Fun with Film: Ferrania P30 (Part 1- The Agfa Cadet A-8)

Roughly three years ago, I elected to jump aboard a Kickstarter "crowdfunding" effort for the first time, namely one to rescue invaluable film production equipment to enable the resumption of photographic film production in Italy, with an expected reward to me of snapping up a few rolls of E6 transparency film for my financial support.

Yesterday, I had my first chance to sample some of the wares of the down-scaled film production plant in Italy.

Though not the 120 format color transparency film I'd initially expected to be using as a "thank you gift" for my support, I was thrilled nonetheless to have the opportunity to shoot Ferrania's first public product since their small core of workers reinitiated their coating lines roughly six months ago.  This was my chance to shoot Ferrania P30.

P30 is based upon a classic cinema film formula used by legends such as Federico Fellini.  It purports to be "silver-rich" emulsion that can yield a classic cinematic look rich in tonality and contrast to deliver stunning images with strong black tones often absent from many contemporary emulsions. As a Kickstarter backer, I was able to pick up 5 rolls of the film at a modest discount on a pre-sale promotion.

Order fulfillment was nothing of the likes of Amazon's "Next Day Shipping" but this was to be expected, given the small staff of Ferrania still had a number of production and distribution challenges to iron out as they worked through the allotment of orders in this "Alpha" batch, which sold out in a matter of a couple of weeks.  And while waiting for this much anticipated film sometimes seemed to take an eternity, I was quite pleased to see the arrival of the box with my 5 rolls of Ferrania P30 enclosed.

I was also a bit panicked. With 5 rolls of scarce film and numerous cameras to select from in which to shoot this film, I was a bit overburdened with the task of choosing which cameras would be best to conduct my own bit of "testing" on this classic emulsion.

However, being ever a bit quirky with my ways, I couldn't resist the urge to do something a bit "unique" with some of my P30.  I was also interested in seeing some results from this film without having to blow through an entire 36-exposure roll before seeing the first shot.  I elected to "split" the first roll between two cameras, and took the rather unconventional option of spooling it onto 127 backing, for use in my Agfa Cadet A-8 camera.  

Yes, while others were using their limited allotment of this film in their finest machinery worth hundreds if not thousands of dollars, I was snapping off my first sample shots of this coveted film in a $10 box camera.  

Truth be told, it wasn't a bad idea.  Not only would I get a chance to run through the exposure and development process, while acquiring a few "lessons learned" prior to the full completion of the first roll, I'd have a chance to use one of my favorite cameras for "sprocket scans" and get some novel 35mm x 65mm exposures. Besides, the use of a 127 camera for Ferrania film had plenty of precedent, with Ferrania having produced both cameras and film in this format in their heyday. 

After going through the respooling process, firing off 8 shots on the film stock was a piece of cake. Though the mid-Atlantic was in the midst of a mid-Summer heat wave, my lunch hour in the Nation's Capital was one of sunny conditions.  I elected to shoot 6 of the first shots at lunch and save two for a detour on the way home, as intermittently cloudy skies and afternoon thunderstorms moved through the region.  My hope was to get some variance in the lighting conditions for this initial roll, given that this basic camera lacks even a diaphragm setting to stop the lens down to adjust exposure.

Developing the P30, I elected to start this first roll by trying HC-110 in a freshly mixed 1:63 dilution for 12 minutes with 15 seconds of gentle agitation every 2 minutes.  This process is somewhat contrary to Ferrania's recommendations for developing this film, in which they recommend a less dilute formula with near continuous agitation that is more consistent with cinema type development processes.  I noted that the acetate film stock was a bit thick and stiff and as a result, slightly challenging to get going on my steel development rolls.  Unlike many other films that leave a color cast in the developing solution after development, the developer poured out with a neutral cast.

The negatives that emerged after the final bath of Photo-flo seemed to be well exposed and had adequate contrast, a relief given the lack of exposure control available to me as I took the inaugural images.  The film dried to a fairly flat result that whose somewhat thick stock was easily loaded into my full width scanning tool.

The scans from this first batch however, are missing the desired snap that I've observed in some of the other results posted online, but still offered a good starting point to learn more about this film and its character, as well as to strategize some changes possible as I shoot and develop more of this film. Having these images as my first set have certainly given me a chance to think of how to better hone future shots on this film to get a more desired outcome.  

My first shot on Ferrania P30.  Looking past the sharpness missing from nearly every part of the frame, I'm a bit more disappointed to see a lack of deep black tones in the shrubbery. 

