I have been having a lot of fun this year learning new skills and teaching my Grandson about photography so we could have some quality time together. I had a plan and stuck to it fairly well, despite a couple of last minute dashes to take photos for the Fugal Film Project. I am not so strict in my schedule that I stick to it religiously, I still have a chance to do something different. This week's photo walk was triggered by Jason Avery on Twitter who struck up a conversation about folding cameras. He asked everyone to name their favourite folding camera and why they liked it.
I only have one folding camera, my Agfa Isolette 1 6x6 medium format folding camera, a gift from my friends Helene and Budgie and I decided it was time I took it out with me again. It has been sat on my shelf since March as I have been learning to use my Goodman Zone Z1. I took it from my shelf and was giving it a clean ready for me to use when I noticed a problem, a light seal had perished. This is no problem to fix, all you need are some basic tools, Isopropyl alcohol, cotton buds/q tips, tooth picks, some light seal material, a straight edge/ruler and a sharp scalpel. It just takes a little time.
I removed the perished seal and cleaned as much of the old glue and seal material off as possible with some tooth picks, isopropyl alcohol and some cotton buds/q tips. Once that was done and the area was nice and dry I cut some seal material to the right length and width, removed the backing paper and carefully stuck the new seal onto my camera. I was happy with how my repair looked and loaded a roll of Rollei Superpan 200 into it to test it out.
Before heading out on this sunny Sunday afternoon I took a light reading with my Gossen Trisix light meter to check if Superpan was the right film to use for the conditions. It was a 1/250th at f/11 kind of day so I set my Agfa Isolette 1 to its fastest shutter speed of 1/200th and switched between f/11 and f/16 depending on what I found as I took a walk around my local countryside.
As this was a test I kept to shooting compositions I have shot previously so I could compare results easily. I have only shot one roll of Rollei Superpan 200 which was for Infrared and have no examples of it at box speed without filters. This was going to be my benchmark for this film in my archive, so I gave it my full attention. I didn't hang about either as it was coming up to tea time and I was getting "Fur Klempt" as we say here in Wigan when we are hungry.
With 11 shots done I finished the roll with a throwaway shot of my garden fence and developed the film later that evening. I developed it in Kodak HC-110 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius as per the Massive Dev Chart and it was soon hanging to dry in my bathroom. One thing I noticed straight away was a lack of stray light leaks that I had been getting on my last photo walk with my Agfa Isolette 1. It would appear my repair was a success. Huzzah!
I digitised my Rollei Superpan 200 with my Nokia 5.3 phone camera and processed it with Affinity Photo. Having never shot this film at box speed without filters I have to say I was very pleased with the results. I didn't have to do much processing and managed to get 12 shots without any double exposures. I did say I gave it my full attention and it shows in the photos. Here are a few for your perusal and I have put them and the rest of my shots in a album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.
p.s. My e-zine "In The Zone" is available as a digital download for £3 from my Ko-Fi shop. You can find it using the link below.
Rollei Superpan 200 - Agfa Isolette 1
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