svema – Cheap Camera Adventures

I am normally not too enthusiastic about expired films. For me photography is more about precision and less about experimenting. However, a while back I bought a camera online, and with it came a full package of Svema Foto65 expired in 1986. As this package was full and dust-free, I guessed they had been stored properly, maybe frozen or refrigerated over time. Therefore I decided to give these films a go.

As they are 120 films, I rolled one of them into my Bronica ETR, and went back to my favorite old derelict train station. If you have followed my blog for a while, you will have seen me shooting at that location before. I chose to rate the film at ISO 20 and bracket one stop in each direction. As it turned out, ISO 10 would have been my best pick for this outing. The films original box-speed was once ISO 80, and with the «one stop pr decade» 10 would be the correct speed I guess.

Because I feared very low contrast in the images, I chose to shoot with an orange filter to give the film some extra contrast boost. It seems to have worked out the way I expected it to.

Bronica ETR w 150mm Zenzanon f3,5 – Orange filter – Svema Foto65 @Iso10 – Rodinal 1+100 70min

Despite the nasty mottling all over the frame, the Svema Foto65 seems to have been a very fine grain and sharp film once. My guess is that this mottling has come off the backing paper, there are visible discoloration on both the negatives and the backing paper. If I am mistaking, please let me know in the comments. All in all, the Svema performed acceptably I find, and maybe a well kept roll of this film would still make really nice images, despite its age.

Reklamer

Today, I had a portrait assignment at a local museum ground, and I decided to arrive a bit early to have a little adventure with the Petri before my shoot. A few days ago I got a few interesting films in the mail, and i decided to try one of these films; an Astrum Foto100, from what I understand the company that bought Svema, when they ran out of business.

A documentation picture of the Petri and the Astrum.

I was curious about the Astrum-film, since I had never heard about the brand. Also I could not find development instructions anywhere for Kodak HC110 and Astrum Foto100. After some browsing I found a very interesting blog, where the time 9.45 was suggested for 20 degrees water. My water was 21 degrees, so I ended with 9.02 for the developer.

I shot the film using the sunny 16 rule, or as is more appropriate in Norway, the sunny 11, rule. Our sunlight is not as bright as some other places in the world.

I fired mostly landscape photos, using apertures between f8 and f16, and had a really nice little walk around enjoying the sunshine and the Petri’s company. And when removing the negatives from the tank, I was amazed of the fine grain, range and general quality of the images. Also, the negatives were crystal clear.

The Astrum Foto100 is definitly a film I will use again, and I’m very surprised that HC110 is not listed as a recomended developer with this film. I have to say I am very happy with my results, and would use this combination again. I am also curious to test a film this great with X-tol or Rodinal.