Playing with KODAK Ektar

This has been a special year for all of us. Covid 19 has turned everything upside down, and we are more home bound than we usually are. Because of this, I decided to go on holiday in Norway this year, and appreciate the Norwegian nature with some old, cheap equipment and some rolls of KODAK Ektar.

First up, was my Olympus OM-1 and the amazing Zukio 50mm lens. Not a very cheap camera you might say, but I managed to get my OM-1 shipped shipped to Norway for just around 70 euros. That is a real bargain considering the quality and value in use.

These shots are from the area around Brønnøysund in Northern Norway. Closer description as image text.

All images are developed with the Tetenal C41 home development Kit, and scanned with my PlusTek Opticfilm 8100.

Picture 1 – Vevelstad Kommune, Forvik ferry port, Nr 2 and 4, Velfjord in Brønnøy, nr 3 from Klompen in Namsos

JCH Streetpan 400 for portraits?

A little while ago, I was given a roll of 120mm film from Japan Camera Hunter named the «Streetpan 400». I tried it out and got beautiful results with high contrasts and exquisitely fine grain for a 400 iso film. The deep contrasts got me thinking. How would this film work for portraiture?

I bought a few rolls directly from JCH in Japan, and due to the Covid 19 situation it took a while for them to arrive. When it finally came I put a roll in my Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, cheap TLR, and decided to bring it to take some portraits with Ada. We met at Kremmerodden, a lovely location in Norway and took some pictures.

The Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, with a roll of JCH Street Pan 400

I decided to shoot the film at 200 and develop a bit shorter (pull processing) in order to retain some shadow detail. This film is widely discussed online for its ink-black shadows and high contrast, and for portraits in direct sunlight, this was not my biggest wish.

I will not go deep into anything technical about this film, I am no expert on emulsions and films, and there are millions of reviews and opinions about it available online.

I was very uncertain about how this film would handle being pulled a stop, but I am happy to report that it deals well with one stop over exposure.

My process was:

One minute presoak in water to remove the anti-halation layer. This water comes out nearly black.
Development in Kodak Xtol 1+1. Development time for this film at 400 is 17 minutes. Since I pulled it one stop, I reduced the development time by 20% and a total development time at 13 minutes 40 seconds with agitation every minute.
Water-stop and fix as usual
15 minutes under running water for wash.
Final wash with Photoflo

I am happy with the results. What you see here are scanned negatives that have been merged and somewhat cleaned in Photoshop. I will take some of these negatives to the darkroom for printing there later.

Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex – Japan Camera Hunter (JCH) Street Pan 400@200, Xtol.

Do I like this film for portraits? Yes. I would use this film again for portraits and pull it to 200 for certain portraits. Especially portraits where I want to retain some contrast and get a nice palette of grey. However, for portraits at this location, I’ll probably stick with Ilford FP4 box speed or Kodak Tri-X at 200.

Thanks for reading

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
Dorothea Lange

A little test with Kodak Portra 160

For the past years, I have mostly shot digital when doing portrait shoots and other important shoots that involve use of colour. On my recent holiday trip to Denmark, I came across an old fashioned photography shop where they had a sale on «soon to expire» films. On this sale I found a five-pack of Kodak Portra 160, and I decided to give it a go.

I am one of those people who loves to develop films and I decided that colour or B&W, I’ll master the process myself. I did Colour development a few times some years ago, and knew more or less what I was going into, with water baths and temperature control. For chemistry I bought the Tetenal Home kit, which I have to say was really easy to use and fairly idiot proof if you do monitor the temperature.

I stuck the Kodak roll into my Nikon F80, and brought it to a TFP-shoot with the lovely Hedda and her guitar. The Portra is well known for giving the nicest skin tones and I was curious about this as well.

Hedda and her Fender caught on Portra 160

I shot the film at box speed and kept it as I normally keep exposed film for a few days until I had the time to develop it.

I was amazed how simple and straight forward the Tetenal process really is. Remembering earlier experience with C41 as rather difficult I had no problems at all mastering this process. I used a Paterson tank and used the «stirring tap» to rotate the reel in the tank, as the process is made for rotation.

I am very happy with how the images turned out. The images you see here are untouched and straight from the Plustek Scanner I use for all my entries.

You can master any process.

“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it.”
Edward Steichen

Sunny day at Dokka

Today, I had a portrait assignment in Dokka, a little town nearby, and I brought the Voigtländer with an Ilford Delta 100 loaded in it.

I had the Voigtländer well placed in its leather casing.

