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euangray

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  1. <p>You can buy it from Freestyle.</p> <p>I'm not sure if this is the right way to post a link, but the URL is http://www.freestylephoto.biz/660163-Fuji-C-41-X-Press-Kit-5-L-Processing-Kit</p>
  2. <p>The SQ-Ai is notorious for poor connections in the battery compartment. Common fixes include (gently and carefully) bending the battery contact springs or using conductive foil as a padding.</p> <p>I have an SQ-A (which uses one 4LR44 instead of 4 individual button cells) and occasionally get the same thing - removing the battery and wiping the contacts or sometimes just prodding the battery seems to fix it. My SQ-A drains the battery quickly even when not in use, so I remove it when not using the camera and always carry a spare with me. This is also a common problem.</p>
  3. <p>If it's just a camera and one lens then either an EOS 1V or my 6D and the EF 16-35mm f/4 lens, or for minimum weight the 6D and EF 40mm f/2.8.</p> <p>One of my resolutions for 2017 is to shoot more film, and especially on medium format, so I'm thinking about a portable and affordable alternative to my trusty but hefty Bronica SQ-A & think perhaps a reasonable TLR could be a light(ish) and easy one-item-only kit.</p> <p>Happy New Year to one and all, long may your shutters be accurate.</p>
  4. <p>I use the Fuji Hunt three bath kit, which is essentially the same stuff as Rollei Digibase - I understand the Rollei kit is in fact Fuji Hunt repackaged. Fuji chemistry is Kodak's produced under licence, as I understand it.</p> <p>I generally find that temperature control isn't quite as critical as some make out. The very tight standard tolerance is for large machines in professional labs which have a correspondingly large thermal inertia and the ability to tightly control their parameters. For the operators of that kind of machinery, the "tight" standard tolerance is perfectly normal industrial practice & nothing particularly unusual.</p> <p>I use a large plastic storage box, an eighteen litre "Really Useful Box" - I don't know if you can get these where you are, but they are just plastic storage boxes, nothing fancy. I fill it with hot water and put the bottles of chemicals in to warm up. I use an immersion heater made for the purpose, but it is just as easy to control the temperature by adding hot or cold water. If you can boil water and have a cold tap, you're fine.</p> <p>Note temperature is only critical for the developer phase. The washes, bleach, fix and stabiliser all work fine anywhere between 30 and 40 Celsius (86 to 104 Fahrenheit if my conversion is right). Basically, you need only bring up the developer to 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) and keep it there for less than four minutes, with the other stuff at about the same temperature more or less. It's much easier than many think.</p>
  5. <p>I use a Paterson tank as well, and they're fine. Except when you want to develop 120 film - Paterson reels are a pain to load with 120. I use AP reels for 120 now, same idea as the multi-width Patersons and no more expensive but with wide lands at the film inlet so it is very much easier to load the wider and more floppy film.</p> <p>With plastic reels, make absolutely sure they're completely dry before using them. A couple of minutes with a hairdryer will see to that. The slightest moisture will cause the film to jam and kink. I'm sure we've all been there...</p>
  6. <p>Actually that raises another point about home C41, and without wishing to sound like I'm being paid by Fuji here (I'm not) it is something of a misconception that mixed C41 chemicals don't last. In fact they do, if you look after them.</p> <p>I buy the five litre Fuji Hunt X-Press kit. It develops up to eighty rolls, which for a hobbyist is a lot of shooting. I mix everything in full, storing the bleach, fixer and stabiliser in five litre plastic bottles previously used for car screenwash. These get stored under the bench, they aren't particularly sensitive to light or temperature. The developer goes in five one litre plastic mineral water bottles, which after filling are squeezed to exclude air then closed tightly and kept in my film fridge at about 10 Celsius. The litre batches are used sequentially, each one being good for about 16 rolls of film. I find they easily last seven or eight months. The bleach, fixer and stabiliser will last much longer than this and indeed will process two to three times the amount of film five litres of developer will.</p> <p>Part of the misconception possibly arises because of the "blix" kits you can buy but should avoid like the plague - these really do not last long because bleach and fixer destroy each other rapidly.