Ilford FP4 pushed to 400 iso

I absolutely tried to make the most of the snow we got in mid January here in Wigan and shot several rolls of film including this roll of Ilford FP4. Box speed for FP4 is 125 iso or there about, but for the snow I chose to push it 2 stops to 400 iso. I wanted to see how it would handle the bright snow as we don't get it very often here in dark, wet, cold, dull and gloomy Wigan. I loaded it into my OM-10, fitted my 28mm f/3.5 Zuiko lens and headed off to the Park.

I shot this roll of film on the same day I shot my roll of HP5 medium format film in Baldy The Baldax for the Frugal Film Project. I shot most of the roll on my way back into the town centre as I had concentrated on my medium format film first before switching to my OM-10. The remaining shots I took the next day as I was out and about with my Minolta X700 shooting a roll of film for a project.

I enjoy using my OM-10, its aperture priority mode is great for taking a lot of thought from the process thanks to Olympus' excellent light meter they built into the camera. The other variable is the lens and we all know how good Olympus Zuiko lenses are. If you are one of those who don't know, I suggest you get an Olympus OM camera, any will do, with the Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 and/or the Zuiko 28mm f/3.5. You can thank me after you see your photos.

I developed my film using the last drops of my Zone Imaging 510 Pyro. It doesn't seem like I have had it very long and it has already gone. That says two things; one, I like 510 Pyro and two, I LIKE 510 PYRO! A two stop push means a 17 minute dunk for Ilford FP4 shot at 400 iso. It really appreciates the long and gentle development so don't be too vigorous with your inversions or twizzling stick. A minute in plain water to stop the developing stage and a 10 minute dunk in Fotospeed FX30 later and my film was hanging to dry in my bathroom.

Digitising was done with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Later and A5 led light source. RAW files were processed with Affinity Photo 2.

I am really impressed with how Ilford FP4 handles a 2 stop push, my film was nicely exposed and it didn't need a lot of work in Affinity Photo 2 to make it presentable. Zone Imaging 510 Pyro developer really makes it shine. Here's a few favourites and as always I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr for you to view in full resolution using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Ilford FP4 @ 400 iso

Another sunny afternoon with Ferrania P30.

 My first blog of 2024 was all about Ferrania P30 from Italy. I spoke of it's history and how I felt about using it in my Ukrainian. FED 2 rangefinder and using my Gossen Trisix selenium cell light meter. It was a "no batteries required" walk around town and I really enjoyed myself. I also mentioned I had another roll and wanted to shoot that one in a more modern camera to see how it fared. I loaded it into my Minolta X-700 with MD 50mm f/1.7 lens and took it with me on my walk in my local woodland testing my Zeiss Ikon Maximar 207/3 from last weeks blog.

I have spoken fondly of my Minolta X-700 in previous blogs and it still makes me smile to this day. It is a well balanced camera with enough features to keep enthusiasts like myself entertained. I have a thing for Aperture Priority at the moment, I have been using my OM-10 and OM-2 a lot and I decided to see how Ferrania P30 fared in my Minolta using all its auto features as well as manual settings.

Full Program mode is where you just need to point the camera at your subject, focus and release the shutter. The electronics in the camera select both aperture and shutter speed based on a reading from the built in light meter. The MD 50mm f/1.7 is built for this feature and it's a formidable combination. The only variable is your Mk 1 eyeballs and your ability to use the horizontal split prism screen in the viewfinder.

Aperture Priority is where you select the aperture on the lens and the camera chooses the shutter speed based on a reading from the built in light meter. Again, the lens I used is built for this feature too and it's a match made in photography heaven. There's just enough auto mixed with my own skills to produce a great exposure and the 50mm lens is superb. 

The Minolta X-700 also gives you the ability to shoot manually. You choose the settings, the electronic shutter fires for precisely the time you select on the speed dial, the aperture stops precisely where you set it. There are led lights in the viewfinder that tell you what your shutter speed is. It's is a simple to use system that works.

