Film
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Developed my first roll today
Wow, two posts in one day. Go me.
I developed my first roll of film today. As I mentioned in a previous post, i’ve been thinking of trying out some black and white film developing for a while now. This week i got some gear and gave it a go.
I shot a roll on Agfa APX100 and developed it in Rodinal at 1:50 for 13 minutes, then used Ilford stop bath and fixer.
It was a pretty straightforward process, the hardest bit was starting, as I was worried about stuffing something up. In the end I did stuff something up, but it had nothing to do with the chemicals and timing etc. It was the fact that I stupidly hung my negatives to dry in a shower with a leaking head. So I got drips of water down the bottom of my strip of negatives. Some of the water marks dried out, but others didn’t. You always stuff up the shots you’re most interested in seeing don’t you… Well I do anyway.
The negatives that didn’t dry out are being re-soaked. Hopefully i can salvage some of them.
I was quite happy with the ones that did dry properly, so I scanned them in with my ancient scanner that magnifies grain and dissipates tonal range.
Here are a few shots that scanned ok.
They’re aren’t amazing, but I am more interested in seeing if I developed them correctly or not. I think they’re pretty close.
As you can tell in some of the shots, the light was incredibly harsh the day I took these…. One day I’ll be able to shoot in favourable light… One day.
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Test roll from my SP
Took the Olympus out the other day and shot a roll of C41 b&w I had lying around. The temperature was mid 30’s and not a cloud in the sky, so the light was REALLY harsh.
The SP functioned great. It’s a great camera to shoot with, really comfortable and easy to use. The only issue I had is that my light meter has bit of a mind of its own. It sometimes refuses to turn on when I take the camera out of its case. However when it decides to work it’s accurate.
This was predominately a test roll as I didn’t know if the camera would work. I didn’t even bother changing the light seals either, but they appear to be fine. The lens is super sharp and bokeh is nice and smooth. I have to get a proper film scanner now, I’m sick of scanning prints and getting results that don’t really reflect the quality of the negatives. Some of the shots turned out ok though I thought.
EDIT: 3 or 4 pics have been corrupted so have been removed and will be re-uploaded and posted shortly.
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Random Updates
Been shooting with the SP lately and its been terrific. Except for the fact that my light meter seems to be possessed! As in it’ll turn itself on or off depending on what it feels like. Luckily its been working most the times I’ve wanted it to. Thinking of taking it in for a CLA and maybe converting it to use the modern Alkaline batteries. Either that or get another one to use regularly, as I’ve become a little hesitant using my black SP as prices seem to sky-rocketing and I’d hate to loose it or drop it.
I’ve decided to start developing my own black and white film. Been thinking of it for a while now, and have finally been convinced by seeing a couple people I know get into it recently. I first learnt film developing and printing in high school and got some pretty impressive results, but I seem to of forgetting most of the details, so will have to relearn everything again. It’ll be fun though I hope! Think I’ll stick with Ilford chemicals and film at the moment, see how it goes, i forget what i used to use.
I’m going to need to invest in something that can scan film properly. My current film scanner is a flatbed scanner with film adapter but its useless. Results are really low res and overly grainy. So i have a few options; a better/newer flatbed film scanner which are quite cheap, or a dedicated film scanner which are relatively expensive. I’m really not sure what to go with yet.
Bought some Ilford XP2 Super last week. Been curious as to see how it looks with my Zuiko’s. I’ve only been using the Kodak BW400CN so far as it seems to be more common. Both are the same price though.
Really want to upgrade my 400D now. I want full frame, and something that can handle ISO noise better. Trying to find a second hand 5D, but nobody seems to be selling, everyone must be waiting for the replacement to come out first.
Why is photography expensive… Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t take up something like whistling instead…
Oh, Happy Easter! -
Circular Quay
I love my little 1 cent Olympus Trip!
I just got some photos back today that I took over the weekend, and I’m quite happy with them. One thing I’m not happy about though is my scanning of them, it’s quite poor, so I’m thinking of investing in a dedicated scanner or at least getting the lab to do it.Anyway, these were taken in and around Circular Quay on an extremely sunny day. The glare was insane, and I was pretty worried about how the photos would come out. Luckily they came out pretty good in most cases (better than the digital scan shows also), but I’d like to go back on a day that has some better light for photography. Here are some that I’ve scanned so far (still have half a roll to go).
EDIT: Some images have been corrupted so were removed from this post. Will re-upload them shortly.
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Bad Photo Labs
Lesson learnt. Don’t waste time with cheap and nasty photo labs.
All of this happened to me about a week or two ago, but I’ve only got around to writing about it now. I shot a few new rolls and thought I’d try out a little photo lab just a few hundred metres from where I live. I thought “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a local photo lab”.
HOW WRONG I WAS…
I dropped the film off, told them not to rush as I’d pick it up the next day. All seemed fine. Went in the next day to pay and receive my photos. As I was walking home I opened the packet up and started looking at my photos. ** First mistake – must always check photos before leaving store!
Looking at the photos I could tell immediately that thing just weren’t right.
With one of the rolls in particular I made a special note that I was experimenting with a few lighting effects etc and largely testing the camera. So asked them not to adjust low/high key photos for example. If something is dark, leave it dark. They said this was fine, no problem at all… Maybe I was speaking in another language because they totally ignored what I asked. When I got my photos back it seems as though the machine has tried to compensate automatically as a bunch of prints were completely off, like they’ve just pumped up the exposure compensation setting. Anyway, I don’t want to go in to any more detail, but basically I just wish if people couldn’t do something they just say it. I have absolutely no problem with that.Ok, not the end of the world right? I still have the negatives yeah?
Yes and No.
Yes as in, I do have the negatives. But no as in, they aren’t exactly “intact”.
You see, to go along with the terrible prints, I have some negatives that have been cut up collage style. The photo below is an example of what I mean.
You can see this one shot has been cut so about 1/4 is missing. Obviously I’m not going to pretend they’re ruined an amazing image but this is just one image out of a few I’ve noticed so far and I’m not happy. Honestly, I don’t know how they did this. maybe they asked the blind work experience kid to cut the negatives that day. Even still…
I don’t know what else to say beside the fact I’m never going back to this place again. I’m just glad I didn’t have anything particularly important on the film. A cautionary tale. Don’t make the same mistake as me!