</p> <p>So getting back to the OP's point, there is an advantage in b/w - it's not hard to develop at home and as others have pointed out the negatives will last for centuries. But in counter to that, there is C41 b/w film which matches his practice of using a lab for development. You can also say about XP2 or indeed any other C41 film that an inherent advantage is that you can completely change the exposure regime from frame to frame because the development process never changes - you can shoot half the roll at 200, quarter at 100 and the rest at 400, it's all developed the same way. You can't do that with any silver b/w film.</p> <p>As for labs and costs, the reason b/w is expensive is that it does require an element of experience and judgement to develop it. C41 was deliberately designed to be operated as a single standard procedure with no variation, something more or less any barely trained store employee could do. That's easy to keep going now, whereas b/w needs people who actually do know what they're doing.</p> <p>And that also may be of concern to the OP. Finding labs that can process silver b/w is not so easy these days, so if he doesn't want to develop his own - and learn how to do it properly - he could do a lot worse than consider using XP2 and sending it to his lab that can process C41. It might not be as nice in some ways as a "real" b/w film, but it isn't going to be any worse than converting colour film to monochrome.</p>
  7. <p>That's the thing, though - I do process all my film at home whether C41 or b/w. For me, photography is a hobby and so I do not put a cash value on the time it takes.</p> <p>Developing C41 (usually) takes longer. The minimum process time is about thirty minutes and you have to heat everything up before then, but some b/w processes can be lengthy too. There is also a bit more clean-up than with b/w. However, from a strict cost-of-materials point of view then, and depending on your favoured b/w developer, C41 is marginally cheaper.</p> <p>Strange but true. The idea that developing C41 film at home is somehow fiendishly difficult or prohibitively expensive really needs to die, because it simply isn't true. In many ways it's actually easier than b/w because there are no variables. Although I haven't (yet) tried it, home development of E6 would be more expensive than either C41 or b/w, but still much cheaper than sending out, assuming you can find anywhere that still does it and assuming you do enough of it to get value from the chemical kits.</p> <p>Time is not money for the hobbyist, but it is for the professional - which is why almost all professional photography is now digital. Film versus digital is where the cost difference is, not colour film versus b/w film.</p>
  8. <p>ross b - I'd take issue with b/w being necessarily cheaper than colour.</p> <p>Obviously if you send out for development it will cost either way, but traditional b/w development is these days by its nature more specialist and therefore expensive. C41 uses a single standard chemistry for all films and an automated process which doesn't require specialist labour, and is therefore cheaper.</p> <p>Doing it at home, at least in the UK and with British prices, C41 colour development using a Fuji Hunt five litre kit works out marginally cheaper than traditional b/w with Ilfosol or DD-X, although there's not much in it. The Fuji kit costs about £50, but can develop eighty rolls of film. This costs less than the volume of Ilfosol needed to develop eighty rolls of b/w film.</p>
  9. <p>If you want to use traditional black and white film, you may find it necessary to develop this yourself at home. That isn't particularly difficult, but if you can't be bothered getting into that part of it, you may struggle to find a suitable lab.</p> <p>A very convenient film that seems closer to your needs would be Ilford XP2, as mentioned by Glen H. XP2 is very easy to scan since you can use infrared dust and scratch removal, which isn't possible on traditional b/w films. XP2 actually scans very well indeed. If you're sending out to a lab and then scanning and printing digitally, XP2 is probably your friend. It is perhaps less useful if you are making prints in a wet darkroom.</p> <p>FWIW, I like XP2 in 35mm, largely for the film's immense flexibility and the lack of intrusive grain at a useful speed. If I'm not concerned with grain for whatever I'm shooting, HP5 is always a good choice. In medium format on my Bronica SQ-A I am less keen on XP2 - the grain of HP5 is not intrusive in that format unless you want it to be and the fiddling about with C41 home development, although not difficult, is rather less convenient that normal b/w work for in this case not much great advantage. I use colour film too so I have the necessities for C41 home development anyway.</p> <p>In my view, and of course it is subjective, medium format XP2 can look a little flat and sterile. That said, everyone's taste and need is different. I would suggest you try a roll or two of XP2 and send it out to your lab for developing, it's the same colour film process. See how you like it. But don't be afraid of developing your own silver b/w film, it isn't difficult or expensive.</p>
  10. euangray

