Holiday Snaps - A cruise around the scenic Scottish Isles - part three

 In part one I covered our first two days aboard M.S. Bolette and showed my phone camera shots. Part two was all aboout the Frugal Film Project and sightseeing in Kirkwall and Stornoway. This week it's all about sharing my photos shot with my Nikon F801S on Agent Shadow 400 and Kentmere 400 35mm B&W film. I carried my cameras pretty much everywhere whilst on board ship and certainly when we went ashore. I wasn't alone either as there was a few fellow photographers aboard M.S. Bolette. 

Most people these days are content to use their phone cameras to capture their holiday memories with, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Remember the cheesy adage, the best camera is the one you have with you. I like to be prepared and to be honest there's still things I wish I had taken. A tripod for starters. However, when travelling you have to be aware of the weight you are carrying around with you. I was maxed out on my hand luggage.....

We sailed from Stornoway at 9:30 on Monday night and took a leisurely pace down The Minch to our first scenic destination, the Small Isles of Rhum, Eigg and Muck. I had arisen from my very comfortable bed early to try to ensure I didn't miss out on the scenic isles, but sadly nobody told Mother Nature we were coming and the seas got a little choppy to say the least. We also started the day with dark low clouds that were sure to help me take some of the moodiest photos I have ever shot. Maybe Mother Nature had the right idea after all?

As we slowly sailed through the scenic small isles, Mother Nature finally blessed us with sunshine as we approached Bac Beag, also known as Dutch Cap after the conical head wear of The Netherlands which it resembles, and Staffa with Fingals Cave in its sheer south facing columnar basalt cliffs. This is what I was really wanting to see as I have an interest in the volcanoes of Iceland.

I know, your wondering why I am studying Icelandic volcanoes in Scotland. 60 million years ago, Scotland and Northern Ireland were part of Greenland. It is thought that hot spots, also called mantle plumes, rose up and began the long process of opening up the North Atlantic Ocean from the south, northwards. The columnar basalt cliffs of Staffa, and Giants Causeway on the northern shore of Northern Ireland, are the visible traces today of the violent eruptions and earthquakes that shook the earth apart all those millennia ago.

Those Tectonic movements continue today with the recent eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula on Iceland over 1,000 miles to the north west. The North Atlantic Igneous Province can be traced from Scotland and beneath the Greenland Ice Cap to modern day Iceland. It shows the path the tectonic plates of Europe and North America have taken over those 60 million years. With Staffa slowly fading into the distance as we headed back to Liverpool I put my camera away. I had taken a lot of photos both film and digital and I enjoyed the rest of our last full day aboard Bolette with my family.

I developed both rolls of Agent Shadow 400 and a roll of Kentmere 400 a few days after we arrived home in Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B for 6 minutes at 22 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry. I digitised it the next day 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 my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

When I hung my film to dry I could see the damage 2 trips through an x-ray scanner had done to my Agent Shadow 400. I lost the first few frames as they were totally ruined. However, all was not lost as the rest of both films was reasonably well exposed and very much useable. My roll of Kentmere 400 was fine. 

Editing them was a long process. I was taking photos from early morning, not long after sunrise, as the weather went from one extreme to another through the day. Photos of Rhum, Eigg and Muck are certainly as dark and foreboding as they were in real life. Thankfully my shots of Dutch Cap/Bac Beag, Staffa and Fingal's Cave turned out well enough as the clouds had finally blown over and we were treated to sunshine for the rest of the day.

Here's a few of my favourite B&W film photos of our cruise shot on Kentmere 400 and Agent Shadow 400. I wasn't sure I would capture the conditions, but I surprised myself and got a decent payoff at the end. The place I really wanted to see, Staffa and Fingal's Cave has been on my bucket list for a while and now I have been there, I wouldn't mind going again at some point. 