Fun with Film: Ultrafine Extreme 400

Choice can be a wonderful thing, even if the details of some choices can be troublesomely obscure. One need only look at Ultrafine Online's "Extreme 400" film in 35mm format to get a good example of this.

A private label film of uncertain origins, Ultrafine Extreme 400 is a film option available in 35mm format in both long and short rolls for a very reasonable price.  I was generously bequeathed a small number of these 12 shot rolls by my buddy and fellow camera buff Mark who features his collection at The Gas House, and have really come to like this film.

Questions linger, most notably "who makes this film?" One might presume it is Ilford Private label film, which may make sense.  As I seem to recall, a known Ilford product marketed as "Kentmere" has similar dot-matrix style film edge markings.  Still, I've tried Kentmere 100 before and found it didn't have quite the contrast that I've noticed in the Ultrafine product.

Below is a test roll, shot on the Darth Vader camera, the Konica Aiborg, showing this film in action in various lighting.  

In bright light, highlights can be hard to tame on the Ultrafine Extreme 400.  However, in this case, the result is a very nice glow to this swan at Hagerstown City Park. 

Fun with Film: Kodak Supra 100

The world of Color Negative Film has gotten to be a bit dull to me - not dull as in "unsaturated," but more so dull in that there are not a lot of fresh options when I care to see if I can try out a new palette. 

Fortunately, there are, at the moment, a number of expired film stocks still found today, under 15 years old, that can still produce good results.  While these films may not be readily available, or even consistent from roll to roll, they can at least make for a fun new shooting exercise to throw into a trusted camera to see what you get.

One such film is Kodak Supra 100, an emulsion that appears to have shown up on the market around 2000, just as the world of digital photography was about to take off.  The introduction of a slower 100 speed film during an era when compact point and shoot cameras (that tended to need faster speed films) had gained so much traction in the market is an interesting and refreshing thing to note.  I'd presume that this film was marketed towards serious amateurs using SLR cameras or similar equipment.  

Information on Supra's selling points today can be a tad scant given that many web pages contemporary with the period the film was sold, have since vanished into cyberspace.  It seems that this film's main strengths were a vivid color and fine grain in comparison to the Kodak Gold and Royal Gold products at the time.  Supra was discontinued in all speeds around 2003, and remaining stocks of the film appear sporadically on eBay and other sales outlets, often in quantities of 5 rolls or less.

I happened to snap up a small lot of expired film from an ebay auction that included one roll of Supra, and was curious to see what this film could do, though the most recent examples of the film I could find on the web were a bit too "Lomo" for my tastes.  I elected to set out close to home with this film loaded in my Exakta VX, swapping from the Domiplan 2.8 to the Primotar 3.5 lens, and then finishing the roll in the Minolta A5 in order to see what sort of color the latter camera might provide.   

At the onset of the roll, the Supra provides a look that certainly doesn't look like a roll of film that was likely 15 years old, offering up bright colors that embody the vivid morning on which I rambled about.  Grain increase is evident in the sky, but is by no means distracting. 

Fun with Film: Agfa 100 HDC

When it comes to color film, there have been Kodak loyalists, Fuji Loyalists, and those who just like shooting film regardless of who made it.  I'm certainly one who falls in the latter camp, but I've long admitted a particular fondness for Agfa color films.  I love Ultra 50, used to shoot a bit of my favorite portfolio shots on Portrait 160, and had also liked using their "general purpose" color films as well.

One of those films, not often found today, was Agfa 100 HDC.  It was a very clean and snappy film, and one that I tended to find more neutral than the warm tones of Kodak Gold or the cool hues of many Fuji stocks.  

I managed to come across a short sample roll of HDC not too long ago, and decided to give it another try.  To get as many images from the roll as I could, I spooled it onto my custom 828 backing and shot it in square format through the Bantam RF for which I had the 24x24mm square mask made.  Here is a look at some of the good and not so good from this roll.  

I was quite pleased at how this long expired film had held up over the decade and change since it was made.  Taken in late afternoon light, this image conveys a look that looks just like the scene taken.  The blue-green color of the street posts is actually the shade they are painted.

Fun with Film: Imation Chrome 100

One of the more interesting and encouraging bits of news that emerged a couple of years ago as I was getting back into film photography was the initiation of an effort to save machinery and restart production of transparency film by Ferrania in Italy.  Though the project has been fraught with a number of unforeseen challenges, it is moving forward at a better pace now, and is showing signs of emerging at some point hopefully within the year. 

