Kodak Tri-X 400 - Baldy Came Out To Play.

 I have a couple of 120 medium format rolls of Kodak Tri-X 400 in my stash and had loaded one into Baldy the Baldax before Christmas 2025. I was looking for an excuse to use it again and I took it with me when I went to the canal at Crooke. Baldy, my dear Balda Baldax 4.5x6cm folding camera has given me so much joy over the last couple of years that I want to use it again and again.

As it turned out, I covered what I needed at Crooke with Donkey and, with plenty of daylight left, I got the bus into town to see what I could find to photograph with Baldy. The early part of my day was bright sunshine, but as the day drew on, the clouds started to appear and the light left us. This didn't worry me as my trusty Gossen Trisix is still pretty accurate and I was able to quickly dial in my settings and concentrate on compositions.

I started at Wigan Parish Church for a few shots of the Church Tower, The Old Courts and the Coops building. I then headed down a back street for a shot or two before I made my way to the old Pennington's building to see how the demolition is progressing. All I can say is slowly, but surely. The last old building on that side is half gone now. The lads tasked with the demolition are taking it easy on the old place and it looks like they are separating stuff out for recycling where possible. 

It's always a sad day when a bit of local history is lost to the inexorable advance of time. I will try to find an old photo of Millgate in it's prime and share it with you. One building that hasn't been consigned to history is the Civic which has been transformed from it's original purpose as Council Offices and into a modern interior with small businesses in mind. However, a spruce up can never hide the fact it is a Brutal Concrete edifice. 

I finished my roll of film with photos of The Face Of Wigan and The John Bull Chophouse, my favourite pub that has survived the centuries since it was built. Once upon a time it was three houses and got converted to a pub sometime in the late 60's, early 70's. I worked there for a while in the mid 1990's, collecting glasses and keeping the bar supplied with clean ones. I have a lot of fond memories from that time. Having finished my roll of film, I headed home for a well earned cuppa.

I developed my roll of Tri-X 400 a couple of days later 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 my film 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 Studio.

First impressions of my roll of Tri-X were favourable when I hung it to dry. Baldy still gives me a lot of joy when I am out and about taking photos with it. One thing I did notice with Tri-X in medium format is that it needed double the fixing time of the previous roll I dunked in a fresh mix of fixer.

I normally give my film "six in the fix", but Tri-X got twelve minutes just to be sure. I checked at six minutes and it still had a little way to go. That's the thing with Fixer, you can take a look after your initial time has lapsed and can always dunk it back in again until it's done properly. Other than that I have no complaints about Tri-X in medium format. Will I use Tri-X in medium format again? Yes, I will. I have a couple of rolls left and will be using them in the not too distant future. Will I buy Tri-X 400 again? Probably, but not for a while. I have way too much film in my stash and I need to use it up.

I'm not exactly flush with cash and like to use the cheaper films. I might treat myself in the future as I get why folk swear by Tri-X 400. There's a reason it has been in production for eight decades and counting. It's a darn good emulsion. Yes, it's been tweaked down the decades as various ingredients have altered, but Kodak made sure that with each iteration, Tri-X 400 gave consistent results that photographers the world over have come to appreciate and enjoy. I think I will save up my loyalty points at Analogue Wonderland to help with the cost of another 5 pack of Tri-X 400 medium format film. When's my birthday? Hmmmm.....

Here's a few favourites from my roll of Tri-X 400 medium format black and white film shot with Baldy The Baldax. It was good to shoot a film that can trace it's lineage almost as far back in time as the day my camera was made. 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.

Kodak Tri-X - Blada Baldax 4.5x6 

Lomography 800 - OM-1n - Merry Mersey Meet Up Photowalk

For the Merry Mersey Meet Up I wanted to take two cameras with me and shoot a roll of Lomography 800 colour film as a counterpoint to my effort with Kodak P3200 b&w film. I have been having a lot of fun with my Olympus cameras over the years and I shot my roll of Lomography 800 in my OM-1n fitted with my Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens. 

Stig had picked a weekend where there was going to be a lot of colour as the Liverpool Christmas Markets were starting for the festive period. Late November was always going to be lousy for anything slower than Lomography 800 colour film and I had one roll left in my stash. Nice!

As I mentioned in my previous blog about this most excellent photo walk with friends, we started at the Cenotaph outside St George's Hall in Liverpool. Straight away I was looking for colour compositions and having to choose my shots as there was way too much of it. This is one situation when you can tell a b&w film photographer is shooting colour film too. 

Man, the conflict of emotion between colour and texture is very real and I had it in abundance. Thankfully, Stig lived up to his Starr name and chose places along our route that catered for both colour and b&w. We visited murals, old buildings, modern buildings and a splendid café, Little Leaf for a spot of lunch. 

By the time we reached the Pier Head, I was running low on colour and could easily have shot two or three more rolls of colour film on the day. The Fun Fair was in full flow and we all managed a few photos as we made our way to the Royal Albert Dock. It was there where I finished my roll of Lomography 800 and had to break out my phone camera to get some more shots that deserved the full colour treatment to do them justice.
 
Did I tell you I have the attention span of a goldfish? This walk was a heck of a brain exercise and I did it to myself willingly. I don't know which was more knackered by the time I said my goodbyes and headed for home, my legs or my noggin. Tired as I was after a most excellent day with friends, it was well worth the effort. Thank you to the legend Steve "Stig" Starr for organising another excellent photo walk around Liverpool.

