nice ride

The last two weeks I have only shot low ISO film. This included some RPX 100 in the Leica, as well as Rollei Retro 80s – with and without an orange filter -, Ilford Pan F+ 50, Provia 100F and Velvia 50 in my Medium format cameras. I went as low as ISO 20 handheld and to be honest I didn’t run into any problems. It has been a rather refreshing experience and there are now a whole lot of new films on my list of films to try. During this time I have also experimented with stand-development in HC-110 and I have to say that I’m rather pleased with the results. Both Rollei Retro 80s and Ilford Pan F+ 50 come out beautifully developed this way and I’m curious to see how it can be used to push film. I tend to push in Rodinal stand for reduced grain, but certain films fog horribly in that combination, as you are about to see with a few examples of Fomapan 400. I especially want to try pushing T-Max 400 in HC-110. T-Max 400 isn’t my kind of thing at box-speed, but pushed in Rodinal I found that it had lovely grain. The only problem was that there was virtually no shadow detail because the film was so fogged from the Rodinal. It was a real pain to print too. HC-110 is usually recommended to cut down on fog, so I would suspect that it might give better results when pushing T-Max 400. As soon as I get my hands on some more T-Max 400 I’ll definitely give it a try.

My newfound appreciation for low ISO films has also encouraged me to tweak the rangefinder of my Super Ikonta a bit more, involving a tape measure, a screwdriver, some electrical tape, a tripod and some test shots. As a result the last roll of Retro 80s actually turned out perfectly. No focussing issues even down to f/4.5, none of the pictures affected by that light leak that I was hunting and I didn’t even take any accidental double exposures. The last one is actually a real miracle since all other rolls included at least one double if not even triple exposure. I guess I’m starting to get used to shooting a camera without a double exposure lock. Now that my new camera is pretty much all sorted I’m planning to shoot the rest of my low ISO BW film in 120 in the Ikonta for practice so that I can take it with me on my next trip.

Is that all that I have done? It sounds like quite enough already. But no, actually I’ve also developed 20 rolls of colour film – mostly in medium format – including some surprisingly successful experiments in cross processing Rollei CR200. Although I thought I’d never be buying that film again, I may have found a new favourite! I also found out that my new Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1.1 renders colour just beautifully and I’m now really eager to see some results from Argentina. However, developing these rolls will have to wait a little while longer since I’m actually focussing on some much needed darkroom work next. There are never enough hours in the day it seems.

Enough talk though, let’s get on with the pictures. These pictures are actually still from September last year which shows you how far behind I’m on posting pictures. I’d like to finish with the pictures from last year soon, so you probably won’t have to wait quite so long for the next post. So, grab yourself a beverage of your choice and enjoy.

All pictures taken with: Leica M6, Zeiss ZM C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8 and Rolleicord V, Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 75mm f/3.5.

First up M6 / Fomapan 400 @1600 stand-dev in Rodinal w. added potassium bromide (obviously a failed experiment).

Nice ride! Of course there was that inevitable dude with a cell phone who wouldn’t go away.

Let’s just say that one shouldn’t push Foma in Rodinal. The added restrainer did nothing for the fog Rodinal will cause with this film. Also, restrainer means speed loss.

I like the atmosphere in this.

Who needs shadow detail anyway?

It was already rather cold, so the beach was empty.

For this shot the grainy and fog works perfectly though. Very happy with how it turned out.

Next up Argenti Reporter ARF+ 400 / HC-110 B.

Argenti ARF+ is a tad more grainy than I like, but the tones can be beautiful. It’s some kind of cine film, but I doubt it’s Orwo N74+ as most people suspect. The Orwo development times are shorter than ARF+ needs. They are rather long in general and there isn’t much shadow detail normally, so I suspect that this is actually not ISO 400 speed film.

Not many seagulls around here, so I grab the occasional shot when I see them.

I doubt I would like it without the old man walking into the frame.

Sharing secrets?

These signs in the middle of the street suggest that this was at the time of the film festival. The perspective suggests also that I took this while we were getting tickets to see a movie.

Motion blur!

When I have motion blur with ISO 400 it must have been getting dark. No reason to take off the dark glasses though.

I printed this in the darkroom. Turned out lovely!

White shoes.

This is not a pipe.

Also a darkroom print.

They were having fun.

Taken through a bus window.

Taking through a bus door on the moving bus. Another darkroom print.

Got off the bus to take this one.

Phone zombies.

Fluffy little guy.

Lots of hand holding going on in this one.

ARF+ 400 @800 / Rodinal stand.

We were waiting to be let in to watch a movie at the film festival.

I love this one, but couldn’t print it because there was some odd emulsion damage. That’s the advantage of a hybrid workflow, I can still print it digitally if I want.

After the movie at a random bar.

What women carry – what men carry. At least around here.

Happy rich people.

Woof.

Partner look.

This is a particularly crowded little street and I tend to take pictures when people are in my way due to inconsiderate behaviour.

The inevitable baguette.

ARF+ 400 / HC-110 B.

How rich people dress their children.

These people were waiting outside the hotel that houses all the “stars” during the film festival. I noticed the crowd, so went to see. Obviously I had no clue who the person was who finally came out. I found the crowd much more interesting anyway.