Single 8 Fujichrome R25N

A frame sample of Fujichrome R25N film. This is Single 8 motion picture film, a format introduced by Fuji in 1965 as competition for Kodak’s Super 8. This frame is from some footage I shot in Sydney around October 2009 with a Fujica Z800 camera. Single 8 and Super 8 film come in different shaped cartridges and have to be shot in different cameras. I love the look of the Fuji 25, which is a daylight balanced 25 ISO reversal film. Due to declining use Fuji have announced its discontinuation and the R25 will cease production March 2012 and processing will cease late 2013. They were going to discontinue it a year or so back but held off due to petitions from some Japanese filmmakers and members of the public.

I bought the film from Retro Enterprises in Tokyo, the price includes 5 rolls of film, processing and the return postage. I found him easy and fast to deal with and suggest this might be the best option for anyone outside Japan wanting to use this film. I had the footage digitised by Uppsala Bildteknik in Sweden, they were also easy to deal with, very hepful and did a great job. I’ll post a link to youtube once I’ve sorted through all my footage and trimmed it down.

Beetles in D.F.

Yeah, there’s a lot of Volkswagens in Mexico City, just like there’s a lot of motor scooters in Hanoi, which makes me feel compelled to take photos of them. Above was in Zona Rosa, very close to the vegetarian restaurant Yug, it was parked in that spot every time I ate there. This photo was cross processed Agfa RSX through a Holga. Below was at Parque Mexico, near Sonora in the Hipodromo district, cross-processed Agfa Precisa in the Nikon 28ti.

Near Zocalo

I took this photo almost 2 years ago, it was Jan ‘08 near the Zocalo in Mexico City with the cathedral behind me and Templo Mayor to my left. This was cross processed film, probably Agfa RSX. It was shot with a Holga that had a wonky lens as a result of me trying to force a Cokin filter holder onto it. The lens was at an angle to the body for several weeks until I bought a screwdriver, popped it out & reinserted the lens. That’s the reason for extra blurring distortion in the lower corners.

Tea tin pinhole camera

Took this using a pinhole camera made from a cylindrical tea tin. 913 series King’s Tea to be precise, a very nice blend of Oolong & Ginseng. I painted the inside black & made a tiny hole with the tip of a sewing needle. The interior is a good size for 4×5 film although I’ll also be on the lookout for some 5×7 to take advantage of the extra interior curve that format will use. This photo was a 40 minute exposure on Fuji Pro 160S colour neg 4×5 film. I put a small piece of Lee 1/2CTB (half colour temperature blue) over the pinhole to filter out some of the orange from the interior lighting. Hard to know what it really did without making a comparison shot without a filter, but I like the result so I’ll keep doing it this way with any incandescent lighting.

I have a sample book of Lee filters that was free from Panavision Sydney; the pinhole is small enough that I can cut pieces from the swatch & hold them in place with blu-tack on the tin. There are some more useful gels in the book that I’ll end up trying; 1/4 as well as full CTB, light magenta to correct fluoro lights as well as a range of neutral densities from 1 to 4 stops if I want to do longer exposures. Thanks to Lee Filters for that book. I’ve estimated that the size of the pinhole gives me an aperture of f/180. There’s no way to measure & confirm that but basing the exposures on it seems to work out well. I do know that at EV 5 I need a 40 minute exposure at 100 ISO.

Holga wide pinhole

I’ve been exploring pinhole cameras the last couple of months. I have one that I made from a cylindrical tea tin & recently bought a Holga WPC (wide pinhole camera). I’m using the 6×12 mask on 120 film. It also comes with a 6×9 mask but like most people I left that one in the box. This photo was taken using some long expired Fuji 400 H that I was given. I think the film is OK, it certainly exposed well. The slightly odd colour in the carpet might be the film or might be caused by the pinhole. I can’t find my notes but I think this was a 15 minute exposure. I like this camera; I’ve done a few test rolls with it & I’m starting to get some ideas on things it will be good for.