    Tulips

    A budget shot - supermarket flowers, Fuji C200 film, a Cosina C1 camera from as charity shop, developed at home, straight from the scanner and resized for upload in Photoshop, no other adjustments. Intentionally underexposed by one stop at 1/30s and f/8 - I think the grain this produces adds to the image. Any thoughts?
  11. euangray

    Tulips

    Copyright: Copyright 2016 Euan Gray; Make: HDR; Model: Studio; Software: Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 (Windows);

    © Copyright 2016 Euan Gray

  12. <p>Second what JDM says.</p> <p>Best compromise setting is aperture priority if your camera has it - you've got control over depth of field and as long as you ensure the shutter speed is fast enough to avoid shake you should be ok in that respect.</p> <p>Many AF lenses have a very short focus throw, i.e. the distance you need to turn the lens focus ring to manually focus. This is because they're designed for automatic focus primarily, and a short throw means rapid adjustment for the drive motor. It also means it can be rather tricky getting accurate manual focus, particularly hand held and particularly with a heavy lens. There's nothing remotely unprofessional about using automatic focus.</p> <p>I suppose the logical method is to start with P mode, then go to Av (or Tv if you're shooting action) once you're confident, then M if you need to (and only really if you need to).</p> <p>The camera is a tool with various functions to make your life easier. There's nothing wrong with using them.</p>
  13. <p>When I started developing my own C41 last year I worried about temperature but other than for the developer stage it really isn't as critical as some make out. 38 Celsius for 3 minutes 15 seconds for the developer, the rest can be anywhere from 30 to 40 Celsius. As with black and white, only the developer stage is critical. It isn't hard to keep a bath stable for under four minutes.</p> <p>I use a Novatronic 150W submersible heater, which easily handles the job and is designed for it. You can get them from Firstcall Photographic here in the UK for £49. Once adjusted to the right temperature (a bit of trial and error), they're pretty accurate and consistent. Note that the larger the water bath the slower it will lose heat - but equally, the longer it will take to heat up. Use a plastic box for the bath rather than metal, plastic is a much better thermal insulator. </p> <p>Don't rush the process. Allow the solutions to come up to temperature in their own time. Buy a precision thermometer and measure the temperature of the developer directly, not just the water bath temperature.</p> <p>A further tip for consistency is to NOT use any developing kit which contains "blix" or combined bleach and fixer. These two solutions are antagonistic, they destroy each other. Unless you're going to develop in a very short space of time (i.e. days rather than weeks) the volume of film the kit can potentially process, you're likely to be disappointed with the results. I use the Fuji Hunt X-Press C41 kit, which goes for £45-£50 and gives five litres of each solution including separate bleach and fixer. Although nominally with a shelf life of only a few weeks once made up, the developer (the single sensitive component) actually lasts for months if kept in oxygen-impermeable bottles with no air inside (I use five one litre PET plastic mineral water bottles) at reasonably low temperatures.</p> <p>Another tip is to note that the bleach and fix processes run to chemical completion. This means the time (nominally 6 minutes 30 seconds for each) is not a hard limit and, within reason, you can leave them to run longer. I give them eight minutes each - remember that time is ONLY critical for developer.</p> <p>A Fuji kit will develop up to 80 rolls of film. If you won't go anywhere near this total in say six months or so, you may be best advised to save money and send the film to your local lab. That said, even if you only get half the quantity out of the kit before the developer degrades, it's still cheaper than sending out. - and you get the satisfaction of having done it yourself.</p>
  14. <p>I use ID-11 (essentially the same thing as D76) or DD-X and prefer Ilford films, but the principle is the same.</p> <p>I urge you to use a stop bath after the developer, not a water rinse. An acid stop bath ends development promptly, this is why it is used - water is not very effective at this. I use Ilfostop, but a 20% solution of white vinegar will do the same job and is cheaper. If you use Ilfostop stop bath, it is yellow when in good condition but turns purple when exhausted. Ilfostop Pro doesn't change colour.</p> <p>Temperature and time are only critical for the developer phase. Use a fridge to cool developer or a hot water bath to warm it if necessary.</p> <p>You do not need a fixer with hardener for modern films.</p> <p>I don't bother with wetting agents or post-fixer treatment on B&W film, in my experience it is a waste of time and money and if anything will leave more marks and smears on the film than not using it. There again, tapwater quality here in Edinburgh (Scotland) is very good.</p> <p>Cleanliness is important. The defects on your scans look more like dust, although one is clearly a hair-type fibre and another is a scratch in the film. The inside of the camera, the developing equipment and wherever you hang the film to dry MUST be clean. Dust landing on a fully dried film isn't a problem since it can be blown off, but on wet film it will sink into the emulsion and you'll have to spot your scanned images to deal with it. Check your solutions before starting and don't use any with debris or sediment in them.</p> <p>My procedure is as follows:<br> <br />1. In a Paterson tank (1 roll of 120 or 2 of 35mm size), add 600-700ml of developer. Invert GENTLY for first 30s, then GENTLY 10s every minute until the developing time is up. Drain developer back to bottle (or discard if one-shot);<br> 2. Add 600-700ml stop bath, invert GENTLY for about 20s, return stop bath to bottle;<br> 3. Add 600-700ml fixer, invert as for developer for about 5 minutes or so (Ilford Rapid Fixer), return fixer to bottle;<br> 4. Run clean tapwater into tank at a fast trickle and leave it running for five minutes or so, alternatively if your water costs money use the "Ilford three stage wash" technique - fill, invert 10 times, drain, fill, invert 20 times, drain, fill, invert 30 times, drain;<br> 5. Remove film from reel, hang up, gently squeegee (optional, I do it but many don't), leave to dry for a few hours dependent on ambient temperature and humidity. File the negatives in acid-free sleeves for safekeeping.</p> <p>Before scanning, make sure the scanner bed is very clean, and also ensure the film is free of dust. Tilting it under a light source will normally reveal dust. Blow it off gently with an air can or similar, making sure not to blow the dust onto the scanner. It's a good idea to wear clean lint-free cotton gloves when handling negatives - they might contribute a little dust now and then but they'll keep fingerprints off the film.</p> <p>To verify the quality of your developer, dunk a piece of undeveloped film in the developer solution and if it turns completely black in appreciably less than the manufacturer's time for that film it's ok. For fixer, dunk a similar piece of undeveloped film in the fixer solution and see how long it takes to turn completely clear - the fixer time in the process above should be double this time.</p>
  15. euangray

    Wahclella Falls

    I feel almost as if I'm hurtling into the waterfall itself. The composition would be very hard to better. Excellent shot.
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