Pentax SP500 - Fomapan 400 developed with FX-55

 After my recent switch to Bellini Euro HC, I had a chat with Richard, owner of Nik & Trick, who got in touch after reading my blog about it. He made a couple of suggestions of developing chemicals to try out and take my film developing education along another step. I have always said there's something new to learn every day and placed an order for some FX-55, a two part black and white film developer formulated by the late Geoff Crawley that first appeared in 2008. 

Geoff Crawley was a stalwart of the film photography world and contributed a lot to the community via his formulations of black and white film developers for us to try. Richard liked it enough to have a play about with the formula to try and make it more usable for the home developer in liquid form, extending it's shelf life and making it more eco friendly. Apparently Fomapan 400 shines when developed using FX-55, so I loaded a roll into my Pentax SP500, popped another into my bag and headed to Preston with my pal Keith who had come to visit.

Preston Dock was once one of the busiest ports in the world, but these days it's a sleepy Marina where leisure boats ranging from Yachts to Narrowboats are moored. It's also a nice place to sit and eat a sandwich or just while away and hour or so pointing a camera at stuff. We did both of those as we had nipped into a local supermarket for supplies before heading across the road to the dock to see what we could find.

It was good to be using my Pentax SP500 again and it always reminds me why I paid for it to have a CLA. It's just so blummen reliable and will be me for the rest of my days. I had fitted my Helios 44m-4 58mm f/2 lens and also took my Meyer-Optik Gorlitz 30mm f/3.5 Lydith for a wide angle option where needed. I used both lenses a lot on this day and had fitted a yellow filter and an orange filter to them to help with contrast and highlights. 

We soon finished a roll of film around the Dock and it was time to move on to our next location. We didn't have a plan, but I suggested we head to Lytham St Annes, near Blackpool, to see what we could find by the seaside. We headed back to the car to set off for Lytham and I loaded a second roll of Fomapan 400 into my Pentax SP500.

As It turned out, we found a lot of wildfowl and a Spitfire at Fairhaven Lake on the seafront at Lytham St Annes. Fairhaven Lake is popular with walkers, joggers, boaters and paddleboarders. It is also the home of a rather tenacious swan that I mentioned in a previous blog. I had to admire its fearlessness but to be honest, getting bitten by a big swan wasn't on my bucket list. The bugger was convinced I had food in my hand and I wasn't too chuffed when it found out I didn't by having a nibble of my hand.

I wont feed animals in the wild and certainly not at a popular boating lake. The birds wont turn down a free lunch, but are they getting the right stuff? Think before you go feeding the ducks at your local pond. There are plenty of places to look up what the birds eat and you can often buy the right food from a Pet Shop or Veterinary. No doubt it will cost a bit more than "tuppence a bag", but you will be giving the birds the right nutrition. You can find info on what's best for wildfowl on the the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds website based here in the UK. I will leave a link below.

I will never cease to be amazed at the beauty of an aircraft that was built for war. The Spitfire on display at Fairhaven Lake is an exact size replica made from Fibreglass and painted to commemorate Spitfire Mark Vb W3644. The actual WW2 aircraft was paid for with the help of money raised by the People of Lytham St Annes. Many towns across the UK raised money for the war effort in a similar way. The Aircraft was Piloted by Sgt. Alan Lever Ridings who was sadly shot down on June 23rd 1942 over the English Channel. 

Sgt Riding's mother, Edith, was born in the town and the link between the town, family and the aircraft didn't become apparent until 2009. The Spitfire Display Team based at Blackpool Airport commissioned the replica with the backing of the general public, local residents and the council. The memorial was officially unveiled in 2012. You can find more info on the Spitfire and Sgt Ridings at the Aircrew Remembered link below. 

With my 2nd roll of Fomapan 400 just about finished and our aching bones feeling rather tired, we headed back to the car and came home, thoroughly happy with what we had achieved on this unplanned "3rd star on the left and straight on until morning" kind of day. I like doing things off the cuff. It tends to be more fun when everything falls into place, and it certainly was for us on this day. 

I developed my film a few days later in FX-55 developer, a two part solution with Part A that is mixed with water at 1 part chemical to 9 parts water and the activator, Part B added to your Part A working solution. This was my first use of this developer and I'm glad I have a few years experience of developing film under my belt. It's not difficult to mix the working solution up, but the confidence I've built over the last 5 years helped me enormously. 

