70mm Film FUN up ahead

Currently Used 70mm Films by Nokton48, on Flickr

These are the films I have in good quantities to use for a while........

Kodak WL Surveillance Film dated early 2000s.

This film came to me from a Military Surplus place out in Utah. I bought a roll, tried it, and loaded up the truck. This is great film, I treat it like Old School Tri-X and develop in ADOX Borax MQ, which is a D76 derivitive. I can develop 50 rolls in 1000ml, then I toss it. Cheap Cheap to make and has pretty good keeping qualities. This combo provides BEEFY negatives with plenty of density. You could even up the ISO a little I'll wager, but I don't want to! Want thick negs with copious detail.....

Kodak 70mm Surveillance Test ADOX Borax MQ by Nokton48, on Flickr

Kodak 70mm Plus-X dated 1981

This film was given to me in a bunch of darkroom stuff. Low base fog (if any!) nothing like Old Plus-X! This stuff likes replenished Legacy Mic-X (Microdol-X derivitive) and provides luscious thick negs. Old School Old School.

Multigrade RC VC 70mm PX 1981 Microdol-X by Nokton48, on Flickr

Rollei 400s 70mm

This film responds well to Rodinal and Rollei Supergrain. Originally called Agfa Aviphot 200, I have a roll of that, I bought it fresh from a Aerial Mapping Company in Florida. It has morphed into Rollei 400s, German dealers have this film cheap-cheap-cheap. This brings your film costs way down, about three bucks for a 120 sized strip. I really try to order film during the winter months, so it dosen't cook in a hot delivery truck.

400s 70mm Supergrain Blad 30 Distagon 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr
 
Dan,

"Devil Christian" gave me a few Linhof CINE's that needed repair. I have mucho Linhof CINE's so I broke down these donated CINE's down to screws and parts.

I took notice that on some CINE's they have a spindle that has only one sproket as if for single perf, but the winder spool has dual sprockets.

I wonder since I have spare single sprocket spools if I could convert a CINE to single perf. I would be a bit more ginger advancing the film, but this could open up some possibilities.

Also "Snarky Joe" at the February Meet-Up gifted me a Linhof Kardan Color 45S. Snarky Joe bought this Kardan cheap for parts (basically the hood) and now I have the car-cuss.

Thing is that with Linhof's everything is kinda modular.

Also I secured from Devil Christian a spare frame that he canabilized from another Kardan that he started to rig out as a Linhof version of one of your "Handies." So of course I can do 4x5, 70mm, and 120 in 6x9, and 6x7. Also have a rare Linhof CINE that oddly has a mask for 645 (over 120 shots on 15 feet of 70mm). Linhof changed the gearing to accommodate the the format.

From last years Camera Beauty Pagent, Chris gifted a lot of bits and pieces, and for some unknown reason I got some free 4x5 HP5 and some odd Leica focusing helicoil for a future project.

Somehow the future is now.

Crazy idea is to convert the Kardan into a digitizing stand to rig up my SL2 as a scanner. Anyways I'm recycling lots of old stuff into useful gear.

Cal
 
Dan,

I loaded up the truck with this coil of 70mm sleeving I bought at B&H as a special order. The box is about a foot square and about 3 1/2 inches thick and holds 1000 feet of sleeving.

I think I'll hit a baseball card shop or an art store to find an suitable box.

Cal

Kenro Neg Sleeves fit 70mm No 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Kenro Neg Sleeves fit 70mm No 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

These Kenro sleeves fit 70mm!! :) I buy them from Ebay dealers in the UK. I went for the glassine paper ones.
 
Cal,

I have a one-off solid aluminum manufactured machined insert, that goes into the Hasselblad A70 film back. Basically it is a disc, rounded convexly inward around the outer lip, that holds a rubber O-ring. If "Devil Christian" CNC'ed a bunch of these, you're talking micro-business venture.


With this gizmo you can run unperfed 70mm big big big advantage.
 
