Around a week ago, I went out shooting with the Canon T70 and a bulk-loaded Agfa APX 100 film. When I pulled the negatives out of the tank, I realized that it had somehow gotten exposed to light at some point and that there were a lot of different light leaks that could not have come from the camera. After inquiring around online, I found that the most likely explanation would be that the bulk-loader itself was not light tight and that it might have impacted the film either when stored inside the bulk-loader, or when rolled. I therefore decided to take the bulk loader into the darkroom, and I rolled up one little roll of film (approximately 12 frames) just to check whether there was a problem with the whole bulk, indicating a problem with the light seals on the loader.
To make sure there were no other differences, I used the same cassette when rolling, and I used the same techniques, only that I did everything in the dark. I then put the roll of film into my Olympus OM-1, which I know have good light seals, and set off to make some test shots.
A bench and a field – Olympus OM-1 Agfa APX 100 – Rodinal 1+100 1 hour
I spotted some light leaks on this roll as well, especially on the last shots on the roll, the one that had been closest to the previous loaded film, but the frames from «deeper in the bulk» seemed untouched by the light leaks. The light leaks were also consistent to one end of the frames vertically, so it cannot be anything with the shutter or light seals on the camera. I guess my experiment showed me that the bulk-loader is not 100% light tight, and I will apply black tape to it next time I fill it with a new roll.
For the film itself. I have found that what works for me, is shooting this film at 50 (or even lower) and using a yellow filter. This gives me the shadow details and a decent spread of greys. However, I will probably not buy this film again. To me, it is grainier than Kentmere 400 and I expect finer grain and more shadow-details at box-speed for a 100 speed film than what I get from the Agfa APX100.
I also this time shot the Agfa at 50, but since I used a yellow filter, I set my light meter to ISO 25, giving an additional stop of compensation for the filter. I chose to go with Rodnial stand development on this particular test, because I wanted to see how the Agfa film would look with this kind of «lazy» development process. I think the process got some grain out of the film, and that if used on a rainy og foggy day, that this combination could work really well. It does really set the «moody» tone in the images. I would, however, get a rather similar result with pushing Tri-X, and this is a film with far broader applications.
A while back, I bought a few rolls of Ilford SFX 200 and shot it with a red filter. A normal red filter, as you would use for normal films. I likes the results and I decided that I wanted to take it one step further and try out the invisible spectrum. I bought a few rolls of Rollei INFRARED 400 and began looking into tips and ideas for dealing with infrared photography. I soon learned that what I thought to be infrared films were actually just normal films with an extended red-sensitivity and that it didn’t really go into the proper Infrared spectrum.
My first decision was that I wanted to try this out with my best equipment. I opted for my medium format cameras, the Bronica ETR and the Hasselblad 500c and bought a filter that would fit both of them. A relatively simple an straight forward 720nm filter off eBay, the brand is Greene or something along those lines and it seems to work very well. Although, no filter factor was provided, so for this round I only did two compositions and bracketed a lot to get to know the filter somewhat. From my experimenting, I found that the correct compensation for this filter is about six stops.
A little forest scene – Hasselblad 500c w 80mm Planar f2,8 – Rollei Infrared 400 Ilford ID-11 – f11 4 seconds
My first idea for this tryout was heading towards a little river passing not far from where I live. The area around the river was too overgrown for me to get any shots of at this point, so I decided to go for a forest scene for my first composition. The exposure time got into the multiple seconds, and the one I was most pleased with was the one at 4 seconds. It gave me the infrared effect that I was looking for.
I then moved on to look at the view over Gåstjernet, a little pond in the same area, and I noticed how nicely the clouds reflected in the water, framing the landscape very nicely within the 6×6 format. I think this became the stronger of the two compositions and I also did the same amount of bracketing on this.
