Evaluating your print test strip.

low contrast

High contrast

correct contrast

Now that you have your test strip what are you looking for? You are looking to see which of the timed sections gives you blacks that are really black without making the whites look grey, with a good separation of the greys in-between. If the picture looks grey overall with no defined blacks then the paper grade is too soft, meaning lack of contrast. On the other hand if the blacks dominate the picture then the grade of paper is to hard - too much contrast! If you need to change the grade of paper you will need to make another test strip. It should be noted that test strip evaluation is best carried out when they are dry as wet ones tend to hold back some of the more subtle grey tones which may encourage you to pull or push the expose time needed. While checking this you should also be ensuring that the focus is accurate.

When your test strip is pin sharp with good clear highlights, defined shadows and the right amount of contrast, you are ready to make a print.

Colour film well out of date.

The friend that gave me the out of date colour film did so in part for the removal of a partly exposed roll of film from her Dads camera a week or so earlier. She was not sure if it had become stuck or not.

The camera was an Olympus OM707. The battery carrier lid was broken and held in place with sticky tape and not working. The batteries were flat, so I tried some new ones but there was still no life which is a shame as it was in good order otherwise and had been in regular use up until eight years earlier. I had not come across this camera before so was not sure if I would be able to unwind the film manually. I found a re-wind button on the base plate, pressed it and went into the darkroom and opened the back. I took the cassette out first then gently pulled on the film and to my surprise it started to unwind. Once the film was fully removed I wound it back into the cassette.

A couple of weeks later I found out that the film had been developed and to her surprise it had produced some excellent results. It just goes to show even with a partly exposed colour film that has been sitting in a camera for eight years and extremely out of date, it can still produce some unexpectedly good results!

Yes I will admit that it is a risk when using film well outside the bbd; even more so with colour but I do not believe, like some, that you should only use this film with a so called toy camera as it suggests that if it goes wrong then it's “OK!” You just have to look at the lomograph site to see some excellent photographs. Personally you should have the courage of your conviction, use the best camera you can lay your hands on and embrace the results no matter what!

The colour pictures attached to this post were taken on my F5 on Agfa vista neg film that could have been out of date by fifteen years or so and kept in “iffy” conditions. So I walked into Lincoln on a warm sunny day with this film     and an open mind.  If I had listened to the doom and gloom merchants it was likely a waste of time! As it happens it was a good result even though I would have liked some colour shift to the pictures.

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Film Storage