Frugal Film Project 2023 - October

 With Keith staying at my place for a few days he wanted to go further afield for a photo adventure and asked if my wife and I wanted to go to Blacpool for an afternoon of photography followed by a drive through the Illuminations before heading home. We have been basically housebound for a few weeks and reckoned the sea air would do us some good. I loaded a roll of Kentmere 400 into Baldy the Baldax and off we went.

In our defence, it was sunny when we set off, but as soon as we parked up, the clouds began rolling in and the light was very challenging to say the least. Keith and I both had a light meter and made the best of the it whilst we could.

I haven't visited Blackpool for over 20 years and a lot has changed in that time whilst remaining exactly the same. The famous Blackpool Tower hasn't changed much, it's a fine piece of engineering built in the early 1890's and opened to the public in 1894. Since then it's been painted regularly to fend off the corrosive effects of the sea breeze and festooned with modern lights that are switched on after sunset.

Across the Tram lines from Blackpool Tower is the Comedy Carpet, a place where catchphrases and one liners from Britains finest comedians and variety performers over the years are written large in letters made from granite and encased in white concrete on the Festival Headland section of the Promenade. People are welcome to explore and find their favourite artists and it was well worth the time we spent there.

A veritable who's who of British comedians and variety entertainers have graced stages in Blackpool. A residency at the Joe Longthorne Theater at the end of North Pier was once the highlight of many a career. Summer Season shows are still very popular and all part of the Blackpool Experience. We enjoyed our walk to the North Pier and along it to try to get a shot of the Central Pier and Blackpool Tower, but all too soon the light had gone and we had to head back to the car before our parking time ran out. We didn't want a parking ticket on this trip.

After stowing away Keith and my wife's chariots, we headed towards Bispham, just to the north of Blackpool Prom and found a takeaway to help warm us up. It may have been a dry day, but the sea breeze had an autumnal feel to it and a hot meal would warm us up a bit. The final part of our day out was to drive through the world famous Blackpool Illuminations. 

October is slap bang in the middle of Blackpool Illuminations season, a 6 mile celebration with brightly lit displays and a multitude of coloured lights over head along the Promenade. It was good to drive through the Illuminations before heading home, thoroughly worn out after a great wander along Blackpool Promenade. It finished our day out nicely.

I developed my film a couple of days later in Zone Imaging 510 Pyro for 11 minutes at 20 celcius, stopped with flitered water, fixed with Fotospeed FX30 and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I was pretty pleased with the film despite the dull conditions we faced on the day. It looked nicely exposed, but the proof is always when you process it further, either in a proper darkroom or as I do with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens and process the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from our day out at the seaside. I said last month how much I was enjoying using Baldy The Baldax for the second half of this years Frugal Film Project, and that still holds true. I have really grown to appreciate such a simple camera that still produces reasonably decent photos 90 years after it left the factory. As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2023 album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2023 

Wigan Pier Quarter - Out and About Again At Last!

 I haven't been out for a few weeks thanks to Covid, but after everyone in my household produced a negative test I was able to get out and about again. This coincided with a visit from my friend Keith Sharples who came to stay with us for a few days and I was ready for a photo walk on a sunny autumn afternoon. We decided to stay local, Keith hadn't been for a wander around Wigan Pier for several years, so we paid a visit to the Wigan Pier Quarter of town.

I loaded a roll of CHS 100ii into my Minolta X-700 and pushed it one stop to 200 iso. I know how good this film is at its native box speed, but how would it cope at 200? I wanted to find out. Keith was using his Rank Mamiya rangefinder that he recently had serviced by Pierro at PPP Cameras. This was the first chance Keith had to give it a proper test and we were quite looking forward to seeing how it performed.

We parked at Trencherfield Mill and got busy photographing the items of machinery on public display from the rich heritage the north of England has at the heart of the Industrial Revolution. The biggest being the fan that drove fesh air into a local colliery, thus greatly reducing the chances of miners suffocating as they toiled deep underground at the coalface. It also drove out the dreaded methane gas, known to all coal miners as "Firedamp".