Gåstjernet – Hasselblad 500c w 80mm Planar f2,8 – Rollei Infrared 400 Ilford ID-11 – f16 1 second
My next problem was development. I wanted to use a relatively fine grain developer to get the most out of the effect, and the only one I had mixed was Ilford ID-11. However, there were no instructions on how to use this developer for this particular film so I had to get creative. I extrapolated the Xtol-time, comparing it to other Rollei films and ended up with a development time of nine and a half minutes. This gave me very nice negatives and the ID-11 seems to have worked very well with this emulsion.
A while back, I made a post where I tested out a film I had never tried before. Agfa APX100. I was not 100% sold on this film at that point as I found it to very easily lose the shadows even when meters specifically for the shadows. After this outing, I have tried it on multiple occasions. I have tried pulling it both one and two stops. Shot at 50 with 20% reduction in development time seems to work the best of these. If shot at 25 and pulled, it comes out dull and grey and you have no shadows, nor highlights left to work with.
In this entry, I am covering my experience with shooting it at 50 and making no changes to the development time. A full stop over-exposure and develop for the full film speed. This test; however, became somewhat untrustworthy, as it seems that the film somehow must have been exposed to light. My guess, reading the negatives, is that the exposure to light must have happened after the images were taken, since the frame itself is visible through the light-leak area. I will include a raw-scan that shows the issue.
The interesting light leak situation. (Unedited scan)
Now, I have not had any problems with the bulk-roll nor with the cassettes or loader before, and my Canon T70 has never shown any signs of light leak. Not that this kind of light leak would happen in the camera anyway. It does not show on all the images, but on most of the,. I was able to salvage 4 images from this roll, maybe the best ones, who knows.
My trip this day, went through a forest-area and into a swampy area next to a very rarely visited forest-pond called Sevalstjernet. I chose this location because I knew it would give me a very varied range of objects to photograph as well as nature. I had never visited this pond before, and I strapped on my wellies, a choice that would be crucial for this outing, as I most of the time waded around in bog and fen. With my normal hiking-shoes, I would have been soaking after just a few minutes.
I was also accompanied by a cloud of black-flies. It is nice to have company when you are out walking, but I would have preferred people or a dog rather than flies. On the plus-side, the huge swarm of flies seems to have kept the mosquitoes and horseflies away, so I should maybe me grateful.
A forest watch-tower – Canon T70 w Canon FD 50mm f1,8 – Agfa APX100 @ 50
It also seems like my idea of exposure helped me greatly on retaining the shadows in this film. I do think, however that this film could be over-exposed another stop in normal development without any issue. I do still have some inky-blacks on some of my scans. Based on mob experience this far, I will not buy another roll of APX-100. FP4 plus isn’t that much more expensive, and it is a far better film. An in between, Fomapan 100 is a film I have found to work very well for me.
Some beard – Canon T70 w Canon FD 50mm f1,8 – Agfa APX100 @ 50
One of the things I love with the Canon T70, is its lens. The little, cheap 50mm FD lens performs consistently very well and is very sharp and flexible. I know there are better FD-lenses out there, but there is something to this lens that just appeals to me. I like the way it portrays the world to my images, especially when photographing the «smaller things» like this little beard-moss on a tree. I think this one was shot at f2,8 but it could also be f4. Since I lost all frames before and after this one, I am not sure.
Finally I made it into the swampy area around the lake. I think the correct term for this land would be either fen or mire, but I am not sure whether it is acidic or alkaline ground here. My guess would be acidic given its vegetation, but I might be wrong here. Sadly, what I would think is my best shot of this pond got lost in light-leaks, but I will add the one that survived.
Sevalstjernet with the farm – Canon T70 w Canon FD 50mm f1,8 – Agfa APX100 @ 50
Finally, after a spring seeming never to produce any heat or greens in nature, summer temperatures have finally arrived. And what arrival it took on. Temperatures shot up 20 degrees in just a few hours and from dull and bland grey weather we suddenly saw blue skies without any noticeable clouds. Weather where one has to think about how to deal with the conditions. I decided to go to a local woodland-area called Sevalskogen. An area I just noticed for having really nice «old-forest» conditions and being relatively untouched for a while.
