Balda Baldax - Ilford FP4+ 125

For our visit to Ribchester I decided to take Baldy the Baldax out to play, purely on the off-chance I finished my roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project. Of course I did finish that part of my plans for the day and thus baldy was retrieved from my bag ready to go. I had loaded it with a roll of Ilford FP4+ 125 and to cap things nicely, the sun finally broke through the haze, bathing us in all its spring glory. 

I started my roll at The White Bull, a lovely pub with what look like real Roman columns holding up the front porch and a model of a white Bull on top of it. This pub found fame when the popular British archaeology series "Time Team" visited Ribchester to search for the extent of the Roman settlement beyond what had already been found. It was the second episode of the first series and the whole town was involved as residents dug test pits in their gardens. You can find it on YouTube.

Ribchester isn't very large, it probably hasn't really grown much since it was founded all those centuries ago, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to photograph. Ribchester is full of sandstone buildings that are a couple of centuries old and there's been a lot of recycling of building materials over time.

There's also some new buildings that stand out, but they will weather in over the years ahead. In ten years you wouldn't know they hadn't been there long unless you knew what to look for. Ribchester is a conservation area thanks to its Roman roots which spread out in the local countryside, including an ancient road through a field that you can hike along.

Keith was indulging in photographing his favourite subject. Doors. To be fair there are some ornate doors around the town worthy of a photo and Keith made the most of them. I too got a couple of photos of doors as well as general photos of the buildings and details unique to each one. It didn't seem like we had been out for very long, but by 4 pm, we were both getting tired and made our way home, happy with what we had achieved.

I developed my roll of Ilford FP4+ 125 with BelliniFoto Euro HC for 8 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 120 mediumformat film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I haven't used dear Baldy the Baldax for a few weeks as I have been busy with my autofocus cameras, so it was nice to spend a day with no batteries or automation bar my Gossen Trisix selenium light meter. I haven't forgotten how to use them, but it still shows where I cocked up the odd composition and a couple of light leaks strayed into my photos.

I'm not too fussed about it because perfection just isn't happening with a camera that's over 90 years of age. I just wanted to enjoy using it again and I certainly did that. Here's a few favourites from my roll of Ilford FP4 shot with Baldy the Baldax on a fine afternoon in Ribchester. I have posted them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Balda Baldax - Ilford FP4+ 125

Kentmere 200 - A new film from Harman Technology, the home of Ilford Film.

 Harman Technology, manufacturers of Ilford and Kentmere Black & White film and Harman Phoenix colour film have been busy over the last couple of years. They brought us Phoenix, their first colour film manufactured totally in house at their factory here in the north west of England. Now they have announced a new B&W film with the recent release of Kentmere 200, a medium speed B&W film that rounds out and compliments their Kentmere range of B&W film.

Regular readers will know I enjoy using budget films and they don't come much more budget friendly than Kentmere. Those of us with very little disposable income need to find ways to enhance versatility and have been pushing Kentmere 100 and pulling Kentmere 400 to 200 iso for years. We don't need to do that anymore now that Harman have brought Kentmere 200 onto the market. I had to try some and purchased a few rolls around 3 milliseconds after it went live on the Analogue Wonderland website. (yeah I was slacking, it should have been 1 picosecond....)

Using any film for the first time can be a crap shoot, but I mitigated any chances of my ineptitude getting in the way of well exposed photos by choosing my camera wisely. I loading my first roll of Kentmere 200 into my Minolta X-700 and took advantage of it's excellent aperture priority mode.I also used my MD 50mm f/1.7 lens and a MD 2x teleconverter for long shots, and my Vivitar 28mm MC close focus wide angle lens to give me a decent range of focal lengths to play with. I headed out into my local countryside on a sunny afternoon to explore.

The Film Photography market has been steadily rising over the last decade and Harman have put a lot of effort into ensuring they are at the forefront of it. In recent years they have secured investment to expand their facilities at Mobberley to enable them to make more film. A statement of intent they are already acting upon.

Kentmere 200 slots into a niche in the market once inhabited by Fomapan 200. Sadly, production problems with Fomapan 200, particuarly in 120 medium format had B&W film photographers like myself looking elsewhere to scratch that particular creative itch. I like Fomapan 200 in 35mm and this first roll of Kentmere 200 would give me something to compare directly to it rather than pushing or pulling other films. Kentmere 200 is also available in 120 and that itch will be scratched later in the year.

I was having fun on my walk and totally forgot I had bought 24 shot rolls of film instead of the usual 36 shot rolls I normally buy. It turned out ok though as my last couple of shots coincided with the half way mark of my walk and I finished my very first roll of Kentmere 200 at the stile to the footpath across the corn field. At least I think the farmer is growing corn this year, wheat isn't spaced out as much as this years crop. With my last shot taken, I switched cameras to start my Frugal Film Project 2025 obligation with my Kodak Retina 1a and headed off towards home.

