I left my April roll of Type 517 Cine Film a little late and with good reason. A dry March and a prolonged spell of sunny weather into April ensured that my Sakura Hanami was a little early this year. The Cherry Trees here in Wigan normally come in to peak blossom in the third week of April, but it happened during the first week of April in 2025 and I took full advantage whilst I could. Once I had got my colour fix for spring done and dusted, I turned my attention back to the Frugal Film Project.
Following my decent showing for March, my April roll of Type 517 Cine Film would depend entirely on the weather and then my only problem was what should I photograph? That was solved when my friend Keith came to visit at the end of April and we went out for a photo bimble on the last Monday of the month to spend a few hours exploring the ancient Roman town of Ribchester.
When you think about quaint English towns, Ribchester is what you have in mind and is just missing thatched rooves for that picture postcard look. What it lacks in thatch, it more than makes up for it with centuries of history.
Ribchester was established when the Romans showed up and built a fort in the late first century. This was to protect a crossing over the River Ribble and continued in use until the Romans left in the early fifth century when Rome battled invaders and internal strife as various generals and senators vied for power.
There are various Roman remains including a Bath House and Granaries which are accessible to the public, and also a museum that tells the story of Roman Ribchester. Sadly the bath house isn't accessible for wheelchair and electric buggy users, which is nobodies fault, not even the Romans.
We had a great afternoon exploring St Wilfrid's Church and the surrounding buildings. The houses are all made from local sandstone and what materials could be taken from the Roman remains over the centuries. There's also a pub in the centre of town, The White Bull, where you can see Roman columns holding up the front porch. There's a few inside St Wilfrid's too.
An afternoon was all we needed to explore Ribchester and it didn't take me long to shoot my roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project. I put my Kodak Retina 1a back in my bag and took out Baldy the Baldax to finish our walk in fine style. I can see these two cameras being regular companions.
I developed my roll of Type 517 Cine Film later that evening in BelliniFoto Euro HC for 14 minutes at 20 celcius and hung it 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 light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.
I am growing increasingly fond of Type 517 Cine Film. Although our day wasn't the bright sunshine we wanted, the soft box effect from the hazy sky was no problem for this fine film made by Ilford up to around 20 years ago. Based on their wonderful FP4, it has exposure latitude for days and I had no problems processing my RAW files, not even the ones I made a bit of a pigs ear of. I am now confident enough with it to start experimenting a little with filters and maybe push it a stop, weather permitting of course.
I am also quite comfortable with my Kodak Retina 1a and decided to treat myself to an accessory that I know will be helpful during the summer ahead. I bought a genuine Kodak lens hood for my Kodak Retina 1a and used it for the first time at Ribchester. It cost me £9 and when added to the cost of my camera and watameter rangefinder my spend now stands at £50, which is still within the budget for the Frugal Film Project 2025.
Here's a few favourites from my April roll of Type 517 Cine Film shot with my Kodak Retina 1a for the Frugal Film Project 2025. I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2025 album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. There's also a link to Ribchester with info for you if you decide to spend an sunny afternoon there. I hope you enjoy them.
Frugal Film Project 2025
Ribchester
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