I'm in love! So, what just happened?

River Dog

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I could never get my head around colour that much... until today, when I loaded up my newest acquisition, the Rolleiflex 2.8E, with Kodak Ektar 100 and went out for the golden hour before sunset. This is also my first 120 colour film developed at home.

I read somewhere that the film in the tank can be pre-washed with warm water to get the temperature up. This may work with some films, but when I poured it out, the water was dark green and I nearly gave up on the whole roll. I have no idea if it made any difference, but I am well pleased that I carried on.

I am so in love with this 1956 camera that I am thinking of selling all my others (except the pocketable Olympus XA) because I am not sure if I will ever want to use them again. Ektar film and the Zeiss lens give a cinematic quality I just could not achieve with digital.

Another upside is that I was stopped a couple of times by young women asking about the camera :). There are a lot of hipster students in this town.

This is another level for me and your comments on this combination would be most welcome.

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Nice results !
Color has a reputation of being much more sensitive to time and temp than B&W
I'm impressed with the shots, Images are sharp , colors great and if the camera attracts women? That's like a trifecta
 
The green you saw was most likely an antihalation dye that Kodak added to the film. It will wash out during a pre-soak or during the development process. A bit unsettling, at first, to see the green, but it's perfectly normal.

Jim B.
 
I know what you mean! The Rolleis are fantastic as is color film...I constantly go back and forth between which I prefer. Looks like you got some great shots and keep it up!
 
This is also my first 120 colour film developed at home.

I read somewhere that the film in the tank can be pre-washed with warm water to get the temperature up. This may work with some films, but when I poured it out, the water was dark green and I nearly gave up on the whole roll. I have no idea if it made any difference, but I am well pleased that I carried on.

I suspect the most difference will be on future rolls from the dilution of the developer with residual pre-wash water. I'm about 20 rolls into a liter of mini-lab C41 (Tetenal ECOJET) that I've been replenishing. 20 dilutions with pre-wash residue would be throwing me way off in concentration. I warm my tank by putting it in the tray of tempering bath water for the other chemicals.

Glad you're enjoying it. I just started colour developing myself last fall. Can't believe I waited so long.

UGGH! I'm looking winsomely at your weather, we're still snowbound this year.
 
And some say that "Film is Dead"...Well, if that is true you just brought it back to Life with those shots...To say very nice photos would not be enough to do them justice...
I bought some Ektar for the Yashicamat 124...I need to shoot some now...
 
Awesome results River Dog! I'm waiting for my c41 processing equipment now... Going to try my hand a developing 120. can't wait!!!

Nice work.
 
Lovely photos ... and I have to say that Ektar is one colour film that very much has it's own look IMO.

Thanks for posting ... I may shoot some MF colour soon I think! :D
 
It appears that you've had an epiphany of sorts. Wonderful shots and I do see some of the "cine" effect that you mention. Thought you might like this link to a shooter on DPReview who uses some cine lenses...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1038&message=38043938

Those are gorgeous, thanks! I was a filmmaker until last year, when I got a Canon 550D for the 24fps video with primes. Then I found I was enjoying taking stills again. So I guess that is why I still shoot for the shallowest DOF I can get away with, and why I love Zeiss so much.
 
which exxtar model and zeiss lens do you have. Your photos are really nice with typical 3D zeiss look. I did not know you could get that from old zeiss lenses too.
 
which exxtar model and zeiss lens do you have. Your photos are really nice with typical 3D zeiss look. I did not know you could get that from old zeiss lenses too.

It's not an Exacta, it's a Rolleiflex 2.8E TLR with Zeiss Planar lens and Kodak Ektar film.
 
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The green you saw was most likely an antihalation dye that Kodak added to the film. It will wash out during a pre-soak or during the development process. A bit unsettling, at first, to see the green, but it's perfectly normal.

Jim B.

Thanks for the reassurance. I'll leave it out next time.
 
Great work and very nice colors! What color dev kit do you use? Cost? How do you keep the temperature? I think I'd like to try this some time.
 
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