Adox B&W Film

Photography’s been a hobby of mine since 2005, and I started out shooting film. Eventually I took the plunge into digital and enjoyed it. However, in the last several months I’ve gotten back into film and have been taking a darkroom class as well. My primary influence and interest in photography is fashion, more along the lines of casual, classy, even a little nostalgic sometimes. At the moment I’m using older Pentax Super Takumar and Carl Zeiss Jena lenses, and prefer the black and white films from Adox and Efke (RIP).

[image info: black jacket images were shot on Adox Silvermax 100 using an early 1960s Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135mm lens, and white jacket image was shot with Adox CHS 100 using a Pentax Super Takumar 2.8/105mm lens. Lenses (probably set to an aperture of 5.6) were mounted on Canon SLRs via adapters - M42-EOS for the Pentax and Exakta-EOS for the Zeiss]

In the end I believe memorable photographs are those that provoke an emotional response, and that’s why we can be so fascinated by them.

Keep shooting film,
Alan Brzozowski

Click here to find out how you too can share your photos and story with CGSF!!

Kodak BW400CN w/ Asahi-Pentax K1000-50mm

Hi there! My name is Nicole Gelinas and I have some photos to share.  I took my Asahi Pentax K1000 film camera on a photo shoot along with my 50mm lens.

I wanted to experiment with my film by taking Kodak BW400CN and making it redscale. To do this I went into a completely dark room, pulled all of the film from the roll, snipped it close to the film canister, flipped the film to the other side, and taped the cut ends back together. Once that was done I wound the film back up into the canister and loaded it into my camera to shoot with.

Making BW400CN into redscale film created the purplish tint in the photos above. If I would have just shot the roll as I bought it, it would have been just black and white. The reason you can do this with Kodak BW400CN film is because it is black and white film (chromogenic film) that is developed in color chemicals (C-41) instead of black and white chemicals. Pretty neat huh?

If you want to try this technique just know that you will need more light coming through the camera. I shot these photos at ISO 100-200 to compensate, but I think some of them are still underexposed a bit.

With this roll of film I also attempted to do some double exposures with my Pentax K1000. I have owned this camera since high school and I have never once tried to take two pictures on one frame. This camera is not made to function in this way so I had to fuss with it to get it to work.

What I did was take the first exposure, then instead of advancing the film I held the rewind button on the bottom of the camera and at the same time advance the film lever completely. Then I was able to take a second exposure. It did work, but with only two hands it was hard to hold in the rewind button and advance the film totally, so sometimes the film only made it halfway around, which is why there are a few frames that overlap!

—Nicole Gelinas

Fomapan Action 400 on Pentax P30 w/ SMC Pentax A 50mm f/1.7

(developed in D76 Stock 9 minutes.)

Our pal Christian is a proud Daddy and he chose his son Patrick as his subject for his project. He wanted to shoot some film, develop them and one day print them in the darkroom to experience the full analog experience from start to finish. He still needs to get the prints done, but for now we are happy to share some of his wonderful captures of little Patrick’s first happy moments on Earth!! Make sure to visit Christian’s website for more of his work.

Revolog Kolor on Pentax ME, Zenitar 16mm f2.8 Ultra Wide Fisheye

I took my time to finish all 36 exposures of this roll, and I must say that the results are unpredictable. You’ll never know what rainbow hues you might get on your shots, each frame differ with various light intensity. 

The first set was taken at noon during an overcast afternoon, with the unpredictable Malaysian downpour. I find that you tend to get all 7 color spectrum in slightly shaded areas and especially when shooting directly with the sun in front of you. We revisited an old haunt, the abandoned house just a few turns past the Malaysian National Monument.

This second set was taken somewhere along Jalan Tangsi in Kuala Lumpur, where you can find several heritage buildings, mostly in bad shape and with little or no conservation efforts to secure these crumbling relics of the past.

A shame, really.

-delusiana

Agfa CT Precisa (expired 2002) on Pentax ME, Zenitar 16mm f2.8 Ultra Wide Angle Fisheye

Can I be lazy tonight and just post the pictures without any blurbs? Heheh. You can click here for more info on how to make your own film soup roll. 

OK, I’m gonna make things simple for those who are as lazy as me and couldn’t be bothered to read the long long write-ups so this will be in point form and succinct.

• Film soup recipe: 1 cup detergent + boiling water + 1 tsp silica gel + 1 expired roll of Agfa CT Precisa
• Location: An abandoned house in Bangsar
• Film accidentally exposed whilst drying with a hairdryer in the darkroom bag
• There were tons of mosquitos

A few shots came out totally incomprehensible with blobs of colors like this:

-delusiana

Pentax K1000, SMC Pentax 1:2 55mm lens

Here are some fun and cute photos by Charlene. Kodak Gold is just one of those film that will never fail. Just like its namesake, the yellow-brown or golden hue, gives your photos a nice soothing warm feel. Still one of my favorite color neg film!

