bmattock
Veteran
As I've been discussing recently, I obtained an elderly "Kodacraft" developing tank and "apron" insert for 35mm film. Unlike a Nikor tank and steel reels, or a plastic tank and ratcheting plastic reels, this 'apron' is kind of like a roll of film itself - it is a length of clear plastic that is slightly longer than a 36-exposure roll of film, and it has serrations along both edges (where the sprocket holes would be on film). If you unroll the apron and then stick the leader of your B&W film in there, you can let the apron roll back up (it tends to roll up if left to do what it wants) and the film will be inside of the apron but held slightly away from actual physical contact by the serrations along the edges of the apron. Someone here described it as being like the edges of ravioli - very apt!
I had never used anything quite like that, so I was eager to try it.
Plastic ratcheting reels are nice, but they have to be absolutely dry or they work badly, and I have had problems even then using some sorts of film in them - specifically, they seem not to like Forte films, which are very curly lengthwise.
I also use stainless steel reels in Nikor tanks, but they take some practice to be able to load in the dark and then roll the film on without getting it bunched up and having frames that stick together and don't get processed correctly (or at all). Some say the SS reels are perfect and swear by them, some swear at them instead. I think they're ok, but fussy. Obviously, the more experience one has with them, the better I think they would get at it, and therefore, the better they would like them.
So I decided to give this ancient Kodacraft a try on Sunday last. I went out to our local "Whirligig Festival" here in Wilson and shot a couple of rolls of film, then I came home and processed them, dried, and scanned them.
The city of Wilson was kind enough to put a few of them online, and they are here:
http://www.wilsonnc.org/whirligig/news.asp?id=164
I shot two rolls of film - Fortepan 100 36 exposure and Agfa APX 100 24 exposure. I processed them both in Kodak D-76 1:1. The Fortepan got 10 1/2 minutes at 68 degrees F, and the APX got 9 minutes, as I recall.
I used my Bessa R and a couple of different lenses. A. Schacht 35mm f3.5 (my Canon is on loan at the moment), Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 85mm f1.9, and a Steinheil Culminar 135mm f4.5 (with hood, and the dang thing still flares). Almost all of the photos the City of Wilson choose to put online were taken with the Canon 50mm f1.4. A real cracker, that lens is sharp! If could only choose one lens and one camera body, it would most likely be this combination.
I found the Kodacraft and 'apron' extremely easy to use. I unrolled the thing, stuck the leader from the film in the crux of the roll, and let the thing roll itself up, spring-fashion. I just guided it to keep the apron and the film together. Then I placed the apron in the tank and from there on, treated it as any tank with film in it.
I found that not only did the apron tame the unruliness of the Fortepan 100 film that I've experienced in the past, but the film also remained remarkably flat AFTERWARDS when I dried and scanned it. In the past, the stuff was so curly, I didn't want to use it at all - it was like fighting with the damned stuff to get it into the scanner - who needs it? This time, no problems. I cannot explain this.
Results?
Well, I had something unusual happen to the Fortepan 100. I got lots of little white spots on my negs. Not dust! The spots were ONLY on areas of the negative that would have printed light gray or white. Dark areas did not have the spots. The spots were evenly distributed, other than the fact that they were only apparent on lighter-colored areas of the negs. All frames were equally affected.
I would have thought that somehow my processing or the apron was to blame, but I did NOT have the problem with my APX 100. That roll processed very nicely, and in fact, I may have reconsider my earlier dissing of APX 100. It looks very nice actually. Great tonality, nearly grainless. The Fortepan is very grainy, but that's not a bad thing if that's what you're going for. The spots were weird, though.
Also interesting, the two girls seen through the window of their ice-cream vending booth were posing for me most enthusiastically - it seems they are college students studying photography, and they were speculating that my Bessa R was a 'real' rangefinder. They were most excited to find that it was, and I trotted out all my lenses and so forth for them to examine - we held up ice cream traffic while discussing the pros and cons of rangefinders. Nice girls, and it was fun to talk with them.
Anyway, all this to say that I enjoyed using the Kodacraft tank and apron - it made the processing very easy, and I see no drawbacks to using it. Like the plastic ratcheting reels, the apron has to be dry to use easily, but unlike the reels, you can dry it by wiping it down with a clean lintless cloth, since it unrolls like film. So I recommend it!
