[stevebrot]

Have you ever done your own C-41?

Nope, I have never tried it, though I do have a drum processor (unicolor) that I use for 4x5 b&w and that might work well for c41.


Steve

[stevebrot]

Vertex Ninja, very good images!

+1!!!

Good work with the Chamonix (yep, he has one too). I need to try some portrait work with the 4x5.


Steve

[MysteryOnion]

I do have a drum processor (unicolor) that I use for 4x5 b&w and that might work well for c41.

I have a yankee 4x5 tank that works well and better when I don't go more than 10 sheets.
I recall that either Tetenal or Unicolor gives instructions for continuous agitation processing with C-41 in a drum?

[Vertex Ninja]

Vertex Ninja, very good images!

+1!!!

Good work with the Chamonix (yep, he has one too). I need to try some portrait work with the 4x5.


Steve

Thanks.

I hope they look right on other peoples monitors. I've only seen them on my laptop(uncalibrated) and a couple cell phones. There were no edits other than setting white, black, and gray points, and -4 saturation. So I guess you could say those are the nartural colors of the two films. That was my first time using flash with the 4x5. It's easy enough to meter it, but hard to visualize exactly what the shadows will do without a modeling light.

[MysteryOnion]

So I guess you could say those are the nartural colors of the two film

Yep, look good on two monitors... one that is as calibrated as I can get it. I think some of the early fears of the blue cast are from scanners that have wrong profiles. I forget who pointed it out on one of the Flickr groups, but the film has an unusual bit of balance and saturation combination that is said to be similar to slide film. Don't know how true, however, that discussion helped me find some much better settings than what auto can find. I can't wait to do real chemical printing soon.

Oh, to tip it back a little to the topic... I said chemical printing to a "student of photography" and she claimed that her local shop produced a very sharp
output from her dSLR and would never go to the wasteful process that produces "those fuzzy film prints.." (she is young and new to photography), I didn't think her prints were all that sharp.. kind of a 320dpi look to them. I dragged in some shots from plain old Kodacolor II film, but sent to a Kodak lab from twelve years ago and held them side by side to hers. She gasped and could not believe that was from film. I will be helping her pick out a film camera next week.

[Vertex Ninja]

... would never go to the wasteful process that produces "those fuzzy film prints.." ...

Ironic because I could almost bet that her pictures from the lab were printed on film, or close enough; RA-4 paper. My biggest gripe with the digital age has nothing to do with the cameras themselves, but rather the perception that images have to be better because the technology is newer. As if all the great photos from the last century have suddenly lost quality.

[Kaufeetime]

I will be helping her pick out a film camera

While shopping, pick-up a Brownie to compare with the "Best" camera (Nikon D5100) an American should buy!

[MysteryOnion]

Brownie to compare with the "Best" camera (Nikon D5100)

I think I have a few Brownie cameras that will serve... Although, you mean the fella from the function about the D5100. Just yesterday the young lady was impressed with some Flickr images from an ADOX folder. This I posted with the "found film" group at Flickr groups. The film was fifty years old and possibly sitting around in a garage from about 1958-1992 and changed hands until an estate sale and then I won it on the bay and processed it... with Rodinal 1:50 for about 13 minutes. She admitted that chatter about "film is fuzzy" was certainly about marketing than truth.



Found film
Kodake Verichrome images
from around mid 1950
Taken with ADOX Sport 6x9

... and yes she had been to exhibition about photography, but was never interested in anything, but "modern exotic photoshop stuff" and now she promised to look for works from the "silver process" and other...poor child.

[B Grace]

Kneeling on a boardwalk at Yellowstone this June and waiting for a few tourists to pass before I took a shot with the Hasselblad one of the women just in passing said "I hope you have Kodak in that camera". She was not a photographer but a resident of Rochester. I told her only the colour film as the black and white is from Japan. Earlier a Japanese or perhaps Chinese tourist was watching me closely for more than a couple of minutes until she had to rejoin her group, she had a Lecia digital I think around her neck and then later in the week shooting the 4X5 at Mormon Barns in Gran Teton at least three other photographers started conversations with me, none said more than a hello to my wife shooting digital.