-eleanorrigby236

Charlene says,

My friends and I decided to do another photoshoot before the weather became to cold to wear anything that doesn’t require pilling on 3 layers of clothing. Regarding the concept there isn’t too much to talk about as we selected the props from the pile of things lying around at home and came out with ideas on location. But overall I like the resulting hues in the photos (my first time using this film so I didn’t know what to expect) and think it has a lot of potential for concept shoots. So here they are, hope you like too :)

Pentax ME, Zenitar 16mm f2.8 Fisheye

So there I was, all giddy and happy since I’ve finally gotten my fresh Velvia 50 processed E6 when my bubble burst horribly…almost all my shots turned out underexposed!! To make matters worse, the professional E6 lab I sent my roll to criticized me horribly, saying that I don’t know how to properly expose my shots..heh. But it’s true, apparently a lot of photographers have experienced the same problem so it was recommended that the Velvia 50 to be shot at ISO40 and processed normally. Using a polarizing/ND filter will also help.

On exposure times, sticking with the Sunny 16 rule is paramount since apparently you really can’t depend on your built-in light meter (my Pentax has never been serviced before and this was the first roll on my Pentax when I got it from Japan early this year.)

FYI, only pictures 1 & 4 were pure scans, I had corrected the exposures with Lightroom 3 for the other shots to compensate the underexposure. This is my first time shooting Velvia 50 and it’s way more difficult compared to the Velvia 100F which I shot here and here (and cross processed btw). I had better results when I attempted long exposures at night time with this roll, which I will upload later.

ANYWAY, I’M NOT GIVING UP JUST YET SO JUST YOU WAIT YOU PROFESSIONAL E6 LAB SNOBS!! *shakes fists*

-delusiana

Pentax ME, Rikenon 50mm f1.8

Yes, looks like we’re on a B&W fever. Heheh. I love this film as you can get it developed within 2 hours since it’s C-41 processed.

-delusiana

It was by pure luck and chance that Ana Jonessy came into possession of this camera and she decided to attempt some double exposures. She did an amazing job on her first roll! Check out her submission below and be sure to visit her blog for more of her photos. 

Pentax Zoom 90-WR 

Ana says,

I hope you love ‘em as much as I enjoyed ‘em. I fell in love with the first roll and I’ll be taking more photographs with this camera soon. None of the photos were planned and I think they reflect our free spirited personality.

First of all, whether you like it or not HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, just because it is, enjoy it!! Now, check out these amazing photos we received from Charlene C!! They are brilliant and I love them to bits.

According to her, a friend and her did a little “for fun” photoshoot at her old apartment and blew up a bag worth of balloons!!! Watch the fun enfold below :)

-eleanorrigby236

Pentax K1000, SMC Pentax 1:2 55mm

Charlene C said,

Hi pretty people!!
I just wanted to share a few photos from my Pentax K1000 camera, loaded with the Kodak Ektar 100 film, I’m in love with the fine grain and dreamy colours that came out from it! Not the cheapest film, yes, but the results are something which I find other film doesn’t produce. Hope you liked them!

This is why I heart Kuala Lumpur.

-delusiana

Pentax ME, Zenitar 16mm f2.8 Fisheye

So what’s this whole mystery about shooting at a graveyard? 

Well, last month myself, eleanorrigby236 & JK were really bored and had no idea on where to go for our next photowalk. Then JK was suddenly struck with inspiration, recalled a friend telling him about a hidden mausoleum with a life sized bronze statue smack in the middle of Kuala Lumpur.

After much trepidation, we decided to head down to the place (despite cancelling our plans earlier to shoot at that abandoned house —see here & here; because a friend caught an “entity” on film the last time we went there) to try our luck, lol.

Anyway, it turned out the huge mausoleum belonged to the late Wong Loke Yew (1845-1917) who was a famous businessman & philanthropist at the time. You can read more about him here.

Anyway, the kids who led us to the graveyard warned us to be careful as the week prior to our visit, a boy had wandered off to the place and saw a mysterious “being” squatting on top of Loke Yew’s head. And so the boy went mental, hysterical etc etc…

But we were only there to shoot photos and not desecrate the place and we were very nice and polite (we even “asked” his permission to shoot and thanked him before we left!), lol. Anyway the next time we’re heading there, we’ll be bringing some offerings for him and his “guardians”..heheh. Well, on to the photos!

-delusiana

Pentax ME, Zenitar 16mm f2.8

Pentax ME, Rikenon 35-75mm f3.5 Macro Zoom

Frankly I’m quite disappointed that most of my open skies shots (especially ones with direct sunlight) turned out dark blue/indigo like the first pic below.

On the other hand, Provia 100F works best indoors/shady areas/night with sufficient illumination of the objects you plan to shoot.

Back to square one I guess..bah.

p/s: Oh, pics 3,5,6 were taken at the graveyard of Wong Loke Yew, and it was damn scary there, even in full sunlight! I’ll write more on the “supernatural” incidents related to the burial ground in my next installment. XD

-delusiana

Pentax ME, Zenitar 16mm Fisheye f2.8

Pentax ME, Rikenon 50mm f2.0