This is also an area that was heavily disputed in the 1920s and 30s. In these years this farm was owned by former Vardal Kommune, the municipality, until it was sold to a private farmer in 1932. At this time, the forest and the uncultivated fields were still owned by the municipality, and was broken up and sold out as so-called «bureisningsbruk». These were plots that people could buy and build their own farms on. This was a very unpopular decision and after just a few (I believe 4) plots were sold, the rest of the land was given back to Seval farm. This lot of land was obviously smaller than the original farm, both with forest and land. All the farms that were built in this time still stands today.
A fragment of the path – Hasselblad 500c w planar 80mm f2,8 – Fujifilm pro400h
To accompany me on this little outing, I chose the Hasselblad 500c. I have found myself to lean very much towards medium format lately, and I love using cameras with a waist-level viewfinder. I chose to roll the camera up with some Fujifilm pro 400h, a film that was sadly discontinued in January this year. I find this film to be a perfect mix of subtle colours and sharp green tones, and I find it to lean towards more of a water-color feel in the way it renders the images.
I went out with a happy spirit, but I found myself to really struggle with «getting going» this time. Just to get started, I made myself a very simple path-scene as you can see above. It is not under any circumstance a very strong composition, but it really helped me to get «into it» and get the right feel. I then progressed on and embarked into a felling-field. And here, the path mysteriously disappeared. My guess is that it has somehow been consumed by lack of use and new lush vegetation rising above the chopped down trees.
The felling field – Hasselblad 500c w planar 80mm f2,8 – Fujifilm pro400h
Although I couldn’t find the path, I saw a lot of small amphibians and I would guess there would be some adders lurking around the area, and since the path was a bit confusing, I decided to abandon the search for a path in the sunshine, and rather focus on the area I was already in. I turned my attention to a little tree-stub and attempted my luck there instead.
A tree-stump thingie – Hasselblad 500c w planar 80mm f2,8 – Fujifilm pro400h
I then started my walk back to the car, and I came across a scene with lovely windflowers and some forest in the background. I decided to capture it and I will share it with you here.
Windflowers sparkling in the green – Hasselblad 500c w planar 80mm f2,8 – Fujifilm pro400h
Spring is an incredible time of year in Norway. This spring has been incredibly cold and slow, and even now, in the middle of May, we are bothered with snow in the forest. The good thing about that is that you, as a photographer isn’t very bothered with other people along the paths and you in most cases have the place to yourself. Today, I went out into some local woodland that I know quite well. Yesterday was a very rainy day, and it rained all night, so I figured that the snow was most probably melted away in the forest by now. I was very wrong, and I was not able to walk further into the forest than about four hundred meters before the snow was too deep. Also, the path looked more or less like a stream, and I had the feeling that most people would go for a swim rather than a walk on a location like this.
Nevertheless, I went out this morning and waded myself through the soaking wet forest floor searching for nice woodland-compositions. These kind of conditions, grey, wet and misty days, are the conditions that inspire me the most. They makes the location stand out in a very different way than you would see it on sunny days, and you spot details and areas you wouldn’t see if the light was brighter.
On this particular outing, I went for the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, a TLR-camera that I have owned for a while, and that I absolute love using. There is something about this camera that inspire me. The world looks very nice through the waist-level viewfinder on the Ikoflex, and there is something about the way the lens renders the images that really suits my eye. I chose to shoot at shallow depths of field in this particular outing for two different reasons.
First of all, I wanted to emphasis the relaxing bokeh-feeling this lens gives and how smooth the sharpness of this lens is at around f3.5 and f4. It gives a very relaxed feeling to the scene. Secondly, my particular Ikoflex has some faults with its slower shutter-speeds and below 1/50th can give a very unpredictable result when used. From no activity at all, to just a random shutter-speed. I should probably have it serviced, but I guess fixing this one would be too expensive compared to its value, and it serves me well as it is at this point.
