Kodak Ektar in the Zero Image 618 Pinhole

Pinholing is fun, and some fantastic results can be had with a colorful film like Ektar. Get it processed professionally and order some optical prints while you're at it.

These were taken on a day in early May last year on our way to Portland. We stopped for a quick hike up the Rowena Plateau Trail where we ran into some balsamroot in full bloom, then ended up along the waterfront for the festivities happening there.

Balsamroom in bloom in the Columbia River Gorge.

A sternwheeler on the Willamette River.

This was a one minute exposure. Those people really were that still for that long.

Troubleshooting A-1 and overexposure

I started developing Ilford hp5+ in Ilfotec DD-x, and wasn't getting very good results. In fact, they appeared muddy and somewhat overdeveloped or overexposed. I couldn't tell which. I wanted to eliminate the cause of being a faulty shutter on the Canon A-1, a camera that was CLA'ed just a couple of short years ago. So, I ran a test between that camera and an AE-1 shooting them both with hp5+ at the same settings: 1/15 second exposure time and f/5.6 aperture. Both shot at box speed, then developed on the same reel in the same developer. As it turns out I couldn't tell much difference between the two strips, but the A-1 might have been slightly more exposed. Not more than a fraction of a stop from what I can tell. In any event, here are the results. My conclusion is that DD-x doesn't develop hp5+ very well. Not the way I develop, anyway.

Tri-x pushed to 1600

I'm normally an Ilford guy, but I do have a few boxes of Tri-x in 120 format in my freezer. It had been forever since I last shot it, and even longer since I'd pushed it at all, so I thought this weekend with not much going on would be the perfect time to break it out again. I really couldn't get out, so I just picked some subjects in and around our house. Nothing special, I just wanted to blow through this film in a relatively short amount of time.

I ended up souping in d-76 1:1, and I think I would have got better shadow detail by going with that developer in stock solution, undiluted. That said, negatives looked pretty good, although I did have one frame that was unusable because of so little information was on it.

I really do need to remember that I've got this at my disposal when I need it. Although I swore off Tri-x in 35mm because it's so difficult to scan (the negatives curl profusely), it lays quite flat in 120 format. In fact, I can't tell the difference between that and anything made by Ilford that I've ever processed.

Would I have got more shadow details in the front of that rock with stock d-76?

I think the tones are really nice here.

I was surprised at the detail I could see in the darker areas of this image. In the negative, it's difficult to see anything at all.

2019 Directions

Once again, it's hard to believe that we're at the start of a new year. My film habits were tempered somewhat in 2018 with the acquisition of a Fuji X-T20 mirrorless digital camera.  The Fuji's have been referred to as a film guy's digi, and I can see why. Still, I'm not abandoning film altogether. Rather, I'm still shooting it but with some evolving practices. Those will carry forth into 2019.

I had more film printed last year than any other time in my life, and I plan on continuing that in the upcoming year. In fact, that is the one point that I made from last year's Directions post that has had the most influence on my work. This year, I plan on using the Mamiya TLR with more color film and getting it all printed.

My 400 speed b/w film choice will continue to be Ilford hp5+. I have a 100' roll to bulk load, plus 6 rolls of 36 exposure in 35mm format, so that should take care of those needs in 2019. Additionally, I have some rolls of the stuff in 120 format to shoot in the Mamiya TLR.

I also plan on participating in online projects throughout the year. Namely, the fp4+ party coming up later this month, as well as the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day in April come to mind. Here's my 2018 WPPD submission. I'm going to keep my ear to the ground for other film projects to keep up with as well.

And similarly, I need to continue my own personal projects. My Cemetery Series has been neglected for awhile, so I'm scouring Google Earth to see where I can head to next. As the days slowly get longer, I'll be able to take advantage of time after school to fire off a few frames. Even if that's just in the backyard or doing a little macro work.

2019 is going to be a great year for film. I can feel it already. I don't have need of any gear right now (save for an R72 filter; mind did a belly flop onto the sidewalk last year).  I just need to get out and shoot it.

Happy New Year, everybody. Here's to a fantastic 2019.

2018 Rewind

Hard to believe, but it's that time of the year again to reflect on the previous year and start looking forward to the next one. I set out some achievable goals for 2018; namely, to shoot more color film and get more optical prints done at Blue Moon Camera. Mission accomplished, as I currently have several prints made from both 135 and 120 format film over the last year. I also included some prints in with some senior work as well. Some other highlights from 2018:

• Added a 180mm f/3.5 to my Mamiya TLR collection. I just don't shoot that camera often enough. 
• Added a Canon AE-1 Program that is in really nice shape; it just needs a little oil job to get rid of a (slight) squeak. I don't even know if it needs a full CLA; but I don't know that I'm up to a DIY job either. 
• Added a Tokina 25-55mm f/4 in Canon FD mount. 
• Added a Vivitar 55mm f/2.8 Macro in Canon FD mount. Both this lens and the previous do double duty on my Fuji X-T20 mirrorless. 

