MUSINGS of a PHOTOGRAPHIC IDIOT

Goofy films

2010-03-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

Ever since I started back with analog photography, I've found myself an easy victim for the siren-song of different films and formats. While 35mm will always be my true love, there is nothing as addictive as the emulsion real estate available with larger and larger formats.

As one moves from 35mm, to medium format (and all of its various aspect ratios) to 4x5 and larger, the detail gets sharper and the grain less and less. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good plate of grain in the morning (and I've shot some pretty grainy films), but grain can be like HDR; whored up, is just whored-up!

Recently, I came across a film that is about as minimal in grain as you can get - and it was never even meant to be shot in a stills camera. This film, which goes by the polysyllabic name of "Eastman High Contrast Pan Intermediate" is a special order film for the movie industry.

According to Kodak (http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion/Products/Lab_And_Post_Production/Intermediate_Films/5369.htm), intermediate films are tuned to faithfully reproduce every nuance of the original - without loss of image quality. Blacks are black, whites white. Optimized for both the demands of digital and optical post, this is the ideal canvas to receive and reproduce the image as it was intended. The high Contrast Pan Intermediate film is for making silhouette mattes and traveling mattes for printer control.

The problem with using them n a stills camera is that they have about zero exposure latitude and when they said it had high contrast, they weren't kidding! Through several rolls (20 or so), I have determined that it can be shot at an in-camera ISO of between 25 (full sun) and 80 (overcast).

Development-wise, I like souping it in Diafine 3+3 because it brings out some gray tones and also because it is a very easy developer to use (and I am lazy). For very high contrast (no grays), stand development in Rodinal 1+200 for 60 minutes does the trick.

Here's an example of this film shot at an in-camera ISO of 80 and developed in Diafine 3+3:

Here's an example of this film shot at an in-camera ISO of 25 and developed in Rodinal 1+200 for 60 minutes:

As you can see, a world of difference.

I'll be shooting more of this film in the coming years (and I mean years - I have 2000 feet of the stuff), so stay tuned!

So you Wanna develop your own B&W film, eh?

2010-02-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

When people learn that I shoot , process and print film myself, they often say things like, "Oh, that must be hard!", or "Isn't that expensive?", or even, "I wish I had a darkroom."

Well, the truth is that it helps to be as clever or as good-looking as I am, but even dumb, ugly people can process their own film - and all you need is about $90 and a dark place to load the film into the developing cans.
There are two basic things you will need - equipment and chemicals.

Equipment - I would suggest this set:

This kit ($40.00) has everything you need to develop film - everything!

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/5056-Arista-Film-Processing-Kit?cat_id=1603

Chemistry - four things you need - developer, stop (optional - you can just use water), fixer and photoflow:

Developer - Kodak HC-110 (lasts forever and just dilute several milliliters in water for each batch - $15.00)
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1408988-Kodak-HC110-Film-Developer-Concentrate-to-make-2-Gallons

Stop - dilute for use - $6.00
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/11912-Arista-Indicator-Stop-Bath-makes-3-Gallons?cat_id=302

Fixer - dilute for use - $12.00
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/6200-Arista-Premium-Odorless-Liquid-Fixer-32-oz.-concentrate-to-make-2.5?cat_id=303

Photoflow ($9.00) - a drop diluted for each batch - this bottle will last your lifetime:
www.freestylephoto.biz/1464510-Kodak-Photo-Flo-200-16-oz.
You don't even need a changing bag - just a dark closet or bathroom to load the film into the cans.

Total material cost:

$82.00 - plus shipping.

The chemistry will let you process 50 or more rolls of film.

Procedure:

The most complicated thing about development is figuring out what developer to use and how long to develop with a given film.

The Massive Development Chart will give you the times and temperatures for pretty much any film and developer combination. You can check it out here:
http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

As for processing procedures, here are links to kodak's and Ilford's methodologies:

Kodak: www.kodak.com:80/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/...
Ilford: www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/200629163442455.pdf

Finally, people often ask how much chemistry do I need to develop a given amount of film?

Again, it depends on your film (amount and format) and developer. Developers are almost always used one-shot (that is, use it once and dump it).

HC-110 developer (the developer I linked to above), used in the "B" dilution requires 15ml of developer and 465 ml of water. That is enough for a two-reel tank (SS reels). A bottle of HC-110 is 463 ml - that works out to about 30 batches or 60 rolls of film.

The fixer is the thing that exhausts - one bottle does go a long way though (you recycle it until its exhausted - you can use hypocheck to test for exhaustion - a drop of the hypocheck, when added to the fixer will form a littlw white cloud when the fixer is exhausted). Here's the link for the hypocheck ($5.00): www.freestylephoto.biz/69800-Arista-Premium-Hypo-Check-.7....

Greetings . . .

2010-01-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

Right now you might be asking yourself, "What in god's holy hell am I doing looking at another blog, and this one clearly run by a photographic idiot?"

If you are not asking that question, then you really should be.

I'm serious.

There are no real reasons for its existence except to note various musings of mine.

They are bound to be witty and maybe even salient at times.

But mostly not.

Don't say you weren't warned.