As a result of this, the "Ferrania" name carries a significantly higher profile than it did during the 1990's onward, when it was largely a "private label" film maker that produced many "store brand" films until about 2007 or so, when its production lines shut down.  In addition, Ferrania produced branded film as well, but this typically was marketed under the "Scotch" and later "Imation" lineups. I took a lot of shots in the early 1990's on a private label "Seattlechrome" brand that I suspect may well have been made by Ferrania. 

While I've managed to find a decent amount of Ferrania color negative films over the past year under various labels over the past year, the slide film product that Ferrania now seeks to replicate for its new product had been pretty elusive in searches on ebay.  I HAD been able to find a single roll of Imation Chrome 100 early last Summer that I excitedly snapped up in hopes it would give me a vague idea of how the forthcoming film will look.  

I split the roll between my Ricoh 520M CDS and the Olympus OM-2, with shots on the former taken on a Maine trip, and shots on the latter taken locally.  I anticipated there may be an extreme amount of color shifting, and some loss of speed, so I rated it around ISO 80 and hoped for the best.  The results from this 12 year old film, while not pristine, were appreciably better than I'd feared they might be.  The film had a slight amount of grain, and some color shifting towards the blue end of the spectrum, but didn't look nearly as shifted as the 2008 vintage Ektrachrome I took along to Oregon in 2015.  Here are samples of 12 year old Imation Chrome with some degree of post processing...

Loaded first into the Ricoh 520M, I had a lovely day before me to see what the Imation Chrome would do.  The color rendering is exceptionally on the cold side, but contrast and detail remain adequate. 

Fun with Film: Polaroid Color Print 200

The world of online auctions will have you thinking quickly now and again, with too little time to really weigh out the value of a possible pickup.  Before you know it, you've bought something that seemed like a great deal in the moment but worry about having some sense of buyers remorse afterwards. 

Some of my camera acquisitions were snapped up in haste, and in spite of my follow up worries, have turned out to be favorites in my collection.  But these hastily made purchases don't always result in happy endings.  I've a nice little drawer of problem children that I'll have to document one day.

So when in looking about for film, I hit upon an auction ending within an hour for 22 12 shot rolls of 2002 vintage Polaroid Color 200 for about $16, I quickly piped in a bid and expected to be outbid. Instead, when the dust settled, I won the lot at opening bid.  Whodathunkit?!?

All told, once shipping was added in, I paid just over $1 a roll for this little stockpile of film. Now the concern weighing over we was whether I had bought a stock pile of junk! 

Packed in a box that proffers little in the way of marketing buzz, one wouldn't expect a vast amount of photographic character from shots taken on this film. 

Polaroid Color 200 was typically sold in 25 roll boxes, with each roll containing 12 exposures.  Its main purpose was to be able to quickly yield color images for businesses that needed photos. This might include realtors, insurance agents, or even press outlets.  With an emphasis on simply getting a representational image for practical purposes, Polaroid Color 200 lacks any of the traditional marketing buzz that typically surrounds color films.  There is no mention of vivid saturation, fine grain, or exceptional skin tones on the large box of this Polaroid film, but rather a no-nonsense "take it or leave it" box of film with a simple purpose in mind. 

Fun With Film: Foma Retropan 320 Soft

There is certainly enough evidence about to make the conclusion that film is not dead.  After a precipitous decline in the 2000's, the niche market that has resulted is seemingly stable by most accounts, and has by some measures seen some signs of growth.

While we may not see a new consumer film camera model released by a major film manufacturer for some time, if ever, there have been some recent introductions in the world of film stocks.  One of these is Foma Retropan 320 Soft, a film promoted to have fine grain and wide tonal ranges in order to evoke a retro look.  

Intrigued enough at the time I placed my last B&H order, I thought Retropan might be a nice film to have at my disposal when I wanted a softer and creamier look.  Though I never quite stumbled upon a day or scene that made me think "It's time to break out the Retropan!," I did eventually just elect that I simply wanted to give this film a try, so it was loaded into my Konica I for a little bit of fun testing in some late winter conditions.  

I exposed the film around box speed and developed using my typical process of stand developing in HC-110, something for which I can readily admit has only been modestly successful with Foma films.  My results begin to follow below...

Rather than creamy, I was surprised at how sharp this film was.  In addition, while I had read some issues regarding grain, I wasn't fully prepared for just how grainy these shots turned out.  