Scene of melting – Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, Ilford HP5 plus, Ilfotec ID-11 1+1
For that last reason, I chose to go with a very flexible film to give me some wiggle-room with my exposures. I went for a roll of Ilford HP5 plus that I shot at its box-speed of ISO 400. After seeing the conditions in the forest when I came there, with that layer of mist that I didn’t expect to find there due to the conditions in general, I was very happy about this choice of film for that reason as well. Ilford HP5 plus is fantastic at capturing the mood of a misty forest.
Old mans beard – Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, Ilford HP5 plus, Ilfotec ID-11 1+1
Even though the walk this time wasn’t that long, and the way there was rather wet and unpleasant; I actually had to jump across a stream of melting-water to reach the path; I got some images that I am very happy with. I also really enjoyed my little adveture into the wet and misty forest, and I will certainly be out again in these kinds of conditions soon.
From a wet and misty day in the woods – Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, Ilford HP5 plus, Ilfotec ID-11 1+1
A few weeks ago, I went out to create a second episode of my new series «Frames of Norway», a series where I explore the landscapes of Norway with my analog cameras. I also dive somewhat into the history of the location and other interesting aspects of landscape and the characteristics of the area.
For this second part, I visited Amlisberget close to Moelv to enjoy the beautiful views over lake Mjøsa from high up. At the time, I was very excited about being out for that trip. It was my first real walk in nature for a while, and I got too trigger-happy and blew through a roll of FP4plus far too quickly. I think parts of my problem this day, was that I had the Canon T70 and shot aperture-priority, This made me not think well enough about my compositions to make proper photographs. I went into what I call the «digital trap» and just rattles off the shots and ended up with something that I am not happy with. At the time, when I looked at the images after development, I was very excited and felt they were nice, but after a while, I am not happy at all. So unhappy actually, that I decided to redo the trip.
For this round, I chose to go with medium format, I rolled up the Hasselblad with a roll of Kodak Ektar 100. I figured that most of my compositions in the last attempt were actually dependent on colour, and the weather was rather nice, and Ektar looks good when there is some light around. Also, the fact that I only have 12 shots and have to set them up manually using a light-meter, helps med focus and things closer about what I am doing.
Parts of the path – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F11 1sec – Kodak Ektar 100
One of the greatest things about doing landscape-photography in Norway, is the culture of «friend associations». People sign up as «friends of the area» and spend their time and knowledge preparing and tidying good paths for everyone to use. These people work as volunteers and they are not even always reimbursed for their expenses. This path that I am following this time is marked and maintained by members of two different associations. The local sports-team and Moelvmarkas Venner. I don’t think we can measure the value of their work in money. Access to nature has been very important for the Norwegians during the difficult Pandemic-times.
Parts of the path – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F5.6 1/8sec – Kodak Ektar 100
Much of the path towards Amlisberget goes through woodland, parts of it through copse-areas and some through your typical forest area. Most of the trees are spruces, as it is the most commonly grown tree in this area of Norway. One thing I learned very quickly at this path was to watch my steps. Not even a kilometer into my trip, I saw the first adder. Not that this snake possesses any threat to me at all, it is lightly venomous and not in any way aggressive. Most bites happen on hands and fingers when people try to pick them up or on feet when people step on them.But at the same time, I don’t want to upset my «host» when I am visiting their home. In all, I saw two adders (Vipera Berus) on this trip, and I heard the sound of five others creeping away in the grass as I was following the path. Sorry that I am not giving you any images of them here, I did not have the lens to photograph these images this time.
I walked out around noon this day because I wanted to have the mid-day lights and to use the blue sky and white clouds to my advantage. This gave me relatively short exposure times for most of my images that were not taken in the forest.
Lonely spruces in the view – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F16 1/125sec – Kodak Ektar 100
As you can see in these coming images, this is one of the most important forestry-areas in Norway, and it is located on the outskirts of the huge Taiga – the boreal forest area that goes across the whole Northern part of the globe. It is said to start for real a few kilometers further east, but you can still see the same kind of landscape as you would see throughout the Taiga, from Løten to Vladivostok.
