A few time last summer we bumped into this lot of happy skaters, who were engaged in what can be described as a party.
Good atmosphere, disco music and smiles all around, all lead by the above MC.
Hurry up Alice or you ll be late to the party.
The sun was going down and available light was no much, but good enough for the Summicron 50 and the roll of HP5 loaded in the M6.
A bit of line dancing.
I m just passing by, please ignore me.
Ok I am not sure if that is exactly true, but that keeps me busy and entertained. So last week, I loaded a hand rolled of HP 5+ in the Leica M6, still having the Summicron 35 Asph v2 attached and when out shooting during our family stroll.
Usual subjects of a week-end stroll, vehicles, back alleys and passers by. I really like how the motorbike on the first pictures renders. This is a handy 24 shots roll, shot at 320 ISO.
Ah I have not said it yet but this if processed in caffenol again. I finally had an epiphany yesterday : my weekly roll does not need 750mm or solution, 500mm is probably more than enough. That will save me even more money. You will notice a small lighter band horizontally in the two next shots, I think something’s not right in the M6, maybe time for revision.
So I scaled down my Caffenol Delta recipe from 500ml and it worked pretty well. The film looks ok, the pictures are easy to scan, there is little dirt on the negs. My fixer also comes close to the max number of rolls, but I cannot notice any difference, maybe I’ll do another couple of rolls before doing a new mix.
I met this young lady by chance, and asked if I could take her picture, we she looked very happy to. I shot the week before another stranger with half blond half dark hairdo and I found it worth doing a second one.
I learnt, to take more that one shot when people are happy for me to take their portrait, but two is not enough, I should have done 3 or 4 , different metering, different framing. Sill a learning curve.
Vespas parading in Haji lane. And below bit more personal my friends at the coffee shop in Keong Siak Road
Than you very much for the courtesy of the drivers at the pedestrian crossing.
City life seems to be a lot about waiting.
More waiting
And more waiting
Chinatown at dusk
Italian fashion buff.
I hope you likes the reading, Caffenol rocks! I went over some old roll of films processed by a lab and actually they are really comparable to what I do not in Caffenol. Oh and what about last week roll then ? Well maybe I will post it a week where I cannot shot an entire roll. But rest assured the M6 is already loaded with a roll of the newly packages Kentmere 400 … to follow
This is the roll number 40 of 2020, and the one for which I break even on my Caffenol investment. At 7$ per roll at the local lab, I am now breaking even on my dark bag, Vitamin C, Soda ash, Fixer and first batch of coffee.
October is a big period for Taoist faith, known as Nine Emperor Gods. I could not see any big ceremony, but its a good time to visit temples I never see before.
Ok I break even but I have finished my Nescafe so I have to get another pack, I will check the cheaper local brand for roughly 8$. Also I screwed up a few rolls (at least 4) so do I have to factor this is my cost as well?
The picture above taken indoors has very nice tones I think. I am now using the Delta recipe and this roll was processed with a new batch, and turned out very fine. Not much dust to clone.
Finally 4 shots done during a stay-cation on the island of Sentosa. The island of fun seems a bit carceral at the moment with the beach being all locked down and some buildings in advances dereliction status.
All shots taken with Leica M6 and Summicron 35mm Asph V2. This is a 24 shots roll of a bulk Ilford HP5 that I handroll myself (I am really money conscious these day)
So everything change and nothing changes. Back on the road this week end for a quick visit to the Bedok South Market
Bedok is on the east side of Singapore, nearly an hour of public transport from my place, in direction of the airport.
The market is somewhat small and contains the many usual sections of other local markets. Unlike some others it is on ground floor level and has just one level so the light is quite ok.
People are reasonably photo friendly, maybe because they are a bit out of the center, or they are just friendly.
Now the technical bits you are all waiting for : so I decided to try the Delta recipe (which actually is not very different from my usual Caffenol CM):
| Delta | |
| Water | 0.75 l |
| Washing Soda | 18 g |
| vitamin-C | 15 g |
| coffee | 32 g |
The recommended processing time is 9 to 10 minutes at 20 deg, so with the help of the Massiv Dev Chat converted I processed 4’40” at my 28-29 degrees. (I start the clock, start pouring the developer and poured out the last drop at 4’40”)
The negatives are good I would say, maybe slightly over, but very little dust or crap of any kind, no fogging. I am quite happy.
I also innovated by using bulk film. I bought a roll of HP5+ locally in the hope to save a bit of money and to roll custom size rolls. For this test Delta roll, I used a 12 shoots roll. And rolled two other 24 shots roll for later.
Without entering in too much details, a roll of 30.5 M (100 ft) provides 18 roll of 36 shots, making a gain of nearly 20% if you consider a roll here is 12$. Of course as there is a fixed loss per roll, if you make shorter rolls your benefit can go down, or cost you more per frame actually is you only make 12 shots rolls. Lets see how many frame I can shoot with this roll and make the math’s again at the end.
Beginning of the year and excitement to try the Ultrafine Xtreme 400 that I am bulk loading, I am taking the odd camera from the treasure box.
A couple of weeks back it was the turn of the 1970’s Minolta Himatic 7s. Actually the 7s was released in 1966 same year as me. The Himatic is a rangefinder camera with a sharp, fast 45mm F1.8 lens, and in-camera metering.
Ok I don’t quite like the the Himatic too much : it is heavy feels clunky compare to the German rangefinders; it is not that fast to operate, and also the metering died on mide during a bike tour.
I also the viewfinder to be not that bright and having too many signs inside; there are just three visible sides of the frame, so I always wonder how to frame the fourth.
BUT when I got the roll from the shop I must say that I am impressed by the result, the lens is fast and sharp and the 45mm give a bit of air to the shots.
This is my 3rd roll of the Ultrafine Xtreme 400 bulk and I quite like it. I am new to handrolling, the picture below is the last of the roll, so the first from the bulk that I attached to the canister and I think it was exposed to light. Pitty I like this shot.
I think I like the film, it is now 3 rolls I shot this year and 2 last years, it is on the contrasty side but nothing too extreme, so it makes a good replacement for TRI-X or TMY 400. The shot below is quite smooth as I like it. Actually tones quality reminds me of a proper wet paper print.
Mmm also I fell the Epson v800 gives immediately better results that the v500, but this may be just because I paid so much for it.
There will be no declugging for the Minolta, it belonged to one grand uncle, so that’s a keeper even if it goes out of the box only once a year.
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