Surprisingly Solid Substitute! The Konica C35EF

I stood at the ready, estimated my focus, and fired my first shot with the Konica C35EF.  The needle had indictated an aperture of between f/5.6 and f/8, and the shutter had readily fired at my direction.  Since I was just a few minutes from home, this shot, and the ones to follow, were pretty much snap shots, and by no means critical; yet I still had my hopes they would turn out.  Still, this was a camera that, merely an hour earlier, seemed destined to be sidelined for a while, as my attention focused on more "elegant" members of my collection.

It was this adoration to one of these more revered cameras that actually forced this situation to begin with. I had just received a trio of 12 exposure rolls of expired 100 speed "mystery film" from Ultra Fine. While they surmised it to be Konica film, the labeling strongly suggested it was of Ferrania/Imation origins.  There was no better way to find out than to shoot a roll of it, develop the results, and check the film rebate markings. It seemed a perfect creative diversion to couple with errands on a pleasant October afternoon.

My chosen vessel for this bit of photographic sleuthing was an elegantly designed and well loved folding compact camera of German origin.  I had been waiting for a suitable chance to test out this camera, and this seemed ideal. I threaded the mystery film into the take up spool, and needed to only take up the slack and advance the film to the first frame to get this show on the road. However, no amount of winding or other manipulation would make the take up spool spin on the German mini. My little project suddenly needed an alternative device upon which to expose frames. Sure I could go with any number of other tried and tested members of the collection, but the thought of shooting this guess-focused camera had me looking forward to a new shooting experience that I was now deprived of.  With my time limited, I recalled the Konica C35EF, which I brought up from the basement, loaded up with the film, and set out to shoot.

The late 70's/early 80's look of the Konica C35 EF (known as the "Pikkari" in Japan) looks right at home in an office setting of the same era.  All we need to complete the picture is a dot matrix printer!

How Low Can You Go? Mr Brown Low ISO 6 Speed Film from the Film Photography Project

Reading some of my postings, it doesn't take too long to realize that I'm a fan of slow speed films.  I rarely shoot 400 speed film, and actually like to stick below 100 if at all possible.  

Still, there are times when even Rollei RPX 25 is too fast for me: when I'd like to open up the lens fully on a sunlit day and get some fun shots with limited depth of field.  I've managed to try a few super slow speed films with speeds near 1 and 3, but there are times when these are admittedly just a bit too slow.  I lamented that there was nothing in that middle ground between 6 and 12 speed.  Sure I could shoot 25 speed film with a polarizer to slow it down, but shooting with a quaint old camera that would require hand-holding an SLR-designed polarizer in front of the lens is admittedly something of a hassle.

So when I saw the Film Photography Project offering an affordable limited edition film with a speed of ISO 6, I just HAD to snap some up to try!  

Mr. Brown Low ISO film comes in a 24 exposure roll for just under $3.00 a roll.  It is listed as being a thin based, high contrast film that develops well in most typical developers.  I had no idea just what to expect from this film, but elected to put it to work in one of my favorite "adapted" cameras: my Kodak Bantam RF with the 24mm square mask.  

I took the camera along with me on a couple of errands, stopping for photos at the Rose Hill Manor in Frederick, as well as a few other locations around town.  I kept my expectations minimal, and they were exceeded.  GREATLY exceeded! 

Fun with Film: Portra 160 Slowed Down

Sometimes a limit of choices is a good thing. 

I've never been terribly good with making quick purchasing decisions when confronted with something unpredictable, particularly that I hate going out to spend money for something only to not find it and having to settle for an alternative. 

Such was the case a few weeks ago, when, as I made my way up to the counter of my favorite Brick and Mortar photo store to buy a couple of rolls of Ektar 100 in 120, one of which I'd hoped to cut down to 127 to shoot through my Bell and Howell Electric Eye camera.  Turns out, they were out of Ektar.  

"I've got Portra 160" stated the shop owner.  Hmm, I figured this trip was a total bust since I try to shoot brighly colored landscapes instead of portraits with restrained saturation, but since time was ticking for me to do my photo run, and since I always like to support my local stores, I elected to pick up a couple of rolls to give it a try anyway.

However, the Bell and Howell is not geared for the speed of 160 and tips the scales at about ISO 80. I knew this going in, but hoped that the one stop speed increase wouldn't present too much of an issue. Upon reading a bit of reviews of Portra, I surprised to see that more than a few people said they had their best results with color saturation with the stuff at speeds between 50 and 100. As it turned out, my gamble might actually pay off.