Cal,

I have a one-off solid aluminum manufactured machined insert, that goes into the Hasselblad A70 film back. Basically it is a disc, rounded convexly inward around the outer lip, that holds a rubber O-ring. If "Devil Christian" CNC'ed a bunch of these, you're talking micro-business venture.


With this gizmo you can run unperfed 70mm big big big advantage.

Dan,

I'm going to pitch this towards Devil Christian. This is stuff that he does.

Also know that I want to expand this to Linhof CINE's. This could really open things up.

BTW I have a supply of O-rings in my lab. Basically one of every size.

Here at work I say, "If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn't be called research."

All my life I have worked with mucho clever people, At Grumman, at Northrop-Grumman, and at two national labs.

Not only is Christian clever, he is also stubborn. LOL.

"Snarky Joe" has a Blad A70 back I believe. If you would lend us the one off we can get this done, but it likely would be 3-D printed.

Phase 2 would to do the same for Linhof CINE's.

Cal
 
What I will need to do, is send you a Hasselblad A70, the gizmo so he can "prototype it" and a long length of cheap as dirt unperforated color negative film loaded into cassettes. Then let him play with it and understand it.

There was really a lot of interest in this earlier on.
 
What I will need to do, is send you a Hasselblad A70, the gizmo so he can "prototype it" and a long length of cheap as dirt unperforated color negative film loaded into cassettes. Then let him play with it and understand it.

There was really a lot of interest in this earlier on.

Dan,

Devil Christian is mucho stubborn.

I have a 1952 Linhof Tech 4/5 that use to be his. It features leather covering from back in the day when Linhof used real leather to cover their cameras. Today the leather has this patina of nearly 70 years or wear, and the camera as a relic looks amazing. Mucho mojo.

Originally he bought it as a car-cuss for "no-money" and because he's stubborn, and a clever devil he spent mucho time building this camera from parts he collected off of EBAY.

How crazy is that? Is it only a little obsessive?

Send me the back. Already in advance I kinda know Devil Christian will love this project. Also know that I'm a great salesman. LOL. Mucho annoying. LOL.

Cal
 
Dan,

I set the hook. I'm a great salesman. PM me if you need my home address. Don't forget to send the non-perf film. He wants to really know how it works and he mentioned to me that the hard part is the testing. He wants to know that what he creates will work and is durable.

Like I said, "He's stubborn." LOL.

Kinda funny how Robert Horse-A-Vac of "Shark Tank" fame had a show about being a good salesman. Pretty much he said being a good salesman helps you in anything you do, and it is a very good skill to have.

Key elements is being knowledgeable, being trust worthy, being personable, being a good communicator, and most of all having good social intelligence.

Interesting to note that while Christian is a "Clever Devil" he is also kinda shy and underspoken. In other words he is not a loud mouth like me. LOL.

Seems like I'm doing the PR for him.

Cal
 
I processed my first images from the Rollei 70mm this evening. Rodinal 1 + 50 20C/12.5 minutes. There are some nice looking photos and also a few issues I'll bear in mind in future. Firstly as has been pointed out the film is very thin indeed. No problems with cuts happily. But I managed to do something that has never happened to me before when I have loaded 2 x 120 rolls into a standard Paterson reel: I overlapped the two strips inserted to an extent. I'll probably avoid loading more than one piece a reel in future.

There are also some light leaks visible. Similar to what is commonly seen if your Hasselblad magazine has a defective dark slide slot seal. It's not the problem in this case because (a) I replaced the seal before loading the magazin 70, and I know how to change a Hassy light trap seal, having done more than a few and (b) it's visible on the other side of the negative than is the case with a faulty seal.

I'm pretty certain it didn't occur within the magazine. Probably through the supply cassette slot seal. I'd checked over all the cassette seals carefully and actually fine tuned the shape of the cassette bodies and the shape of the slot opening to ensure an even, snug fit of the velvet pieces either side of the slots. The one I chose for the supply cassette was one of the better cassettes I have and looked in good repair and light tight.