I wasn't photographing anything I haven't photographed before, I just wanted to see how P30 fared in my Minolta X-700. Winter blessed me with bright sunshine and a few clouds on my wander, perfect conditions for a slow speed, high contrast black and white film. I was hoping for a few silhouette photos as I made my way around my local countryside. 

I took a few shots at the same place as my Maximar shots, just for a comparison of frame sizes. There's no way I could compare either of my cameras on this walk, they're two different animals separated by around 7 or 8 decades in time. It was nice just to be out and not having to think too much when switching between cameras. I was having a lot of fun and it seemed like I had not been out for long when I shot my last photo with my Minolta and headed home.

I developed my P30 a couple of days later. I had just enough of James Lane's rather excellent Zone Imaging 510 Pyro left to develop my Ferrania P30 diluted at 1+100 for 13 1/2 minutes at 20 celcius. I used plain old water to stop the development and fixed my film with Fotospeed FX30 for 8 minutes and I hung it to dry in my bathroom overnight. Digitising was done with my Nikon D700, Tamron 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 led light source. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I'm quite happy with how Ferrania P30 fared in my Minolta X-700 and MD 50mm f/1.7 lens. It's easy to see why the X-700 stayed in production for 20 years, it's a great camera. I'm glad I put Ferrania P30 into it and went hunting for contrast and silhouettes as winter is ideal for it. Winter sunlight mixed with bare trees really strikes a major chord and inspires me and it's my favourite black and white season. I have managed to capture two extremes already this year, one snowy day and one bright sunny day. It shows the variation winter brings to black and white film photography.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from my roll of Ferrania P30 shot with my Minolta X-700. As always I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Ferrania P30 - Minolta X-700 





 

Gear Acquisition Syndrome Strikes Again! Welcome to Quirky Cameras.

I have decided to change things up a little in 2024 and introduce a new feature for my Blog where I talk about Quirky Cameras. It maybe something old or new, maybe borrowed but definitely not blue. Get yourself your favourite beverage, kick the old shoes off and settle down as we take a dive into our first Quirky Camera. 

2024 is less than 3 weeks old and my plan to stick with the gear I have for the whole year has been blown out of the water. I have purchased another camera. I say to myself every year that I will not purchase another camera, but then something intriguing and camera shaped appears, my impulsive instincts take over and I end up owning another one. This time I have a decent excuse and my wife actually approves of my purchase courtesy of its age and media format it uses.

I have bought a vintage Zeiss Ikon Maximar 207/3 medium format folding camera. It is not your average folding camera that requires you use 120 medium format film, oh no. This is one that also uses 6x9 glass plates and I couldn't be happier. 

I spotted the camera on the excellent Camera Go Camera blog written by Peggy. She acquired it as she needed a couple of bits for a Maximar 207/5 she owns and bought the 207/3 thinking she could make one good camera kit from two. Alas, that's where her plan fell apart. The Maximar 207/5 is larger than the 207/3 and neither the glass plate holders, nor the roll film holder from the 207/3 will fit. 

Peggy decided to give the camera a try and see if she could get a decent blog post from it before deciding what to do with it. You can read her blog via the link below, as I did, where I posted a comment saying; "That Maximar would be in my regular rotation. I like it, it's got the charm I associate with photography before the SLR came to dominance." Peggy had taken a few decent photos with it and I rather liked the results she had been able to achieve. 

In my reply I had left my email address and Peggy got in touch offering the camera to me. After around 0.000001 seconds I asked for the price. To be honest I was thinking such an old camera would be out of my reach. I have been looking for a 6x9 medium format camera to use for the Frugal Film Project in 2025 and the ones I have seen are all beyond my meagre budget.

Bearing in mind the budget for the Frugal Film Project is $75/£75, I crossed my fingers, toes and any other appendages I could get my hands on. (stop sniggering at the back!) All Peggy wanted was some Uncle Joe's Mint Balls and a few rolls of film from my stash. That's what I call a great deal!

