This is the second roll I got from the Silberra Crowdfunding campaign. The first was Silberra PAN200. After developing I found some strange yellow streaks on the film, but they don’t show up that much on black/white film. Film base is very very thin.
Leipzig, Germany – May 2018
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panchromatic negative black/white film, ISO 200, fine grain, wide tonal range, very sharp
In 2018 I supported a crowdfunding campaign to help establish another film manufacturer. Based in Saint-Petersburg, Silberra produces film stock, photo paper and chemicals. There were different levels of rewards, I chose to get two Iso 200 films.
With a bit of delay they finally arrived in summer and I was quite curious how they would turn out. During development I noticed that the film base is very thin. There were also some yellow marks on the film, which were not on another roll developed at the same time. Strange… but it didn’t really show up in black/white.
If there wasn’t import tax or more importantly high shipping costs I’d gladly order more of this film, but as it stands, I’ll leave it at having tested it.
Leipzig, Germany – May 2018
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panchromatic black/white film, ISO 200, fine grain, wide tonal range, quite sharp, moderate contrast
Olympus XA2 (Olympus 35mm / f3.5 lens) + Silberra PAN200
Developed in Ilford ID-11 (1+1) at Mühlstraße 14 community lab
Scanned with Epson V550
Post-processing in Adobe Lightroom
Only recently I started shooting a single kind of film stock over a longer period of time. I think it really helps to focus more on the actual picture-taking and less on the technical side. Also there’s some sort of consistency.
It’s a bigger investment up front when buying a 10-pack of film instead of individual rolls, but usually you get a (very small) discount. So for much of the summer I had my two cameras (SLR with 50mm lens and compact rangefinder with 35mm lens) loaded with Delta 400.
Leipzig, Erfurt, Usedom (Germany) / May – September 2018
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35mm black/white t-grain film, ISO 400, 36 exposures
Nikon F80 + Nikkor 50mm 1.8D
Olympus XA2 (Olympus 35mm / f3.5 lens)
Developed in Ilford ID-11 / Ilfotec DD-X at Mühlstraße 14 community lab
Scanned with Epson V550
Post-processing in Adobe Lightroom
Adox CHS 100 II (Black/White, ISO 100, 36 exposures)
Back in May I went on a Lichtküche e.V. photo walk. We crawled through abandoned buildings, walked along a disused railroad track and ended the evening in a small pub.
“Lost places” was something I didn’t shoot in maybe a decade. It was quite nostalgic to walk through the different levels and look at bare pillars once again. But I’m glad I moved on from that.
Leipzig, Germany – May 2018
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35mm black/white film, ISO 100, 36 exposures
Nikon F80 + Nikkor 50mm 1.8D
Developed in ID-11 (1+1)
Scanned with Epson V550
Minimal post-processing in Adobe Lightroom
ORWO UN 54 / ISO 100 / 35mm black and white cinema film
There is quite a bit of film stock, that I already shot, but didn’t upload to the blog. Maybe I should prepare some posts ahead of time and schedule them, so that there’s a steady flow of new material. I’m still a bit unsure about what to do with this project.
For now here’s some East-German black and white cinema film, that I quite like. Sadly it’s somewhat hard to get. As I understand it, the manufacturer only offers 122m as minimal order volume. So your best bet is to hunt for already hand-rolled cartridges on eBay.
All images were taken during a FoDo photo walk around a big shopping mall called “Paunsdorf Center”. / The history of ORWO is a good read as well.
Leipzig-Paunsdorf, Germany / June 2018
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35mm black/white cinema film, ISO 100
Nikon F80 + Nikkor 50mm 1.8D + Yellow Filter
Developed in A49 (1+2)
Scanned with Epson V550
Edited in Adobe Lightroom
Ted Forbes’ Photo assignments are a set of challenges designed to improve creative thinking. Mostly by providing a theme or some sort of restrictions. This time it’s based on the Holga:
no Autofocus and no Viewfinder
f8 only
fixed shutter speed (1/30 or 1/60)
fixed ISO (100 or 400)
The Video:
Since I actually own a Holga and had not shot it in years, I finally used it again. There were also two rolls of 15+ year old expired b/w film, that I had no idea what to do with for years. And I also had a little bit of ID-11 developer left, that wasn’t enough for a 1+3 development ratio, so I had to guess times for a 1+4 mix.
