Did I choose the wrong film?

When I drove home from work today, I noticed that the contrast between the December darkness and the artificial light from lamp-posts, lit buildings and petrol stations actually would make very nice images indeed. I thought about going for long exposures with either Tri-X or HP5 plus, and I composed some nice images in my head. My chosen subject, Skibladnerhuset.

Skibladner is an old paddle steamer the people who lives around the lake Mjøsa are very proud of. It is currently the oldest paddle steamer in scheduled traffic, and it will sail on the lake in the summer months. When the winter comes, it will be parked on display in its own, specifically designed house. A special building with I find to look incredible with its triangles and diagonal pillars and poles. The house was drawn by the architects at Kontur in Gjøvik and was built in 2001. It has become a landmark for Gjøvik and is visible from RV4 as you drive through the town.

I chose to roll up the Zenza Bronica ETR with a roll of JCH Streetpan 400, and test out how an extremely contrasty film would deal with the lighting conditions in a Norwegian December afternoon. In retrospect, this might have been the wrong film for this outing, I should have gone for Tri-X og HP5 plus.

Reklamer

First of all, I could not find any information about the reciprocity features and long exposure compensation anywhere. Therefore, I went for combining the information from the Ilford HP5 plus and Kodak Tri-X. This means compensation from 1 second and more. My logic became – If the meter gives me 1 second, I’ll shoot 2 seconds, if it gives me 2s, I’ll go for 4. It could seem; however, that this was not anywhere near enough compensation.

Marina light – Zenza Bronica ETR w 50mm Zenzanon f2,8 – JCH Streetpan 400@400 1 second at f8

My negatives got very thin, so thin, that I wouldn’t imagine printing them in the darkroom. Three negatives came out reasonably OK, and showed the contrast level I was aiming for, however, the other 12, not so much.

I developed the film in Xtol stock, both because I have a batch of Xtol that is about to go out and I want to use it, and because I just did not «love» the prospect of doing development for 17 minutes with 30s agitation frequency. Call me lazy, but this is who I am.

I also considered using Rodinal 1+100 and do Semi-Stand development, but I wanted a more specific development cycle that I knew would give me the correct film-speed. And with Rodinal at that dilution and development times of an hour plus, I don’t really get that level of control.

Skibladnerhuset – Exposure times 4 and 8 seconds.

This was just an experiment and a shot in the dark (pun intended), but I learnt quite a bit about the Streetpan 400, and when not to use it. I might do a reshoot of this outing with a roll of Tri-X at some point, to pay the amazing architecture the respect it deserves.

Please enjoy the images.

Aiming at contrast and grain

I haven’t really done any contrasty BNW-stuff for a while, and the other day I loaded a roll of StreetCandy ATM400 into my little Petri Racer and brought it with me for some days, aiming at whatever caught my eye wherever I was at the time. I haven’t used the Petri Racer for a while, and I found this was an option to use it and its little, interesting lens.

The Petri Racer is a little rangefinder camera that I have used a lot on this blog. It was the camera that made this blog happen and the camera I used for my first two entries. I am very happy with the way the Petri makes the world look. It has a special tone to it that I cannot really put my finger on.

My first pictures for this entry were taken a few minutes after it stopped raining at a car-park when I filled my coffee-cup in the nearby petrol station. I experimented somewhat with the DOF on these images, and they are shot around f4 on the little 40mm lens. My favorite one is here:

Petri Racer, StreetCandy ATM400@400 – Rodinal 1+25, 6 minutes

As I aimed for the contrasty and somewhat grainy look on this roll, I went for a pretty concentrated dilution of Rodinal; 1+25. I guessed this dilution to give me the maximum accutance and give me deep and sharp contrast as well as the lovely Rodinal grain. I don’t really mind the grainy structure of Rodinal, and I find it to suit these kinds of images as it gives them a raw impression.

