In December of 2020 I spoke about becoming the new custodian of 2 vintage cameras that belonged to a friends grandfather. A No.1 Pocket Kodak Junior and an Agfa Isolette 1, both cameras use 120 medium format film. I have never used medium format before, ever. When I was growing up medium and large format were things I knew about, but never got the chance to try. The kind gift from my friend was the Photography Gods way of telling me I needed to do this. The Pocket Kodak Junior is in need of some tlc and is a project for another day, but the Agfa Isolette is in excellent condition. I checked the bellows were light tight, gave the lens a clean and tried the shutter and all seemed to be working as it should. I took a leap of faith and bought a few rolls of Fomapan 200 from Analogue Wonderland to give it a try.
Foma is cheap film and folk often get the wrong impression of it because of its low price. It is my humble opinion that its low price makes it a great film for experimenting with and also for learning with too. It's definitely the right film for testing an old camera. I took the plunge this week to give my Agfa Isolette 1 a try and, through the power of you tube, I found a couple of video's explaining the features of the Agfa Isolette 1 and how to use it. It's a simple camera, it has a leaf shutter with just four shutter speeds and a lens that has an aperture range of f/4.5 to f/32. The shutter must be cocked with a lever on the top of the lens/shutter assembly and it can be operated with a cable release.
Using the camera is easy if you are familiar with zone focus, it is pretty straight forward. You set the focal distance to your subject on the lens, for my first attempt I was using my tried and tested coffee table studio and I used the minimum distance available on the camera, 3 feet. I measured the distance between my camera and my subject to get it within the zone and set the aperture at f/5.6. I also set my DSLR up next to the Agfa and used it as a light meter and also to take reference shots. I lit my subject with an led lamp and I was ready to take my first shot.
Having never used 120 film or the camera before, I took my time to get it to what I thought was right and used a few handy ornaments as subjects. The camera was mounted on a tripod and I used a cable release to keep any shutter shake to the bare minimum. The Agfa Isolette has a leaf shutter that is so quiet it would make an excellent street photography camera. The downside is the viewfinder is horrible and tiny. I wear glasses and I can't get my eye right up to the viewfinder, so I had to guess at having my composition in the frame. Thankfully I gussed correctly and I soon had 12 shots done.
I had also never developed 120 film either. This was easier than I thought as my Paterson reels are adjustable to take 35mm and 120 film and I soon had the film loaded and in the tank. I developed the film in HC-110 for 3.5 minutes at 20c as stated on the Massive Dev Chart and it was at this point I had made an error that I will have to rectify in future. I didn't pre-wash the film.
I have heard tales of folk pre washing film and as I have only ever shot 35mm I haven't felt the need to pre-wash any of my film. I found out why folk pre-wash film when my development time was up and I poured a fresh mix of dilution B out of the tank and back into it's jug. The darn thing was green! Oh well, at least it was fresh when it went in the tank, I will make sure I pre wash it next time. A few minutes later I had rinsed my film and let it sit in Ilford Ilfotol Wetting Agent whilst I cleaned up.
The best part of developing is finding out if you have some images on your film and I'm glad to say I got 12 on my first ever roll. The negatives were a bit thin courtesy of the lighting conditions I had, but closer inspection showed some promising images and I hung it up to dry.
As first attempts go it wasn't a bad effort and I knew I would get better, but I did decide to buy a rangefinder to sort my distance issue. I'm not as good at guessing distance as I used to be. I managed to pick up a Watameter rangefinder from the bay of evil for a very reasonable price and once I had found an instruction manual for it, I soon had it calibrated and ready to go.
My second roll in Wigan Park didn't go well. I have to admit it took a while to get the right method and order to using the Isolette into my head and I got one reasonable shot. The light was awful and I needed a bright day to see how this camera can operate properly. That day came on the 22nd and I headed out to shoot a third roll of 120 in my Isolette and finish my roll of film in my Olympus 35RC for the Frugal Film Project.
Third time lucky proved true again as I managed to get better results this time and only made a mistake on frame 11 when I double exposed it by mistake. Overall I am happy with this wonderful gift from my friends and will definitely be using it a lot more in the future. I also have to invest in a dedicated mask so I can DSLR Scan my negatives properly. I am using my phone at the moment and, whilst it isn't perfect, it does give me a rough and ready quick look at the fruit of my labour. Here's a few to show my progress and I hope you enjoy them.
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