I used a time of 15 minutes and 30 seconds at 20 celcius to develop my 2 rolls of Fomapan 400. Richard published a data sheet for a variety of films and developing times that have been tested by himself and members of the film community. That time may seem a long time to be stood by a developing tank, but it soon passes. I completed the stop bath and fix stages then I hung my freshly developed Fomapan 400 to dry in my bathroom. Once dry I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder and A5 sized led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

First impressions of FX-55 are it is very easy to use, both liquid parts are supplied in decent containers and it doesn't take long to mix. I mixed enough to develop 2 rolls of Fomapan 400 and it does the job nicely. Once I had digitised my film and got down to processing the RAW files, I didn't have to do much to them.  

Using a yellow filter was the way to go, but that's not to say my orange filter didn't produce the goods for me. Fomapan 400 is a contrasty film anyway and what I lost in the shadows, I gained in having definition in the highlights. The day we went for our walk was very bright sunshine with very high UV levels and I am very happy with what I was able to achieve. I haven't shot Fomapan 400 for a while and both rolls had been sat in my fridge for a couple of years before getting their time in my camera. I'm just glad I remembered what to do with it....

Here's a few favourites from our day out at Preston Dock and Lytham St Annes. I had fun experimenting with Fomapan 400 and filters and the chance to use a different developer was too good to pass up. Foma has a vintage look to it at the best of times, but the filters enhanced it and the FX-55 developer brought out the full tonal range with ease. It even tamed the famous "Fomapan Bloom" highlights which were not blown out at all. I have a couple of rolls in Medium Format that I hope to use before the summer is out and I will definitely be developing them in FX-55. As always I have placed these and more in an albums on Flickr you can visit using the links below. I hope you enjoy them.

Preston Dock 
Lytham St Annes
Nik & Trick - Geoff Crawley's FX-55 developer
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Aircrew Remembered - Sgt. Alan Lever Ridings - Spitfire W3644 

Celebrating 620 Film and Cameras

At the beginning of February 2025 I shared my thoughts about using my Kodak Brownie 127 and shooting a roll of Rera Pan 400 film for 127 day on January 27th 2025. I shared some photos on social media and my friend Tom suggested that maybe we should adapt that idea and have a 620 day on June 20th. I agreed it was a great idea, but there was a slight snag. I didn't own a 620 format camera. It was time to go hunting.

I am often idly searching through ebay to check what kind of prices various cameras are selling for. One thing I noticed a few years ago was that folding cameras are disgracefully cheap. Many of you will now be saying "they are cheap for a reason" and list several of them. On occasion I will happily agree with that sentiment as there's some right chancers on the bay selling what can only be described as "fungus farms" for exorbitant sums of money. However, there are bargains on there if you are patient.

Thus it was that I found a good looking Kodak Sterling II for sale with a starting price of £24.99. I figured it would go for more, so I put a bid in at the starting price and left it to run. A few days later I got an email, I was the only bidder and the new owner of the Kodak Sterling II 620 film camera. I duly paid for it and a few days later the seller messaged me to tell me it was on its way and to enjoy my camera. I promptly ordered some Shanghai 620 black and white film from Nik & Trick to try it out. 

620 format film is the same as 120 format film with a subtle difference, the size of the film spool. This is important as you cannot fit a 120 film into a 620 camera without a fair bit of bodging. For many years 620 film had been discontinued. You couldn't buy it fresh, but it didn't stop a few determined folk re-spooling 120 film onto 3D printed 620 spools. Nik & Trick offered that service and were amongst interested parties who lobbied Shanghai Film in China to bring factory spooled 620 film back to the market.

Shanghai Film in China took a leap of faith and produced a short run of 620 B&W film to see if the folks lobbying for its return were truly serious. It sold out very quickly. Nik & Trick were fortunate enough to get some and it sold out almost as soon as they added it to their website. The leap of faith paid off and Shanghai now have 620 film as a part of their production roster. 

I shot a couple of rolls of film during the spring just to get used to using the camera and I wasn't altogether impressed with my efforts on my first roll, but my second roll was better. It still wasn't perfect, but I was slowly getting the hang of the camera. As it turned out I didn't get to shoot a third roll until the June 20th 2025, 620 day. 

