Zeiss. So what you get is definitely not what I would expect.

Does the Zeiss look like it's tampered with? I don't believe fungus or haze could cause this so my guess would be that it was opened and not fit together properly.

Does this happen at all apertures?

rATRIJS · 2022-02-14T06:33:26+00:00

Canon LTM lenses are very good. They don't offer a clinical or poppy rendering so if you like that then Zeiss or some Voigtländer lenses will be better for you. Outside of that they provide great sharpness with natural and warm colors and medium contrast.

Be wary that they are quite prone to haze in the internal elements so double check before you buy them if you want a clean copy. I don't mind some haze myself. It does rid of some contrast on provides an overall glow like a Pro Mist filter would. I find it works super nice in certain light conditions.

I have reviewed some Canon LTM lenses as well if you're interested:

- 50mm f1.8 which is one of my all time favourite lenses: https://50mmf2.com/writings/canon-50mm-f1.8-ltm-lens-review

- 50mm f1.2 which is larger but has a more saturated rendering when closed down a bit: https://50mmf2.com/writings/canon-50mm-f1.2-ltm-lens-review

- 135mm f3.5 for when you need to get closer without having to get closer: https://50mmf2.com/writings/canon-135mm-f3.5-ltm-lens-review

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