Dark Days Bright Flight

I've now developed 10 rolls of film with Caffenol (Delta recipe). Some evolution has taken place, since there is a learning curve inherent in these kinds of enterprises, where testing and research is required.
The first roll came out blank. I'd followed advice on a forum on how to make washing soda out of baking soda. Which when I tried it fell through and didn't work at all. I subsequently had to order washing soda on the web.
The second came out very dark and with weak grain. Here is a picture.

The first two films were black and white 35 mm ones: Fomapan 400.
The third was a 120 format colour Portra 160 ASA and came out really well as a b&w film.

This is cropped and not close to finish edited. It's my portrait made by my neice.
The third roll was an Ilford FP4 (?) 125 ASA and was not even close to the Portra's rendering. Grainy and dark. It was underexposed by half a step, though. But that doesn't explain the extent of grain. My girlfriend will be a huge help in editing those...

Today's process went as follows:
The two first 35 mm films (one Fomapan 400 and one long since expired and exposed FLT colour 100 ASA film) came out very dark - again. But again there are exposures visible. They are still hanging to dry as I write this.
Since they came out dark I did some research and came upon one possible solution - I fixed them too short a time or with too weak a fixer. When films have been exposed to camera leaks the whole width of the film is dark - the sprockets as well. So my solution was to add another minute fixing time - now 6 minutes with Ilford Fast Fixer. And I added another 1/20th to the solution too.
Films 7-10 look more like they should - darker than lab souped films, but more transparent than my first (second and third) 35 mm disasters.

I'll keep posting more on the Caffenol adventures...

Comments

Chaika Leica

Well, here's a Chaika 2M that I bought from Alex Helios via Instagram. It's a great full manual viewfinder half-frame camera. The wheel on the top is for shutter time selection, from B to 1/30th to 1/250th of a second. The square button on the front right of the camera is the release/exposure. The lens mounted on the camera in the picture is not the original Industar-69. The Chaika is a rare model compact camera since the prime lens is detachable. What is more is that it has M39 screw mount. But - like with the Paxette M39 system - you can't get focus with a lens from another M39 system. Unless you adapt the lens or - in this case - the camera (mount)! The Chaika mount is easily detached from the body by loosening four screws. If I want to mount the Leica thread mount M39 (LTM) lenses on the Chaika - which is my goal with this mod - I have to add 1.3mm to the mount. That is what is needed to change the camera's flange focal distance (FFD) from Chaika system to L

Leaving a House - Departure from My Childhood Home with a Lumix GF2

My father left his house for a much smaller apartment this summer. My and my brother's families helped with some of the transition, and I documented parts of it with my Panasonic Lumix GF2. My father's house was where I grew up - from my 6th to my 19th year. He lived there for 43 years - 1979 to 2022. The light in this house was always amazing. Its situation on a western leaning hillside offers playful beams of light or reflections during every stage of the day. Little brother (me, 49), big brother (52), dad (80). Visit my Etsy shop for cameras and related stuff, the facebook group on modding lenses and cameras or my Instagram account ourbooksmalmo .

These great cameras show up everywhere in Europe. Flea markets, second-hand shops, car boot sales, you name it. AGFA cameras were sold for decades, in many models, much like the Kodaks. I've had the pleasure of using two of them. And I own three. The magic shutter buttons! The AGFA Compact. It's an auto exposure compact camera with manual focusing! The lens retracts when you shut the camera off. AGFA Silette LK which has full manual exposure control and a built-in light meter. The lens is super duper sharp with pleasant out-of-focus areas. It does not have a rangefinder. Nor does the... ... AGFA Optima 335 which has auto-exposure and manual focusing. The aperture numbers you see are for flash photography with 1/125th of a second fixed shutter. I will not write much about these my cameras now, but will in the future. The Compact isn't working properly, so I am in search of advice on how to repair it. It (auto-) winds the loaded film to its end, without giving me an opportu

getOBphoto

Search This Blog