I cut down the roll of 127 film, loaded up the Bell and Howell and went out shooting during lunch on a photo perfect day of lightly cloudy blue skies.  I didn't spend a great deal of time composing, but rather sought out colorful scenes to put this "saturated Portra" idea to the test.  Upon developing and scanning, I was delighted to see that Portra is indeed a great and colorful film when given a stop of extra exposure.

Under blue skies but shadows, Portra delivered a nice palette of colors, but its real saturated strengths emerged...

$20, 21 Rolls. A Color Celebration!

The term "do-it-yourselfer" is pretty much a common part of conversational parlance these days, fueled to a large degree by the abundance of home improvement stores complemented by television networks devoted to featuring all of some of their programming to the "DIY" concepts.  Since moving a year ago, my weekend life has involved a oft-frustratingly expanding "Honeydo" list that only seems to grow as each project is finally completed. 

Given this, the thought of processing my own film had never quite appealed to me.  That was until I began to look at what professional developing was costing me.  Despite being a quirky guy with a camera, I'm also a frugal guy with a family, and thus, I began to develop my own black and white film, which proved to be a particularly simple enough exercise once I adapted my methods to something that works pretty readily around my sometimes involved home life. I'd figured that self-processing of black and white film would be as far as I'd venture, and that was fine, given that I'd expected color to be far less forgiving to my methods.

And then, as luck would have it, this all changed.

While perusing the Film Photography Project store, I stumbled upon an offer so good, I simply couldn't resist considering it.  For the measly sum of $19.99, I could get a Unicolor type color processing kit, in addition to 2 rolls of Vision 50T film.  I had just been considering picking up a couple of rolls of the film as it was, but it seemed the Rem Jet backing made it a tough film for which to find processing.  Not only would this address the need to find processing for such film, but it also tossed in the film I would have bought anyway as a bonus!

After a modest amount of online investigation into home processing with such a kit, in which pretty much every review stated that color processing with this kit was actually far easier than initially expected, and also reading that the stated yield of "8 rolls" from this kit had a great deal of elasticity if rolls were processed within two weeks of mixing, I figured that this small investment was certainly worth a try.  And I also figured that if I planned out my batches smartly. I could do as others had testified, and process at least 16 rolls of film from this 8 roll kit.

Without going into great detail of the process (there are already many resources that very capably detail the procedure far better than I could), I can unquestionably say that this was one of the best investments I've ever made.  Processing the first batch was both exciting and terrifying, but once I saw results from this, I managed to calm down to make slight revisions on future batches to make the process a bit more controlled and predictable.  

The ability to process so much color film so cheaply will enable me to really pick up the pace on postings, and has already enabled me to do things that I'd have been hesitant to do otherwise.  I've managed to test several "new" cameras, do a wider variety of things with many of my existing favorite cameras, try different film brands in a variety of ways, and of course do a quirky thing or two that I'd have likely passed up otherwise if it wasn't so affordable and accessible to process color film.  You'll begin to see some of the results of this vast experiment in the coming week.  

And in the meantime, it is only fitting that I provide some sample images from each roll so that you can see just a small fraction of what is to come!  For now, I'm keeping the film and camera of each a thinly veiled secret until I post the accompanying posts of content. 

Roll 1 

Fun with Film: Konica Impresa 50

Sometimes it is just nice to take things slow. 

Whenever I get the chance, I like to take things slow.  I have tended to actively seek out slower speed films in the hopes of getting results with minimal grain, the chance to limit depth of field in many instances, and in the case of color films, the hopeful opportunity to optimize color saturation and fidelity.

The problem is that in recent years, there are VERY few slow speed (under ISO 100) films available, particularly in color.  Velvia 50 and Cinestill 50D are about the entirety of the selection of slow speed color films available at present.  The slight silver lining to this is that slower speed films generally tend to remain more stable than their faster brethren.  I had fantastic luck with my first try with some expired Agfa Ultra 50, so I began looking for other slow speed color films with which to try my hand. Ultimately, I found a small quantity of some 15 year old Konica Impresa 50 that piqued my interest, and I picked up a few rolls on the hopes that it had remained stable. 

I'd never had the chance to try Impresa 50 when it was available in the late 1990's.  Not only was I shooting mostly color slides at the time, but I also never recall seeing it available at retail, despite reading of its introduction in photo magazines at the time.  I didn't recall what its main selling point was when I snapped up the film, and hoped for results with color saturation a notch above the typical 100 speed films. 