I sent my roll of Lomography 800 to Analogue Wonderland for developing at the end of January. Christmas gets expensive here, so I had to wait a bit. A few days later, I got the notification that my scans were ready to download and I got my first look at my photos.

I was a bit hit and miss with a lot of my photos, but I did get a few reasonable photos to share from the Merry Mersey Meet Up Photowalk. I underexposed quite a few and that's either the changeable light on the day or just me not getting it quite right. I was probably exposing for the highlights when I should have been exposing for the mid tones or shadows. It doesn't matter so much with digital as you can pick that back up in your editing software. Film is a little more tricky to nail when you're in full manual mode, especially when you haven't shot much colour film in late autumn - early winter. 

I can say the lesson that I learned from this roll of Lomography 800 is I probably should have used one of my Auto Focus cameras rather than my OM-1n. In my defence, when you are a self confessed Olympus Guy and have a freshly serviced OM-1n at your disposal, you would probably pick it too. This fast film would have been better used in My Nikon F801S or even my Canon EOS300 on the day to be honest. C'est la vie! 

Lomo 800 in 35mm seems to be a bit thin on the ground at the moment, which is a shame as it's a decent film. Even with my cack handedness I was able to get half a dozen decent shots and managed to clean up several more to make them presentable. I was pleased with the Mural photos as we walked through the city centre and the Funfair shots at the Pier Head were pretty reasonable too. The main thing was I had a fun day out.

After conquering my anxiety and now attending two Mersey Meet photo walks in winter, I really want to attend the spring Mersey Meet photo walk to take advantage of the longer daylight and not hold the group up. (It's me bad back, mate...) If you want to join us next time, keep and eye on the Photowalk.me website via the link below and sign up when Stig makes the announcement.

Here's a few of my favourite colour photographs shot on Lomography 800 with my Olympus OM-1n and Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens. 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. 

Photowalk.me 
Lomography 800 - OM-1n - Merry Mersey Meet Up Photowalk 

Frugal Film Project 2026 - Donkey - January

 As I mentioned in my previous blog, I wasn't going to do the Frugal Film Project 2026. Then things conspired against my decision and now I'm pulling double duty with a 35mm compact and a 35mm SLR. Allow me to introduce "Donkey!" ahem....

When the auto-wind problem on my Hanimex 35RAS surfaced I genuinely thought it was broken. before I even thought about doing anything else, I began plan B. "Donkey" is my Minolta Dynax 4 auto everything 35mm Film Single Lens Reflex camera sporting a Minolta AF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens that I paid £10 on ebay. Why do I call it Donkey? It was sat on my shelf going "pick me! pick me!", so I sighed and said "OK Donkey, you can come with me". 

My film choice for Donkey is also Kentmere 400. My mind was already in a flap and it was easier to use the film I had already bought. I didn't know at the time that my Hanimex 35RAS would still function after retrieving my film. In any case, it's easier to develop both films together in the same tank than have to send a colour film away for developing. After all, the aim of the project is to be "Frugal". 

This also means I have to hit two different parts of town each month, which gets me out and about more. This is called "exercise" and will allegedly make me healthier than I am now. I am sceptical of this sorcery, especially as every housing estate in town has a Pie Shop, so we shall see how I get on. 

For my first roll of Kentmere 400 shot with Donkey for the Frugal Film Project 2026, I headed to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Crooke for a pleasant wander along the tow path and see how the place looks in darkest winter. It gets a bit grim here in winter, it's usually wet and windy with occasional snow and frost through to March. The sight of a sunny morning in late January was something I had to take advantage of whilst it lasted.

I wasn't the only one making the most of a bright, sunny morning in January. There was a few folk fishing along the canal and a mix of dog walkers, ramblers, joggers and cyclists, all enjoying the winter sunshine. I was really enjoying the conditions as the canal was almost mirror calm. It was only the ducks that were making any big ripples on the surface as they enjoyed their day with the rest of us.

I made full use of the reflections as I walked along the towpath. even when the ducks made ripples it made for interesting reflections and I was quite spoiled for choice. It also meant I made short work of my roll of Kentmere 400 and took my final photo from the footbridge. that took me back over the canal and onwards to the bus stop to catch my bus into town.

I developed my roll of Kentmere 400 a couple of days later with 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 my film 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 Studio.

First impressions of my film when I hung it to dry was that Donkey didn't let me down. I added a Yellow filter that cost £5.99 to Donkey to try to even out the sky on a bright winter day. We don't get many days without clouds at this time of year in darkest Wigan, so I made the most of it. I was able to process my shots with very few adjustments in Affinity Studio to get them presentable. 

I really enjoy using my Minolta Dynax 4 with its 28-80mm kit lens. It's an entry level 35mm SLR with the bells and whistles of a modern DSLR/Mirrorless camera and it only cost me ten whole pounds. Add £5.99 for the filter and I still have plenty of room in the budget for more accessories. Not that this camera needs any, it does what it needs to and does it very well indeed. Cheers, Donkey! 

Here's a few favourites from my January roll of Kentmere 400 shot with Donkey, my beltin' little Minolta Dynax 4 for the Frugal Film Project 2026. I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2026 - SLR