don_v

<p>35mm manual cameras are plentiful but are now long in the tooth (= old) and prone to problems that often as not translate to expensive repairs. and the meters also go shonky at the drop of a hat. My Nikkormat ELs and FT2s still work like Sherman tanks but the metering is unreliable. Not unusual for 1970s cameras. I'm told it's somewhat of a miracle that my ELs are still functioning, being early electonic models. But they are.</p> <p>If you have Nikkor lenses, consider buying an F65 (aka N65) body in good condition, ideally with the battery pack. Use it til it konks out (it will). Then throw it away and buy another. The late Galen Rowell used N65s and if you want true inspiration, go OL and look at his work. It will stun you.</p> <p>Medium format can be fun and provides big quality bonuses. 1++ for the Rollei. I have used (among many other cameras, sigh) a Rolleiflex 3.5 E2 since I bought it new in the 1960s. I have it serviced every 10-15 years. It has never, ever let me down. You get 12 6x6 images per roll of 120 film, which discourages machinegunning. Accessories can be costly, but those I own, and have used over the years, fit in one pocket. A lens hood, a few filters, two close up lenses. If I had to have only one camera in life, the Rollei would be it.</p> <p>For quite a lot less than your stipulated $1K maximum, consider (if you want to go fully automatic) either a Fuji GA645i or the wide angle GA645wi. The 'i' models are newer and give you 16 6x4.5 images per 120 roll. I would avoid the 'non i' models as they only shoot 15 to the roll, and often have age-related problems.</p> <p>For utter simplicity, a Perkeo I or II with a Color Skopar 80mm f/3.5, a lens hood and a UV filter. You can get much more minimal than this. This to me is the ONLY reliable folder, and I say this with heaps of experience in this area.</p> <p>With the Rollei and my Perkeo, I use a Gossen Lunasix meter I picked up on THAT web site for A$50.</p> <p>My choices have the advantage of getting you off the photo consumer sucker threadmill, and in this I speak as one who was there and did that for many decades, and spent several fortunes keeping up to the Joneses with the very latest in photo toys. No more so. Simple is better. In fact it's best! Go out for the day, shoot two rolls (24 or 32 images), don't waste an entire evening on the scanner, make nice big prints, enjoy. With B&W nowadays, everything you shoot is considered art anyway. </p> <p>Hasselblads are beautiful machines but heavy, rather clunky for my tastes, and always seem to require maintenance, especially those darn film backs. Also the lenses are prone to jamming and the backs can be fiddly to load. The images are superb, however. Like the Rollei. Small engravings.</p> <p>You have a fun time ahead in looking around and selecting a new camera. Take your time. The workmanship that went into 1960s-1970s cameras is of an astoundingly high quality when you consider what they cost at the time (I paid C$195 for my Rollei E2 in 1966). By the 1980s planned obsolescence had crespt into the industry and the SLRs from the mid-80s were more consumables than hard-working equipment. A Nikon FG20 I bought in 1987 kicked the bucket in less than 18 months and I was told it wasn't worth repairing, but the wonderful E series lenses I also bought at the time are still going strong. Go figure.</p> <p>Above all, enjoy.</p> <p> </p>

<p>Thank you, SY Wong, for your detailed information, very useful, I have written it all down in my photo diary notebook, for use when I get there.</p> <p>If enough of us front up to photo shops and (politely) ask for 120 roll film, some enterprising photo dealer may get the message, and start stocking it - or am I dreaming?</p> <p>I will be in KL at the end of January and plan to go up to Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar, Taiping and eventually Penang. Just in time for the Chinese New Year festivities... I hope I won't have to sleep under a tree in a park, but the rest will be great fun. </p> <p>I will be bringing enough 120 roll film for immediate uses, but plan to visit the various shops around KL, as I will be there for an entire weekend. As well, my D700 will be put to good use for color work. </p>

Four years, nearly five years later... what has happened to (and with) this photographer? I came late to this thread, and am curious. Has he succeeded? What has he learned along the way. Whether successful or not, photography like life, is a journey, and as the Buddha so famously and ever so wisely said, the journey is as important as the destination. To my thinking, both are equally important, tho the latter is variable, and can be amended or changed along the way, as we progress. So John, if you are still with photo.net, please can we have an update?