Also, I've unloaded most of my Canon EF (EOS) gear, so I'm shooting just FD mount these days. 

I didn't shoot as much pinhole this year as I thought I would. However, I do have some prints made from a shoot along the Oregon Coast, and they're beautiful. 

I ran through a 100' roll of hp5+ in about a year. It's time to restock. Edit: An hour after I wrote this, but before it posted, I walked into a photo store and picked up a bulk roll of the stuff. I wasn't even planning on spending any money, and I wasn't even sure I was going to reload with hp5+. It was all they had in stock in bulk rolls, though, so hp5+ it is. 

2018 was my lowest output on this blog. 

Well, that's about it for my 2018 thoughts. See you in 2019.

Cemetery Series: Craige Cemetery in Lomography Purple

Please see my first post for details on my Cemetery Series.

I spent a day traveling to and shooting Craige Cemetery in rural Southeastern Washington, just a few miles from the borders of both Oregon and Idaho. Although I shot a few different films, Lomography Purple (the newer stuff) seemed to be a good choice due to how green this place was. I had Blue Moon Camera and Machine develop the film, but I scanned it on my Epson v500.  I'm not sure if I got 100% of what the film is supposed to look like, but hopefully it got close. This is obviously a film with a different color pallet, so I wouldn't use it all the time, but in certain situations it makes for a nice effect. I do have a couple more rolls of it I'm going to shoot this summer.

Located in a higher elevation in SE Washington, near the Blue Mountains, this cemetery was quite green and even had some wildflowers when I was here in early July. 

Lomo Purple is supposed to turn green vegetation to purple and blue skies to a turquoise. 

I tried to coax her out of the shadows, but she just stood there for about 10 minutes before heading down the hill toward a little ravine behind her. 

I don't know how much maintenance is done here, but there are occasional visitors who pay their respects.

Troubleshooting Mamiya C330: Part 1

A couple of years ago, a problem began showing up on the negatives from my C330. A vertical line (and sometimes two) would appear at the edge of the frame, inside the exposed area.  You can clearly see the issue in this image (look immediately to the left of the words "Ilford 100 Delta"):

I sent a test roll out for developing to see if the problem originated from the camera or the actual developing process.  Those negatives came back just fine, so the problem must be in my processing. Still, though, this problem never crept up when using my Zero Image pinhole, so that really had me confused.

I kept trying to work out the problem, but couldn't locate the source, so my C330 sat on the shelf for awhile, only being used occasionally until now.  Thing is, this is a really nice camera that takes otherwise exceptionally sharp images, so recently I began trying to troubleshoot again.

Zeb took a look and showed his folks at Blue Moon Camera and Machine. They reinforced the idea that this is indeed a processing issue, and that they had seen the problem themselves occasionally with Paterson reels. Other suggestions from the internet involved inversion method and the amount of tightness on the reels.  Armed with all of that knowledge, I ran a roll of Tri-x through it again, but this time made an important discovery: The lines showed up in the first few frames of the roll, but not the last. They were somewhat visible in the middle.  If what I'm seeing is correct, that means that, for this roll anyway, the end loaded first didn't have the problem, and the end loaded last displayed those lines.

First frame on this roll, last one loaded on the reel.

Last frame on this roll, first one loaded on the reel

Now, I can further narrow down what is actually happening.  Two scenarios come to mind.  In one, there is something rubbing the emulsion off toward the outer edge of the reel. While this makes sense, I've tried using different reels (four, in all) without seeing much of a change.  The second scenario, which seems more likely, is that fixer isn't getting all the way to the outer edge of the reel and is being blocked up. The second one is a simple test: Go grab those frames, re-fix for a few minutes, and see how they come out.  I'll try both of these out and report back in Part 2 of this series.

More pinhole

It's Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, so I'm posting this right before I head out with my Zero Image. These are some images from my last outing. Zero Image 618 pinhole camera with Tri-x in d-76 1:1.  Red #25 filter used.

Waitsburg, Washington. Sun flares can add interesting elements to pinhole images.

Holdman Cemetery

Pinhole in the City

I took my Zero Image to Portland over spring break and shot around Powell's Books on Burnside one afternoon. Each of these are ~5 second exposures.

Must turn left.

SIZZL PI

Overlook

City of Books.

Monstrosity. 

Pinhole: Cable Bridge

I wasn't sure about using Fuji Acros 100 for pinhole work, but I like how these images of the Cable Bridge in Kennewick, Washington turned out. Developed in Rodinal 1:25 for 6:45 minutes at 68° F.