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More and more film fun with something other than a Leica M

Godfrey

Well-known member
I took the SuperSense 6/66 Instant Pinhole on yesterday's cycle ride again, with the intent of doing a selfie of myself with the bicycle on one of the nicer highway pedestrian crossings on my route. I set it up for a wide view (bellows position #2) and calculated exposure with the 0.12mm pinhole to be about 4 seconds. The first exposure was to test my exposure calculations ... Thank the gods for the current version of Polaroid SX-70 B&W film, which has processed enough after just four-five minutes that I can tell whether the exposure is good. :)


Having made that exposure, I then realized the folly: The Instant Pinhole camera has no self time, actually no shutter: You make the exposure by twisting the blind in the standard the right direction and uncovering the pinhole for a set amount of time, then twisting it back. To achieve this, I had to pull the camera much closer so it would be within arm's reach, and then carefully do the dance with the shutter blind, trying not to move the camera overmuch.


Eh! what's life without a little challenge? :D
Fun stuff.

onwards! G
 

chrism

Well-known member
I don't seem to be able to stop making inappropriate combinations of film and developer, and worrying at them until they work. This is XP2 Super (what else!) at ISO 200 in Diafine, and developed with continuous agitation for 5+5 minutes in the motorised Rondinax.:



85mm Selfie by chrism229, on Flickr

I'm afraid I cut off the top of my head, but there was only me at home and I needed to try it out. Anyway, I'm delighted with the minimal grain and thus the film was not wasted.
 

Oren Grad

Active member
Hmmm... I have a prehistoric batch of Diafine buried in the back of the chemistry shelf in my darkroom... and a brick of XP2 Super...
 

chrism

Well-known member
If you go that way, don't expose it at 400 if using Diafine - it gets grainy. They say Diafine must only have one gentle inversion each minute if using an ordinary tank, but it doesn't seem to have been at all upset by the 40rpm of the Rondinax, and where only the bottom half of the rotating reel is in the solution.
 

Oren Grad

Active member
If you go that way, don't expose it at 400 if using Diafine - it gets grainy. They say Diafine must only have one gentle inversion each minute if using an ordinary tank, but it doesn't seem to have been at all upset by the 40rpm of the Rondinax, and where only the bottom half of the rotating reel is in the solution.
Thanks... I've had trouble getting even development with Diafine and intermittent agitation, but if you were able to get clean results with the Rondinax, perhaps I should dust off my Jobo roll film tank and try with that.
 

chrism

Well-known member
Stephen Schaub at figitalrevolution.com uses a Jobo for Diafine processing and claims there is minimal difference compared to a manual tank. Article and podcast here.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
A couple of pinhole photographs...


Art Shop Mural - Japan Town, San Jose 2020
SuperSense 6/66 Instant Pinhole Camera
Polaroid SX-70 B&W
Bellows position #2, 0.12mm pinhole, 4 seconds




Mailbox 208 - Japan Town, San Jose 2020
SuperSense 6/66 Instant Pinhole Camera
Polaroid SX-70 B&W
Bellows position #2, 0.12mm pinhole, 4 seconds

As you can see, these were both made with the Instant Pinhole camera. They mark a particular moment for me: They are the last two exposures of the first pack of film I've put through this camera where ALL eight exposures were actually successfully, usefully exposed. :thumbup: :D

enjoy!
G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I ran a roll of Washi-120 in my Fuji GS645S Wide 60, exposing it at ISO 4 ... I used my Sekonic L358 in incident mode to establish a baseline for exposure.

The roll I ran in the Hasselblad 500CM the other week and processed in MultiGrade @ 1:9 for three minutes seemed a bit off, too contrasty; I thought the Washi-120 lkneeded more dilution and a longer processing time.