 I shot four rolls of film in total, not a bad result to be fair considering I was also using my digital options. Come back next week when I share my photos shot with my DSLR. For this weeks film photos here's a few favourites from the three rolls I shot with my Nikon F801S. The first four are of our Ship and Kirkwall, 5-8 are Stornoway and The Small Isles and 9 - 12 are Dutch Cap and Staffa. I have placed my favourites from all three rolls of film shot with my Nikon F801S in albums on Flickr for you enjoy via the links below. I hope you enjoy them.

Nikon F801S - Agent Shadow - Cruise pt 1 
Nikon F801S - Agent Shadow - Cruise pt 2 
Nikon F801S - Kentmere 400 - Cruise pt 3 

127 Day - Results are in!

On the 12th July 2025 I took part in the 127 Day project that aims to promote the use of 127 format film and cameras. It's a fun way of getting out and about with 127 format cameras and film that don't get the same coverage as 35mm and 120 medium format film and cameras. I was able to take part thanks to my eldest daughter who gave me a Kodak Brownie 127 camera for Christmas a couple of years ago. You can read about my previous experiences of using this camera for 127 day at Celebrating 127 day with my kodak brownie 127 

127 Day is steadily growing. This time around there were 22 film photographers in 7 countries on 3 continents who sent contributions in to our fearless leader, J.M. Golding. The gallery is now live and can be seen at 127 Day Exhibition - 12th July 2025 and it's good to see folk around the world getting involved. 

If you fancy having a go yourself, 127 film can be bought from film retailers around the world and there's always a cheap 127 film camera on ebay. If you can't find 127 film near you, Camerahack make a nifty little cutter that cuts down standard 120 film to 127 size. Camerhack Fakmatic 120 to 127 film cutter 

127 day is a lot of fun and the next instalment is on December 7th 2025 and you wont have to wait long for the 2026 edition which starts on January 27th 2026. Come and join in the fun. I know J.M. Golding would love to see you take part and join photographers around the world in getting out and about with a 127 camera and film. Check out J.M.'s Blog for more details. 

127film.blogspot.com 

Frugal Film Project 2025 - August - A cruise around the scenic Scottish Isles part two

August came around and I spent a lot of time getting a few blogs written and scheduled as I was going to be away for a week. My wife and I had a holiday booked, our first since our honeymoon, courtesy of our youngest son who insisted we get away from it all for a few days and paid for a cruise around the islands on the west coast of Scotland. I decided to document part of our holiday with my August roll of Type 517 Cine Film and my Kodak Retina 1a. 

We didn't have to travel far to meet up with our ship, the M.S. Bolette as it sailed from the city of my birth, Liverpool. I have boarded many a ferry over the years for a trip across the Mersey, but this was the first time I left the city on board a ship. Liverpool Waterfront has changed a lot over the years, the Cruise Terminal at Princess Dock opened in 2007. To see Cruise Ships on the Mersey again is a welcome sight. To get on one is an experience we never had before and we were looking forward to it.

I used my August roll of Type 517 Cine Film to document our Port visits as they were two places I have never set foot in before. I have visited Kirkwall before on my way home from Shetland in 2007, but never went ashore. It was high time that changed. We booked our places on the Tender Boat and headed for dry land.

As luck would have it, my friend Davy lives on Orkney and I surprised him with a text message asking if he fancied meeting up for a coffee and a catch up. When he got it he was walking his dog on the foreshore and got the surprise of his life. We duly met up and had an enjoyable hour before he had to go to pick up his missus from the airport. I hope we don't leave it so long until we meet again.

With our long overdue meeting done, we got down to some serious touristy things. Davy had given us the low down on the ruins of the Castle and Bishop's house, and St Magnus Cathedral which were right next to each other. The Castle was the home of the Earl of Orkney and is accessible to visitors. There are parts that are fenced off for safety reasons, but we could go and explore the inside of this once imposing building. 