<p>Craig, many thanks, excellent advice overall. Buy film in Singapore? Yes, I've done it before, some good suppliers there, also good prices, last year I bought 120 Across 100 in a Bencoolen Street retail photo shop for what I paid for it ex Sydney in 2010. I may try them again. Several film shooters there also recommended a lab on Beach Road, its name escapes me but I did locate the building during one of my exploration walks, not sure if they do B&W, color seems more their forte. I want to shoot either Fuji or Kodak negative films on my trip anyway, so I will try to find this lab again and let them process a test roll. My processed films will then to to Australia for home scanning and emailing back to me, so this part of the process is already planned for. <br> Walking across the causeway to JB appeals to my sense of adventure, so I'll research this, altho a long walk with a backpack full of photo gear, I think. An uncle did the same walk from JB in 1942, with full military kit, he was at the time on the run from the invading Japanese so it wasn't exactly a holiday trek. So I would be repeating family history, in a way. <br> Singapore was also highly recommended by several email contacts as an ideal place to get films processed. I won't be able to process my B&W films on the road, I did have vague plans to take along an Agfa Rondinax tank but the logistics of obtaining B&W chemicals, mixing, and washing in small hotel/guesthouse rooms, rather defeated the purpose. Occasional visits to either KL or Singapore to suss out labs and get my films done, would suit me better. <br> Valuable advice, and again, many thanks. </p>

<p>I first visited Malaysia in 1970, and quickly fell for this wonderful country. The love affair has lasted foralmost half a century, and has continued with other journeys, in 1975, 1976, and 1982. I returned very briefly in 1990, then busied myself with the usual life events, career etc, til 2012. Finally returned in 2013, have been back a few times since, for very quick visits. The beauty and charm of that unique and wonderful country is, to my mind, the same as it was. A truly beautiful place, with charming people and most enjoyable rich cultures. Please don't let me get going on the food, three heavenly culinary 'mixes' of splendid cuisines, Malay, Indian and Chinese. <br> Some time in the next few months, I intend to go exploring in Peninsular Malaysia - I'm now in Sarawak, planning to go to Brunei next, then Indonesia. April to June will see me in Malaysia for at least four weeks, likely a longer time. Dates are flexible. I'm currently in Sarawak, on my way shortly either to Brunei or to Kucing and then Brunei, then Indonesia for a few months.<br> I will be traveling quite heavy, in photo gear terms - a Nikon D700 and four lenses, also a Fuji GA645i for (mostly) black and white images. My photo interests are varied, but I tend to predominantly shoot old architecture, people, animals and esoterica - the latter meaning whatever small places or things attract my attention and I decide it rates being immortalised with a camera. <br> I like slow travel, and am never particularly rushed to be or to go to anywhere. <br> My basic plan is to fly to Johor Baru and take it from there. Melaka likely, some time in KL, Ipoh which I adore, a few of the smaller regional centers in Perak to explore the rich English and Malay architecture to be found everywhere, and then likely Penang. <br> From Penang I want to do the east coast, which I've not greatly explored, beyond two visits to Kuantan in the mid 1970s. <br> I would greatly enjoy making contact with photographers who like to talk shop and go hunting for images. Am a fit mid 60s, able to walk quite long distances and carry my hefty gear loads. I tend to spend time in local libraries wherever I am, reading up on local history and culture. I enjoy meeting people and discussing, I tend to listen more than I talk, at least initially. <br> Advice on where to buy film for my Fuji GA645i (120 roll) and have it processed in Malaysia, will be most welcome, I know of several places in KL and one in Penang already but updated info will be appreciated. <br> All this to say, any photographers who enjoy meeting Westerners and going on shoots, please contact. </p> <p> </p>

<p>Do you by chance have darkroom scales and raw chemicals handy? If yes, mix up a batch of Thornton's two bath film developer (Google Thornton two bath for detailed info and recipes, or go to the late Barry Thornton's web site which is still being maintained OL by his disciples, bless them), which can be mixed in three variations - Thornton's, Stoeckler's, and Ansel Adams versions.<br> I favor the Ansel Adams version, which gives slightly higher contrast on most modern B&W films. Very easy to used, fixed processing times 3-5 minutes depending on film speed, temperature not really important as long as it isn't boiling or almost turned to ice, agitation can be varied to suit. I recently forgot two 35mm Tmax 400 rolls in the second bath for 22 minutes and still got fine negatives.<br> I've used the TTB-AA consistently since 2000 after decades of trying almost all the developers already recommended in this thread. Roll film negatives from my Rollei TLRs and Fuji GA645i come out absolutely shining and I can easily make enlargements to 16x20 (35mm) or larger (120).<br> If you don't have scales, Thornton handily provided a quick mix recipe using teaspoons, I've tried it and it works OK. Add a few pinches more chemicals to upgrade to the AA mix. The higher contrast is particularly suitable for optical enlarging but also does nicely for scans. If I was ever unable to get raw chemicals to mix my own, then I would probably go back to D76 1+1, which always did all I expected of it.<br> For my needs, the Thornton/AA two bath is better than D76, in 50+ years in the darkroom I had never thought any developer would be, but this is. Experimentation is the spice of life...</p>