Methane Gas accumulates in coal seams and if not dealt with can ignite and cause a huge explosion. Two notable incidents in the local coal fields that caused loss of life occurred because of methane gas explosions. The Pretoria Pit Disaster of 1910 took 344 lives in an explosion and more recently an explosion took ten lives at Goldborne Pit in 1979. Both are still commemorated by the local communities to this day.

We took full advantage of the sunshine by taking a few photos of Wigan Pier. Sadly the refurbishment has hit financial trouble and has come to a standstill until further investment can be raised. The outside of the buildings has been cleaned and they look great, but until more investment is found it's basically been mothballed.

On the other side of Trencherfield Mill is a Dry Dock that was in use when we visited. Keith once lived on a Canal Barge and appreciates the work that has to be done to maintain them. We had a look further up the canal where I got a couple of photos of Kennet, a barge that has been used both for industrial use and as an educational centre to teach schoolchildren about life on the canals. It is also on the National Historic Vessels Register here in the UK.

Our final shots were taken adjacent to the Lock Keepers Cottages that stand at the bottom of the Wigan Flight of 21 locks that climb from Wigan Pier to Top Lock at Aspull. During the summer months a steady stream of barges and leisure boats start or finish their traverse of the Wigan flight here aided by volunteers who man the locks. All too soon, or so it seemed, our films were done and we headed back to my home for a well deserved rest.

A couple of days later I gave some thought to how I would develop my film. I sent a message to James Lane at Zone Imaging for advice on how to calculate my developing time for ADOX CHS 100ii. James very graciously gave me the info I needed and that calculation gave me a ball park time of 13 minutes for the film shot at 200 iso and developed in James' excellent 510 Pyro, diluted to 1+100 at 20 celcius. After fixing my film using Fotospeed FX30, I soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom.

I was very pleased with my first look at this roll of ADOX CHS 100ii. Setting the film speed at 200 iso was an experiment and one that worked out quite well in the autumn sunshine. Scanning was done using my Nikon D700 with my film held in my Pixl-Latr and iluminated with my A5 led light pad. I processed the raw files with Affinity Photo 2.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from our walk around the Wigan Pier Quarter of town. It was good to get out again after having to quarantine with the dreaded lurgi. Keith said I had to replenish my silver halide levels and I took full advantage of it. The highlights were nicely exposed and the shadow details weren't lost in the contrast that a 100 iso film can give you. Overall that one stop push gave me decent results and I will probably do it again.

I like ADOX CHS 100ii, it's a great slow speed black and white film at a price we can all afford. I'm an Ilford guy and I love using FP4, but if that option was unavailable to me I wouldn't hesitate to choose ADOX CHS 100ii. It's well worth the money and I would quite happily use it as my everyday film until my dying day. As always I have placed these photos and more in an album on my Flickr account that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

ADOX CHS 100ii - Minolta X-700  

Olympus OM-1 - Ilford FP4

 I wasn't going to write about having a walk with my Olympus OM-1 and a roll of Ilford FP4. It was supposed to be something just for me. There comes a time when a guy just has to look after number 1 and this particular combo was it, just for me, nobody else. This was my mental health getting a massage and it was wonderful. Then I got Covid and I was grounded for a while. I couldn't get out of bed for a week never mind get out of the house with a camera. Egads! I haven't been that ill for quite some time.

I needed something for my blog and no time to wait to get well enough to go out. Then I remembered I did have something. I had been out and about with my OM-1 and wasn't going to write about it. It was time to dust off the roll and see what I could remember.

I have spoken previously about how I use photography to help me continue my recovery from a stroke I had back in 2013 and having park my beloved motorcycle. For me it's a form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and my Doctor at the time thought it was a good idea. The repetitive process would do me good as it would help me exercise my brain. It also dug out a memory from my childhood, one that had been sat there, waiting patiently for it's day in the sunshine.

