Continuing my photographic journey around the Bavarian landscapes, this post sees me tour the wonderful Eibsee lake with some special underwater film photography and amazing views with medium format Ekachrome film - not to be missed!
The Eibsee lake, sitting right under the tallest mountain in Germany (Zugspitze standing at just over 2,900m) is said to be the most beautiful lake in Germany. After seeing it in the light I saw on this day, I would tend to agree. I had visiting the Eibsee before on two occasions, both of which I went up the Zugspitze (once via the cable car and once on the cog wheel train) and both of which it was winter and had been snowing. The winter presents a completely different view to what you see in the summer. Whilst some of the amazing green and turquoise colours are visible in the winter, this is nothing like what you can see on a bright summer’s day.
Sitting at 943m above sea level, the Eibsee has a glacial history, although it is not particularly deep (c.28m), compared to, for example, the Konigssee (192m deep). It covers an area of 1,796 hectares and has 8 islands, all of which make for some excellent photographic compositions.
A bit more about the camera gear
I’ve recently been taking out my Linhof 4x5 camera on hikes across the Bavarian Alps, although for this trip I decided I would take a break from lugging the heavy equipment around with me. Funnily enough, the main route around the lake is a pretty flat 7.5km walk, so I could have easily brought it all with me. That being said, I didn’t want to have to stop for ages each time to setup everything up and as such opted for my Hasselblad setup (80mm & 150mm lens) and I planned to shoot this handheld. In hindsight, and given we were arriving early, a tripod would probably have made sense to bring along too.
More importantly, I was trying out my newly acquired Nikonos camera, with its exceptional 35mm lens. I recently picked this up after convincing myself that water level shots of the Bavarian Alps were a must for this blog. The Nikonos is a fully waterproof film camera, pioneered by Nikon in the 60’s in conjunction with the famous Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It went through various iterations from v1 to v5 (also known as Nikonos V, the version I acquired). This camera is absolutely worth a gear review (and I keep on saying I will revive those again), so I will cover it in more detail in future; for now you can read more about this camera’s history here. I was super excited to try this camera out, in particular some underwater shots, and I can say this camera (and lens) do not disappoint!
A bit more about the photos
The plan was simple: arrive just after sunrise (allowing the sun to get some height in the sky and provide some nice early lighting), go find some fun places to swim, take photographs, repeat. I had forgotten how popular this spot is, so the parking lot already had quite a few cars in it when we arrived.
Film wise, I opted for a roll of Kodak Portra 400 for the Nikonos. I figured the legendary 35mm lens deserved a decent film to start with. I was also advised that ISO 400 film would be best (light drops off very, very quickly underwater). For my Hasselblad I had also had a roll of Kodak Portra 400 and a roll of Kodak Ektachrome, very kindly gifted to me by a photography friend (and fellow analogue nut). As I decided to forgo the tripod on this trip, I ended up using Portra 400 for the early morning shots as Ektachrome (being both ISO 100 and slide film) deserves and requires lots of light (and usually a tripod).
As always, these shots are clickable for full screen viewing (do yourself a favour and click on them!).
The benefit of arriving early is that you get treated to some wonderful sunrise lighting. Shot on my Hasselblad 501c with Kodak Portra 400 film.
I really like the stillness in this shot. I’m also super impressed by how good the 35mm lens on the Nikonos camera is in “out of the water” shots (or sometimes described as “in the air”, which makes me laugh).
I absolutely love the lighting in this shot. Part of me is annoyed I did not take this using a tripod, but I still like the composition of this shot.
More early morning goodness with the 35mm Nikonos lens.
There is nothing special about this composition, I purposely shot it to see how the Nikonos lens would manage with high dynamic range: quite well is the answer I think!
I like the green leaves in this shot. Kodak Portra 400 never disappoints.
I nearly chose this as my cover shot, probably one of my favourite shots of the day.
I’m trying not to fill this post with the same shot from different angles! In this shot I was thinking about the different colour gradients between the water all the way up to the bright sky. Shot on the Nikonos camera.
Water level shot, where the Nikonos is more in its natural environment.
I love the colours in this shot.
A really nice bright shot taken at water level. There are picturesque islands dotted all over this lake.
Dan agrees with the quality of shots in the post!
(obviously shot on the Nikonos camera - actually my first truly underwater shot!)
I love the blend of colours in this shot.
(however, I suspect some colour correction is probably called for, nevermind this time…)
I didn’t realise the front of the lens was wet (as it had just been underwater!) and this was the result, and I love it! I don’t mind sun flare in shots, although some people are really against it. Makes for a fun photo if you ask me.
A rare shot of my infront of the camera rather than behind it.
Probably one of the best locations on the lake to take that postcard shot.
Two lone paddle boarders enjoying the lake.
Similar shot to the one above, but this time shot with my Hasselblad 501c and 150mm lens on Kodak Ektachrome film.
This is the original shot, with the blog cover post being a cropped version of this.
Playing around with water level shots, fun!
It took a few attempts to get this shot, and I’m glad we persevered!
No colour correction required here - straight out of negative shot!
Shot from the other side of the lake (which has less interesting views I must say).
I like the sharpness of the water level shot though.
It’s hard to get the right composition at water level. I’m very impressed with the sharpness of this lens though.
I managed to grab this shot as the cable car made its way up the mountain. Shot on Kodak Ektachrome.
You can see how steep the final incline is, whisking passengers 2,000m up to the highest point in Germany, standing at just over 2,900m (also shot on Kodak Ektachrome).
Overall observations
The Eibsee in Bavaria probably is the most beautiful and picturesque lake in Germany. It is probably also the busiest, so thankfully we arrived just after sunrise and were not overrun by people. As always, my modus operandi is to always arrive at sunrise and leave around lunchtime, that way you get the best lighting and for the most part the place is yours to enjoy. The lake and surrounding mountains, including the Zugspitze, are an easy day trip from Munich.
I was really impressed by the 35mm Nikons lens, aswell as the actual camera. I had conducted extensive research before buying the camera (I’m talking about PhD level research here, as any camera obsessed person would know!) and had read about the accolades of this lens. Its operation is very different to any other lens as the aperture and focus rings are on the side of the lens. Its hyperfocal distance focusing was easy to use as I have other cameras that behave in this way, although I’ve read that some people find this very hard to get used to. Thankfully the previous owner of this camera kept it in excellent condition, so I had no issues with its usability underwater. These cameras are known to require extensive maintenance to ensure everything is water tight. Thankfully I am not a scuba diver, and the most I will be doing underwater is silly shots of people diving into lakes. I appreciate the build of this camera though and how it can be used in any environment. Apparently photojournalists covering the Vietnam war favoured it over other Leica or Nikon cameras as it would stand up to any kind of weather beating. That may all be photo folklore, and probably a topic for a gear review post.
I had not used my Hasselblad camera for a while, and it was a joy to use it, as always. I probably should have brought a tripod with me, but it was quite nice to have such a “light” setup, compared to my previous outings with the Linhof Technika '4x5’ “beast”. Kodak Portra (120 & 35mm) film performed exceedingly well as usual. I really enjoyed the shots I got from my Kodak Ektachrome film, although it is a pity I used it towards the end of the trip, where I had less inspiration to take shots. That being said, I still have a couple of killer shots I am quite proud of (the post cover being one of them).
So there you have it, an enjoyable 7.5km walk around one of the most beautiful lakes in Germany, including some fun underwater photography!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed taking the photos!
I have quite a backlog of negatives that are waiting to be scanned, so many more posts coming very shortly - see you next time!
Neil