We didn't mind paying to do it as these things take a lot of careful maintenance, which in turn needs paying for. Orcadians are proud of their history, both Norse and Scottish which shows in the fabric of the town. The flags of Scotland, Orkney and a few from Norway are on show everywhere, and rightly so. 

I got stuck into photographing the Castle and the ruins of the Bishop's house, both were once very imposing buildings that reeked of the wealthy, powerful people who lived there. My fondness for a good church yard also came in to play as I explored St Magnus Cathedral, which is a magnificent building. 

The Cathedral was founded in 1137 by Earl Rognvald in honour of his uncle, St Magnus, who was martyred on Orkney. It has seen many changes down the centuries as it has grown and it survived the Reformation, although much of it's former riches were removed at this time. With our sight seeing done, we did a bit of shopping at a local craft fair before heading back to our ship. 

Our next port was Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. Built on the shore of a natural harbour, Stornoway is the administrative centre of the Hebrides and has a rich sea faring tradition. There was no tender boat this time as Bolette was able to dock at the Deep Water Terminal and a complimentary shuttle bus service took us into town.

We enjoyed a bit of shopping, a coffee and a bacon roll before having a wander around the inner harbour with it's array of boats. Fishing vessels, Lifeboats and Leisure Boats were docked in neat rows in the harbour and I managed to get some nice photos with the aid of my dear wife. She has a great eye for a photo, but cameras mystify her. She is happy to take snap shots with her phone camera and she got some great photos. 

I know what you're thinking.... Of course I sharked her compositions, that's all part of photography, innit! Seriously though, she spotted a few great scenes and pointed me in the right direction. All three of our photographic formats got an airing, my DSLR and 35mm film cameras and our phone cameras, and we had a lot of fun. 

With my August roll of Type 517 Cine film for the Frugal Film Project done and dusted, we headed to the shuttle bus back to our ship for a well earned late lunch and where my dear wife held court in smokers corner as she chatted with anyone who came to say hello. 

I developed my August Roll of Type 517 Cine Film a few days later in Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B for 12 minutes at 22 celsius 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 size led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I was curious to see how my film had fared after going through x-ray scanners twice during our cruise. With it being a slow film it hadn't done too badly, there was very little damage to speak of to which I breathed a sigh of relief. It meant I didn't have to run around Wigan like a headless chicken again.

I definitely wouldn't let this film go through and x-ray scanner more than twice. It had already been through once at Liverpool and once when we got back on board at Kirkwall. We weren't sure of how much more x-ray exposure my film could take and the crew graciously did a hand check for me when we returned to our ship at Stornoway. It pays to be nice about this stuff, but there are times when your film has to go through the x-ray scanner, no matter how much we try to sweet talk the security who take their job seriously. Type 517 Cine Film passed the test with honour. 

Here's a few of my photos from our visit to Kirkwall and Stornoway. They were both beautiful places to visit and I want to go back at some point and spend more than a few hours in each of them. They may be small towns compared to Wigan, but the people are very friendly and there's a lot more to see and do on Orkney and Lewis than our short time ashore allowed for. Use the links below to find out more about Orkney and Lewis and, as always, I have placed these photos and more in my Frugal Film Project 2025 album on Flickr for you to visit via the link below. I hope you enjoy them. 

Visit Orkney 
Visit the Isle of Lewis 
Frugal Film Project 2025  

Holiday Snaps - A cruise around the scenic Scottish Isles - part one

 August was busy. I needed to get in front as I was going on holiday with my wife and our youngest son and by eck we needed one. We haven't been on holiday since our honeymoon, so when our son decided to treat us to a cruise around the Scottish Isles, we couldn't say no. The only problem I had was deciding which cameras to take. As it turned out, it wasn't such a problem after all.

I wanted to take my Nikon D610 DSLR which made my choice of film camera very easy, my F801S. I also took my Nikkor AF-S 24-120 D, 35-70mm D and my Tamron 70-300mm. Two cameras, three lenses, one of which would in my bag and not on a camera. I enjoyed using my Nikon D700 and F801 with these lenses during lockdown so a week aboard a ship cruising the Hebrides with my D610, which is much lighter than my D700, was going to be well covered.