A few days later I developed my roll of Kentmere 200 in Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging 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 LED light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

With any new film, the manufacturer rightly uses their own proprietary developers to test their new product and the Film Community goes right ahead and starts experimenting with the developers and times their experience lead them towards. I went for 6 minutes based upon the time given by Harman for Ilfotec HC at 1+31, which, as far as I am aware, is near as darn it the same developer as Kodak HC110 and Bellini Euro HC. 

As more photographers get to experiment with this film using any of the healthy number of developers on the market, the knowledge base will grow, but for now I am happy to use Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B to develop Kentmere 200. I could see straight away I had made a good choice as the film looked decently exposed and as I digitised it and began editing the RAW files, I didn't have to do much to it at all, despite shooting the roll in the harshest light on the hottest day in May 2025, a harsh baptism of fire! I have three more rolls to play with and will be having a lot of fun with filters as I go along.

Here's a few favourites from my walk in my local countryside with my very first roll of Kentmere 200. They are compositions I have done to death, but familiar was the way to go with this brand new film. I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them

Kentmere 200 

Frugal Film Project 2025 - May

 Spring has been hot and dry here in darkest Wigan and I wasn't feeling up to going out much after expending a lot of creative energy on Opaque, the new photo book from the Photozine Collective, and making the most of the glorious Cherry Blossom around town. That changed when a good rest made life a little more bearable and I went for a walk in my local countryside on a sunny Sunday afternoon in mid May. As always when I am out and about I was pulling double duty and shooting a brand new film with my Minolta X-700. I shot that roll first and will speak about it in a future blog.

I finished my other roll at the half way point of my walk and got started on my roll of Type 517 Cine Film in my Retina 1a. To be honest I was enjoying being out in the countryside, taking advantage of the dry spring we have had. The farmer had been busy planting this years crop, I think it's corn, and I enjoyed using the rows of crops as leading lines to the house and trees in the distance across the field. I was thinking of my hope for rain to help the crops grow tall and strong. We all love the nice weather, but to feed us all we need rain.

I soon arrived at the Stile which has been my nemesis this last few years. I don't like using it at the best of times, but with the sun being out, it made me be a little more bold and, after a few photos, I managed to navigate my way over it. This stile is a deceptive one as it drops down on the other side and has caught a few people out in the past. I took a couple from the other side and headed across the field where the horses were enjoying the shade at the bottom of the hill.

The pond at the top of this field was quite still on this day so I tried a couple of compositions using reflections with the trees and reeds etc. Then I headed onto the wash to visit my favourite tree on there. It's good to see the Silver Birch trees in full foliage again. I also took a couple of photos of the derelict car with it's new graffiti. It changes every time I see it and the local kids haven't got any better at painting and spelling, bless 'em.

It was almost time to head for home and I took a walk onwards to the next pond and the summerhouse that has been enthralling me with it's reflection on the water. I also took a shot of the Post Box and a lonely traffic cone because we have to, it's the law! I headed for the shops to pick up a couple of things before I turned for home. This Brit need milk for his cuppa tea and cornflakes and I had run out. I had also nearly run out of frames on this roll and had had enough inspiration for one day so I resolved to finish the last few frames later. I put my camera in my bag, got my shopping and went home for a well earned cuppa.

I decided to have a little play and developed my roll of Type 517 Cine Film with Bellini Euro HC  1+31 for 12 minutes at 20 celcius instead of 14 1/2 minutes and soon had it hanging 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 LED light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

Sunny days is where this film thrives, but I have a habit of getting my Mk1 eyeball metering wrong and it shows in this months roll. I over exposed most of my shots, but the ones I got right were bang on. I lose focus and things just slip my mind, it happens to everyone, but especially me since my stroke. Thankfully this film has a wide dynamic range and I was able to salvage it with Affinity Photo 2. 

That dynamic range means that this film has got my attention and it has grown on me over the first half of 2025. I want to experiment with filters and I think it's time to hunt some down on the bay. I also need to give myself a kick up the ass to make a better effort at getting my exposures right rather than hoping I can save them later. One thing I do know for sure is this Kodak Retina 1a is a little gem, the diamond in the bundle I bought last year and I reckon everyone should give one of these cameras a try at some point, even if it is just the once.

It was a joy to get back to my vintage cameras after spending a bit of time with my all singing and dancing electronic auto everything cameras of the last few weeks. It's nice to have the toys with all the bells and whistles, but a simple camera is much more fun. Here's a few favourites from my May roll of Type 517 Cine Film shot my Kodak Retina 1a for the Frugal Film Project 2025. I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project album on Flickr for you to visit via the link below. I hope you enjoy them. 

Frugal Film Project 2025