Fuji Neopan Acros on Nikon F80D, Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic

self-developed: Ilfotec HC 1+31 6:30mins

Generally macro nature shots are best rendered in color. So I thought to myself, what about black & white macro? As usual with CGSF, wonderings won’t do you any good so the only way to find out is to shoot it yourself.

So yes, I think these look pretty good no? I developed the roll myself in a very dusty environment plus cat dander everywhere so please excuse the rather dirty looking scans. Also if you notice, the black & white scans weren’t exactly uniformed and that’s because yours truly had developed 2 rolls of Neopan in the same tank simultaneously and was too lazy to make a new developer dilution to ensure both rolls were properly immersed in the solution. My bad.

I had these scanned using the Epson V700 in 24-bit grayscale mode. I know that if you opt to scan any BW film in color negative mode, the scans will turn out rather sepia-ish. But then the results came out beyond my expectations. Behold, zim zalla bim! (lol)

Green and red huh? Anybody here care to offer any explanation?

-delusiana

Fuji Neopan 400 on LOMO LC-W

(developed in Ultrafin Plus 1+4 @7:30mins)

Ultrafin is a film developer from the acclaimed and legendary Tetenal known for their high quality manufacturing standards. Ultrafin Plus is a super fine grain developer made for film like the Kodak T-Max, Fuji Neopan and Ilford Delta and so far, there is nothing that will make me say otherwise!

I have always been developing my B&W film with the Ilford DD-X up to now, but after the Ultrafin Plus I don’t think I am going back anytime soon. Why?

1. It does not have a strong toxic odor. 

2. It does not leave my film with an extreme soapy slippery feel post-development. (and this is just after a 10-min wash)

3. As you know alkali does not create a burning sensation like acid, but it does still eat through skin creating a prickly itchy feeling. The Ultrafin Plus? Not so much!

4. Results are more consistent without extreme super exposures by following the recommended times available on Digital Truth Photo.

5. It can be reused!!

From Wiki,

Developers, like Ultrafin Plus, can be mixed up and the mixed liquid can be kept and reused a number of times. Ultrafin Plus for example gives you approximately 12 rolls per 1 litre batch before depletion begins, and comes in bottles enough to make 2 litres, so effectively, 24 rolls.

With all that said, I am in no way saying that the Ilford DD-X is not a good developer because it is! I love how the DD-X treats grain and I have never been unsatisfied with my results. The Ultrafin Plus however is just a lot easier to predict and handle. The best thing about the DD-X is that I have gone through one dilution for over 15-20 rolls and it works fine. Let’s see how many rolls I can develop with my Ultrafin Plus mix before I see some loss in quality.

I also obtained some Kodak Professional T-Max developer just because I shoot a lot of T-Max film. Will check that out soon and compare results.

-eleanorrigby236

Holga 120 GCFN, Fuji Neopan 400 @800, self-developed

Many times you come across stunning photographs online to find out that they were all made through the lens of that cheap plastic camera called the Holga. And time and time again you are blown away and reminded of what a powerful tool the Holga is.

These pictures submitted by Ana did just that to me. It also nagged at me for weeks for leaving my Holga sitting at the bottom of my bag while I was on the road for the last 2 months.

Holga 120 GCFN w/ Fuji Pro 400H, self developed

These 2 images here have to be my favorite from the bunch for the crazy pop-out effect they have. The subjects are at the right distance away from the camera for them to be very sharp with the background softening from the focal point out. This is obviously one of the many beautiful traits of shooting with the Holga.

I’m going to stop now and let the pictures speak for themselves. Do visit Ana’s Tumblr and Flickr for many other Holga pictures she has procured over time well-spent!

Holga 120 GCFN Portra 400VC, developed with Jobo CPP2 + Rollei Digibase

Holga 120 GN w/ Provia 400X, Developed with Jobo CPP2 + Tetenal E6 kit

Holga 120 GCFN w/ Kodak E200, developed with Jobo Cpp2 + Fuji Hunt E6 kit

(all photos by Ana)

Fuji Neopan Acros 100 on Yashica MAT 124G

(Self-developed in Tetenal Ultrafin)

We believe there’s no exaggeration in saying that these street photography shots by Deb Young simply wins. Crisp & elegant, and beautifully haunting at the same time, we just can’t get enough of her take on daily life. Here’s what she had to say:

Photography is a hobby, recently picked up in the last 18mths. Since buying an Olympus35 SP rangefinder and Yashica-Mat 124G late last year I have become obsessed with Street Photography. These shots have been taken in Auckland, New Zealand and depict ordinary people in the act of living.

These shots were taken with my Yashica-Mat 124G, 80mm twin lens medium format. I developed the 120mm film myself in Tetenal Ultrafin and mostly use Neopan Acros 100 ASA.

More brilliant stuff at her photoblog http://kiwitravla.tumblr.com/  so do yourself a favor and follow her!