Film was exclusively Black and White but what should I take? I'm spoiled for choice! I checked my stash and had a few rolls of Kentmere 400 and Agent Shadow 400, so I took those. I also took a few rolls of Type 517 Cine Film to use in my Kodak Retina 1a for my contribution to the Frugal Film Project. My phone camera was going to be used a lot during our cruise too. To put it mildly, I was well stocked and we were only away for a week. 

We got to Liverpool in plenty of time to get checked in and we're soon aboard the M.S. Bolette, flagship of Fred Olsen Cruise Lines. Film had to go through the x-ray, but the chap was very helpful and couldn't have been nicer about it. He also had the Kodak leaflet to hand so I can't complain, even though it was Harman/Ilford film. Our cabin was cosy, but no sea view. We couldn't really afford the posh cabins, but even so, it had all we needed and our Cabin Stewardess, Joy, helped us get settled in before seeing to her guests in our section of Deck 2, Coral Deck.

M.S. Bolette is a decent sized ship built in 2000 and underwent an extensive refit in 2023. Bolette has 645 crew members who couldn't be more helpful and made our time aboard ship as easy as possible. The cruise felt like it was fully booked given the number of passengers we encountered, but with plenty of room for everyone and we were able to get settled in quickly and enjoy the band on the aft Lido Deck playing pop covers as we set sail from Liverpool.

My wife and son quickly found the smoking area and got comfy for a bit until it was time for our evening meal in the Bloomsbury Restaurant for our first fine dining experience. Oh My Goddess! How the hell did the Chefs make a humble Fish Cake taste like manna from heaven? That was just the starter! The standard remained high and our Waiter, Socrates and his assistant, Jeansley guided us through the menu, kept us supplied with tea and coffee and gave us plenty of time to enjoy our food, which we appreciated a lot.

 After dinner we headed back to the designated smoking area. You will see me mention "smokers corner" a lot as I talk about our cruise. My dear wife smokes and happily talks to anyone who says hello. We soon got to know a few of our fellow passengers as we enjoyed the rest of our first evening aboard the ship. Some, like us, were experiencing their first cruise whilst others were experienced travellers and spoke about their adventures. Wifey built quite a cosy community during our time at sea and we joked about her "Holding Court" like a Queen.  

Our first full day was taken up with a leisurely cruise north, between the inner and outer Hebrides. we spent the day getting acquainted with the layout of the ship and what it had to offer, either as a part of our cruise package, or an optional extra we could purchase. Prices for a massage, a Spa and Sauna and various other ways to get pampered weren't too expensive and my wife booked herself in for a head and neck treatment, which she thoroughly enjoyed. 

Whilst my wife was getting some well earned massage therapy, I went exploring the ship and began my quest to shoot several rolls of film and see if I could max out an SD card in my D610. There was plenty of islands to see and wildlife to study as well as a lot of details on the ship that I found interesting. 

Our first full day was capped off with a Formal Dinner and *drum roll* I wore a suit! Yep, the multi function black suit, white shirt and black tie got an airing. I wasn't alone as my wife and son also made the effort and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The food was once again high standard and we all tried things we wouldn't normally have at home. We even had our photo taken by the ships photographer, who was also a Nikon user. Nice! Our first full day ended back at smokers corner where we chatted away for an hour or two before retiring to bed, thoroughly impressed with our holiday thus far.

There's so much more I want to say about our Cruise so for now I shall end part one here. Next time I will talk about visiting Kirkwall on the Orkney Isles and Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, capturing both on my August roll of Type 517 Cine Film for the Frugal Film Project 2025. Here's a few photos taken with my Nokia G42 phone camera from the first part of our cruise around the Scottish Isles. I hope you enjoy them.