So I increased the dilution to 1:19 and processed for 8 minutes, with minimal agitation. (I also thought the Ilford Rapid Fixer's recommendation of 1:4 dilution seemed way too strong for this incredibly thin paper/film, and increased dilution to 1:9, fixed for 8 minutes as well.) I thought to myself, 'hmm, this might not even have enough developer energy to get this emulsion going in only 8 minutes...' but I was willing to risk it.

To my shock and surprise, upon opening the processing tank what should I see but 14 nearly perfect, rich negatives? Dense against the paper backing but very little blocking up, nicely expressed tonal curve, and yet the beautiful rice paper structure is easily apparent on inspection! Here's a quick render of one typical frame ... captured to a raw file with the Hasselblad 907x and a Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8, quickly rendered to positive by inverting the Tone Curve in LR Classic, and cropped to the negative area plus a little rebate .. no other tweaking applied:


quick_washi_render_no-mods

Click on it to go to the Flickr.com page, you can click on it twice there and see the full resolution if you really want to see the paper structure embedded in the image.

Washi-120 emulsion is *extremely* fragile. I probably created the scratches loading it into the developing tank or carefully moving it through my current makeshift scanning jig. Truth is, however, I kinda like the look of the deterioration.

I'm also evaluating the benefits of using the Hasselblad 907x vs my Leica CL as a capture camera. The Leica CL is very well worked out for my use in this endeavor: I know just how to set it up and get the most out of it. The Hassy is still a work in progress ... but its 16bit depth and double the pixel resolution has some promise for even better capture qualities. So I also scanned the entire roll with both cameras and am comparing the raw files, using the same lens.

One thing that this is pointing out to me is that, aside from the simple facts of twice the pixels and more tonal range editability for the Hassy, the Leica CL sensor is incredibly good and produces very nearly identical quality negative captures despite being a quarter the size of the 907x/CFVII 50c sensor. The Leica CL's performance for these negatives is very nearly indistinguishable from the Hasselblad, using the same lens and the same ISO setting. Truly remarkable performance from that little APS-C sensor!

Fun stuff for sure. :)

G
 

4season

Well-known member
Wait a minute, Washi isn't just a name, it's actually washi coated with emulsion? Sounds like a hoot, I may have to try.

Current favorite film scanning camera combo for me is Olympus Pen-F fitted with late Canon FD 50/2.8 macro, the one which focuses down to 1:1 magnification without extension tubes. I very much like the combo because I get a bit more depth of field with M43 format + 50mm lens than I do compared with FF camera fitted with 90mm macro lens. Film hardly seems to challenge the limits of the digital sensor's dynamic range or color space, and when pixel-shift features are taken into account, there's no shortage of pixels (up to 80 mp raw).
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Wait a minute, Washi isn't just a name, it's actually washi coated with emulsion? Sounds like a hoot, I may have to try.

Current favorite film scanning camera combo for me is Olympus Pen-F fitted with late Canon FD 50/2.8 macro, the one which focuses down to 1:1 magnification without extension tubes. I very much like the combo because I get a bit more depth of field with M43 format + 50mm lens than I do compared with FF camera fitted with 90mm macro lens. Film hardly seems to challenge the limits of the digital sensor's dynamic range or color space, and when pixel-shift features are taken into account, there's no shortage of pixels (up to 80 mp raw).
Film Washi is the company: https://filmwashi.com
They have several rice paper based film products. :D

I like the Washi-120 W film. It's nice and slow and I love the look it produces.


Fence, Trash Can, Loading Dock - Santa Clara 2020
Fujinon GS645S Wide 60 Professional
Washi-120 film
ISO 4, f/4, 1/30
Scanned with Hasselblad 907x + Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8

Click image to view on Flickr.com; click twice on image to see 1:2 scan resolution.

Sounds like a useful negative copy-camera rig. I've used FourThirds format cameras for film scanning too, with a variety of good lenses ... they work well. My standard copy camera approach in the past couple of years has been the Leica CL, APS-C format, and it is excellent at it. The Hasselblad 907x nets more pixels in the scan and potentially much greater dynamic range to work with, but what I'm doing with it just yet is all still experimenting and getting comfortable with its dynamics.