June 20th was hot and humid and I got bitten by just about every horsefly I encountered on my walk. I didn't care as I was out and about with a camera and grimly determined to finish the task I had set myself. I had also fitted the yellow filter I had bought for my Kodak Retina 1a. It's a versatile little addition to my kit and I figured it would help me get my exposures looking decent. With just 8 frames per roll, I was taking care of my film and went for familiar compositions. Also, to help me get my exposures right, I used my trusty Gossen Trisix selenium light meter. 

I had an enjoyable wander, despite being dinner for a multitude of horseflies. My photos are all of things I have photographed to death, but that's ok. It's all part of my ongoing therapy as I keep my brain and my aching body exercised. I'm not healthy by a long way, but getting out once a week with a camera is helping me enormously. By the time I had captured my last frame, I was ready for home.

I developed my 620 roll of Shanghai GP3 100 iso medium format black and white film a few days later in Bellini Euro HC, 1+31 dilution B for 8 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, my Valoi medium format film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2. 

One thing I noticed right away was my images are nice in the centre and very blurry around the edges. Is it me just not getting my depth of field right or has an element on the lens been reversed at some point in the past? I definitely need to investigate it as these should have been decent photos. They are nicely exposed, but... well. Some folk may like the blurring around the edge, the effect can be done with a spot filter or a very thin smear of lip balm around a UV filter. It certainly makes them stand out. 

It hasn't put me off the camera, in fact it has piqued my OCD. It makes me want to understand it and maybe even live with it, much like I live with the fact that I always seem to forget where I am up to and get that inevitable "double exposure". Here's a few of my photos from my roll of Shanghai GP100 620 B&W film shot with my Kodak Sterling II for 620 Day. I have placed them all in an album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Shanghai 620 Film 

 

Rollei RPX 25 medium format film

 Keith came to visit again and he brought some sunshine with him, which was nice. We got out for our customary wander and didn't have a plan, just go out and see where we end up. We started at Preston Dock, where I shot a roll of Fomapan 400 for a separate blog, then we headed to the seaside and had a wander around Fairhaven Lake at Lytham St Annes near Blackpool for an hour. I loaded Baldy the Baldax with a roll of Rollei RPX 25 120 medium format B&W film. The sun was very high and bright, and I hadn't used this film before. Keith had given me a couple of rolls some time previously and it was high time I used it. 

Our first stop was the Fairhaven Lake Café, which was closed, to see the multitude of wildfowl that hangs out there on the off chance a human comes along with some free food. It was there where I met a rather tenacious Swan who thought my camera was something tasty to eat. After a good chat with it, I happily directed the swan to a chap with a loaf of bread who was being followed by a gaggle of geese and a couple more swans and it soon lost interest in trying to eat my camera. 

When wild animals become accustomed to humans, they relax and get on with their lives, which at this time of year means raising their chicks. I found a few compositions as we made our way around the lake. It's a popular spot for recreation and plenty of folk were either walking or jogging along the path, there was also a chap in a powered wheelchair who had a good natter to Keith, who was sat upon his chariot, and they cracked jokes about having a race. British humour at its finest.

We eventually made our way to the Spitfire on display at the opposite end of the lake. This is a full size replica to commemorate the important role that Lytham St Annes and Blackpool played in RAF Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Command during WW2.  Pilots came to Lancashire to train in aircraft before being deployed to their operational unit and defending our skies from the Luftwaffe. 

You don't really appreciate the beauty of this weapon of war until you get close to one. R.J. Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire, definitely got it right as pilots often said "You didn't strap into a Spitfire, you wore it." It was comfortable, could turn on a sixpence and matched the Messerschmidt Bf 109 in the skies above the English Channel whilst our Hurricanes went after the Luftwaffe Bombers during those dark days of WW2. 

We had a glorious afternoon of photography and I hadn't quite finished my roll of film, but we were getting tired and headed for home. We were happy with what we had achieved on another splendid wander around a couple of great places to visit right here in Lancashire. I finished my roll of Rollei RPX 25 a few days later in Mesnes Park, Wigan on an equally sunny afternoon. 

I developed my film a few days later in Zone Imaging 510 Pyro diluted at 1+150 for 9 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

It's always a joy to get out and about, especially when I have Baldy the Baldax with me. The conditions were wall to wall sunshine and I didn't have to do much my film in post production. Baldy the Baldax thrives on slower films and thus it was with this roll of Rollei RPX 25. 

The slow speed of 25 iso gave me decent exposures without having to max out the camera's shutter and aperture settings in the process. I have another roll in 35mm format and will definitely be using it when we get another sunny day and I will use a yellow filter with it, just to eek out the contrast a little better.