Crappy Commie Camera Party 2025

Papa Shitty Cams is at it again with a fun packed summer encouraging the use of cameras that don't get much, if any love at all. This time it's the Crappy Commie Camera Party! To celebrate the Crappy Commie Camera Party we are using cameras made in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP in cyrillic, hence the name of the party), any of the post WW2 Eastern Bloc communist nations and China. 

Film photographers always laud the Japanese manufacturers for their excellent cameras. Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Olympus and Pentax cameras are in my collection, but few will laud cameras with names such as Zorki, Zenit, Praktica and Lomo. Fewer still will know the Soviet camera industry began with unashamed and blatant copies of the Leica II, made by FED in Kharkiv, Ukraine and KMZ under the Zorki brand at Krasnogorsk near Moscow. 

FED gained a reputation for producing quality cameras and, unless you know what you are looking at, you could be excused for thinking you had a Leica in your hands. Such was the exactness of the original FED, demand was high and manufacturing was also started at KMZ near Moscow. This led to the FED being renamed FED I and the KMZ manufactured camera was named Zorki I, but they were the same camera.

Post WW2, as the FED factory was rebuilt, the designers at FED had the opportunity to study Leica patents, which were surrendered as war reparations. They decided they could improve upon the Leica design and in the 1950's the FED 2 was born. Original FED and Zorki cameras command a high price, but for photographer like myself, the FED 2 is a very affordable option.

I also have a Zorki 4 made at KMZ that came with a Jupiter 8 50mm f/2 lens, a copy of a Zeiss Sonnar originally made for Kiev cameras made at the Kiev Arsenal, but re-manufactured with a Leica screw thread mount. I didn't care for the Industar 52mm f/2 lens that came with my FED, but as they are both Leica Thread Mount I swapped them over. For my contribution to the Crappy Commie Camera Party I loaded a roll of Rollei Retro 400S 35mm black and white film into my FED 2 and went for a wander. 

So, how does the FED 2 perform out in the wild? That depends if your FED 2 has been serviced and has no pin holes in the shutter curtain. Thankfully I got a good one, the shutter speeds are accurate, it has no light leaks, the lens is smooth to operate and it's free from fungus. That's all you ever need from a camera. I also used my trusted Gossen Trisix light meter to help my Mk.1 eyeballs guess the settings. 

I will never tire of the joy of using a mechanical camera that has no electronics. The necessity of using the skills I have built over the last few years is good therapy. I know what to expect from Rollei Retro 400s and after a check of my light meter, I took a couple of shots of the canal boats before heading to Wigan Pier to document the unwelcome change that has occurred there since my last visit. 

Some *insert insult here* has stolen the clock from the clock tower on the Pier 3 building. The clock has been there for decades, certainly since the building was renovated in the 1980's and has been a welcome sight for everyone walking along the towpath or driving into town.

When Pier 3 was The Orwell Pub, the clock was kept in working order, but in recent years it has been silent and still.  It wasn't neglected, it was always going to be integral in the refurbishment of the Pier Quarter. That refurbishment has been put on hold whilst investment is procured to restart the work to bring life to this once vibrant part of town. 

Sadly that didn't stop a few miscreants from posing as construction workers and removing the clock to either sell on the black market or for scrap. They did it in broad daylight too! Bold as brass with not a care for the fact that Wigan Pier is owned by our borough council and the people of Wigan. 

There's a bare, black circle covering the space where the clock was housed and it's a sad sight to behold.I got fixated upon the clock tower and shot several photos from various angles as blue holes were appearing in the clouds. With a little patience I managed to get the sunlight that had eluded me earlier on my walk. 

I headed back towards the town centre, photographing local landmarks along my route and hadn't finished my roll of film by the time I got to the Bus Station and my bus home. I had achieved a lot on this day so I saved the rest of my roll of film for another day. I enjoyed my wander with my FED 2. It's good to be out and about, enjoying some fresh air and exercise. My walk around Wigan Pier and then finishing my roll a few days later in my local countryside was just what I needed after the oppressive heatwave we had. 

