Nice Grab-Bag from the Camera Store

I stopped in my favorite local hang-out yesterday, and this was sitting out. I asked for a price and was given what I thought was reasonable, so it came home with me.

 

The owner hadn't looked through it and the bag was tied up, but I spotted a few "good" items and showed them to him. A lot of it's just older discontinued emulsions that have been replaced by something(arguably) better. I always liked Kodak 400UC and did find a few rolls of 120 in the bottom of the bag. There was also some Portra 160 and 400NC, which of course have now been replaced by the generic 160 and 400 speed versions(from what I can tell, Kodak more or less split the difference between NC and VC when they made them). There's a fair bit of T400CN in 35mm and 120 along with its older Portra counterpart-I've never been too hot on Chromogenics(especially not the Kodak version since it's a pain to print) but at least they scan nicely.

 

Some other notable stuff is a few rolls of Superia 1600, some Ektachrome 160T(who cares about that junk) and even a few rolls of 616 film. There's some TMAX P3200, which might be fun if I want a heavy dose of grain although I suspect it has a lot of fog. The one roll of Velvia expired in 1991, which by my accounting means that it may have been from the first run or close to the first run of the stuff(I think it came out in 1989). Even though I'm a big Velvia fan, that box might go on the shelf since I have my questions about Velvia that old with unknown storage condition.

 

Let's see if any keen eyes can spot the real prize of the lot, though. It's a legendary film I've never shot, so I'm anxious to give it a try. Sorry for the low quality cell phone photos.

 

 

 

Wish I had some of that Ektar 25

Wish I had some of that Ektar 25

 

That was the film I hinted at in my initial post.

 

I was quite young when it became Royal Gold, and Royal Gold went away before I took a serious interest in photography.

 

I had the chance to try quite a few films when they were still current, but that was one I missed out and this is the first I've owned.

You are very fortunate to have a store like that nearby!

Don't freeze the Ektar 25. Depending on the lot, you may ruin it. I ruined several rolls, big crystals in the emulsion.

Don't freeze the Ektar 25. Depending on the lot, you may ruin it. I ruined several rolls, big crystals in the emulsion.

 

Ouch-too late. It's been in the freezer since the day I posted this originally, with the exception of one roll loaded into an FM2n(that's also spent some time in my car in sub-freezing temps).

 

I'm going to pull it out now, though.

Congratulations!

A bag like this was how I discovered Ilford XP2

 

 

I somehow missed the whole original Ektar, since I was still shooting slide film, but I did find the new Ektar 100 when it came out (and I was buying old film cameras by the gross). It seems to have very peculiar "blue" rendering, but it does, otherwise, scan nicely.

 

I was going to say Verichrome Pan.

 

Rick H.