argenti, berkeley, black and white, east bay, foto-r3, grain, oakland, protopan, san francisco, spain
2014/10/23
News: New premiums in Ferrania color reversal film resurrection
The above image, linked from the Kickstarter campaign, shows what 75% of the money raised will be paying for.
It seems wrong to post two Kickstarter posts in a row, but I’d be remiss if I did not talk about the resurrection of the 3M reversal film that quietly disappeared many years ago. There is a goal-met Kickstarter campaign for it, and the stretches keep getting better. I really like the approach they’re taking to creating a sustainable process for producing the film. And, let’s face it–there is not a whole lot of color reversal film being made, so I say take advantage of what’s new and help support further production of it. They have options in 35mm and 120 still, as well as Super 8mm and 16mm motion film, including some fun “I was here first” promotions in the form of display boxes and numbered films. You can even name a factory room after yourself! Read more…
News: CineStill Launches Kickstarter Campaign to Make 120 Film
I still have yet to shoot the two rolls of CineStill 35mm film that I bought from Freestyle Photo months ago (many months ago). I guess I haven’t been in the presence of anything dramatic enough in tungsten light to warrant burning a roll. Anyway, that’s my own problem and I’ll shut up about it. Read more…
A redwood forest, my Hasselblad, and Tri-X
Redwood in shadow. Hasselblad 500C/M, 80mm Planar, Tri-X, Diafine.
The Bay area of northern California is one of my favorite places to visit. The parks are awe-inspiring and easily accessible. The diversity of flora and fauna is wonderful to take in, especially with a child along for the hike. In fact, my son makes most of our hiking decisions, based on which birds of prey he wants to see. Read more…
One portrait of an author, four films
My dear friend Marcus Baram is coming out with a book shortly, and he asked me to take the obligatory author photo for the dustjacket. I was flattered of course and said “yes!” immediately. The book is Pieces of a Man, an autobiography of the brilliant Gil Scott-Heron.
As with any photography project of mine (including walking the dog), I practically had an anxiety attack over which cameras and films to use. I wanted to bring it all over to Marcus’s photogenic Brooklyn stoop on my bike, so my panicked “screw it, I’m taking everything!” didn’t ultimately work. I’m serious–I had the Hasselblad and three lenses, 40/80/150; two Leica M bodies and three lenses there: 25, 50, and 90; a shitload of film. And by that I mean way more film than I could shoot in a week, much less an hour. Read more…
TMZ – it’s not just for celebrity meltdowns
T-Max P3200, also known as TMZ (on the rebate, or edge of the film), is a film I only very occasionally love. Pushing Tri-X is usually a better solution for me when I’m shooting in low light. But every once in a while I look at the pile of TMZ I still have, shrug my shoulders, and let ‘er rip.
I took this with a Ricoh GR1 and developed it in Rodinal (my first time developing TMZ in Rodinal). It’s perfect.
Checking out APH09 with Tri-X and Plus-X
Black Slim Devil (22mm lens, fixed shutter) and Arista Premium 400 (Tri-X) developed in APH 09
Our friend at Cooking Film turned me on to Adox’s APH 09 developer via some forgotten post. Supposedly it’s the “old” formulation of Rodinal, thought it’s thought to have been tweaked a couple of years ago so that the old standard dilution of 1+40 is now 1+50. I assume that’s so you can reference contemporary Rodinal development times more easily, as the standards are in multiples of 25. Read more…
Reciprocity Redemption
Construction time again. Tri-X 4×5/320TXP @1000, Diafine, Orbitar 4×5 Wide Angle, Super-Angulon 1:8/65, 50 seconds, f27
Undaunted by the previous night’s debacle, I jumped into last night’s shoot with purpose. Tripod issues? Use a different camera (the very small Orbitar 4×5 Wide Angle). Film holders jiggling the camera? Use the Grafmatic. You get the idea. I wanted success, even if modest.
They say “write what you know,” and last night I shot what was in front of me, my five-year-old son building a helicopter and garage/garden/house with Lego bricks. Read more…
I am a (reciprocity) failure
This seems to be me when it comes to reciprocity failure. “La la la I’m not listening…”
The dinner table was cleared and we got down on the floor to put the finishing touches on various Lego constructions. When I told my 5-year-old son we would be putting them all back in the box before he went to bed he was aghast. “No!” he cried. I decided that he could keep the completed designs (various trucks and one building, a police department) intact, I would photograph them all, and we would put the rest of the bits away. We get a clean living room floor and Daddy gets to play with cameras. Read more…
Keeping track of 2+ rolls of film
I received a very kind flickr mail from a reader of this blog, asking for more details about my indexing system. I wrote a post a while back called Developing Good Habits that was about how I keep track of my shooting experiences. I left out an important part of my process that accounts for multiple rolls developed at the same time.
My secret weapon
Let’s say I’m loading a 5-roll Paterson tank. I have my reels, tank, unopened film cartridges, etc. in the changing bag or in the dark darkroom. I also have one of these nifty film boxes (see above). This particular one is a Fujichrome Professional Millennium 2000 case that I think I bought from Mijonju, who had filled it with Neopan 1600. Anyway, it’s not a great film case (somewhat fragile) but it’s perfect for this purpose:
- Pop open your first cartridge
- Put the empty cartridge into the first open position in the film box
- Load the film onto the reel
- Put the reel onto the post
- Repeat 4x
Now your tank is full and your film box is full. When you develop your film, as you take off the films to dry, the first one you pull off will correspond to the last film in the box. So you can hang up your films right-to-left, or you can reverse the order of the cassettes in the box, or you can just do the mental work and realize that first one off the reel is the last one you loaded.
This is what I started to do once I had a five-roll tank, and it works flawlessly.
Instead of buying an overpriced commemorative film box, just tape a bunch of empty film canisters together and put a bit of gaffer or duct tape on the front so you know which side is the front.
Do you have your own techniques for keeping track of 2+ rolls of film?
David Shoots Film 