Took a little more of a plunge

[Anthony Martinez]

This weekend I picked up a plastic tank, a pair of reels for it, and some chemicals to develop B&W film (Kodak D76, Ilford Rapid Fixer, Kodak PhotoFlo 200, and some hypo cleaner stuff).

Last night, I blacked out my closet with some thick vinyl I had left over from a speaker cabinet building extravaganza about 8 years ago and got to work. Life in in a pitch-black room is... interesting. The frequency and volume of my expletives was probably amusing to anyone outside my closet while I struggled to get my first roll on the reel. The second one took very little time.

Once it was all said and done, I ended up with what look a whole lot like passable negatives. I tried to scan them with my RX595 (sans transparency adapter or any such thing) and they even look like photographs after I invert them in Photoshop. The quality leaves a lot to be desired, and I'm sure that's a combination of a) my never having shot film before, b) my never having developed film before, and c) my having used a scanner that is in no way meant for scanning negatives! Either way, it was fun and it'll be real hard for me to keep myself from going out and buying a TLR or some other medium format goodness to jump in even deeper.

[The Philos]

Welcome to the good side.

[Anthony Martinez]

Thanks, now I just need to either find someone to show me the print side of things or scan these negatives properly.

[The Philos]

I scan them with my V500 and the Epson software - probably not the best but it gets the job done.

[Anthony Martinez]

If you're also in Katy, would you mind scanning mine for me sometime?

[The Philos]

I am in Katy, I'm fairly free this week and most of next (not the weekends though).

[chris00nj]

Welcome!

I do my own developing but no printing (space constraints). I also recommend the V500 for scanning. It has Digital ICE for removing dust off color negatives and comes with Adobe elements, which is suprisingly quite versitile. I prefer 120 film for my own black and white processing and scanning, because it is easier to control dust.

I like my Rolleiflex Automat: no red windows, super sharp Zeiss lens.

I got mine from Igor's camera exchange. He has one for $170. I've also gotten gear from collectible cameras and they have some in the low $200 range. Besides a light meter, there isn't much difference from the Automats to the later Rolleiflex models that cost $900.

Igor Camera Exc
Collectible cameras


Rolleiflex Automat, Tri-X in HC-110


Rolleiflex Automat, Tri-X in D-76:

[Anthony Martinez]

Seems like w/ all the time I spend studying these days everything else I do occurs at a glacial pace.

I developed both the HP5+ and the TMAX (both ISO400) in D-76 quite some time ago, as I said when I started this thread, but I finally got around to having the negatives scanned.

Here's one of the shots I liked just from a quick glance in LR3. Clearly I didn't bother cleaning up any dust/scratches. Who knew laptop-screen light could look so good?

[TXFZ1]

Great capture Anthony!

David

[Anthony Martinez]

Thanks. I just left Houston Camera Co-op with four more rolls of film. I'm looking for a TLR to do some 120 on.

[timbertoes]

Excellent, Anthony!

BTW a DEAL on a Mamiya Pro 645 showed up on Dallas Craigslist today. $150 for the camera,powerwinder and a Lens.

[Anthony Martinez]

hmmm that'd be nice too. I've just always loved the way TLRs look, which is why I want one. Bonus points if it works and I can use it instead of just buying one to put on a shelf as a decoration.

[tropicpine]

Originally Posted by Anthony Martinez

Here's one of the shots I liked just from a quick glance in LR3. Clearly I didn't bother cleaning up any dust/scratches. Who knew laptop-screen light could look so good?

Kudos on the improvised lighting and use of depth of field.

[Anthony Martinez]

Thanks.