Glass Negs

A few years ago I started to explore glass plate photography. For those not sure what this means, they are basically the same as regular B&W film however the light sensitive emulsion is coated onto sheets of glass rather than celluloid. Glass negs, also known as glass plates and dry plate predate celluloid emulsions by several decades, being introduced around the 1870s. Although film dominated twentieth century photography for obvious reasons, glass negs were still widely used until the 1940s. After this time it became more of a niche product, used by diehards as well as having applications in science experiments and astrophotography due to the guaranteed flatness of the glass surface.

The two photos above were made using Agfa Isochrom plates that date from the 1930s. I found several unexposed packs (18 plates total) and after some testing established a working light sensitivity of EI 6. The size of the plates is 6.5 x 9 cm & they were exposed using a Voigtlander Avus 6.5×9 camera that was  manufactured in 1933 for the purpose of shooting glass negs.

The portait of Diego was made with Agfa plates that were designed to be used in electron microscopes & expired in 1985. This shot was made with an EI of 3 & processed in Rodinal 1:100 with some benzotriazole added to reduce the considerable age fog. This exposue worked out well but most I have shot since this one end up with either severe fog or else they are very thin and look as thought the highlights have been scrubbed awy with a scouring pad. I’m trying to find a workflow that gives consistent results, with no success so far. It could be that the plates have aged at different rates even within the same box.

These 3 prints are included in a group show at the Point Light gallery in Sydney from 13 June to 12 July. Saturdays & Sundays 11-5. 4/50 Reservoir St. An article about my work with glass negs was also included in the March 2009 glass plate photography edition of Creative Image Maker magazine, download here.

Retina IIIc + Neopan + Rodinal

Another quick example. The camera is a 1950s Kodak Retina IIIc with a fixed 50mm f/2 lens. This was shot around f/5.6 using Fuji Neopan 400 that was processed in Rodinal 1:50. It was a test roll for the camera, which I’d only just bought and the film/dev combination. I like the result, unfortunately the Retina seized up after 8 rolls. It will probably become my first camera repair attempt.

Olympus SPN + Neopan 400

I’ll write more about this camera later when I get around to it under the All My Cameras category, but in the meantime I just wanted to put up this example. The camera is a 1970s Olympus SPN, a simple rangefinder camera with a fixed 40mm f/1.7 lens. The film was Fuji Neopan 400 processed in Xtol 1:2. I’m very impressed with the results this camera is capable of. You can probably pick one up around the $100 range & it would be a good walk around rangefinder camera for anyone who doesn’t have the dollars for a Leica, or who wants to test the waters a bit before making a bigger commitment. This was shot around f/5.6

LTM 50mm Summitar & Fortepan 100

I bought my Leica M6 a few years ago along with a modern Summicron 35mm f/2 lens. That is my most used focal length so I was quite satisfied to only have the one lens for this camera. Having the one lens saves any complications that arise when trying to decide which lens to use. Also, if I was going to get a second one it would be hard to decide whether to go wider to a 28 or 24/25 or a bit longer to a 50. I was also aware of the price of modern M lenses; even second hand they are expensive enough that I’d want to be certain it was a lens I’d use a lot. There was also the possibility that a second lens might lead to the purchase of a second body, so I kept things minimal and simple with one lens and body.

Things changed a little when I started to learn about the older Leica lenses, generally referred to as LTM (Leica thread mount) or LSM (Leica screw mount). These were made for the rangefinder cameras that preceded the M models. I’m no historian but I believe the LTM lenses date from approx 1930s to mid 1950s. A few aspects got me interested in buying one of these older lenses. First they are quite cheap compared to the modern ones; the lens I bought cost approx $200. Secondly they have a different look to modern lenses due to the different coatings. Third, they are quite easy to fit to an M camera by using an adapter. I bought my LTM to M adapter from an ebay dealer in Hong Kong for around $20. It works fine, just make sure you get the right one to bring up the correct frame lines in the viewfinder.

The lens I bought is a 50mm collapsible Summicron f/2. Based on the serial number I dated it to the early 1950s. I’m pretty happy with it, certainly like the look it brings. The example above was shot around f/4 using Fortepan 100 ISO which was processed in Xtol. Unfortunately the Forte films are no longer available. The factory in Hungary closed a couple of years ago & the supply chain seems to be empty.

an chay