I have wanted an Olympus OM-1 since the "David Bailey, who's he?" adverts graced TV screens around the world in the 70's. The adverts were for the Olympus Trip, but in the ad David Bailey said Olympus made the OM-1, the best camera in the world. Back then the idea of me in my late fifties owning and talking about my OM-1 was half a century away, but I knew I wanted one and I would own one some day. My dream became a reality a couple of years back, I have really enjoyed using it and I haven't looked back.

My OM-1 had been sat on my shelf waiting its turn in my rotation, I have been a busy chap teaching my grandson the fine art of film photography and my reward for that was a day with my OM-1. I'm a man of simple taste and going out to take photos with my dream camera on a sunny afternoon in late summer is enough reward for what Ethan and I achieved in the summer of 2023.

It was a gloriously sunny day too with just a few clouds and contrails from the aircraft flying 5 miles up to break up the blue sky the day had brought me. Ilford FP4 was the right film for the day too. I haven't used the light meter on my OM-1 since the battery died a while ago and I trusted my instinct for sunny 16 as I couldn't go wrong on such a glorious day. For a fall back option I also took my Gossen Trisix light meter which came in really handy for some shots in the corn field. It was a "No Batteries Required" kind of day and I loved it.

I developed my film a day or so later and to be honest I couldn't tell you what developer I used or for how long my roll of FP4 was in the tank. This was supposed to be just for me and I didn't make a note of it. Scanning was done with my Ion Slides2PC scanner. Although this was my film, I couldn't resist sharing a few on social media with no blog post to back them up and they were well received. My mental health was well and truly massaged and it felt good.

Then I got Covid.

I couldn't get out so I revisited this roll whilst recovering from the Lurgi that has been through my household. Being in bed for a week and not being able to get out and photograph the Corn Harvest was a tough one to take as I really wanted to witness it this year. It seems like my roll of FP4 and my OM-1 wanted their chance to shine, so I decided to make them presentable.  

I got my Nikon D610 out and decided to give them the DSLR Scan treatment. I fitted my Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens with the correct Tamron 1X extension tube and attached it to my Nikon D610, put my L bracket on the camera and mounted it onto my tripod. Leveling was done with my trusty spirit level to get both camera and Pixl-Latr as close to level with each other as I could. It's not easy levelling two things along three axes of reference when covid has turned your brains to mush, but I did it. Yay me!

I had been getting plenty of practice whilst learning to use my Valoi mask for my medium format film and I used what I had learned to feel confident about reproducing decent images of my 35mm film. My film was held in my Pixl-Latr with my led light pad to illuminate it and I processed the images with Affinity Photo 2.

Here's a few of my favourites from my feel good film of the summer. You may have seen a few of these before, but that's ok. There's a few you haven't seen here too and as always there's a link below to my Flickr album which you can visit to see them in full resolution. I hope you enjoy them.

Ilford FP4 - Olympus OM-1 - DSLR Scans 

Scanning - What A Difference A Mask makes

 I have mentioned needing to improve my skills at scanning my film with my DSLR and macro lens, in particular my medium format film. I made a big stride in that department recently with the purchase of a Valoi medium format film mask and adapter plate for my Pixl-Latr that I bought from the Pixl-Latr website. (I shall leave a link at the end of this article)

When scanning photographic film you need a film holder or Mask that holds your film nice and flat. This is important to give you a nice even scan of your negative that you can load onto your computer to process with the software of your choosing.

I have been using my Pixl-Latr for quite a while to hold my film and for ease of use, my Nokia phone camera to quickly digitise my negatives. This is ok for social media, but one thing I have been struggling with is getting a nice flat and level scan.

Film has a habit of having a slight curl to it in varying degrees across the manufacturers. This can be quite severe, but is often mitigated by leaving the film in a storage sheet with some books on top to weigh the film down and leave it for a while. The weight will, over time, flatten the film.

There are times when I don't have the luxury of time. Long time readers will know I am notorious for leaving things until the last minute and yes, I rush my scanning because of it. This has led to quite a lot of my photographs being less than their best, despite my best efforts at mitigating the uneveness across the negative with my editing software. It had to change.