As it turns out, unlike Ultra 50 or Velvia 50, color saturation was not the hallmark of Impresa 50. Instead, it's selling point was a fine grain.  Still, I cut a roll down to "extended 828" size for some test shots in some sunny  Maine weather and hoped to see some decent results, though I had no idea what to expect.

I sent the film off for negative developing only, and the results that returned looked really pretty thin, which dashed most of my hopes for some really snappy color from the long-discontinued film.  Still, the film scanned with no real issues, aside from some severe color shifting towards the cooler end of the spectrum.  Sometimes I feel like I'd have more luck flying a biplane than steering a color shifted image towards neutrality, but I tried my best. Even the "auto" feature on Photoshop had challenges with the scans, so I didn't feel so bad.  The final results, good, and not so much, are laid out below. 

 My first image from Impresa 50 shows a definite lack of contrast and color, and the promoted fine grain seems to be lacking as well.

Fun with Film: Vari Interesting, Varicath Vari•X from Labeauratoire

Experimentation can be a wonderful thing in the world of film photography.  Were it not for such experimentation of decades and centuries ago, the hobby itself would not even exist.  

I've been in something of an experimental phase as of late, and while I'm not quite to the point of making my own film yet (though I've admittedly considered it) or doing wet plate prints or the like, I have been finding more interest in black and white photography using "unconventional" films that may render a slightly more vintage or distressed look.

I did some browsing at Lance Rothstein's Labeauratoire, and discovered a number of such films that could facilitate this hunger, and tried out a few.  One of these, which I was admittedly on the fence about getting until moments before check out was a film called Vari•X, a low speed film that was originally intended for cineradiography use, but which was purported to give a particularly great look for photographic applications.  I inevitably took the plunge, and loaded the film into a late 1950's Kodak Retinette to see just what it could accomplish.

The results that came back after processing were decidedly delightful.  A bit of staining marked the images at random points, while the top and bottom borders had a pleasing vintage vignetting to them. The rendition and contrast were particularly snappy and grain was quite fine yet struck a great balance of tonality.  The low speed allowing for limited depth of field helped round out the look of the images.

Below are a number of my results from this fun film.  It should go without saying that I am picking up some more of this fun film!

 I started out my photographic journey with this film on the Battlefields of Antietam near Sharpsburg, MD.  The film immediately impressed me on its return with its rich and striking tonality.

Fun with Film: [kromiǝm] 500

Those like myself who really enjoy shooting analog color slides have little in the way of options as 2016 starts off.  At present, three emulsions are being made by Fuji, while one other by Agfa is reportedly being discontinued.  Meanwhile, delays in the Ferrania project to restart the Ferraniachrome 100 emulsion mean that this product is not ready for consumption.  Expired stocks are growing increasingly limited, and competition on auction sites can mean paying a scary premium for Ektachrome.  Fortunately, there are a few other options, one of which is called [kromiǝm] 500!

An Autographic Experiment - Part 3 - Using 116 Film in a 116 Camera

My love affair with my Autographic 1A had seemed to have plateaued.  Once envisioned as a cheap (only $7.19) camera that would enable me to shoot occasional "supersized" landscape photos on 120 film, my actual results, initially promising, were getting progressively worse, and after another set of washed out results in Film Fun Folio #19, I had begun to question whether I needed to simply relegate this elegant old camera to a shelf display.  Besides, if I wanted large transparencies, the smaller 1A paled in comparison to the 3A to provide such goodies. 

But being the master of last chances that I am, I gave the venerable old Autographic one last grace period to prove to me that it could find value as an active member of my collection. This was helped no doubt by a lucky lowball bid that landed me a roll of long expired Verichrome Pan film in the 1A's native 116 film format.  And with this, I figured, it was time to do one more "Autographic Experiment"

Though I had heard of good results from using long expired Verichrome Pan, the truth was that results could still be hit and miss, largely in relation to how well the film had been stored.  This roll expired in the mid-1970's: not a "Spring Chicken" but not as ancient as some rolls that people were shooting with success.  I loaded up the Autographic and began to flesh out ideas for shooting subjects.  I was not about to simply fire off these 8 shots on just anything.  Rather, I would try to bias my subjects to those of a historical nature, and potentially see if this old film would give me some successful tries of "Nostalgraphy."