However at one point on Thursday when out shooting the magazine locked up the body and wouldn't permit it to fire. I knew it wasn't because the film had come adrift from the take up spool because I'd done that last time! I'd taped it securely to the spool this time. I ended up opening the mag as I'd taken only a couple of unimportant frames since last loading. It would appear the small lever which locks the magazine when it is out of film had stuck in the empty position. I did blow out some sort of fluff or debris from behind it before snipping off and re-attaching a new leader to the take up spool, after which, it worked properly. However I noticed the slot on the supply cassette did not appear to be as tight as it was when I previously examined it, at one end. I'm fairly sure the fogging happened at this time. On the plus side despite writing off a few exposed frames and having some frames fogged at the edge or even slightly into the image, there doesn't seem to be much sign of fogging due to light pipiing. It was an overcast day and I exposed the cassettes to light only when inserting the take up spool and fitting the cassettes to the insert.

The processed film strips are hanging up to dry overnight. I'll share some images in the next couple of days when I've had a chance to scan them. There are a few images that came through mostly or completely unscathed and which don't look too bad.
Cheers,
Brett
 
Some photos.

First, a bracket of three images, taken within a minute of each other.

EI 50:
49616754547_bd0566a674_b.jpg


EI 100:
49616757387_6f599357ce_b.jpg


EI 200:
49616504821_7bcc42dded_b.jpg



Exposure was set with an incident light reading of the shadows of the vehicle using my Minolta Auto Meter III at various EI, plus a half a stop additional exposure, (or nearest half a stop depending on how the Hasselblad lenses full shutter and half aperture aligned with the meter). Straight off the scanner, no sharpening. Scanned using my Epson V700 with film strips resting directly on the platen with Epson film area guide in place, using my own home made anti-Newton ring glass pieces to flatten the strips. Epson Scan auto exposure with manual correction of histogram sliders to prevent clipping.

Development was with modified Paterson reel and Paterson tank in some original Agfa Rodinal that has been factory sealed since I acquired it, and tightly capped with air expelled since being first opened several years ago. It's still clear and is a light grey/brown colour. 1:50 @ 20C/12.5 minutes, ten seconds inversion per minute, with plenty of rotation to guard against surge marks from the perfs.


There are some light leaks visible in some frames. Despite what I thought was painstaking attention to cassette condition, cleanliness and fine tuning the profile and fit of slots and end caps, I was disappointed to note the supply cassette slot at one end had a larger than desirable opening. Perhaps I didn't compress the cassette body enough as I was fitting th end cap, not sure. I've removed the loaded spool from that cassette, and installed it in another.

Here's one of the images edited, cleaned up and sharpened. I chose the EI 200 (even though I think Cal is on the right track and EI 50-80 may be the sweet spot) because edge fogging on that frame was slight and I liked its light best.

49616690992_84d05f5130_b.jpg


Some more comments to follow.
Cheers,
Brett
 
49616690992_84d05f5130_b.jpg




I think the lighting in the first two is a bit diffused for my taste. A bit more shadowing in the third one, I think it's the keeper. If you crop a few mils off to the extreme right, it will eliminate what I suspect is light piping going on. This film is super thin and Kodak designed those 70mm cartridges for fat thick old style emulsions. I load my A70 cassettes in my darkroom, under subdued semi dark conditions. Far away from sunlight.

Being a somewhat IR film also increases chances of fogging.
 
Some photos.

First, a bracket of three images, taken within a minute of each other.
EI 50:
EI 100:
EI 200:

Exposure was set with an incident light reading of the shadows of the vehicle using my Minolta Auto Meter III at various EI, plus a half a stop additional exposure, (or nearest half a stop depending on how the Hasselblad lenses full shutter and half aperture aligned with the meter). Straight off the scanner, no sharpening. Scanned using my Epson V700 with film strips resting directly on the platen with Epson film area guide in place, using my own home made anti-Newton ring glass pieces to flatten the strips. Epson Scan auto exposure with manual correction of histogram sliders to prevent clipping.

