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Monday 9 November 2015

Instant Photographs.

When I heard about the demise of Polaroid. I was saddened, to think that at one time I had a Polaroid camera in my car all the the time, along with a dozen packs of film (the peal apart type). In those days if I only made 50 images in a week I classed it as a slow period. With Polaroids announcement I had the sudden urge to make a few pictures before it disappeared. Sadly I could not find my camera, then remembered that I had given it away.  

About ten or so years ago we acquired an Instax 200 instant camera that has sat in my camera cupboard. It would still be sitting there gathering dust if it had not been for a marketing email from Lomography stating the camera and film were available again.

Some weeks later I was in town, so I dodged into my local Snappy snaps to see if they had the film in stock. They did, so I purchased a box - not a cheap venture now a days!

The camera has been boxed all this time and is brand new to look at apart from a broken battery cover. To my surprise there was still a film in it. I put batteries in it, took a picture and out popped an oblong card. Then waited to see if an image would appear, Alas after a good five minutes just a slight change in colour. It was worth a try.


It was some months before I had the opportunity to use the new film in the camera. Then fortune smiled and what a cracking day it was. At the time, it was a leap in the dark as I have never used this camera before. I lost a couple of frames to bad composition and to under development which can be adjusted in the camera settings. It did not take long to catch on. As you can see from the pictures.




The panoramic view the cameras produces has a distinct look to them.







 

Friday 23 October 2015

RO9 special/ Studional three months on.

Out of date Fomapan 200
Another month on and I'm back to using the turquoise Studional and a further cutting from the Fomapan 200, only this time there are couple of dozen images to muck up. The chances of something going wrong diminishes as you get used to the way the developer works, the only spanners are out of date film and senior moments, if it all go's wrong I may learn my lesson.



Out of date Fomapan 200
So far the developer has been used seven times without it missing a step. When comparing the negatives with the naked eye or in this case a magnifier the density between the batches looks to be identical. As far as the compensation factor is concerned this is uncharted territory for me. The question is, does 20% allowance still apply two months on? Thinking on it carefully the answer is yes. My reasoning is that to increase it without knowing whether the suggested compensation worked or not does not make sense. I should test the information and not do my own thing.
 

The information on this developer states that once it is diluted one litre should be good for three months or 12 film processes which ever you arrive at first if stored properly. I will admit that the bottle this is stored in is to big leaving an air gap that will allow the developer to deteriorate more quickly according to the data sheet. I have not done this on purpose I didn't have a container the right size and yet it still works well. Obviously it is better to do what manufacturer recommends to get the best results but in the real world we all make compromises. So is it such a surprise that I'm getting good results? The real test will be at four, five or six months after dilution.


Out of date Fomapan 200
 I processed the negatives as previously mentioned and the results are just as good so much so that I also developed a roll of Agfa APX 100. It just so happens that the dilution for this film is 1+15 (the same as HP5+) or 1+31 for 4 and 8 minutes respectively at 100 ISO. With the 20% adjustment added it took all of five minutes in the developer to receive another set of good looking negatives.
 
 
 
The more I use this developer the more impressed I am with it.


 The table below shows ten popular film that use the 1 +15 dilution. The ones marked with * are the ones I have had good results with at the suggested times with the compensation added.

The double ** is my suggested time for this film at this dilution.


Dilution of 1+15


Film
ASA/ISO
TIME
Adox CHM125
100
3.5
Agfa APX 100 *
100
4
Fomapan
100
10
Fomapan **
200
6
FP4+ *
125
4
HP5+ *
400
4
Neopan
400
6
PAN F+
50
3
Rollei Retro S
400
8.5
Tri-X
400
05/03/05

All the images that appear in this post were Developed in RO9 special
Studional.

This image is from the Agfa APX 100 film mentioned.