I had been discovering the wealth of Civil War era history near where I live, so it seemed this camera and film would eventually get an assignment to capture some battlefield sites.  For now though, with a loaded camera and an itchy shutter finger, I set my sights on a lady.  I had a lunch date, and her name was "Aggie." 

The "Black Aggie" statue is the subject of a decades old legend involving a curse.  An unauthorized copy of a similar figure called "grief," this statue once adorned a cemetery plot in Druid Ridge Cemetery outside of my hometown of Baltimore, MD.  The origin of this supposed curse vary, and its effects include stories of women made infertile, a man losing his arm, and night time visitors reporting Aggie's deep set eyes glowing in the darkness.  The monument was removed from its site in 1967.

I had recently been reminded of this legend, and had just discovered that Aggie had been relocated to a courtyard just a 20 minute walk from my work.  So off I went to memorialize this legend on film, using a camera that wasn't much younger than the memorial itself. Unfortunately, the lighting in the courtyard on a lightly overcast day was pretty drab for the ISO 50 at which I was rating the film, so the nominal shutter speeds available of 1/25 and 1/50 were a stretch.  In addition, I'd neglected to bring a tripod this day, so I had to do some particular improvisation on the fly, letting my Olympus Pen digital double as a prop as I tried to frame Aggie in the dim "Brilliant Finder."  I fired off a pair of shots and expected to use the rest on some of the Civil War sites in Central Maryland in the coming weeks.

Fun with Film: Film X by Washi in E6 Chemistry

From the Lomography Site:

If you believe that life is best captured in color, then give Washi Film X a try. This panchromatic negative mask-less color film delivers high saturation, crystal clarity and an overall warm tone. Originally designed for road traffic surveillance, this emulsion yields a distinct texture to give your photographs beaming with character. What’s more, you can also process it as a slide film for even more vibrant hues!

Imagine a 400 speed color film that you could elect to process either as a color negative for printing, or in E6 chemistry as a vibrant transparency with amazing color.  This is pretty much what is claimed of Washi-X, a new film offered by Lomography.

The name derives from a hand made Japanese paper, and indeed the purveyors of Washi-X are actually trying to summon the spirit of hand making paper in another of their products, Film Washi, an ISO 25 medium made in small batches for the analog market.  This French made product is certainly unique in its nature and made with a great degree of pride.

But what of their Washi-X product?  Is this some miracle product made from scratch that might forever change the dynamic of analogue photography?  Is it even possible to make color film from scratch with any degree of consistency?  Is it possible to make a version with a Kodachrome palette? Can I get "less filling" and "tastes great?"

Packaging of Film X is admittedly pretty slick, with a sleeve bundled by a label rather than the typical plastic film can. 

How Low Can You Go? Kodak 5222 Film

One of the defining characteristics of a photographic image is "film speed," an attribute, since carried forward to the digital world, to describe the sensitivity of a film or digital sensor to light.  Higher "ISO" speeds of a film or sensor setting allow for faster shutter speeds and narrower apertures to freeze action and increase depth of field to better guarantee focus.

Most digital cameras now START at ISO 200 on the low end, and many promote usability at ISO ratings of 25600 or higher.  This is quite a change from even the recent past of both film and digital photography, where ISO 100 was generally considered "baseline" with ratings of ISO 800 or 1600 considered to be the extreme high end.  It is now typical for a digital camera user to routinely shoot in ISO400 or ISO800 in broad daylight.

Recently however, I had the opportunity to experiment with a film that was extreme in the opposite direction from the typical starting range of digital ISO ratings.  Not half the speed of 200 at 100. Not half the speed of 100 at 50.  Not half the speed of 50 at 25.  Not half the speed of 25 at 12.  Not half the speed of 12 at 6.  Not half the speed of 6 at 3.  But about half the speed of that ISO, at a rating of ISO 1.6, about 7 stops slower than ISO 200.  

The film is a repackaged product of the Film Photography Project, using Kodak stock 2254 low speed duplicating film packaged into 35mm cassettes.  Though the original film is not typically intended for camera use, there is certainly nothing prohibiting its use in the world at large, and the availability of it in 35mm rolls allows one to use it creatively.

What purposes might one use such a super slow color negative film?  A few things come to mind. First, use of really slow film allows for shooting in full sun at wide open apertures, particularly when shooting older film cameras whose fastest shutter speeds are typically in the range of 1/250 to 1/1000. An f/2 lens can be shot at about 1/100 of a second wide open, allowing daylight photos taken with minimal depth of field and enabling one to see the lens' bokeh characteristics.