I developed my roll of Rollei Retro 400S in HC110 1+31 dilution B for 10 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. Once dry, 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 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

Two things struck me immediately when I started to process my scans. Rollei Retro 400S is great with an orange filter in bright sunshine. I got my settings just about right as I didn't have to do much to my photos in post. If the clouds had stayed I would probably have switched to a yellow filter as my first few shots were a little dark, but once I got to the Pier, the clouds started to blow away and I was bathed in bright sunlight all the way back to the town centre.  

Here's a few favourites from my wander with my FED 2 and Rollei Retro 400S for the Crappy Commie Camera Party, hosted by Papa Shitty Cams. I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit via the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

FED 2 - Rollei Retro 400S 

Kodak Sterling II Rides Again

 I have been thinking about my Kodak Sterling II since #620Day when I got some photos that were described as having "character". When editing my photos I saw the effect I got was rather like the one you would get by using a spot filter or a smear of Vaseline around the edge of a UV filter and I wondered if the rear lens element had been removed and put back in the wrong way around.  

There are many folk who enjoy reversing lens elements to get that kind of effect as an artistic choice. After trying to live with it I have decided that I'm not one of them. I got my tools out and took a look at the lens assembly on the inside. As far as I could tell there was just one fixing ring that kept the rear lens element in place, I just had to unscrew it. This is where my walking stick is a godsend. 

 The rubber foot on my walking stick is exactly the right size for removing threaded fixing rings that don't have slots for the lens tool that I have. A little pressure and a twist was all it took to start unscrewing the ring and I soon had the rear lens element free. I was right, the rear lens element was in the wrong way as the convex side should have been facing towards the film. I gave the lens element a good clean, carefully replaced it the right way round and screwed the fixing ring back into place. 

With that simple task done it was testing time. I still have a roll or two of Shanghai GP3 100 iso 620 medium format film that I bought from Nik & Trick Photographiques here in the UK. I loaded one into my Kodak Sterling II and, on a dry Saturday afternoon, headed out into my local countryside. I did consider doing a re-shoot of my #620day effort, but I wanted to do something a little different. I hadn't been to visit the horses for a while and headed towards the farm.

The road to the farm has a few changes this year. Some of the trees have been felled to make it easier for horse boxes to get down the dirt road and it has opened up the view to the farmhouse. The corn has grown taller too and now towers over me, which to be fair isn't too difficult as I'm a shortarse! I photographed a few familiar compositions and headed onto the wash to visit the derelict car and my favourite tree.

The graffiti on the car hasn't got any better, but my favourite tree has reached full foliage and looks beautiful in the summer sunshine. With two shots remaining I headed to the Power lines to finish my film. The corn has grown so tall that from my usual vantage point I can only see one pylon. I made an effort to at least try to see two in my viewfinder and I was glad I took my tripod and cable release as they were both needed on this shoot. With the last frames done, I headed home for a well earned cuppa.

I developed my roll of Shanghai GP3 100 iso 620 medium format black and white film a few days later in Bellini Euro HC, 1+31 dilution B 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 medium format film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2. 

Straight away I could see I had indeed cured the halo of blur, but had inadvertently made a slight pigs ear of my depth of field. Yep, Jim got his zone focus ever so slightly out. This is something I need to work at as I learn to use this camera. To be fair it's a minor adjustment and one I shall humbly take up and try this camera again. I still have some 620 film in my stash and it's an excuse to get out again, not that I need one.

Here are my photos from my afternoon out and about with my Kodak Sterling II and Shanghai GP3 100 620 medium format film. As the camera is a 6 x 9 I get 8 photos per roll and I have placed them all in an album on Flickr you can visit via the link below. There's also a link to Nik & Trick where you can buy Shanghai 620 film if you ever decide to try a 620 format camera. I hope you enjoy them.