Much of the industry in this area is also based on forestry and wood-work, and in Norway the name «Moelven» is widely known to mean quality lumber. The lumber-industry in this area is still one of the strongest in Norway.
The View – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F16 1/125sec – Kodak Ektar 100
The trip up to Amlisberget is recommended for everyone by me, the last 900 meters are quite steep and you should make sure to have enough water for this part when you are walking. There is also no guess-work where you need to go, as the path is well marked and easy to follow. If you walk in the morning or around noon, you will most likely have the place to yourself. The only person I met on my way up, was a local fireman who was out, putting up warning signs for forest fires. On my way back; however, I met more people. The trip is worth it, the view is magnificent.
The View – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F16 1/125sec – Kodak Ektar 100 (The colours are a bit off in this one for some reason)
I am not usually bulk-rolling film, but not long ago, I got hold of a 100ft roll of Agfa APX100 for very cheap money. I decided to give it a go, as I have previously been very fond of affordable films like the Fomapan 100 which I also tend to bulk-load, as it is relatively inexpensive to do. I have found my way of exposing and developing Fomapan 100 that gives me the results I want. This method includes exposing at EL 50 and shave 20% off the recommended development time with Kodak Xtol 1+0.
As the Agfa APX100 is a brand new film for me, I decided to shoot it at box-speed and develop as the massive development chart suggests. As Kodak Xtol have been out of stock in Norway for a very long time now, I decided to use Ilford ID-11 to develop this film. I chose the dilution 1+1.
Winter leaves as Spring emerges – Konica Autoreflex TC – 50mm Hexanon f1.8 – Agfa APX100 Ilford ID-11 1+1
Immediately, when looking at the negatives and their scans, they appear slightly under-exposed, and it is clear to me that this film needs more exposure than I gave it at this first tryout. Especially definition in the darker areas is easily lost, and I think that a slight pull could give me a flatter negative that will be easier to work with in post-processing. My next roll will be tested with the method I use for Fomapan 100, and I will evaluate those results as well.
Spring by a frozen lake – Konica Autoreflex TC – 50mm Hexanon f1.8 – Agfa APX100 Ilford ID-11 1+1
For this test, I chose to go with the Konica Autoreflex TC. A camera I bought this autumn and that I have found to work very well and be reasonably accurate at shutter speeds faster than 1/60, which is the area in which I chose to shoot this time. The lens is a very standard Hexanon 50mm f1.8, a lens that is reasonably sharp and is easy to focus. Some of the images were shot using a yellow filter and some without the yellow filter.
The film has the amount of grain that I would expect from a 100 ISO traditional film and it seems to me as it behaves very much like the Fomapan 100 in its sensitivity. The lighting conditions on the day were quite contrasty, and I find that to be very clear from the negatives. They seem more contrasty than I would expect from these conditions with my standard go-to slow film, FP4 plus. That said though, it is important to clarify that I am basing this on just one outing and one roll of film, and that I by no means am a film-expert. I will use this film some more over the coming weeks, and find out how well it works for me and how I can get it to work for my style and preference.
Rocks in the ice – Konica Autoreflex TC – 50mm Hexanon f1.8 – Agfa APX100 Ilford ID-11 1+1
What I found when working with these scans in Lightroom, was that getting the correct contrast-levels was tricky. You cannot go to far before you lose your shadows and you easily blow out the whites. The images taken with the yellow filter in general give a better balance in the contrasts.
Darker areas are easily lost – Konica Autoreflex TC – 50mm Hexanon f1.8 – Agfa APX100 Ilford ID-11 1+1
In this second entry in the series “Frames of Norway” I am walking towards the viewing point “Amlisberget” to get the view over the little town Moelv and the lake Mjøsa in the east of Norway. This area of Norway has a very different landscape to it than what one often thinks of as Norwegian landscape. Rather than steep mountains and dramatic valleys and fjords, this area has a calmer, more rounded mood to it. The calm landscape forms were eroded during the last ice-age. There are a huge number of lakes and ponds, and the area has a lot of glacial till and in summer time, the area is one of the lushest farming areas of Norway.