As well, one can also stop the lens down to smaller apertures like f/16 in daylight or overcast and take exposures of several seconds to deliberately blur subjects, or to make them vanish almost entirely, leaving only a transparent smear.  It's all part of the fun of photography, and something I wanted to try, so I did, and here are my results.

One use of such a slow speed film: taking shots under full sun wide open to get the most use of aperture.  Here, a Schneider lens with a wide open aperture of f/1.9 provides very shallow depth of field in this view.

Same Scene - Four Cameras, Four Films

On my (now not too) recent trip westward to Oregon, I made it a point that I would ensure that I would aim to have one scene that I would shoot with every color film camera at my disposal at the time.  As it was, I wound up holding off using my last shot on two of these cameras to ensure that I could perform such an experiment.

Finally, on the afternoon of June 20, at a stop called Corbett's View, overlooking the Columbia River Gorge, I took the opportunity to snap away to get results that I could compare.  The samples, already featured in several of the Film Folio features, are shown below

Zeiss Ikonta A 521, Agfa Rollei Crossbird 200 Film

Agfa Billy Record I, Expired Kodak Ektachrome 200 scanned with Color Restoration. 

Welta/Rodenstock Citonette, Provia 100F.

Balda Lisette, Velvia 50.

Overall, light leaks aside, there is a lot of differences in how this same scene was rendered on four different cameras and films.  I thought I'd have a clear "winner" in the batch, but I can't say that I do.  Nor can I say that one of these completely fails in its rendering.  It is a very interesting example of how the same scene can be given a remarkably differing appearance based largely on the film.  

And as we head into colder weather, I'm certainly glad to have these vestiges of a trip west in warmer temperatures! 

Big Quirk, Small Format: The Praktica FX3

A few film photographers had asked me, "Why don't you give 35mm a try?"  And I had been repeatedly shelving the idea.

Perhaps I just needed a gateway to something other than 120.

After a period of some fairly cheap camera acquisitions, and a feeling of overwhelming contentedness with the 120 format, I'd begun a new period of complacency.  I'd felt that my stable of oddball medium format film equipment was pretty much more than I'd ever need, and really didn't feel the need to expand upon it any further by acquiring any more cameras of any format.  As well, I didn't see where most of the offerings in 35mm allowed me anything new in the way of shooting experience that I did not already have either in 120 or in digital. However, I was open to the idea of trying 35mm if I were to find a very affordable camera that offered something interesting in its shooting experience.

Interestingly enough, I found such a camera, and it was right in the curio cabinet in my living room.

Say "Hello" to the Praktica FX3:

Film Fun Folio #10: Seagull 4A-103 and Rollei Retro 80S

Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film.  Enjoy the trip! 

Feature #10:

Camera: ca. 1993 Seagull 4A-103 6x6 120 twin lens reflex camera

Film: Rollei Retro 80S

Locale: Central Maryland

You never know where you might get a tip about photography.  It can come in the most unexpected of places.  Somewhere above the badlands of South Dakota, a lady sitting next to me on a Portland bound Alaska Airlines flight took notice as I began to fill out the header information on the "Exposure Note Sheets" attached to some of my folding cameras, and began to tell me of an analog photography store in the far northeastern section of Portland called "Blue Moon Camera and Machine."  Intrigued, I checked out their website and found that they actually had a film in stock that I'd been curious to try, but had always seen as being out of stock at online outlets, or only available in a 5-pack: Rollei Retro 80S.  The film is a bit of a pricey one compared to other B/W film stocks, including even Rollei RPX25, but the curiosity to have a chance to try this film won out, and I made my way past this fascinating store during my stay in the Portland area to pick up a roll.  It was not until I got back east that I actually elected to use this film, opting to try it on the very camera that got me hooked back into film photography, the Seagull 4A-103. Not only did I think that the film would work well with the Seagull's tendency for softness at the frame edges, but I was admittedly missing the TLR shooting experience.

1 - f/5.6 1/300 - Okay, I now know not to trust the Seagull with the position of the START band on this type of film, as this exposure didn't even make it onto the film itself, but the backing paper in advance of the film. I don't even recall of what I took a photo. 

2 - Washington, DC - f/5.6 1/300 - When I saw even just the negative for this first shot, I was amazed at the lack of grain and sharpness.  I'm just as impressed after scanning.  This Rollei film is off to a great start!