Nik & Trick Shanghai GP3 100 620 film 

Kodak Sterling II - Shanghai GP3 100  

Olympus OM-1n - What a difference a service makes

 Back in November 2024 I used my ebay bargain Olympus OM-1n for the first time at the Mersey Meet Photo Walk in Liverpool organised by Stig Starr. I enjoyed it immensely and the camera worked, but it definitely needed a service. Then it jammed up on me just before christmas. I was gutted! I saved up my pocket money and booked it in with Pierro at PPP Cameras. I have had a couple of my cameras repaired and serviced by Pierro and I am very happy with the work he has done on them.

The last one he did for me was a Pentax K1000 that needed the prism replacing and, after shooting a couple of rolls with it, I gave it to my granddaughter. My OM-1n will probably be going her way too, but not until I have had a few years of fun with it. I want to enjoy it whilst I still can. When it came close to my allotted day, I packaged up my OM-1n and posted it to him, first class, of course! 

Servicing this camera wasn't entirely plain sailing, it fought back and gave both of us a surprise or two along the way. This is the peril we face when taking a chance and buying an almost 50 year old camera from ebay for a few quid. This camera was, externally at least, in good condition for it's age. Despite the niggles I had encountered with it, we were both determined to save it. Thanks to a little patience and a handy parts camera I purchased a couple of years back, Pierro sent the camera back to me in tip top condition. It makes us both feel good knowing there's another OM-1n back in use for many years to come. 

When it came to choosing which film I would use for the ceremonial recommissioning of my OM-1n, I went with Double-X, the fine Black & White cinema film from Kodak and a yellow filter. I enjoy using Double-X, it's a superb film and well worth it if you haven't tried it before. Having recently shot a couple of rolls of Plus-X, I was curious to see how they compared to one another. I took advantage of some fine summer weather and headed out for a wander to see what I could find. 

I didn't go too far, here in darkest Wigan we were having a heatwave that sapped all my energy, but I felt good enough to head out on a beautiful summer evening to see how much the corn had grown since my last visit to the local farms. Yes, I took a drink with me too. There's nothing worse than heat stroke, especially in the countryside away from the things we take for granted like running water and refrigerators. It didn't take me long to get through a roll of Double-X and I made my way home happy with my OM-1n that had performed beautifully thus far.

I developed my roll of Double-X the next day. I used Bellini Euro HC at 1+63 dilution H for 10 minutes and soon had my film hanging to dry in my bathroom. It's a time and dilution for Kodak HC110 that I got from Alex Luyckx whom has had a lot of success with them when shooting Double-X at 200 iso. I wanted to see if Bellini Euro HC is truly as good as Kodak's much lauded syrup. Spoiler alert: It is. I digitised my roll of Double-X 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.

When I hung my film to dry I could see I had decently exposed negatives, but the proof is always in the processing. I needn't have worried as I didn't have to do much processing at all. Ye gods I love Olympus OM cameras and Zuiko lenses. My OM-1n is back in full working order again and will be in my regular rotation from now on. I'm not sure my other cameras will get a look in, so I will have to be brutal when reaching for my OM cameras in the future. I have a couple of cameras loaded and ready to go for future blogs, but the lure of Olympus is strong.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from my roll of Double-X shot with my OM-1n. Thank you to Pierro for his excellent service once more and ensuring I can hand this camera on to my granddaughter, but not before I have used it for a few more years, my preciousssss. 

You can visit PPP Cameras via the link below where Pierro has a selection of cameras, lenses and accessories for sale as well as being where you can book a repair or service. You can also check out Alex Luyckx' website where you will find a wealth of knowledge he has documented over the years about film, developing, and his favourite cameras. If you can't find a developing time for a particular film and developer combination, Alex might just have it. His blog is always well worth a read. As always I have placed my photos in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Olympus OM-1n - Kodak Double-X
PPP Cameras 
Alex Luyckx - Re-discovering Double-X