G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
More Fuji GS645S Wide 60, more Washi-120. ;)


Olive Tree - Santa Clara 2020
Fujinon GS645S Wide 60 Professional
Washi-120 film
ISO 4, f/4, 1/30
Scanned with Hasselblad 907x + Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8

Click image to view on Flickr.com; click twice on image to see 1:2 scan resolution.

Enjoy!

G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Having too much fun rendering these Washi-120 negatives. I'll have to load and shoot another roll... :)


Tree And Telephone Pole on Suburban Street - Santa Clara 2020
Fuji GS645S Wide 60 Professional
Washi-120 film
ISO 4, f/4, 1/30
Scanned with Hasselblad 907x + Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8

Click image to view on Flickr.com; click twice on image to see 1:2 scan resolution.

Enjoy!
G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
This roll of film really put me on a roll ...!


Stair and Doors - Santa Clara 2020
Fuji GS645S Wide 60 Professional
Washi-120 film
Scanned with Hasselblad 907x + Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8

Click image to view on Flickr.com; click twice on image to see 1:2 scan resolution.

enjoy!
G
 

darr

Well-known member
So So Little




Minolta CLE + M Rokkor 90/4 + Tmax



Recently put together a Minolta CLE kit with M Rokkors: 28/2.8, 40/2 and 90/4.

This is a test shot made with the 90/4 to see if it is a keeper from KEH, happily no complaints.

Just received the 40, and a very clean 28 was bundled with the body. I had a M7 many years ago, but there were a few things I did not warm up to. I prefer rangefinder cameras over SLRs, and wanted another 135 film rangefinder. After a bit of research I learned about the CLE and it checked a lot of boxes for what I was looking for. It is very lightweight with a bright viewfinder. I find it not difficult to focus with the lenses I have. TTL metering is spot on. Just waiting to develop the test shots from the 40 to see if the kit is complete.

A lot of the photos I post are a direct link from my blog which has a haiku attached with the photo, thus the reason for mats and titles.

I will enjoy looking through your photos in this thread!

Kind regards,
Darr

PS: Yes the photo is cropped square and toned with blue.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Re: So So Little

Recently put together a Minolta CLE kit with M Rokkors: 28/2.8, 40/2 and 90/4.

This is a test shot made with the 90/4 to see if it is a keeper from KEH, happily no complaints.

Just received the 40, and a very clean 28 was bundled with the body. I had a M7 many years ago, but there were a few things I did not warm up to. I prefer rangefinder cameras over SLRs, and wanted another 135 film rangefinder. After a bit of research I learned about the CLE and it checked a lot of boxes for what I was looking for. It is very lightweight with a bright viewfinder. I find it not difficult to focus with the lenses I have. TTL metering is spot on. Just waiting to develop the test shots from the 40 to see if the kit is complete.

A lot of the photos I post are a direct link from my blog which has a haiku attached with the photo, thus the reason for mats and titles.

I will enjoy looking through your photos in this thread!

Kind regards,
Darr

PS: Yes the photo is cropped square and toned with blue.
That's a nice kit, Darr. I have one of those 90mm lenses too, it's an old favorite of mine. Early examples of the 90mm were produced in Wetzlar and are identical to the Elmar-C 90mm other than the bezel and filter size. I used to have the Leica CL (actually had three of them over the years) and I've had both the Leica and Minolta versions of the 40mm. Both are very good lenses.

The CL was my favorite M-mount film camera for years. When I sold off a bunch of gear a couple of years back, it was a tussle to decide between my last CL and the M4-2, but I decided the latter was more serviceable and had the better viewfinder/rangefinder; kept it instead. But it was a close call.

I always like the CLE as well, just worried about its electronics. I suppose if you found a good one, it'll last a long time at this point.

Fun stuff, it drives me down memory lane... Enjoy the kit! :D

G
 
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