Reel Trouble #2

29-07-18

Managed to tidy up a few more images from the walk to the Arboretum on the 4th July. They are still a bit scratchy in places but it’s the best I could do without testing my patience to the limit.

Growth Rings

Pagan

Healthy

Used the almost opaque R72 filter for this one.

Cross

Standing Stones

Creeper

Sharp

Bark

Even though this film is difficult handle (for me) when processing I really like the images it gives. I have some more shots to post from the bike ride last week.

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Reel Trouble #1

15-07-18

I went out for a walk to the local arboretum on the 4th of July with my Olympus OM101 loaded with Rollei Superpan film. There were a couple of lenses I wanted to try out that had given me blank frames on a previous roll of film, I decided that it was probably the cheap AAA batteries that I had used so I bought some good quality Lithium cells, they worked fine. I used Red and R72 filters for the shots as Superpan has some infrared sensitivity. 

It was a really hot bright day, hardly a cloud in the sky, would have been good to have had some clouds (never satisfied) When I arrived back at home I thought I would get the film into the developing tank ready for processing, letting it air dry overnight. That’s when the trouble started. Rollei Superpan is coated onto a thin base compared to most other films and I couldn’t get it to load onto the spiral, keep calm I kept saying to myself, the inside of the film changing bag was getting very humid, much like a Turkish bath which made things worse, eventually It went onto the spiral but I knew I had damaged the film.

Well this is what most of the frames looked like. 

Straight out of scanner.

I cleaned up some of the frames the best I could in Lightroom which is very good for getting rid of a few  spots and blemishes. But because Lightroom allows you to amend or delete any of the corrections you have made with this amount it starts to use up stacks of memory and eventually almost stops, OK for the odd blemish on a digital sensor but not good for this much cleaning up.

The Path To The Arboretum 

Dangling

Picnic

Infrared Pathway

Fallen

Fortunately I’m not easily discouraged and realising that the reels must be 20+ years old I ordered a new developing tank which arrived in less than 24hrs along with a couple more rolls of Rollei Superpan.

Rolling out the Rollei

25-06-18

I’ve had my slightly battered Rolleiflex 3.5F since the late 1980’s, the slow shutter speeds eventually started sticking so took it in to be CLA’d in 2008, and have never used it since. Thought it was about time to give it a test run. Found a roll of Ilford Delta 400 (expired 2006) and quickly shot some images with it around the garden on Friday. Developed it Friday evening in some Adox FX39, (just enough in the bottle) and let it dry overnight.

The images aren’t anything special, just wanted to know if everything was working as it should.

Lavender 

With Rolleinar II closeup lens.

It was extremely bright and sunny on Friday (still is) so the lighting was really harsh.

Blackberry Flowers

With Rolleinar II closeup lens in a dark part of the garden.

Berries

With Rolleinar II closeup lens in a dark part of the garden.

Rose

With Rolleinar II closeup lens in a dark part of the garden.

Fleur (Do Not Disturb)

Every time I moved in close to take a photo she decided to move !

Me & My Shadow with some Timber

Everything seems to be working fine with the camera, and considering how out of date the film was I’m quite pleased with the results. Out with the PhotoBuddies on Thursday so I might take it along with some fresh film.

Fomapan 400

03-06-18

Have been experimenting a bit with Fomapan 400, using different developers and filters.

Abbey Park

Olympus OM40, 24mm Zuiko lens, and Red filter, developed in Fomadon LQR. I almost always had a Red filter permanently attached to my lenses in the past as I had a liking for contrasty  Black & White images. I put this down to having worked in the Printing industry all my working life, and litho printed images by the nature of the process were quite contrasty. The Red filter in this image has darkened the sky and foliage and given some detail to the stonework on the bridge.

Willow

Olympus OM40, 28mm Zuiko lens, and Green filter, developed in Fomadon LQR. The Green filter lightens the leaves and foliage, it can look quite dream like with certain subjects.

I’m quite impressed with the Fomadon LQR developer and Fomapan 400 film, Kodak D76 developer does a great job too. For me one of the enjoyable parts of film photography is experimenting with different films and developers. Yellow and Orange filters next time, and it’s a good excuse to visit Abbey Park again.

In The Garden

29-05-18

The cats were out in the garden this morning practising their stalking skills on each other. Of course as soon as I went out with a camera they stopped and followed me around, I’m sure it was just in case I might have had some cat treats with me.

Fleur

Mimi (Fleurs Daughter)

They were both full of energy this morning, and brought a smile to my face with their playfulness.

The weather has been a bit unsettled over the last few days, but at least we haven’t had any of the severe storms like some other parts of the UK, Yet. The garden is very green at the moment, and lots of the plants are late in flowering. It was windy today making it a bit difficult to photograph the flowers that were out.

Rose

Sage

The Bee’s were enjoying this.

New Pine

Wild Rose

 

Non Photowalk

26-05-18

Arranged to meet the PhotoBuddies on Friday for a walk around the town, but the weather was awful so we ended up coffee drinking and going to the Peace Cafe for some homemade soup and ciabatta, it was very good.

 Photowalk Weather

Sigma DP1

Earlier in the week I finished off a roll of expired Fuji Reala 100 that I had run through my Pentax MX. I was impatient to know if the camera was working OK so had the film processed by the local High Street quick photo store. What a difference compared to a professional lab, lots of scratches and an overall green tint that took a bit of tweaking in Lightroom to tame. Fuji Reala seems to have a natural bias towards Green and is quite soft and muted.

Fern

Olympus DC

Hope to be using this over the next few weeks.

Mimi

Even using digital ICE on the scanner couldn’t eliminate the scratches.

In The Garden

Pine

I will try and curb my impatience and send all future rolls of colour film to the professional lab.

Quick Walk To Town

17-04-18

The weather took a turn for the better yesterday so I took a quick walk to town, cat treats and me treats were needed. Spring is definitely in the air, although today it’s windy and dull. 70 deg F promised for tomorrow, we’ll see. I managed to grab a few photo’s on my walk.

My Front Garden

I wish the rest of it looked like this.

Three Wheels

Spotted on the Park, I liked the colour contrast.

These Cheered Me Up.

Two Black & White Images From The City

The advantage of the weather being cooler today is that my cat Fleur is curled up on my lap while I’m writing this, she’s lovely and warm and purring gently, bliss.