Here's a few favourites from my very first roll of Rollei RPX 25 120 medium format B&W film. We had a wonderful afternoon and you can view them and more in my Rollei RPX 25 album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Rollei RPX 25 - Balda Baldax 

Frugal Film Project 2025 - June

 The half way point of this years Frugal Film Project arrived and I have added one more item to my Kodak Retina 1a, a Yellow Filter. I have been looking for one of the right size for a while and was drawing a blank until one came along at a price that would keep my kit under budget. It is an Actina yellow filter and cost me the princely sum of £2.82 from the bay. It is a versatile item as it has a fastener to lock the filter on my lens and also fits onto my Agfa Isolette I and Kodak Sterling II cameras. Kerching!

I got out to shoot my June roll of Type 517 Cine Film during a heatwave on a day with clouds in the sky. To add an extra aspect to this months photos, a yellow filter darkens the blue areas of sky and helps with deepening the blacks. I began my walk at the entrance to Mesnes Park and made my way around town. The weather was perfect for using a filter. It took me a few shots to properly dial it in, but I soon found my settings and cracked on with the task in hand.

I keep saying it, but it's worth it. My Kodak Retina 1a is a great camera and I am glad I bought it. The Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Xenar 50mm f/2.8 is a superb lens mounted on an equally superb Synchro-Compur shutter. Once my settings are dialled in, I can use my camera as a point and shoot. With the yellow filter added to the lens, it brought a bright sunny afternoon under control. 

I visited familiar compositions and tried to get a few different angles on some old favourites as I wandered around town. I like to capture the architecture high on the buildings as well as some closer to the ground to appreciate the skills of the stonemasons that carved them out of solid rock. 

Wigan has a range of architectural styles from Mock Tudor of the shops in the town centre to the brutalism of the Civic Building, which has been freed from it's cladding of scaffolding. It is being re-purposed into offices and shared work spaces for small businesses and will be opening sometime this year.

It didn't take me long to finish my roll of film and, satisfied with my effort on this fine summers day, I popped my camera back into my bag and headed off home for a much needed drink and rest my weary bones.

Developing film in a heatwave is a tough task. I waited for night time and a cooler ambient temperature before setting up my equipment in my kitchen. Water straight from the tap was over 25 degress celcius so I use my jug of filtered water I keep in my fridge to try to keep my chems at a reasonable temperature. 

By the time I had transferred my roll of Type 517 Cine Film onto my Paterson reel and into my developing tank, my Bellini Euro HC had come down to 24 celcius. I had some math to do. Last month I took 2 1/2 minutes off my developing time in similar conditions and decided to use it again. This brought my developing time down to 12 minutes and I soon had my roll of Type 517 Cine Film hanging to dry in my bathroom. 

Once dry, which did not take long, I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

 Adding that yellow filter to my camera made all the difference this month. I didn't have to do much adjustment to my photos with Affinity Photo 2. I got my exposure settings pretty much right thanks to that filter. It was a 1/500th f/16 day without it, so it gave me some wiggle room with this most basic of cameras. I was able to bring some definition into the sky and the black areas are deep and oh so rich. 

I am a very happy bunny this month. To be honest I was going to use one of my Cokin A filters by covering the lens with it, but that would have added a bit of shake and wonkiness to my photos courtesy of having to adjust the way I hold the camera. Buying the Actina yellow filter kept me in full control of my compositions and it shows, but I will let you see them for yourself.

Here's a few favourites from my June roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project 2025. As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2025 album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2025 - June 
  

Balda Baldax - Ilford FP4+ 125

For our visit to Ribchester I decided to take Baldy the Baldax out to play, purely on the off-chance I finished my roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project. Of course I did finish that part of my plans for the day and thus baldy was retrieved from my bag ready to go. I had loaded it with a roll of Ilford FP4+ 125 and to cap things nicely, the sun finally broke through the haze, bathing us in all its spring glory. 

I started my roll at The White Bull, a lovely pub with what look like real Roman columns holding up the front porch and a model of a white Bull on top of it. This pub found fame when the popular British archaeology series "Time Team" visited Ribchester to search for the extent of the Roman settlement beyond what had already been found. It was the second episode of the first series and the whole town was involved as residents dug test pits in their gardens. You can find it on YouTube.