I refuse to pay more than £10 for a roll of film. Half a dozen rolls from my fridge and a jar of Uncle Joe's Mint Balls, delivered straight from the company to Peggy ensured I was under budget. A couple of days later I received the camera in the post and took my first proper look at my Zeiss Ikon Maximar 207/3.

The camera is around 100 years old and looks a little bedraggled, but that's what I like about it. It's had a life, It has patina, although some may call it rust. I can easily amend that with some careful cleaning. The bellows look to be in good condition, it just needs a clean and some gentle brushing will shift the dust. It will cost me nothing more than time and elbow grease to give the camera a good clean. 

The camera has a 120 roll film back and dark slide that I know works as Peggy has already used the camera. 8 6x9 shots per standard roll are not going to be hard to shoot on one walk, so I need to pick my shots and not indulge in happy snapping. I did that with my Minolta X-700 loaded with Ferrania P30. You can read about it next week.

It also came with 6 6x9 plate holders with dark slides. Before roll film was invented, photographs were produced on glass plates with a light sensitive emulsion on called "Dry Plates" to differentiate them from the previous "Wet Plate" collodion process. They were the high tech of the late 19th and very early 20th century.

I have never used anything other than roll film or digital cameras, this will be a first for me. I am expecting a very steep learning curve and yes, Dry Glass Plates are still available. There's a few intrepid photographers who make their own, which is exactly how Kodak and Ilford started out. 

I have always been amazed that just about every process, from Daguerreotypes to Roll Film, are still enjoyed by photographers around the world and we all have our favourite one. Will dry glass plates capture me in their thrall? There's only one way to find out, but that's a story for another blog. For my first use of my Zeiss Ikon Maximar 207/3, I loaded a roll of Kentmere 400 medium format film and headed out for a walk in my local countryside. It was a beautiful sunny and dry day at the back end of January 2024 and I took full advantage of it.

I wasn't expecting anything spectacular from my first try at using a hundredish year old camera. These things need time and patience. What did help was the Compur shutter fitted to the Maximar is similar to the one on Baldy the Baldax, both shutter speed and aperture are set on the rim, hence the name rimset.

Focus is done by moving the bellows and it has a mechanism on the side to lock the bellows and give a nice focus between 8 feet and infinity. This means I can set it up quickly and take a shot without having to faff about with a ground glass on the back of the camera to find my focal point. I need to find one of those. I had no problems using it and metering was done with light meter free app on my smartphone. I also used my K&F tripod, L bracket and cable release.

I always enjoy a wander around my local woods. The contrast between winter skies and bare trees still in their winter slumber never gets old for me. I tried a few old favourite compositions which helped me dial in my basic settings. It was a good day to be out and about, but it never seems to last long. However, my legs and clock on my phone were both telling me I had been out for nigh on three hours. I finished my film in both cameras and headed home.

I developed my roll of Kentmere 400 using Kodak HC110 1+47 dilution E from concentrate. Kentmere film responds well to this dilution and it wasn't long before my first roll shot with my Zeiss Ikon Mixamar camera was hanging in my bathroom to dry. 

Digitising was done with my Nikon D700 and Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens. My film was held nice and flat with my Valoi Film holder on my Pixl-Latr and illuminated with my A5 led light source. RAW files were processed with Affinity Photo 2.

I enjoyed using the camera, despite it giving me flares and light leaks. I suspect those are down to user error rather than anything seriously wrong with the camera. It was a great learning experience for me and it gives me confidence to keep at it and hopefully use it for the Frugal Film Project in 2025. I still need to buy some dry glass plates to give myself that option and try something different. I need to make sure the camera is light tight, which shouldn't cause me too much trouble, but as I said, I think that's my inexperience using this new to me system with the quirks the camera already has.

I have time to give the body of the camera, the dark slides and glass plate holders a clean to remove surface rust and grime accumulated over the century of life it has had. I don't want to go for a full restoration, just stabilise it and ensure it doesn't get worse. Hopefully this will help the camera last a few decades more.