Reklamer

A bit later that day, I went to an old, derelict school building to set up for the shoot mentioned in a previous entry. The first thing I noticed was the interesting lights in the old hallway. Filled with old chairs, a ladder, dirt and the smell of old building, it really gave an incredible shot. I shot this one on a tripod using f5.6 for 1/2 of a second, and I find that this shot shows the mood of the hallway well.

Then I went to an old museum where someone had backed their Tractor-trailer into a ditch. There were some interesting contrast to be captured there and I went for it.

All in all I am very happy with this roll of film. I got the grain and the contrast that I wanted, and the little Petri got another run. Shame it hasn’t been used for a while. It will not sleep as long this time.

Double tryout

A few months ago, I ordered a few rolls of StreetCandy ATM 400 off their own website. From previous experience I know that street film is very contrasty and that they are great to pull. I put one of the rolls in a new camera that I bought and planned to take it for a little spin around the area, looking for architectural shapes, trying to find shadows and deep contrasts. The trip did not happen because of Norwegian summer and some weeks of rain and dull weather.

The other day though, I went out for a hike in the forest looking for some sheep and forest details to photograph. I decided to try out the Street Candy at box speed for this trip, and I shot the whole roll of film that was in my camera.

The Camera

I love old, interesting and manual cameras. I often frequent thrift-shops and charity shops to see what kinds of old, forgotten and dusty stuff they have on their shelfs. On a recent trip to a local charity shop, I picked up a Weist SL35 with a «Super Weistar 135mm» lens. I have tried to google the camera, but not much came up. The best lead is that it could be a rebadged Chinon CX. Nonetheless, it is heavy as a brick and feels sturdy and solid in your hand.

I am happy for any details on this camera, as I do not know much about it other than that it seems to work perfectly and accurately. Even the lightmeter is working and fairly accurate based on this shoot.

Reklamer

This was my first time trying out this camera, and I must say that this camera will become a frequent companion for me. the M42 screw mount makes me able to use some of my favorite lenses, and it is surely more accurate than my Zenith Olympic Edition.

The film

As I stated earlier, the film I used on this trip was a Street Candy ATM400 street film. You can buy it from the manufacturer’s own website and at a fairly decent price. Be aware that they use the slowest shipment partner you can imagine. From their address in France to mine in Norway, it used more than two months. I have tried to imagine how that can even be possible. In the current Covid-age I could have traveled to France, stayed two weeks in quarantine, picked up the film, traveled back to Norway, stayed two weeks in quarantine. This whole process would have been a quicker way of getting the film, than using their shipment partner.

My guess is that their films are delivered by just one man, picking the film up at their address, walking to a port somewhere in southern France. Who then jumps in a rowing boat, rowing around Gibraltar and over the Nordic Sea to deliver it. Probably.

Reklamer

From their own website, you can learn something about this film. It is a medium speed, 400 ISO, film originally made for surveillance cameras to keep people safe. In the modern days, these systems have turned digital, and the films are unnecessary. Street-Candy has made this film available for film photographers to use, and I am truly grateful. This film is great, even when I took it out of its comfort zone and into the first.

Not what it was originally made to photograph.

The grain-structure is beautiful and very fine for a 400 ISO film, but as most other street films, it is very contrasty. In my negatives I saw the contrast immediately, and some were to contrasty to turn out anything in this setting, and a normal Tri-X or HP5 would maybe be a more suitable choice for this kind of shoot, but some of the results were really unique.

On Street-Candy’s website, it advised to refer to the same development cycle as for Ilford HP5 plus, which I did on this cycle. Eight and a half minutes in Xtol 1+0 and then normal stop and fix, rinse and Photoflo.

Reklamer

I am looking forward to trying out my other rolls of this film both for proper street photography and pulled one stop for portraits. I can imagine brilliant results from this film. I am also surprised to see how well it coped in the forest with the sheep and structures I found out there

All in all I am very happy with both the camera and the film, and if I would order this film again. If you come over a Weist SL35 at a decent price, it is worth buying. My cost 35 Norwegian kroner, approx 3,5 Euros.

There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
Ansel Adams

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.