Development was with modified Paterson reel and Paterson tank in some original Agfa Rodinal that has been factory sealed since I acquired it, and tightly capped with air expelled since being first opened several years ago. It's still clear and is a light grey/brown colour. 1:50 @ 20C/12.5 minutes, ten seconds inversion per minute, with plenty of rotation to guard against surge marks from the perfs.

There are some light leaks visible in some frames. Despite what I thought was painstaking attention to cassette condition, cleanliness and fine tuning the profile and fit of slots and end caps, I was disappointed to note the supply cassette slot at one end had a larger than desirable opening. Perhaps I didn't compress the cassette body enough as I was fitting th end cap, not sure. I've removed the loaded spool from that cassette, and installed it in another.

Here's one of the images edited, cleaned up and sharpened. I chose the EI 200 (even though I think Cal is on the right track and EI 50-80 may be the sweet spot) because edge fogging on that frame was slight and I liked its light best.

Some more comments to follow.
Cheers,
Brett

Brett,

Very nice.

BTW my testing was performed over a summer, so it kinda coincides with Dan's observation of flatter lighting perhaps in your shots.

I got some light piping also, but mine was due to loading 120 outside in subdued light. Then I learned to load indoors under very dim conditions.

I would agree with Dan: a darkroom is best.

Cal
 
Thank you, Cal.
Another image from the same series. Incidentally, the subject is an Australian-made Holden FC Station Sedan (IE station wagon) dating from the late 1950s. It used a locally manufactured in line six cylinder 132cu engine.

49640043972_ae6ee37d39_b.jpg


I think the advice to load this film in a darkroom is sound. That said, the pattern of fogging repeats through various frames in about the same place and the shape of it more or less matches the opening I observed in one end of the supply cassette slot. So I think that, in this instance, it is good old-fashioned fogging that would have occurred when I had the mag lock up, and removed the cassette in the shade on an overcast afternoon. I did a couple of dozen photos at a classic car display on Saturday so am ready to develop again the next few days. It will be interesting to note to what extent if any these frames are light struck.

I've also spent quite some time examining some empty 70mm cassettes to get my head around their strengths and weaknesses as a design. I've already managed to improve the fit and tightness of end caps and slot openings. I need to test a couple with some of my old film, because it's possible the slots may actually be *too tight*, now. I'll investigate this, after I have removed the most recently exposed frames from the mag for development.
Cheers,
Brett
 
light leak

light leak

Hi Sarcophilus Harrisii, After my first experience with light leaks and light piping with 70mm film, I decided to do all my handling of 70mm film in total darkness. I load 70mm cassette and then A70 magazine without turning light on. When I have to unload magazine and load film for processing is done again in total darkness.
What I have seen on your first shots looks to me like traditional Hasselblad light leak @ dark slide opening. Maybe you can tape piece of black electrical tape over opening just to be sure?
Have great light!
Goran
 
Today I just finished hanging a thirty foot strip of unperforated 70mm EFKE PL100 that I bought long ago on a closeout from J&C. I ran the strip in stock Legacy Mic-X which I replenish. Development on a wire Kindermann 70mm reel, in the Kindermann Daylight 70mm tank. 18 minutes at 19 C ten seconds agitation per minute.

Negatives look good, exposed in a Beatty Coleman 70mm Transet Film Back, and it definately has an old school look to it. Negatives are fully detailed.

I still have most of a 100' roll of this film. My favorite in 120, now I can shoot in 220 and well well beyond! :)

Note: I have three more exposed 70mm cartridges to develop. One is Plus-X Aerographic

Stay tuned
 
This is a direct comparison with Rollei 400s 70mm vs Efke PL100 Microdol-X

400s 70mm Supergrain Blad 100 Planar 4 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Test roll (31 exposures) fresh 70mm Rollei 400s, processed in Rollei Supergrain. JOBO 120/220 reel modified to 70mm width by me,
JOBO Multitank 2 Agitated by hand. Hasselblad A70 mag, 100mm Zeiss T* 8x10 #2 RC Ultra Multigrade Dev
 
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