Analog film photography and cameras

lol

both very good, really.

both in their own way of course..

nice light, well executed, bravo.

I finally finished a roll of Ektar and got it developed, now scanning it... it's probably the most boring roll of film I've ever shot, no crazy colours other than that annoying bluish cast some people mention on a few. A bit disappointed, but then again it seems like whenever I specifically go out to shoot something (which I did for most of this) my pictures suck so maybe it's just that.

This is not really a good photo, but I think it would be less interesting still if I had any other colour negative. The colours were so crazy in reality (it was after the St Jude storm and the clouds were incredibly orange). I don't really know if they're balanced right here since I'm colour blind and I got tired of doubting myself and gave up.

A roll of Velvia 50, 35mm 36 exp is about £12. This displeases me.

Jessops had it for £10.70 when I went in the other day.

Edit: It was velvia 100.

Just got some rolls back from asda, was surprised by their quality.

Here are a few randoms.

Untitled by 40 skid patches, on Flickr

Untitled by 40 skid patches, on Flickr

Some were quite fucked up but I'm not sure if that was the really old film or the processing.

Untitled by 40 skid patches, on Flickr

Untitled by 40 skid patches, on Flickr

The last one is also a double multiple exposure.

Best place in london to pick up expired film in bulk?

My house x

The last one is also a double multiple exposure.

Phew, thanks for telling - for a moment I thought somebody put something in my tea!

:P
I also figured out that they didn't fuck me over, I did it to myself by soaking the roll in vinegar, that's also why the whole roll is multiple exposures.

When it dried it made the film really hard to pull out of the canister.

I like the one before the multiple exposure.

So this is all negative scans from asda?

Yup developed and scanned at asda for £2 a roll.

Not bad.

And if you don't mind the maybe stupid question - did you put one roll in vinegar on purpose?!

Yes, it was a bit of a silly thing for me to do but I had to stay at home because I was waiting for the plumber to come round and I've taken pictures in my garden so many times that it's boring so I went to do something a bit different.

: ]

So, I went to the CameraFair in Beaconsfield last Sunday, and came back with a 5x4 monorail (with a really crappy lens and shutter) and a couple of double dark slides. On Monday I aquired some darkcloth from Southall Market.

All I need now is
a) film
b) processing kit (I thought I'd do this using the "taco" method in a developing tank.
c) chemicals

Any suggestions for where to get all the above on the cheap? Before Christmas? Does anyone do this large format + home processing stuff who can give me some hints?

Cheers

Steve

I've done it, probably easier than doing 35mm really.

Would suggest a developer like Rodinal though or you're going to rinse the chemicals at 900ml a go. Taco didn't work great with Foma sheet film but it's super cheap, just seemed to scratch a lot of stuff.

Enjoy!

Ag photographic maybe? they have that foma film back in stock if you want to experiment with cheaper stuff first. Or Silverprint/Morco.

I shoot paper in my large format camera so that I can dev at home in trays. I have no enlarger to do 5x4 enlargements and I'm morally opposed to scanning film - another story for another time.

I've tried direct positive paper but found it pretty inconsistent do tend to use standard Ilford MG paper now and either contact print for a positive or scan and invert.

Depends what you're wanting to photograph though, paper is really slow so no good for portraits but availability and ease of use makes it a winner for me.

Another time so feel free to answer whenever but I'd be interested to know why MV.

Dear everyone,
Please stop rationalising large format photography, I can't afford another camera right now.

Another time so feel free to answer whenever but I'd be interested to know why MV.

I guess it's a hangover from shooting 35mm where I feel the neg isn't the finished article, there's still lots to add in printing ( I have my own darkroom so can print at home). I know I could scan the neg and work on it digitally to get to where the print gets me but I think maybe because of the enlargement factor when scanning negs I feel like I'd be spending time adding back what the scan has lost. When I scan a print to digitize my image the only manipulation I'll do is a bit of contrast and colour correction to ensure the digital version looks as similar as possible to the printed version.

I guess by making paper negs and scanning/inverting digitally I'm kind of cheating but again I won't do any other manipulation except correct any contrast/colour issues my scanner has introduced.

Maybe it's something about film photography being - for me anyway - much more physical than digital. I want to be able to hold the finished article in my hand* and digitizing the image is just a way of displaying it to people.

*this is why the direct positive paper appealed to me - create the final output right in the camera with nothing but development left to do - but as I mentioned I've found it too inconsistent so making paper negs is as close as I can get. If I'm honest the decision to scan then invert rather than contact print then scan is based purely on laziness and I should contact print more often.

Dear everyone,
Please stop rationalising large format photography, I can't afford another camera right now.

You can, my Calumet branded monorail was less than £100 including lens.

If anyone is interested I'm looking for more people to shoot portraits on in the new year.

I'm going to keep shooting like the posts I've put up before, send me a pm if you fancy it

Hello non-digital photographers! I am selling a Holga 120 with a hot shoe flash and 6 rolls of 120 film here if any of you are interested.