My first week with a rangefinder, and developing my own film

[kid_a]

Here's a quick selection of photos from my first week with a rangefinder camera. I bought a Nikon S2 last weekend. Before buying the camera, I had never ever used or even seen a rangefinder camera, and I'd never developed or seen develop film outside of a real lab. It's been a bit of a learning experience but I'm pretty happy with the results. So far I've shot 5 rolls of film, some TMAX400 and Delta 3200, and I'm developing with Ilfosol DD-X at home. All scanned with an Epson V500 scanner.

The negs are pretty dirty, especially from the first roll. I was being very impatient, and basically dried it in 3 minutes with a hairdryer. After getting that off my chest I've been a bit more patient, and I let them dry for about 2 hours after using a film squeegee. I've started cleaning them with a camel hair brush as well to take care of the dust problems.

Let me know what you think for a first time user, I'm open to all criticism (and compliment) I screwed up one roll, a bit of a brain lapse, and I exposed some film before developing, but it wasn't completely disastrous. 6 negs of the roll of 36 survived, but the best one was one of the 6, so that's great news

Anyway, on with the show:

1)

2)

3)

You can see how I spilled sopme developed and it wouldnt cover the whole film in the next few, too bad

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

11)

I love the moment of the dancer jumping over David Byrne's head in this next one:
12)

13)

14)

15)

Let me know what you think! It's been a fun first week, and I can't wait for the next few years with this beauty ,

Dylan

 

[like2fiddle]

You're off to a good start. Concerning development, the best advice I can give you is to be consistent right from the beginning. You'll hear/read about all kinds of variations on the basic developing theme; just be patient and find the method that gives you the results you are looking for - it will take time.
Regarding the use of the rangefinder, generally closer is better, but it depends on what you like, how you see the world, and how you want others to view your world.

 

[kid_a]

You're off to a good start. Concerning development, the best advice I can give you is to be consistent right from the beginning. You'll hear/read about all kinds of variations on the basic developing theme; just be patient and find the method that gives you the results you are looking for - it will take time.
Regarding the use of the rangefinder, generally closer is better, but it depends on what you like, how you see the world, and how you want others to view your world.

Thanks for the advice. I've started to be a bit more careful and methodic with the developing. For the first couple rolls I just really wanted to see the results, so I hurried, approximated, cut corners, and it shows. My last couple rolls were more consistent and pelasing, so I'll definitely be taking my time.

Also, if anyone would like, there is a Flickr gallery of about 95 photos from the first 5 rolls, I basically scanned everything I took and threw it in here:

http://flickr.com/photos/dylanlynch/sets/72157614330650795/

 

[capitalK]

I thought I was crazy for recently shooting hockey in black & white with a rangefinder, at least I'm not the only one. Good range of subjects. Keep shooting.

 

[Wuddy]

fantastic!
What a great start.

 

[russianRF]

I really liked the overhead hockey shot. Also, the berries shot.

 

[pesphoto]

very nice job. Dont be afraid of a little more contrast. NExt you'll have to get yourself an enlarger and try making some prints.

 

[sweathog]

Looks like you're off to a good start.
Your first attempts at developing are certainly going far better than mine.

You've certainly got this photography thing down pat too, great photographs.

Oh, by the way, welcome to the gang!

 

[Thardy]

I think you did a good job with the processing. Kind of funny thinking of you using a hair dryer to dry the film.

Good photography also.

 

[Bassism]

My favourite is that first shot.
If you're developing in the bathroom, the best way I've found to deal with dust is to run a hot shower for a few minutes while I'm rinsing the film. Since I've started this routine (along with using photoflo) I haven't had any troubles with dust.
My only other suggestion would be to play around with the levels digitally to try and find some deeper blacks and perhaps some more midtones in the shots like #11.

Have fun though, if you're anything like me, you'll find a whole new love for photography with your rf.

 

[calexg]

Film is so much better, don't ya think? 🙂 I can't remember the last time I got excited about downloading photos to the computer...but I love developing film!

 

[kid_a]

Film is so much better, don't ya think? 🙂 I can't remember the last time I got excited about downloading photos to the computer...but I love developing film!

Developing is fun, I've known for a while that film is so much better though. I try not to touch my D300 if I don't need to.