The lake Mjøsa is the biggest lake in Norway and I will feature it in a number of entries in this series, focusing on different aspects or areas around it. Living and working in this area, it is a rather difficult to “forget” about it due to its size, and the landscape around the lake changes a lot from south to north, as well as its history.
A view over Mjøsa from Amlisberget – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 – Ilford FP4 Plus Adox Atomal 49
The area around Moelv, has a long history for its industry and being one of the centers for trade and communication in its part of the lake. Being the “mid-point” between the bigger towns around the lake, Gjøvik, Lillehammer and Hamar, just about 20 minutes to each of the bigger towns, Moelv was an ideal loading-area for steamboats doing the so-called “across-trafic” indicating that they were crossing the lake, rather than doing longer trips along the lake. Boats doing this “across-trafic” were in general smaller boats owned by locals or smaller companies, and they would carry goods from smaller ports to the bigger port in Moelv where the bigger boats and ships would take over.
This is an interesting point, today, when we have the bridge over Mjøsa, we see the lake as an obstacle in our travels, but back then, the lake was the biggest and most efficient “highway” of the area with an incredible number of steam and motor boats sailing all over it. At some point, the church in Moelv served for a parish including farms and houses on both sides of the lake and having “church boats” to transport people across for sermons and so on. This connection between Moelv on the east-side of the lake and Redalen on the west side of the lake, is still strong today. This is also where the bridge is crossing the lake.
Woodland and farmland – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 – Ilford FP4 Plus Adox Atomal 49
For this outing, I chose to go with a 35mm camera. I wanted to get a very “analog feel” to the images and I figured that being on a new location where I had never been before, I might get “shutter happy” and boom off a lot of shots. And I was right, I filled the whole roll in about half the trip.
A view towards Næroset – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 – Ilford FP4 Plus Adox Atomal 49
I chose to go with the Canon T70, the revolutionizing first attempt from Canon on making a computerised camera. A camera loaded with different “safety features” such as sliders and buttons to make sure you don’t accidently open the camera mid-roll or accidentally rewind the film mid-roll. It also has a very good and accurate light-meter, and an apperture-priority setting that is working flawlessly. I also like the fact that this is a 100% Manual Focus camera and that you can focus manually without having to deal with the “sloppy” and “vague” feeling of an AF-lens. This is personal preference of course, but I prefer MF for this kind of use.
The Path – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 – Ilford FP4 Plus Adox Atomal 49
I set out into a forest area where there are a lot of ski-tracks in the winter. I parked at Høgring, where the sports team Næroset IL has a little skiing cabin, and I walked from there. Forestry has meant a lot to this area, and previously Moelv had both a cellulose factory and a huge sawmill. The sawmill and its wood-workshop is still active and is one of Norways biggest providers of wood even today under the name of “MOELVEN”. The cellulose factory ceased operations in the late 1930’s due to the big depression in international trade.
A view over Mjøsa and Moelv – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 – Ilford FP4 Plus Adox Atomal 49
Because the colours in the Norwegian nature is rather greyish and boring at this moment right after the snow melts, I decided to shoot black and white. I went for a traditional film, the Ilford FP4 plus, one of my absolute favourite films, and I used both yellow filter and a two-stop graduated orange filter. I was a but uncertain how the aperture-priority setting would deal with a soft-grad filter, but it seems to have correctly exposed the sky and overexposed the land-area, which was what I wanted it to do. Concidering the fact that the filter-thread on the lens is damaged, the images turned out rather well.
