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
Shop Talk
panchromatic negative black/white film, ISO 200, fine grain, wide tonal range, very sharp
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
Shop Talk
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
I think I’m in love. The colors! The warmth! Being able to shoot at night! And still looks good in daylight! Only the price is a bit hefty. Good thing I have friends, who sponsor such delights. Thaaaanks Caro! xD
All images were taken around christmas. The first two in Leipzig(‘s christmas market), the rest while visiting my brother in a rural part of Germany.
On a different note: it seems that I’ll finally finish the “52 rolls of 2015” in… 2017. Only 5 more to go. I can see the finishing line in the distance!
Leipzig + Bockwitz, Germany – December 2016
Shop Talk
35mm, color negative, ISO 1600, 36 exposures.
Nikon F80 + Nikkor 50mm / f 1.8
Film ordered from Japan + sponsored by Caro. ❤
Developed with Rollei C-41 Kit by myself.
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
Last month (December 2016) I participated in the Emulsive Secret Santa. I got several rolls of film and the first one – Ilford FP4 for medium format – is finally done.
I still have to perfect putting in film into the Pentacon to avoid those overlapping frames (transport problem). Guess that’s the drawback for buying cheap/old gear. But since I’m not going to rob a bank anytime soon, I’ll work with what I have.
Leipzig, Germany – January 2017
Shop-Talk:
Medium format (120), black/white negative film, 12 exposures (6×6), ISO 125
Pentacon Six TL + Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 2.8/80 + Ilford FP4 Plus
Film gifted by Gregory Antikian – thanks again!
Self-Developed (A49) @ Mühlstraße e.V. Community Darkroom.
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
In July the FoDo (monthly photography meetup) group decided to do a photo walk, instead of our usual critique evening/night. We started at the edge of Leipzig’s city center and kept wandering around. Some might say aimlessly. Some might say with purpose.
I took the photo walk as an opportunity to test a new lens. I’ve been using a 50mm prime for 10+ years now and the new focal length (105mm) was very strange. But wanting to photograph people is new to me as well. I’ll have to see if the 105mm is something I can/will use to take portraits, or if I’ll go back to the familiar feel of 50mm.
On top of that I’m quite new to developing color photos myself as well. The main problem area at the moment is washing the film:
Left: after first round of washing / right: after a second round of washing. Consistent scanning is still an issue as well. I guess there’s a reason why professional film labs charge that much…
Leipzig, Germany – July 2016
Shop Talk
35mm, color negative film, ISO 400, 36 exposures.
Zenit-E + Super Takumar f2.8/105mm (M42)
Film bought for 2.95 EUR via Foto24.de.
Developed with Rollei C-41 Kit by myself.
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
Ilford HP5 was the next stop on my Search for Spock aka an ISO 400 b/w film to finally settle on. My favorite b/w film Fujifilm Neopan 400 was sadly discontinued in 2013.
I bought the film for testing and then it sat for weeks and months in my camera bag waiting for an opportunity. It finally arrived last month, when I used the one roll on 3 different occasions – a spontaneous photo walk and two portrait sessions.
At the end of the roll the rewind lever of my camera got stuck, so I lost 5-6 potential frames. But it’s not that big of a problem, since I already shot a wide variety of subjects.
Looking through the images now, I don’t see that much of a difference to Rollei RPX 400, which is a cheaper (3,95 EUR vs. 4,95 EUR). I think I’ve read somewhere, that HP5 has a special anti-scratch layer. Maybe I should test medium format and pushing as well, before finally settling. And on goes the search…
Leipzig, Germany | Aug 2016
A lot of thanks to the people, who allowed me to photograph them: Uta / Ruslan / Leo.
Shop Talk
35mm, black and white film, ISO 400, 36 exposures.
Praktica LTL 2 + Helios-44-2 f2/58mm + Ilford HP5 Plus
Film bought for 4,95 EUR via Macodirect.
Developed by myself @ Mühlstraße e.V. Community Darkroom.
(Developed: A49 / stock / 7:10 min @ 20,5°C)
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
Some weeks ago, we had the “Days of Industrial Heritage” (german website) in Leipzig, during which you could visit working or abandoned industrial sites, attend presentations or visit crazy artist groups taking over a whole building.
The last mentioned art project was “If Paradise Is Half As Nice“, that showed several installations, a photography based animation, performance art and offered very interesting tours through the exhibits and the building itself. “If Paradise…” was my favorite event of all 4 days.
I shot several rolls of film throughout the Days of Industrial Heritage and I’m not sure if and how I should present the rest of them here. I didn’t use new film stock, so I can’t just show them with Roll #42, #43 and so on. I’d have to write a separate article. But then I repeat the images here. Well, I guess I have some thinking to do.
The development itself was a bit tricky – I had not enough developer left for an exact 1:1 dilution, so I poured in all that was left and sort of guessed the time increase (10mins instead of 9:33min). The developer was way too hot as well, so I had to cool it down (25°C down to 20,4°C) in an extra beaker full of semi-cold tap water to get a manageable development time.
But this wrestling with the physicality of film photography is one of the reasons I do it. At the time it’s headache and problem solving, but afterwards it’s immensely rewarding.
Leipzig, Germany | Aug 2016
Shop Talk
35mm, black and white film, ISO 400, 36 exposures.
Nikon F80 + Nikkor 50mm/1.8D + Bergger BRF400 Plus
Film bought for 5 EUR via Fotoimpex.
Developed by myself @ Mühlstraße e.V. Community Darkroom.
(Developed: Ilford ID-11 / ca. 1+1 / 10min @ 20,4°C)
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
You always read “don’t compare your work to others”. It’s hard. And you see a lot of work by other people – old masters, emerging voices, exhibitions, social media, magazines, during photography meetups, the list goes on.
I find myself asking what exactly I shouldn’t compare. Technical details like exposure, depth of field, resolution? Or the impression (light, atmosphere, emotion)? Or the content? Or the impact on the viewer?
What about comparing my different own work? Wasn’t I a different person years ago? Wasn’t I in a different mood, when I took this picture, compared to that picture? How do I order the various things I photograph? What do I want? What do I want to say with my images? What do I want my photographs to achieve?
I think the HGB workshop started something, that’s slowly unraveling now. I ask questions. I recognize the difference between photographs with and without people in it. I have the feeling, that an image without a person in it, can only go so far. A landscape shot can be perfect, but there’s something still missing in it.
Or that’s all just a phase. Or a small step on the ladder to a more rich understanding of photography. Or I’m getting old and emotional. Or I’m just looking for something *else*, after taking images of things for years. Or I’m finally over some internal issues. Or or or.
As almost always: at the end, there are more questions than answers.
When invited to go-kart racing in early January I grabbed the only ISO 800 film I had in the fridge. Once there, I had no desire to race, but had a good time taking images instead.
Shop-Talk:
24 exposures, ISO 800, expired 2011, cold stored.
Nikon F80 + Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8G SE + WPhoto 800
Film bought for 5 EUR over at the Film Photography Project Store.
Developed @ FotoStudio 80 (Leipzig, Germany).
Scanned with Epson Perfection V550.
![[Update] Ilford FP4 Plus 125](https://coffeepyros.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/i22_lab_1651_03.jpg?w=825&h=510&crop=1)
The Sun Itself Shall Draw My Pictures 