CAFFENOL REBIRTH : WEEK 5 : SAME PLAYER SHOOT AGAIN

Happy birthday Singapore

Processing film at home is a funny activity, actually it is a very modern one, inline with instant self rewarding of Instagram and phone-o-graphy.

National Day under surveillance

So after 4 weeks wit the same brew, I decided it was time for fresh coffee. I followed the same recipe but added some table salt, which is supposed to limit the fogging on the negative, specially for high speed film like the Ilford Delta 400.

National Day Party atmosphere with social distancing

I prepared the mix Sunday afternoon to be ready for processing in the evening, but actually I could not wait and loaded the finished roll I had in an improvised dark cupboard.

Feels like holidays

I realized that my expired fixer is now all grey and contains a lot of flocculation. I try not to poor the deposit in the tank, but did not think of filtering. I fixed for the usual 5 minutes. Then I filtered the fixer back in the bottle.

The three bunnies

It looked the film was fixed properly but there is some deposit in places. Next time I will filter before pouring and extend the fixing  time just to be safe.

Art Science museum with bird

So I used the new mix at 28 degrees for a bit more than 5 minutes. The result is OK, but I would say a bit over done. I cannot tell if the table salt had any effect (I put 10g for a litter of Caffenol).

Art Science museum with bird II

This time I managed to squeegee the water from the film without leaving dust or hair and let dry in the bathroom. The negatives are thick but scanned ok as you can see. There are some marks due to the residuals of the fixer I think.

Her (distant) reflection

So this is a roll of Ilford Delta 400, supposed to be a fine grain film (compared to HP5), a bit cheaper than the usual TriX. The film lacks a bit of contrast  in my opinion.

The photographer’s family

This was shot with the Leica IIIC and Voigtländer 21mm F4. With the 21mm the subject is always so far away.

Anish Kapoor miror

Unless you come very close

Martin and his Mamiya

In which case you make friends, or at least you have to engage.

Social Distancing Ambassadors

I engaged the social distancing ambassadors, as I think they deserve to be remembered for their service to the community and that hopefully one day they will only be memories and we will look back at this picture to make sure this was not just a dream.

 

Wefie

The shots around Marina bay were made by a very bright day and some are done at higher speeds for which I suspect the Leica III to be a bit lazy, hence the mild darker right side (or brighter left).

I included a few more shots back to my usual habit of burning film randomly.

Starbucks-nol anybody?

Soon to go Liang Court / Novotel building

Good looking lad

I am still not so good at hip shooting, it seems I constantly aim too high. Luckily I realized I am not the only one.

Coffee again

I am a bit better at pre-focusing and aiming from the eye level. Particularly with my VC 21-25mm finder.

The last walk of the Ents

I hope you enjoyed the reading. The next roll is not very far away.

Stay safe.

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14 Juillet 2013 – Cannes – France

So actually on the french national day I was going to the market and I came across a guy in traditional dress holding a drum so just followed and realized he was going to the local celebration of the national day. I took a few shots with the Dacora Digna, my beloved holiday camera, and with the LeicaIII that I brought with me for the summer holidays back home.

French National Day

The Leica shots are done with the Summitar 50mmF2 on a Rollei RPX 100 Film and I managed to ruin the shots by trying to process the film at home using the Caffenol method. The film was not well developed and very difficult to scan, hence the grain. I’ll come back on the Caffenol story later.

 

Veterans, French National Day 2013

Veterans, French National Day 2013

Veterans, French National Day 2013

I like the shot I called “The photographers”, the Asian tourist with her phone on the foreground and the official photog in the background.

International Commie Camera Days 2013

So May Day came along and a Flickr group organized International Commie Camera Days 2013; a day of celebration for the workers united and an opportunity to get your Russian camera out of its box. So the choice is between the Zorki or the Kiev or both, but at this time I already have received the LeicaIII and some new LTM and have a few rolls on for testing so I’ll keep it simple and pick only one camera and it is the Kiev. The Zorki rangefinder is still not repaired so until then it way stay in the box.

I picked up the unloved Ilford Pan 400 ISO for this “assignment” and In order to get ready for it I have sealed the leaks of the Kiev 4 with masking tape as shown on the last post and made a bit of decoration after loading the film of course.

Discussion on the group gave a bit of flexibility on the definition of May Day and the range was extended from 1st to 9th of May; but I decided to try stick to the 1st of May and/or work related stuff.

Workers Party of Singapore

Bad Comrades – working on may day

 

No Illegal workers – in many languages

I can recognize English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil; the last one I hesitate between Thai and Burmese

Worker at rest

This one is with the 50mmF2 Jupiter 8 nearly wide open, probably F2.8 1/60s seconds in the office.

 

All in all this is only the 3rd film for the Kiev and I must say I am quite pleased with the result; including the B&W quality of the Ilford PAN. I’ll post next the first part of the roll shot in old buildings in Wessex Village in Singapore of which I find the B&W just amazing. Ah and I think I am nearly on target for “a film a week in 2013“; another stupid and funny exercise.