You can still find Kodacraft tanks and reels on eBoy (I'm currently searching for more) or you can order new copies of that style from Freestyle, but they only sell single-roll tanks for them. The Kodak Kodacraft tanks were available to hold two rolls with a metal spacer in between. I suppose you could use a vintage tank with the modern apron copies from Freestyle, but I haven't tested that theory yet, although I intend to.
Hope you find this useful!
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
I had never used anything quite like that, so I was eager to try it.
Plastic ratcheting reels are nice, but they have to be absolutely dry or they work badly, and I have had problems even then using some sorts of film in them - specifically, they seem not to like Forte films, which are very curly lengthwise.
I also use stainless steel reels in Nikor tanks, but they take some practice to be able to load in the dark and then roll the film on without getting it bunched up and having frames that stick together and don't get processed correctly (or at all). Some say the SS reels are perfect and swear by them, some swear at them instead. I think they're ok, but fussy. Obviously, the more experience one has with them, the better I think they would get at it, and therefore, the better they would like them.
So I decided to give this ancient Kodacraft a try on Sunday last. I went out to our local "Whirligig Festival" here in Wilson and shot a couple of rolls of film, then I came home and processed them, dried, and scanned them.
The city of Wilson was kind enough to put a few of them online, and they are here:
http://www.wilsonnc.org/whirligig/news.asp?id=164
I shot two rolls of film - Fortepan 100 36 exposure and Agfa APX 100 24 exposure. I processed them both in Kodak D-76 1:1. The Fortepan got 10 1/2 minutes at 68 degrees F, and the APX got 9 minutes, as I recall.
I used my Bessa R and a couple of different lenses. A. Schacht 35mm f3.5 (my Canon is on loan at the moment), Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 85mm f1.9, and a Steinheil Culminar 135mm f4.5 (with hood, and the dang thing still flares). Almost all of the photos the City of Wilson choose to put online were taken with the Canon 50mm f1.4. A real cracker, that lens is sharp! If could only choose one lens and one camera body, it would most likely be this combination.
I found the Kodacraft and 'apron' extremely easy to use. I unrolled the thing, stuck the leader from the film in the crux of the roll, and let the thing roll itself up, spring-fashion. I just guided it to keep the apron and the film together. Then I placed the apron in the tank and from there on, treated it as any tank with film in it.
I found that not only did the apron tame the unruliness of the Fortepan 100 film that I've experienced in the past, but the film also remained remarkably flat AFTERWARDS when I dried and scanned it. In the past, the stuff was so curly, I didn't want to use it at all - it was like fighting with the damned stuff to get it into the scanner - who needs it? This time, no problems. I cannot explain this.
Results?
Well, I had something unusual happen to the Fortepan 100. I got lots of little white spots on my negs. Not dust! The spots were ONLY on areas of the negative that would have printed light gray or white. Dark areas did not have the spots. The spots were evenly distributed, other than the fact that they were only apparent on lighter-colored areas of the negs. All frames were equally affected.
I would have thought that somehow my processing or the apron was to blame, but I did NOT have the problem with my APX 100. That roll processed very nicely, and in fact, I may have reconsider my earlier dissing of APX 100. It looks very nice actually. Great tonality, nearly grainless. The Fortepan is very grainy, but that's not a bad thing if that's what you're going for. The spots were weird, though.
Also interesting, the two girls seen through the window of their ice-cream vending booth were posing for me most enthusiastically - it seems they are college students studying photography, and they were speculating that my Bessa R was a 'real' rangefinder. They were most excited to find that it was, and I trotted out all my lenses and so forth for them to examine - we held up ice cream traffic while discussing the pros and cons of rangefinders. Nice girls, and it was fun to talk with them.
Anyway, all this to say that I enjoyed using the Kodacraft tank and apron - it made the processing very easy, and I see no drawbacks to using it. Like the plastic ratcheting reels, the apron has to be dry to use easily, but unlike the reels, you can dry it by wiping it down with a clean lintless cloth, since it unrolls like film. So I recommend it!
You can still find Kodacraft tanks and reels on eBoy (I'm currently searching for more) or you can order new copies of that style from Freestyle, but they only sell single-roll tanks for them. The Kodak Kodacraft tanks were available to hold two rolls with a metal spacer in between. I suppose you could use a vintage tank with the modern apron copies from Freestyle, but I haven't tested that theory yet, although I intend to.
Hope you find this useful!
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