Not worrying too much about anything felt really good. Am I framing the scene correctly? No idea! Is the exposure good? Probably not! Can I do anything about it? Nope! Are the leaves in focus? Who knows, I sure don’t.
Using the 6 x 4,5 mask gave me some more images per roll (16 instead of 12). I think it also reduced vignetting on the long sides of the photo. And I’m super in love with the format of 6 x 4,5.
All in all it was really a fun experience. I bet the Holga will return one day.
Leipzig, Germany – Oct / Nov 2018
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Holga 120 GCFM (cheap glas instead of cheap plastic lens)
2x Kodak T-Max 400 (expired 2003 / 120 Medium Format)
Developed in ID-11 (1+4 with guessed time, development table only had 1+3)
Scanned with Epson V550
Postprocessing in Lightroom
Last week I met up with Isabel (Farbstich – Natur im Blick) and got this lovely Canonet 28 as a gift. Thanks again! It’s a fixed lens (40mm f2.8) rangefinder – a type of camera I’m increasingly interested in.
While focusing is different from a SLR, it’s still just a box that captures light. But I somehow really like the 40mm focus length. For years I mainly shot with a 50mm lens, then I had my “one year of 35mm f8+” project. Now the 40mm is nicely in the middle of it.
Maybe I’ll use it for the current photography workshop I’m attending…
Leipzig, Germany – November 2018
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Canonet 28 + Kentmere 400 / Developed in Ilfotec DD-X (1+4)
Scanned with Epson V550 / Edited in Lightroom
Since the start of 2017, I’m having to deal with family issues, that drain the energy out of me. Lately it’s getting really hard to be motivated to do anything at all. That’s why there weren’t that many updates in the last weeks / months.
I’ve rewatched Zack Arias’ Transform short film a couple of days ago and will make an effort to still *make* something. In the meanwhile here are some shots of me trying out one of Rollei’s high silver films. I really really liked the 80S and will try the 400S next.
Leipzig, Germany – July / August 2017
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Medium format (120), black/white, roll film, 12 exposures (6×6), ISO 80
Yashica Mat 124G (Yashinon 3,5/80 mm lens) + Rollei Retro 80S
Film bought for 4,75 EUR (~ $5.60) via macodirect.
Developed in R09 (Rodinal) 1+50.
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
My HGB photography workshop came to an end, so I have a bit of a more free head now. At the same time my pre-ordered rolls of Ferrania P30 arrived. What better thing to do, than load a camera and go out for a walk.
I think the things I see during the workshop – through exhibitions, photography books and the other attendees – is influencing my current interest / style. Not sure if I like it, or where it will lead.
One thing that’s a lot on my mind lately is to talk less about technical stuff and focus more on subject. Let’s see how this will go as well…
Leipzig + Bockwitz, Germany / July 2017
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35mm, black & white film, 36 exposures, ISO 80.
Praktica LTL2 + Helios 58mm/f2 + Ferrania P30
Film bought for ? EUR from Ferrania Website (with Kickstarter Bonus).
Developed with R09 (Rodinal) 1+50
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
The 52 rolls project is finished, but I still have film stock left. This one I got from a trade with Ruslan. I shot everything on one afternoon and there’s some sort of chain/fence theme going on…
Until now I used whatever developer the community darkroom provides (usually Atomal 49). For this one I started looking into taking more control. So I researched developers, ordered Rodinal concentrate online and mixed it in the darkroom myself. It all sounded a bit scary, but after actually doing it, it wasn’t really that difficult.
Leipzig–Stötteritz, Germany / May 2017
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Medium format (120), black/white, roll film, 12 exposures (6×6), ISO 200.
Film has a clear base (good for scanning) and curls a bit on the long side.
Pentacon Six TL + Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm/f2.8 + Rollei Superpan 200
Film from a trade with Ruslan – Thanks!
Developed @ Mühlstraße e.V. Community Darkroom (Rodinal 1+25 / 4:40 min @ 26°C – had to cool down the developer from 29°C!)
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
The Sun Itself Shall Draw My Pictures 