Here's all of my shots from my first roll shot in my Zeiss Ikon Maximar 207/3. We don't get a lot of nice days here during winter, but when we do I have to take a swing at it. This camera gave me a chance to try something a little different to what I am used to and use a camera that a century ago was high tech.

It gave photographers back then a reasonably priced way to shoot the new Roll film and keep using their beloved Dry Glass Plates. I thoroughly approve of it and I will be using this camera again to give Dry Plates a go at some point this year. As always I have placed them and more in an album in Flickr for you to view in full resolution by clicking the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Zeiss Ikon 207/3 Maximar - Kentmere 400
Camera Go Camera - Maximar 207/3 (maximar-a) 

Kodak Brownie

Back in 2022 my eldest daughter bought me a Kodak Brownie 127 for Christmas. It put a big smile on my face, I like quirky stuff and I put it on my camera shelf with every intention of seeing if I could get some film for it and use it, even if it's only the once. 

And there it sat.....

I managed to find a couple of rolls of Rerapan 127 format black and white film, a 100 iso and a 400 iso and put them in my fridge.

And there they sat.....

I had every intention of using the camera, I just couldn't find the motivation. I took it with me and loaded a roll of film in it when Keith took my wife and I to Blackpool. I took one shot and promptly forgot it was in my bag. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find out what using a Bakelite Brownie was like. 

Redemption came on January 27th 2024 when I finally took my Kodak Brownie 127 to Mesnes Park, Wigan to shoot a roll of film for 127 Day. This is the day the dates align and photographers bring their 127 medium format film cameras out for a day and shoot some 127 film on January 27th, or 1-27 as our American chums like to say.

 I just knew it was the right time to use my Kodak Brownie and the weather encouraged me with bright sunshine, despite a cold wind. Using a Kodak Brownie 127 is so easy, a child could do it. There is one shutter speed, 1/50th of a second and one aperture, F14. You simply frame up your shot through the viewfinder and press the shutter button. Simples! 

I started at The Pavillion and photographed the Boer War Memorial, The Pavillion building, the derelict Pagefield Mill and the Bandstand. 7 photos were taken in a timely fashion. My roll of Rerapan 400 was long enough for 8 photos that I was assured would be 6cm x 4cm, which is a good size for making some reasonable contact prints to show them off. The rest of my walk was taken up with shooting a roll of colour film using my OM10 as I made my way around the park and into the town centre. 

I developed my film a couple of days later, which was easy enough. I have an adjustable reel that allows me to develop 35mm, 120 or 127 roll film. I happily loaded my roll of Rerapan 400 onto it and developed it with Zone Imaging 510 Pyro, 1+100 @ 20 celcius for 9 minutes. Stop bath was plain water and I fixed my film using Fotospeed FX30 for 8 minutes and hung it to dry in my bathroom overnight. 

I digitised my film the next day using my Nikon D700, Tamron 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Pixl-Latr and A5 led light source. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

Considering the limitations of this most basic camera, I reckon I have done pretty good. The photos aren't going to grace the pages of a high end photo book or adorn the walls of The Tate Gallery, but that's not the point of the Kodak Brownie 127. This camera was all about giving someone a start at photography without breaking the bank.

Snapshots that could be developed with basic equipment and easily printed with just a contact printer and the right sized paper. All you needed was access to a darkroom, which were situated all over the place during the golden age of film. The Kodak Brownie 127 was a foot in the door that many an aspiring youngster took full advantage of, some even became rather famous and all because of a Kodak Brownie 127.

Here's all my photos that I shot with my Brownie, including the lone Blackpool Tower shot. It makes me wonder how many photos have been taken of Blackpool Tower or Mesnes Park, Wigan using a Kodak Brownie? Probably thousands and here's a few more. It wont be my last roll either as I still have a roll of Rerapan 100 for a sunny summer afternoon. As always I have placed then in an album on my Flickr account you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Kodak Brownie 127