David Shoots Film

Like a 100-year old negative I found at the bottom of a drawer. Montauk beach, Adox Ortho 25, ATM 49, Crown Graphic, 127mm Optar.

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In a previous post I documented a trip to the freezing beach with a Crown Graphic and some 4×5 film. I had issues with the Tri-X I shot (particularly with the shutter); but using the ortho film was a complete disaster.

Montauk beach, Adox Ortho 25, ATM 49, Crown Graphic, 127mm Optar.

In short, I underexposed it by about 4 stops by thinking too quickly, not double-checking my completely backward calculation, and not double-checking with a meter (which I thought I did not need). My scene was in the direct sun, so I thought at f/16, I would shoot at 1/25, which (and here’s why I screwed up) equalled f/32 at 1/100–should have been 1/5 on that shutter. Anyway, I couldn’t find a suitable recipe for pushing this ortho film (the only reason a sane person would push it would be by accident, like I did), so I made up a recipe, which did not work well. Atomal (ATM) 49 1:8 for 1 hour; 30 seconds initial agitation and a few inversions at the half-hour mark. I chose Atomal because I had just mixed up a batch to develop the Tri-X sheets and because I had been planning to use the Atomal if I had exposed the ortho correctly.

Montauk beach, Adox Ortho 25, ATM 49, Crown Graphic, 127mm Optar.

I think there’s great potential for these scenes with this film, regardless of the current outcome. I look forward to shooting it again.

Montauk beach, Adox Ortho 25, ATM 49, Crown Graphic, 127mm Optar.

Montauk beach, Adox Ortho 25, ATM 49, Crown Graphic, 127mm Optar.

Better luck (i.e. better pay attention) next time!