My wife and I took the kids to Yellowstone during the first week of July and were on the boardwalk at Old Faithful when we heard of the bear attack. Never saw anyone else carrying bear spray but we did see people on the trails wearing flip-flops and eating. But that's another story. My backup camera for Yellowstone was my Nikkormat with a 50/1.4 shooting Plus-X. Maybe it's because the Nikkormat is black but I didn't have a single person ask about it. Maybe I just don't look like an approachable person! Which is okay by me! It was cool to see how many shops and stores still had their "Film Sold Here" signs in place.

I think the folks who express surprise to complete strangers they see shooting film fall into two categories - those young enough to have not learned the lesson of being cool doesn't always mean new and improved, and those old enough to have used film but maybe not felt they had ever mastered it to their liking. When an older person makes a joke in public about me shooting film he/she often follows with a comment on how awful it was or he/she never liked their photographs. The person often also mentions an awful camera. We can complain about digital point-and-shooters but they are vastly superior to the junky low-end drug store film cameras made over the years. They're getting quite a bit older these days but there are still folks out there who tried to shoot with Polaroid Swingers, inexpensvie "rangefinders", and Instamatics.

Once in a blue moon I'll have someone ask about my film camera and then strike up an interesting conversation about choosing films, processing and printing. Those folks are never pros though. I stood next to an older gentleman near the summit of Loveland Pass several years ago for a minute before I realized he was shooting with a Leica SL2. I asked if he was getting any shots. He asked me the same. We agreed on probably not, laughed, and went our ways.

[Kaufeetime]

shoot with Polaroid Swingers, inexpensvie "rangefinders", and Instamatics.

The 110 cameras come to mind. OK, I admit it, I own one and yes the pictures it produced were terrible.
The camera is like new condition probably only 1/2 dozen roll run through. The camera is now displayed on
the shelf with other cameras like my GAF Instamatic.

The film was fifty years old

I have a big roll that is probably about the same age. Never gave
it any thought that it would be usable. I do roll my own film, I think
I will give it a try and see what it produces. Thanks for the idea.

[grhazelton]

Today Flora and I went to the Atlanta Zoo where we met daughter Glynnis and granddaughters Sofia 4 and Audrey 2. I took the K10d in a backpack and, because the charge indicator looked iffy, my Voigtlander Vitessa L, a handheld meter and some extra film.

Sure enough the K10d died after a dozen shots. That charge indicator is lousy! Vitessa to the rescue. One youngish guy with a Canikon, a huge lens and using a pop-up for 20 foot shots outdoors stared but no comment. Two women in their late 30's came up and asked about the Vitessa - how old is it, does it use film, do you get good pictures. They were impressed by the camera. Apparently their digital's batteries had also died. At the Cabbagetown Cafe (good place!) a guy sitting nearby asked how old it was, and pronounced it awesome. Our waitress said "Awesome camera!"

Wolf hand the negatives developed in about 30 minutes. The clerk in his twenties asked about it and was appreciative. Turns out he collects cameras and described his old Speed Graphic.

I guess that photographic good taste exists in Atlanta, and the Vitessa is victorious.

[séamuis]

^^ pretty much any camera like the Vitessa is going to attract attention, thats for sure. here in savannah, film cameras aren’t rare. in fact there are common enough that most people don’t notice them anymore than they do the average digital SLR, or so my experience goes. but that could all be due to SCAD and its heavy influence. all in all though Savannah embraces film for sure, and if the same is for Atlanta, then Georgia is doing pretty good.

[cwebsterlusk]

Here in Upstate South Carolina shooting with a film camera is like having a huge wart on the tip of your nose. Everyone stares, points, and they love to ask questions. The most comments I get when I shoot film though are about my age. I'm 21 and I've been shooting film for years, but everyone who sees me shooting one of my film bodies (I have many that I shoot regularly) always asks how old I am and when i tell them they act like I'm an idiot for shooting film, or like I'm too stupid to shoot it. Drives me insane.

[RioRico]

when i tell them they act like I'm an idiot for shooting film, or like I'm too stupid to shoot it. Drives me insane.

Tell them you're working on an art project. They they'll KNOW you're nutz.

[stevebrot]

Tell them you're working on an art project. They they'll KNOW you're nutz.

That is what I tell most people who question me when I am shooting in public.


Steve