I have been looking at various products on the market that have been developed by small companies, enterprising folk with 3D printing facilities and in some cases, Lego. My Pixl-Latr is a universal scanning mask. You can scan everything from 35mm to 4x5 sheet film with it by adding or removing elements of the modular scanning mask.

Much as I love my Pixl-Latr, it has been having bother keeping my film flat, particularly with the extra curly films that turn into a slinky as soon as you remove them from the clips after drying. I needed another solution, but I didn't want to totally bin my Pixl-Latr. I paid good money for it and I'm averse to throwing stuff away.

This is where Valoi comes in.

Valoi is a modular scanning system developed and produced by Arild, a young chap from Norway who wanted to improve his scanning. He designed his Valoi Scanning System using Lego and then prototyped it with a 3D printer before getting the whole shebang manufactured by a company specialising in injection moulding. You can buy a complete scanning system, or just a single film holder, it all depends on how much money you wish to spend. (I shall leave a link at the end of this article)

Hamish, the man behind Pixl-Latr, Arild of Valoi and other interested parties chatted about using Valoi film holders on a Pixl-Latr. An agreement was reached and Hamish had an adapter plate made to fit Valoi film holders to the existing Pixl-Latr 4x5 mask. This is ideal for folk like myself who already own a Pixl-Latr. It also provides an entry point for the Valoi System.

As it was medium format film I was struggling with, I ordered the Valoi medium format film holder and Pixl-Latr adapter plate from Hamish at Pixl-Latr. It arrived a couple of days later and I got to work learning how to use of this new addition to my scanning work-flow.

I set up my camera on my tripod and levelled it using my trusty spirit level. I also made sure my A5 led light pad was level on my desk and plonked my Pixl-Latr on top of it. The Pixl-Latr adapter plate slotted into the 4x5 mask and the Valoi medium format film holder slotted into the adapter and again I checked everything was true both horizontally and vertically with each other. Preparation is the key to just about everything we do, it's called P Theory. Proper planning and preparation prevents piss poor performance.

I chose some medium format film I have shot over the last couple of years and inserted it into the Valoi film holder. By eck it's a very nice fit. The holder is designed in such a way that the film, no matter how curly it is, is always held flat. That's the important bit. You need everything level and the film to be flat to get a nice and sharp image when you hit the shutter button on your digital camera and it doesn't get scratched either.

Once you have fitted your film into the holder, check the negative is nicely focused and preferably fills the frame, find your settings and then release the shutter. Once you have done one, you slide the film through the holder to the next frame and repeat the process. Simples!

Once I had "scanned"a few frames I uploaded them to my computer and processed the images with Affinity Photo 2. In the past I was getting images that were falling off to a blur on the edges or at the corners, now I am getting images that are sharp side to side, top to bottom and across the diagonals, corner to corner. It's made my processing much simpler and quicker too.

Just that one change has given me the confidence to go back and re-scan some of my favourite medium fomat photos. I always knew I could do better, but a lack of cash held me back until I saved enough to buy a Valoi film holder. Saving money for a new toy isn't easy when you have a big family and serious camera G.A.S, but it was worth the wait.

Here's a few old photos I have re visited and made a big improvement on compared to my previous photos. Some of you may not notice a difference, but I can and that's all that matters. My next purchase will be a Valoi 35mm film holder so I can make improvements to scanning that format too.

If you want a decent low cost scanning mask or a full all singing and dancing kit, please visit Pixl-Latr and Valoi using the links below. (No, I don't get anything at all for saying nice things about them, I wrote this article because I believe in their products.) They have the tools you need to scan your own film at home. All you need is a Digital Camera, a good Macro Lens a Tripod and an led light pad. I always try to make my photos look their best so I can share them with you, now they will look even better thanks to Valoi and Pixl-Latr. I hope you enjoy them.

Pixl-Latr Scanning Kits 
Valoi Scanning Kits