The location for my assignment was at a defunct railway station now used for rail bikes. I arrived a bit early to enjoy the sunshine and, hopefully, make some great images. I was not the only living creature enjoying the sunshine this lovely day. I also met some very social and eager horseflies and mosquitoes. A part of the Norwegian summer.

A little tip for shooting in Norway where light isn’t that bright; think «Sunny 11» not «sunny 16». The lighting conditions in Norway are not as bright as further south in Europe.

Maybe not in mint condition, but for sure a great model. And after all, the BMW still is on its wheels.

Since the Voigtländer is not a rangefinder or markfinder, the focus is based on guessing distance. Not too difficult for street photography and the lens is really interesting. Looking through the pictures after scanning, I can see that I should have used the sun shader following the lens.

I developed in Xtol 1:1 for 8 minutes 20 sec in 21 degrees chemistry. Then rinse and stop in water, and seven minutes fixer.

New for this development cycle was that I used a new termometer, as my last one died an Xtol death from falling into the tank of stock. RIP.

A Summer day adventure with a Voigtländer Vito B

A few days ago I got hold of an old Voigtländer Vito B in «unknown condition». I know from before that Voigtländers are relatively sound cameras, and took it for a test drive with a Kentmere 100 onboard.

The small viewfinder tells me that this is a camera from the earlier production years, between 1954 and 1957. The fucis is done buy measuring the distance manually and setting it manually to the camera. No rangefinder or markfinder.

It’s always fun to play around with an old camera like this, and I must say that despite it’s reputation for being «immensly grainy» I am very happy with the results the Kentmere 100 provides. My guess is that photographers complaining about the grain are either after a smooth as gold PAN-F like smoothness, or just overexposes the film and gets grain in the scanning process.

As previously with the Kentmere, I chose to develop in Xtol 1:2 and used 10 minutes in 24 degrees chemistry. The negatives came out fairly evenly exposed and I am happy with the results.

An old-camera adventure

The oldest camera I own is an Argus C21 from 1947. I bought this one rather cheaply last summer and it was in «unknown» condition. I tried a film in it back in last summer, but the back lid, fell off and the film got ruined. Then i forgot all about the little Argus.

Today I brought the old Argus back to life with a Kentmere 100, and brought it along as I went for a little drive.

A little documentation image of the Argus C21 and the film.

When the negatives came out of the tank, they looked farily evenly developed and exposed, but when scanning and working with the negatives, it is clear that the lens sufferes from some hazing and probably build-up of dust.

That said, I am really intreagued by the results, and they show that the old Argus still has a sharp eye.

Also, the Kentmere 100 shone with its traditional grain structure, and gives the images a really old fashioned look, even in Xtol. The development cycle for this round was Xtol 1:0 9 minutes 45 seconds at 18,5 degrees. Then I used a water stop, six minutes fixer, rinse and photoflo. Images turned out ok.

The camera does also scratch the film slightly as you can see in this photo. It might be mendable, but I do not mind a few scratches from a camera this age. Especially not at the price I payed, around 15£.

Also, I like how the Argus focuses, It gives a really sharp middle of the picture focus and a gentle unsharpness at the edges, making a vignetting effect which is pleasant.

As always, images in this blog are untouched by Adobe. Straight from the Plustek-scanner.

A cloudy-day with Kentmere 100

Analogue photography has this horrible reputation for being ridiculously expensive because of expensive films expensive equipment. One of my goals with this blog is to disprove this and show how great results you can get with cheap cameras, but also with budget films.

Today, I picked up a Kentmere 100, which i bought for very little money at my regular online store, and went for a little walk by a lake not far from where I live. I am normally a huge fan of the Ilford-films, and since Kentmere is made my Ilford, I assumed it to be a decent film.

I read a few blog entries and notes on Lomography before I embarked on this adventure, and I saw people complain about «immense grain» and «too grainy». I therefore chose to develop this film in Kodak Xtil 1:0, to have a limited development time to reduce grain.

Kentmere 100 shot at box speed, developed at 19,5 degrees in Xtol 1:0 for 8 minutes 15 seconds

At least in this development cycle, the Kentmere produced a really pleasant grain, and I like the soft, but vibrant range it gives. I will definitely shoot this film again, and use the same decelopment cycle which I find to give the results I want.

Furthermore, in 35mm film photography, grain is a part of the «game» and a force that makes your images interesting.

Also, I find the cheap Petri Racer so be one of my absolute favourite cameras. The little rangefinder has a fantastic lens and is truly reliable. More results are in the album beneath.

Analogue photography is not expensive, and with some skills and knowledge, you will appreciate this media. ‘