Fuji Neopan Acros w/ Zero Image 2000

(exposure @10mins)

(exposure @38 secs)

(exposure @40mins)

(exposure @1min 15secs)

(exposure @19secs)

Being a huge fan of pinhole photography I knew it was time for me to get a solid camera from Zero Image, famed for their beautiful and sleek looking pinhole cameras. To aid me with getting the proper exposures for my shots I use the useful chart on Mr Pinhole’s webpage keying in the f-stop of the Zero 2000, in this case is at f/138. I used my Sekonic light meter to measure the light and cross-referenced my exposure readings with pinhole exposure chart. Simple as that.

I made sure to always place the camera on a stable and flat surface if not secured with a tripod. The Zero 2000 weighs at a nice 250g, heavier than any of my past plastic pinhole cameras, and this is really convenient to avoid unwanted shakes and blurring (of course it’s not really a problem when photographing moving objects) .

I did everything by the book, exposed each capture at the optimum times indicated but what a shock I got when the negatives came out a little odd, with patches of inverted tones! The blacks are a little white and the whites a little black. That was when I realized something happened unbeknownst to me, I must have somehow somewhere exposed the negatives to light while I was developing the roll creating this effect, also known as solarization. Solarization is a phenomenon in photography in which the image recorded on a negative or on a photographic print is wholly or partially reversed in tone. Dark areas appear light or light areas appear dark. The solarization here is only partial as a 100% solarized image would look just like a B&W negative when scanned.

The outcome of my first roll on the Zero 2000 was a surprise but I think it gave the images a touch of class and elegance which is pretty cool. Not so sure I can achieve the same results in the future, unknowingly at least.

-eleanorrigby236

The Zero 2000 made with polished teak wood with a f-stop of f/138, it looks mighty good and definitely feels good in your hands.

Fuji Neopan Acros 100 on Gevaert Gevabox (Flipped Lens)

At CGSF, we weren’t just busy preparing some tasty soup for colorful film adventures, we’re also brewing some Tea in Vitamin C to develop our black & whites in! Thanks to Paul Gadd of The Print Room KL who’d kindly allowed us to use his space & darkroom to demonstrate how to make your own film soup & develop your BWs in tea, we’ve finally managed to achieve this feat which has been eluding us since we first featured this technique courtesy of the lovely Firda Beka of Many Cameras.com!

Yes, I know the results aren’t that great, the photos look almost like a badly xeroxed version but this set was from one of my experimental phase. I’ve yet to discover the exact developing times & agitation scheme for the Neopan Acros 100 & Kodak TMAX but I’ll be sure to post here once I get that figured out.

So, the first set was taken with my vintage Gevaert Gevabox with flipped lens, which explains the crazy flared out effect & lack of focus.

The recipe: (to make 1000ml of stock solution)

5 bags of black tea (I used Lipton) in 600ml freshly boiled water
10 tsp of washing soda
5g of crushed Vitamin C

- Let the tea steep for 30 mins and squeeze every drop out, you should get about 500ml of tea
- Dissolve the washing soda & vitamin C in about 400ml of water and add the two solution together and mix them well,
- The solution should stay usable for about 24 hours

- First minute continuous agitation, then 3 agitations every minute for 30 minutes
- Stop bath, fix & rinse normally.

Kodak T-MAX 400 on Gevaert Gevabox (Flipped Lens)

For this set I used the same recipe but with 8 bags instead of 5 (6 bags of japanese green tea & 2 bags of black tea) to avoid the excessive fogging & staining by the black tea which could hamper your scanning (and printing if you plan to do it  traditionally with an enlarger!)

I also cut down the developing time to 15 minutes, with continuous agitation during the first minute and 3 agitations every 30 seconds (that’s an almost continuous agitation scheme!). I found that the negatives are much less foggy but I guess it could still be fine tuned. 

This recipe works really well with the cheapo Shanghai GP3 100 though, and I’ll be posting  the results from that set in my next post so stay tuned for that.

Oh, and say hi to my lovely Gevaert Gevabox!

-delusiana

Fujifilm Neopan 400 on Zenit E (self-developed)
(D-76, 1+1, 9.5 mins)

My first roll done at home!

I used the Helios44 50mm f/2 lens on these, which is a gorgeous lens - these are all taken near where I live, along the corridor of green space and old industrial buildings running from the city up to the northern edge of Leeds.

The sapling against the wall is about my favorite shot ever at the moment, the building is a derelict cricket club and this just sums up the emptiness of so many of these old local places left to decay. The film has come out really well I think for a first attempt, though my scanner is not great and has left a slight (reversed) vignette on the images, though on some of these this looks quite nice…

-Christian Bodden

Fuji Neopan Acros 100 on Great Wall DF

Agfa APX 100

We’re honored to feature Firda Beka of Many Cameras on CGSF and she had also kindly agreed to share her tea developer concoction, which she termed 4-Tea-C. 