Ribchester isn't very large, it probably hasn't really grown much since it was founded all those centuries ago, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to photograph. Ribchester is full of sandstone buildings that are a couple of centuries old and there's been a lot of recycling of building materials over time.

There's also some new buildings that stand out, but they will weather in over the years ahead. In ten years you wouldn't know they hadn't been there long unless you knew what to look for. Ribchester is a conservation area thanks to its Roman roots which spread out in the local countryside, including an ancient road through a field that you can hike along.

Keith was indulging in photographing his favourite subject. Doors. To be fair there are some ornate doors around the town worthy of a photo and Keith made the most of them. I too got a couple of photos of doors as well as general photos of the buildings and details unique to each one. It didn't seem like we had been out for very long, but by 4 pm, we were both getting tired and made our way home, happy with what we had achieved.

I developed my roll of Ilford FP4+ 125 with BelliniFoto Euro HC for 8 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 120 mediumformat film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I haven't used dear Baldy the Baldax for a few weeks as I have been busy with my autofocus cameras, so it was nice to spend a day with no batteries or automation bar my Gossen Trisix selenium light meter. I haven't forgotten how to use them, but it still shows where I cocked up the odd composition and a couple of light leaks strayed into my photos.

I'm not too fussed about it because perfection just isn't happening with a camera that's over 90 years of age. I just wanted to enjoy using it again and I certainly did that. Here's a few favourites from my roll of Ilford FP4 shot with Baldy the Baldax on a fine afternoon in Ribchester. I have posted them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Balda Baldax - Ilford FP4+ 125

Kentmere 200 - A new film from Harman Technology, the home of Ilford Film.

 Harman Technology, manufacturers of Ilford and Kentmere Black & White film and Harman Phoenix colour film have been busy over the last couple of years. They brought us Phoenix, their first colour film manufactured totally in house at their factory here in the north west of England. Now they have announced a new B&W film with the recent release of Kentmere 200, a medium speed B&W film that rounds out and compliments their Kentmere range of B&W film.

Regular readers will know I enjoy using budget films and they don't come much more budget friendly than Kentmere. Those of us with very little disposable income need to find ways to enhance versatility and have been pushing Kentmere 100 and pulling Kentmere 400 to 200 iso for years. We don't need to do that anymore now that Harman have brought Kentmere 200 onto the market. I had to try some and purchased a few rolls around 3 milliseconds after it went live on the Analogue Wonderland website. (yeah I was slacking, it should have been 1 picosecond....)

Using any film for the first time can be a crap shoot, but I mitigated any chances of my ineptitude getting in the way of well exposed photos by choosing my camera wisely. I loading my first roll of Kentmere 200 into my Minolta X-700 and took advantage of it's excellent aperture priority mode.I also used my MD 50mm f/1.7 lens and a MD 2x teleconverter for long shots, and my Vivitar 28mm MC close focus wide angle lens to give me a decent range of focal lengths to play with. I headed out into my local countryside on a sunny afternoon to explore.

The Film Photography market has been steadily rising over the last decade and Harman have put a lot of effort into ensuring they are at the forefront of it. In recent years they have secured investment to expand their facilities at Mobberley to enable them to make more film. A statement of intent they are already acting upon.

Kentmere 200 slots into a niche in the market once inhabited by Fomapan 200. Sadly, production problems with Fomapan 200, particuarly in 120 medium format had B&W film photographers like myself looking elsewhere to scratch that particular creative itch. I like Fomapan 200 in 35mm and this first roll of Kentmere 200 would give me something to compare directly to it rather than pushing or pulling other films. Kentmere 200 is also available in 120 and that itch will be scratched later in the year.

I was having fun on my walk and totally forgot I had bought 24 shot rolls of film instead of the usual 36 shot rolls I normally buy. It turned out ok though as my last couple of shots coincided with the half way mark of my walk and I finished my very first roll of Kentmere 200 at the stile to the footpath across the corn field. At least I think the farmer is growing corn this year, wheat isn't spaced out as much as this years crop. With my last shot taken, I switched cameras to start my Frugal Film Project 2025 obligation with my Kodak Retina 1a and headed off towards home.

A few days later I developed my roll of Kentmere 200 in Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized LED light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

With any new film, the manufacturer rightly uses their own proprietary developers to test their new product and the Film Community goes right ahead and starts experimenting with the developers and times their experience lead them towards. I went for 6 minutes based upon the time given by Harman for Ilfotec HC at 1+31, which, as far as I am aware, is near as darn it the same developer as Kodak HC110 and Bellini Euro HC. 