<p>+1 for XP2. I've been around long enough to have used its ancestor, XP1, as well as its Agfa counterpart, called (I think) Vario-XL, in the 1980s. Hated both. Vario seemed a little better, but I found it impossible to get any decent sharpness out of either. So I went back to the regular (mostly Agfa, and a lot of Kodak Panatomic-X until my hoarded stock ran out in the late 1990s ) emulsions til 2006 when I finally did a test roll of 120 XP2. Loved the results. Have used it since, a lot, in both roll and 35mm (bulk rolled) formats.<br /><br />XP2 can best be described for my purposes as "almost orthochromatic". It greatly benefits from yellow and orange filtration, possibly also red (I've not tried the latter, so can't say for sure) to bring out details like clouds. The C41 processing is very convenient. I have 40-50 rolls of it in my film fridge, a supplier in Australia reduced the price on it and I bought up big.<br /><br />Test it and decide for yourself. Buy a five pack (120) and shoot images at different EIs. My best XP2 shots are urban architecture shot at EI 200 with a mid yellow filter. Results are great but I use Planar lenses (Hasselblad and Rolleiflex), so sharpness is something I take for granted.<br /><br />The Kodak equivalent (no longer available at least here in Australia, is it still manufactured?) gives softer and what I like to call "Portra-like" results in B&W, and may suit you for portraits.<br /><br />Recently I went into my archived negative files to locate some old XP1 images I took in 1983 or 1984 in Asia. Found all have survived the past three decades well with no (or minimal) fading, not bad for a silverless film. Alas, the sharpness, or lack thereof, was as bad as I recalled it from three decades ago. XP2 is much better. <br /><br />The important point is careful filtration really does bring out the best in XP2 for outdoor images. Clouds will amaze you. Also reflections. Think ortho!-ish but with nice clouds! <br> Hopes this helps.</p>

<p>I recall there is (or maybe was) lots of good info on this on YouTube.</p> <p>When the Colortec 41 and E6 kits first became available in Australia I did not have a rotary processor at the time and I used both kits with Nikkor tanks and a rough homemade heating system based on an aquarium heater, a Kodak thermometer and a deep dish tray. It worked well, sort of. Had some color shifts, the negs were mostly OK but I wasn't happy with the slides and filed away and forgot most of them for a decade or longer, until I bought a Plustek scanner and wow! with scanning and post processing, I am now reliving all the beaut shots I made and home processed in my pre Jobo era. </p> <p>With hindsight from all this past experience (and many past failures), I would now process only C41 but not E6 with Colortecs andmy Nikkors as the C41 process seems to me to be more forgiving of small errors. this said, I bought a Jobo processor about 10 years ago and have never looked back. It's the way to go to home process any film, also paper when uniform results are wanted. </p> <p>An important point to remember is to keep your wash water at the same temperature as the chemicals. Also be sure to wash well. I use Kodak indicator stop bath after development and then follow up with a water rinse. </p> <p> </p>

<p>I learned my darkroom techniques from about 1960 by working with older photographers, all of them from the 'old school' of learning - one was in his 90s and even recalled photography in the era when the first dry plates were produced and before Eastman Kodak marketed the first Brownie camera, which would have been in the 1880s or 1890s, wow!</p> <p>I recall everyone used Kodak D72 (this was the ancestor of Dektol, I believe), Kodak Selektol, or that awful good for nothing Universal developer Kodak used to market in small foil packets in their long gone Tri Chem Packs, the latter ruined many potentially good negatives for me until I did a little reading and realised there wereother developers out there. When EK finally took it off the market, I sighed and thought "good riddance!". Most home darkroom enthusiasts had a Kodak scale and weights and bottles of raw Eastman chemicals and mixed their own for films and papers.</p> <p>At that time no-one I knew in Canada (well, maybe a few adventurous types in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, who would have bought their supplies in from the USA anyway and not from Kodak Canada) knew was Rodinal was in those days, I believe it is/was a film developer only and no-one I knew ever used it for paper. In my small rural community I was regarded as an adventurer for having mied my own Ansco 130 for papers and two bath developer for films. I found the formulas for these in Kodak and Leica books of the 1940s (see details below). </p> <p>In the 1930s and 1940s it seems most people were satisfied with contact prints. I recall Kodak marketed a strong developer for its Velox papers named, no surprise here, Kodak Velox Developer. My first prints were made on Velox (this being in 1960) processed in Velox deeloper, which produced unique blacks and, given no dilution, a surprisingly pleasant range of mid tones, altho this may have been more in the paper than the developer.</p> <p>Kodak Data Guides were published from the mid 1940s - I have a full set dated 1945 (unfortunately not to hand as I am currently overseas) which I believe was the first edition. One of the data guides dealt with Kodak chemicals and would be invaluable as a list of then available print developers. Also the Leica Guides published in th USA by Morgan & Lester from the 1930s, I have two, 1935 and 1943, both with chapters devoted to paper processing and many useful formulas. A lot of information out there if you can locate the books.</p> <p>I hope other 'old timers' will contribute more information on this topic. I would greatly enjoy reading other posts and revisiting my early years in the darkroom via others' reminiscences.</p>