Back in the Game

[Bingley]

Nice to know another Bessa R photographer in action!
robert

Nice to know another Diafine user in action!

+1 to Cal's comments on Diafine. I also shoot Tri-X at 800 and develop in Diafine (except that I use 4+4, rather than 3+3).

Looking forward to your results!

 

[Darthfeeble]

"..to commit photography." I love that.

 

[Roger Hicks]

If you have a lot of experience you can sort out negatives on a light table and print them without making any test strips.
. . .

Maybe you can, but I've met very few other competent printers who could; at least, not all that often.

Quote from my wife (a very good printer) on your view: "Of course you can. They just won't be very good prints."

Quote from Bob Carlos Clarke (in conversation with my wife): "You just go on re-printing until the last print you made wasn't as good as the one before. Then you know you've made the best print you can."

Cheers,

R.

 

[raydm6]

Good luck, always enjoy your posts and welcome back.

 

[bmattock]

Shot and processed the film. Drying now. Tomorrow I'll scan.

 

[bmattock]

Here are the scans. Unedited jpegs from Vuescan.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsksFNCut

Not horrible. Film clearly still good I think. Might have a shutter problem with my Bessa R. Note the uneven exposure top to bottom. The Bessa has a vertical metal shutter.

Anyway, comments welcome.

 

[farlymac]

Maybe it was just weather related. Have you shot it in the cold very much before? I was thinking it was the fact that most of the shots were done under a canopy, and you just had less light in the upper areas.

Good looking photos of an interesting event.

PF

 

[bmattock]

Maybe it was just weather related. Have you shot it in the cold very much before? I was thinking it was the fact that most of the shots were done under a canopy, and you just had less light in the upper areas.

Good looking photos of an interesting event.

PF

I haven't used this camera at all since 2007 or so, and I lived in NC before that, so no cold.

I don't think it was the canopy though. Notice the exposure on the portrait format shots. Seems the bottom of the shutter is dragging?

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. It's going to take awhile to get my eye back, but at least I'm back at it.

 

[FrankS]

Given the type of shutter it has, I don't think dragging is possible, or at least far less likely than a shutter made up of curtains on rollers.

 

[FrankS]

. .

 

[bmattock]

Given the type of shutter it has, I don't think dragging is possible, or at least far less likely than a shutter made up of curtains on rollers.

Could be, but something is going on with the shutter, yes?

 

[fdarnell]

Did you get the ERA 100 from Freestyle? I had a brick of that a while back that I sold off. Kind of hard to find now but maybe extinct. It's a lot like FP4 but a little thin in the shadows I found. ISO 80 or 64 fixes it. Found it to be a lot less contrasty that Acros but not as full toned as Agfapan 100.

 

[bmattock]

Did you get the ERA 100 from Freestyle? I had a brick of that a while back that I sold off. Kind of hard to find now but maybe extinct. It's a lot like FP4 but a little thin in the shadows I found. ISO 80 or 64 fixes it. Found it to be a lot less contrasty that Acros but not as full toned as Agfapan 100.

I imported 400 rolls of it directly from the manufacturer. I emailed them recently but they did not respond. It think they may be gone.

 

[FrankS]

I see darker at the top, lighter at the bottom, but it could be explained by the lighting. Try a pic of an evenly illuminated scene to be sure.

 

[bmattock]

I see darker at the top, lighter at the bottom, but it could be explained by the lighting. Try a pic of an evenly illuminated scene to be sure.

2016-01-10-0109 by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr

Notice when I turned the camera sideways, the left becomes dark and the is lighter? That's why I am thinking shutter problem.

 

[Pherdinand]

Here are the scans. Unedited jpegs from Vuescan.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsksFNCut

Not horrible. Film clearly still good I think. Might have a shutter problem with my Bessa R. Note the uneven exposure top to bottom. The Bessa has a vertical metal shutter.

Anyway, comments welcome.

Some nice shots there, however if i were you (which i am not!) i would allow those whites to go ...white 🙂 would give more brilliance to the ice, at least on my screen.

 

[bmattock]

Some nice shots there, however if i were you (which i am not!) i would allow those whites to go ...white 🙂 would give more brilliance to the ice, at least on my screen.

I did not process the scans at all - these are jpeg files right out of the scanner. Vuescan also gave me TIF files to work with, so I will be doing some editing. I just wanted to share how the film looked before I started working on it.

Thanks for the kind words and suggestions!

 

[Calzone]

If you have a lot of experience you can sort out negatives on a light table and print them without making any test strips.

If you like Tri-X (400) in Diafine E.I. 800 maybe try Kodak 5222 Double-X as well at E.I. 640.

Our price for Tri-X (400) 135-36 is Eur. 5,25 and bulk 30,5m/100ft Eur. 140,- so then an XX reel 122m/400ft is not a bad idea.

On the other hand: Fomapan and Rollei is relative cheap: Eur. 3,25 resp. Eur. 4,25. About Fuji Acros 100 135-36: Eur. 6,75. So you see big differences in film prices. 🙂

BTW Euro versus $ is 1: 1,1 at the moment.

F,

You are correct. With mucho experience inverting tonality and evaluating B&W negatives is not that hard. With color negatives for me its a different story.

I am keen on Kodak 5222 with Diafine. I think making the commitment to buying 800 foot cans has taken me back while I have other films in the freezer yet, like Acros that I paid $1.89 a roll. I will likely be buying my first 800 foot can later this year.

Cal

 

[marcr1230]

yum yum - look what came yesterday:

 

[FrankS]

2016-01-10-0109 by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr

Notice when I turned the camera sideways, the left becomes dark and the is lighter? That's why I am thinking shutter problem.

True, that!