Now, I’ve always loved B&Ws developed in caffenol but tea?? I’m intrigued! Let’s hear what Firda has to say,

== 4-Tea-C Developer Recipe ==

Ingredients (to make 500ml):

• 2 tea bags of each orange pekoe tea, pure green tea, pure peppermint tea, and pomegranate green tea (8 tea bags in total)
• 2 teaspoons of washing soda
• 1000mg vitamin c
• water

Instructions:

1. Put 300ml of water in a saucepan, threw in all the tea bags, bring to boil.
2. Once boiling, turn off the stove and let steep for 30 minutes.
3. Transfer to a measuring cup to see how much tea solution you got. I got 200ml after squeezing every drop from the tea bags.
4. Drop the vitamin c into the tea mixture. In retrospect, dropping it into the washing soda solution would probably be a better idea since mixing it with the tea mixture creates a lot of froth.
5. Mix washing soda with water to create 300ml solution or adjust according to the amount of tea solution you got in order to have a total of 500ml.
6. Mix the tea-c and washing soda solutions together.

I didn’t check the exact temperature but I’m pretty sure it was room temperature, i.e. 20 degrees. I know. Very scientific indeed. As for developing time, I did a 2 hour semi-stand development, only agitated 3 times during the 2 hours. You don’t want to agitate too many times when doing semi-stand development because the film could easily become over-developed.

Isn’t this just great?? I can’t wait to start developing my B&Ws now. Thanks so much Firda!

Firda also has a tumblr photoblog at http://www.manycameras.com (she has over 200 of them!) and definitely check out her Flickr stream for more analogue goodness.

-delusiana

Well, I don’t know about you but I feel that the above photos are superb! When I saw Nadine’s B&W shots I was instantly moved, there’s just so much drama conveyed that you otherwise won’t get in full color. I’ve always loved her unique eye for photography so thank you for letting me feature you this time girl.

Here’s what she has to say:

Me and the model, Syaheedah had planned this for quite a while but it’s just that we haven’t the time to do it earlier. What she had in mind were head shots in reference to the veteran ladies; Elena Lowensohn, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly to name a few. Our constraint was definitely the related props ie: she standing against the jukebox etc. We narrowed it down to having suitcase next to her (which belongs to me), her smoking on cigarettes and of course that scarf on her head. 

The B&W was actually not the first priority of the shoot since I wanted to capture her current hair color that suited so well with her blue top and of course her red lips that enhanced her look altogether using the Ferrania Solaris 400. Then she suggested using B&W to finish off the rest of the shooting, which would be the Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100,and voila. Haha yeah, apparently B&W was just a secondary roll during the shoot.

Well, for what it’s worth I think the B&Ws turned out amazing. So, if you’d like to see Syaheedah in full colored glory (with the wonderful Solaris 400), head on to Nadine’s flickr stream and let her know how much you love her photos!

-delusiana

Yashica MF-2 Super (38mm, f/3.8 fixed lens)

Alas, I have my results! I have been waiting for almost a month to colllect my film and got them this evening. I used a B/W film I bought in Kuala Lumpur few months ago and tried using a different camera, a manual Yashica point & shoot this time! I’ve never used a fully manual camera before, so I thought I should give it a try on my West Java trip in Indonesia last April. I had a few problems using the camera though, especially on shooting doubles and ended up with 12 empty frames! Now I need to practice on rewinding and advancing the film the right way for my next shoot :)

-minaharker80-

Agfa Isoly

More shots from the wildlife park photowalk. The Neopan Acros never fails to deliver, and at 100ISO, the shots turned out nice and contrasty. Although they flunked miserably in all my indoor shots, bah.

-delusiana

Diana Multi-Pinhole Camera

(approx. 20 minutes under very low light inside an abandoned tin dredge)

(approx. 2 minutes under extreme sunlight)

(approx. 60 minutes on a very dark balcony lightly illuminated by a street lamp)

My second attempt at pinhole photography and I think it will not be my last ;) I decided to not do anything fancy like I did on my first roll, where colored gels and multi-pinholes were used. That first attempt was quite an accident, as you can see here. The beauty of pinhole photography is having your image in sharp focus from the point closest to your camera to the furthest which is not possible with lenses. Basically what you see with your own eyes is what you ultimately get…IF you get your exposure times right, that is. 

Oh, and if you haven’t submitted your photo to the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day website, it’s about time you did!! Head over to the official website for more information on how you can be part of this project.

-eleanorrigby236

This film is awesome! All taken with the Diana F+ with the 16x16 film mask. Multiple exposures are fun but if you’re not careful, you may end up overexposing the film. The Splitzer is a handy tool to test this technique. But you can always go D.I.Y and create your own splitzer.

And again, Diana is extremely prone to shakes so unless you have super steady hands, a tripod is your best friend.

-delusiana

Diana F+, 38mm Super Wide Angle Lens, 16x16 120mm Back