More forestry – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 – Ilford FP4 Plus Adox Atomal 49
I chose to develop with Adox Atomal 49, a developer I have found myself to really like. Especially traditional films like FP4 and HP5 gives great results with this developer, and I find it to lift their abilities. It seems to be somewhat compensating and gives a rather flat negative and great shadow-detail even when the films are shot at box-speed. The down-side is its toxicity, and I find that even though I have loved my two first batches of it, I am hesitant to buy more of it because of this. I obviously collect the rest-developer and deliver it to a designated collection place where it is dealt with properly, but I still don’t like the thought of using something this toxic.
As you can see from many of the images, farming, as well as forestry is important for the area. Moelv was, and still is an important hub for the distribution and sale of grain and farming products in the area. Strand Brænneri was opened by the local farmers in the mid 1800s and was one of the first cooperative agricultural businesses in Norway, and became an important part of building Moelv and the surrounding area into the successful area it became in this time.
A lonely birch – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 – Ilford FP4 Plus Adox Atomal 49
I am proud to live and have so easy access to an area with this amount of “cultural landscape”, and where you can really see how nature and man has lived together in peace over so many years.
With this entry, I am opening a new series of entries and also Youtube-videos. In these entries, I don’t care too much about the camera or film, but rather focus on composition and my thoughts behind the choice of location or film in regards to what I wanted to achieve. Everything is allowed in these entries, regardless of price of camera. And yes, obviously I will still have some entries in the old manner too.
For the kick-off of my new series, I chose one of my favorite cameras. My Hasselblad 500c, which not by any means is a cheap camera. I love shooting square format, and the Hasselblad along with my Ikoflex are to me the most inspiring cameras I own. There could be something with the waist-level finder that just makes everything look very lively and nice and makes composition very easy.
My location for this outing is the site of an old derelict saw-mill just north of Gjøvik. Back in the day, this was a very active saw-mill with close proximity to the lake and easy access for boat-cargo on the lake. There are still a lot of poles and marks in the shallow water after extensive log-driving on Mjøsa.
Remains from the Log-driving on Mjøsa – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1
Log-driving was a dangerous job and many log drivers would drown while working on floating timber. Sometimes, workers had to do the dangerous maneuver of loosening up jammed logs using a pike-pole. To utilize this tool, they had to walk on the floating logs, and sometimes, they either were hurt when the jam broke up, i.e. being crushed, or they could stamp on a loose log and fall unto the water and get stuck in the water under the massive amount of logs.
In honor of the history of these brave workers, I decided to go with a somewhat gloomy look to these images. To me, gloom means additional grain and a rather «grey» palette. A film I have often had issues with being too grainy or gloomy for my taste is the Bergger Pancro 400. I have used this film just a few times, and I still have some lying around in the freezer. I thawed up one of them and went for this choice.
Remains from the Log-driving on Mjøsa – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1
It turned out better than I expected, and this film might just be perfect for this kind of shooting. A few pieces of reflection though are the following:
Be very precise when exposing Pancro 400 as it handles underexposure extremely poorly and easily loses the highlights. I tries my best to nail my exposures dead on, and did reasonably well until my lightmeter decided to produce a flat battery. After that I had to rely on a simple app on my phone, which surprisingly worked rather well.
Take your time with this film. I have tried different development cycles for this film, but this is by far my best results with it. I often shy away from very long development times of more than 12 minutes if possible, but to me, it seems like the results with Pancro400 gets better the longer you develop. This process in Adox Atomal 49 1+1 took 23 minutes.
Fix for more than the double time of what you would normally do. As in the previous point. Time is gold with this film. I fixed this one in fresh fixer for 12 minutes, double the time recommended by Bergger, and that seems to give clean negatives. Anything gives harsher grain due to remaining emulsion I guess?
Use it for its potential of making moody and gloomy shots. This is not an «everyday happy snappy film». You have to work with its strengths.
The remains of Biri Bruk – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1
From my research online, I find that the sawmill was active until the early eighties. I cannot guarantee my accuracy here, but it was defunct before the nineties. In 1994, Lillehammer hosted the Winter Olympics, and the old sawmill was being restored, the goal being it becoming a restaurant. Situated along the road between two venue-towns, Lillehammer and Gjøvik, the location was ideal.
