Old Bessa, old Film, old Trucks

Not long ago I ran some old T-Max 400 though an old Voigtlander

Bessa 120 6x9 folder. It has a 3,5 / 105mm Vaskar lens, and a

shutter with speeds to 1/400. (I've misplaced it temporarily, and

the accompanying photo is a representative sample, not the actual

camera.

 

Getting the film onto the reel was a bugger - sweating, hands

fumbling inside a crowded dark bag. But that got done. Sort of.

 

I developed with Rodinal. Unfortunately the film came out really

really dark, with a couple of frames wrecked because the film had

been scrunched up inside the reel. :>

 

Later on, a clerk at one of our serious local camera shops told me

that T-Max film requires T-Max developer, to do it justice.

 

Thrifty beggar that I am, I was reluctant to spend $10 to have Pikto

scan what might be totally useless. I fortunately was able to

solicit the king offices of two volunteer scanners - the redoubtable

Gene M., and Jordan Wosnick, and I took up the latter on his offer

since he's local, not 400m away on a picturesque Mass. dairy farm.

 

The disk arrived in today's mail, and I thought I'd share the scans.<div></div>

One more time, saves to 511x511<div></div>

The photos were all taken at The Distillery District, Toronto.<div></div>

People outside of Balzac's Cafe<div></div>

Truck fender<div></div>

1931 Chevy Truck<div></div>

One more truck fender.

 

(Coming soon: Same trucks, but taken with a Moskva-2)<div></div>

Correction: Vaskar 4,5 / 105

"T-Max film requires T-Max developer, to do it justice."

 

Never used the T-Max developer and I've used TMax 100 since 1987. My favorite developer was initially Rodinol 1:50, but HC-110 gives shorter development times and similar results. If either of those combinations are significantly inferior to what T-Max developer can do, I think I can live quite nicely with injustice.

I developed the Moskva-2 roll in T-Max developer. I hope to have the scans in a day or two, and I'll post them.

Gee, these look familiar...

Daniel, these photos are great. If I didn't look too closely at the one of the people outside of Balzacs, I'd swear the photo was taken in the 1930s! I've been to the Distillery a million times, and those trucks are never parked so conveniently nice for me; how did you manage that?

 

Nancy

Thanks, Nancy. The old trucks were moved there from some other part of the property, back somewhere, maybe 3 weeks ago.

 

And thanks, Jordan: I'm amazed at what you were able to get from those negatives, considering how dark they are.

Coincidence-- I have a folder here on PN of some shots of a 40s Dodge truck, taken in the 70s with a 6x9 voigtlander folding camera."The Old Dodge in the Woods", complete with corny titles. Wish I knew how to make a link!

 

Location was same country, but farther west-Williams Lake, B.C.

Daniel,

 

I like the timeless mood of 'Balzac's Cafe'. I hope that you find your misplaced camera so we can look forward to more shots like that!

 

Dennis

I really like the Bessa, great shape and simplicity itself. Framing is a little tricky with a lens hood on and I've usually ended up with a bit of dead space somewhere. At 6x9, it's expensive to run a roll of colour through it, though very worthwhile. I keep dithering whether to use the 6x4.5 mask or not ... bigger, no cheaper, no bigger.

I meant to add, great shot of the characters at the cafe.

 

I've used Rodinal quite often with TMX and TMY, though for preference I'd use Ilford DDX.

Dan, your shots all look like they were taken the same time as the camera was made - great stuff. Thanks.

Dan -- I found TMax developer gave me a very thin negative. Wasn't happy with it at all. I really prefer TMax in Rodinal, 1:75 for 14 1/2 min at 68-70F/20-21C.

Love the Belzacs shot. Perfect timing to be there and have the guy w/ beret & two ladies w/ hats.