2023-2024 FILM CHALLENGE

Boy, what have I found in the fridge :)

All expired, the newest one expired in 2010 but still ;)

35mm film:
Kodak Ektachrome 64 (I will need to search for some info on what this is)
Ilford Delta 400
2x Ilford FP4+
2x Fujifilm Neopan 1600
3x Ilford PanF+
Velvia 50
Velvia 100
Provia 100F

120:
Provia 100F
Velvia 50
Reala 100
Fujifilm NPC 160
3x ORWO NP22 expired in 1989. I guess there is not much hope for this one...

I need to buy some medium format camera - any suggestions?
I have Pentacon Six, but it keeps on braking...

Pieter, so pleased to see you join in (I hoped you would).

I'm sure Bob has seen this and I hope he will throw his hat in the ring too. If it wasn't for his encouragement I would never have got hooked on home development, and I am also planning to try his 35mm sprocket holes next during 2024.

If anyone else is umming and aaahing about loading their once treasured analogue camera with film, take a look at the 2021-22 pages and just browse through the excellence and variety on show.

Mestari wrote: ... I need to buy some medium format camera - any suggestions? I have Pentacon Six, but it keeps on braking...

Well, getting the Pentacon Six cla'ed might help. You should have a good repair shop nearby (I have one in Berlin which would do it). The camera is always lauded as an inexpensive entry into medium format.

If it doesn't work, my recommendation would be a TLR - Yashica Mat would be the first on my list (inexpensive + light meter). If I had no medium format gear (mine: Mamiya 645) I would probably opt for a Mamiya C220 or C330 TLR - bulky but you can switch lenses.
There are some really cheap alternatives like Flexaret and Ricohflex TLRs - I would probably try to buy them directly from the repair shop.

Mestari wrote: I need to buy some medium format camera - any suggestions? I have Pentacon Six, but it keeps on braking...

There are loads...

Hasselblad 500cm and derivatives is the one to get.
I went for a Zenza Bronica SQ that I really like. I also have a Fuji GW690 II a.k.a. Texas Leica(*) that I also like but somehow is more for colour.
I am not interested in TLR's

If money is no obstacle, the Voigtländer Bessa III 667 (Fujica GF670) is the best: "Many consider the Bessa III and Bessa III Wide among the very best medium format film cameras produced by any manufacturer."

(*)Strictly speaking the true Texas Leica is the interchangeable lens version of these cameras.

Of course, if you want to stay loyal to “the” brand, a Minolta Autocord is a fine TLR.

+1 for the Autocord or indeed the Yashicamat - these are usually affordable TLRs.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear! One of the features of Dyxum I have learnt is that this is not only a place to share our highs, but to occasionally also share a low. And I have had a big low this morning developing my 36 exposure black and white film I took with the Dynax 9 in the Burleigh sculpture garden this week.

I have sung the praises of the Lab-Box before but this time, due entirely to pilot error (and down to a lack of practice) I totally messed up, and destroyed the film

How I hear you ask. Well, the Lab-Box consists of two main components; the main chamber for the reel to hold the film and the chemicals to perform their magic in the dark, and a smaller component to hold the roll of film. For a 120 film it consists of a very clever mechanism to separate the film from its backing paper while it is fed onto the wider reel. But today I used the 35mm component which is simpler and holds the canister with the film threaded on to the reel as the reel is turned. All this with a light tight lid through which the chemicals are poured. When the film has been completely wound on to the reel a small button is pressed up which operates a cutting blade, a sort of upside down guillotine, so that the complete film can be wound on. (Still with me? I wouldn't blame you if you weren't but I have to tell someone!)

My TWO mistakes were to firstly pour in the developer after fitting the lid without having wound on all the film, so the chemical action started too early, and secondly, and most seriously, instead of pushing up the cutter and holding it up while winding the film on which separates the film from its canister, I pushed it up and let it go so the film didn't separate but continued to unroll until, with a snap, the film let go and wound itself up tightly in the centre of the reel.

I wasn't aware of this until completing the entire developing, stopping and fixing process to discover as I removed the lid, a mangled mess wrapped around the spindle of the reel.

I am often asked why I develop my own films and I say because "I enjoy the process"! Not today I didn't but hey ho, in the words of the song:

"I'm gonna pick myself up, dust myself down and start all over again". This week!

Thank you for your sympathy

Edit: A YT video illustrating the processes is here. 35mm loading starts at 3:37.



Edited by bonneville - 17 September 2023 at 12:54