During its restoration, something happened and the old sawmill house caught fire and burned to the ground on Friday the fourth of June 1993. The fire started in the old chip-silo and quickly spread resulting in devastating damage with fire-fighters unable to over-win the fire. Today, only the foundation walls are left, and is what you can see photographed in some of these images.
Ruins of Biri Bruk – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1
For me, this location has some personal value. My grandfather used to work in this place as a lorry-driver for many years, and when walking around, I can still hear his voice takling about all the interesting and struggle some days they had at work in this old sawmill. What was important for me in this outing, was to capture the mood of the place in regards to its history and how it is a symbol of a very decentralized way of structuring agriculture. And maybe most important, how we still have some remains of a very active workplace in a very smack little settlement.
Remains from the Log-driving on Mjøsa by Biri Bruk – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1
I hope you enjoyed reading this entry, and that you can catch the mood I am trying to convey through them. I would also love hearing your thoughts about Bergger Pancro400 and if you have different or supporting experiences.
A few days ago I went out very early in the morning. The forecast showed slightly cloudy weather and I figured that a sunrise in these conditions would be lovely and colourful with smooth yellows and subtle peachy oranges. I only had one roll of Kodak Ektar 100 left and it was a 35mm roll. I tend to shy somewhat away from the high saturation of Ektar in 35mm format, as I have had difficulties scanning and processing it in the past. This time I went for a different approach where I converted manually rather than using scan-software or NegativeLabPro plugin, and I must say that I had more success this time.
I chose to use the Olympus OM-1 for this outing. The main reason for that being that it has a stable function with cable-release and that it has the option of “mirror lock up” that I figured would be very handy when shooting a 100 ISO film in the early morning. My shutter times went up to a second and I did not experience any camera shake at all for any of the images except the one where I forgot to lock up the mirror which is strictly not the camera’s fault.
Along the path – Olympus OM-1 w 50mm Zuiko f1,8 – Kodak Ektar 100
My location for this outing was Steinsodden in Ringsaker, and I also went to the very interesting little islet named “Steinsborga”. This little islet is only accessible in springtime when the water-level in the lake is regulated down over the winter and before the snow-melt in the mountains hit the lake in mid-may. I did not take any images out on the islet, but it would definitely make for a separate trip if the old medieval castle ruins were not blocked off with “LOVELY” barrier tape.
Reklamer
As always, the Olympus performed beautifully and the images were sharp and well exposed. All functions on the camera worked as they should, and the shutter-speeds are fairly accurate. If I was asked to recommend a fully manual and mechanical camera to anyone wanting to buy one, I would without any doubt say Olympus OM-1. The large and bright viewfinder makes composing easy, it is smooth and easy to use, and the build-quality is superb. I would also say, that for my eyes, it is one of the most beautiful camera designs I know. It is small and light, has a really nice shape all around and feels sturdy and reliable even in 2021, at around 50 years of age. I don’t know if my OM-1 has ever been serviced.
For my experience with Ektar this time. I absolutely love using Ektar for medium format, but as I wrote earlier, I have found it very difficult to scan and process in 35mm. I have tried both using scanning software for conversion as well as using Negative Lab Pro and Grain2Pixel, but every time I have ended up with either insane grain, garish colours or over-saturated contrasts. This time, however, I went with a different approach.
A calm landscape view – Olympus OM-1 w Zuiko 50mm f1,8 – Kodak Ektar 100
I scanned the negatives as RAW-files with my Epson V600 using Silverfast, and manually converted them in Photoshop. I then compressed the histogram using the different colour channels on “levels” to hold more control over the process. For the first time, I can say that I am getting towards being happy with my Kodak Ektar 100 results for 35mm format. There is still some practise needed, but I think the “full manual” could be my way to master the art of the Ektar 35mm.
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