As more photographers get to experiment with this film using any of the healthy number of developers on the market, the knowledge base will grow, but for now I am happy to use Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B to develop Kentmere 200. I could see straight away I had made a good choice as the film looked decently exposed and as I digitised it and began editing the RAW files, I didn't have to do much to it at all, despite shooting the roll in the harshest light on the hottest day in May 2025, a harsh baptism of fire! I have three more rolls to play with and will be having a lot of fun with filters as I go along.

Here's a few favourites from my walk in my local countryside with my very first roll of Kentmere 200. They are compositions I have done to death, but familiar was the way to go with this brand new film. I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them

Kentmere 200 

Frugal Film Project 2025 - May

 Spring has been hot and dry here in darkest Wigan and I wasn't feeling up to going out much after expending a lot of creative energy on Opaque, the new photo book from the Photozine Collective, and making the most of the glorious Cherry Blossom around town. That changed when a good rest made life a little more bearable and I went for a walk in my local countryside on a sunny Sunday afternoon in mid May. As always when I am out and about I was pulling double duty and shooting a brand new film with my Minolta X-700. I shot that roll first and will speak about it in a future blog.

I finished my other roll at the half way point of my walk and got started on my roll of Type 517 Cine Film in my Retina 1a. To be honest I was enjoying being out in the countryside, taking advantage of the dry spring we have had. The farmer had been busy planting this years crop, I think it's corn, and I enjoyed using the rows of crops as leading lines to the house and trees in the distance across the field. I was thinking of my hope for rain to help the crops grow tall and strong. We all love the nice weather, but to feed us all we need rain.

I soon arrived at the Stile which has been my nemesis this last few years. I don't like using it at the best of times, but with the sun being out, it made me be a little more bold and, after a few photos, I managed to navigate my way over it. This stile is a deceptive one as it drops down on the other side and has caught a few people out in the past. I took a couple from the other side and headed across the field where the horses were enjoying the shade at the bottom of the hill.

The pond at the top of this field was quite still on this day so I tried a couple of compositions using reflections with the trees and reeds etc. Then I headed onto the wash to visit my favourite tree on there. It's good to see the Silver Birch trees in full foliage again. I also took a couple of photos of the derelict car with it's new graffiti. It changes every time I see it and the local kids haven't got any better at painting and spelling, bless 'em.

It was almost time to head for home and I took a walk onwards to the next pond and the summerhouse that has been enthralling me with it's reflection on the water. I also took a shot of the Post Box and a lonely traffic cone because we have to, it's the law! I headed for the shops to pick up a couple of things before I turned for home. This Brit need milk for his cuppa tea and cornflakes and I had run out. I had also nearly run out of frames on this roll and had had enough inspiration for one day so I resolved to finish the last few frames later. I put my camera in my bag, got my shopping and went home for a well earned cuppa.

I decided to have a little play and developed my roll of Type 517 Cine Film with Bellini Euro HC  1+31 for 12 minutes at 20 celcius instead of 14 1/2 minutes and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized LED light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

Sunny days is where this film thrives, but I have a habit of getting my Mk1 eyeball metering wrong and it shows in this months roll. I over exposed most of my shots, but the ones I got right were bang on. I lose focus and things just slip my mind, it happens to everyone, but especially me since my stroke. Thankfully this film has a wide dynamic range and I was able to salvage it with Affinity Photo 2. 

That dynamic range means that this film has got my attention and it has grown on me over the first half of 2025. I want to experiment with filters and I think it's time to hunt some down on the bay. I also need to give myself a kick up the ass to make a better effort at getting my exposures right rather than hoping I can save them later. One thing I do know for sure is this Kodak Retina 1a is a little gem, the diamond in the bundle I bought last year and I reckon everyone should give one of these cameras a try at some point, even if it is just the once.

It was a joy to get back to my vintage cameras after spending a bit of time with my all singing and dancing electronic auto everything cameras of the last few weeks. It's nice to have the toys with all the bells and whistles, but a simple camera is much more fun. Here's a few favourites from my May roll of Type 517 Cine Film shot my Kodak Retina 1a for the Frugal Film Project 2025. I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project album on Flickr for you to visit via the link below. I hope you enjoy them. 

Frugal Film Project 2025