The dying minesweeper

Dear All,

These are the best pictures from the first b/w roll in my 'new'

Rolleiflex 3.5F with Planar lens. The film was TMax400 developed in

Rodinal 1+50 and although I was very careful I managed to sratch the

emulsion badly on the first two or three frames. (Is Tmax easily

scratched?) This is the first time ever I use Rodinal. I bought that

because I was told it keeps for longer periods of time, but I dont'

particularly like the results it gives me. The negatives seem to be

rather muddy, especially in the sky parts of the images. A Delta400

35mm film in Rodinal scanned so badly that the images are unusable.

Or perhaps it is the lowly Epson Perfection 1240 flatbed scanner?

Anyway, I prefer Microphen, which I used to buy back when I shot

more images than I had cameras - now it is the other way around...

Nowadays I always end up throwing away half bottles of Microphen

stock solution gone bad! Perhaps I'll try HC-110?

The first two images are from an old wooden minesweeper anchored on

the river bank to die there. They built those things in wood to

avoid triggering old magnetic mines laid in the North Sea by the

Germans in WW II . The second image shows what happens when I darken

the sky just a little bit in PS. The third image shows the tower

where Mercator lived and developed his famous world maps. I hope you

like the images - I sure do love that Rolleiflex!<div></div>

Second minesweeper image with darkened sky...<div></div>

The magnificent old Mercator tower in Rupelmonde (Belgium)...<div></div>

Nice photos, Benny!

 

I like the Ilford liquid concentrate developer and fixer solutions. They keep a very long time in the fridge and I can just mix up working dilutions one roll at a time, perfect for my erratic shooting/hibernating cycles.

 

rick :)=

Benny, are you using a hardening fixer or a rapid fixer?

Part of your problem with scanning the TMY could be due to overdeveloping in Rodinal. Scanners, for the most part, don't like high density in B&W.

 

I highly recommend HC-110 for TMY -- I use it every roll, and get excellent results with Dilution G (1:119 from syrup); the concentrate I'm using now has been open for more than a year, subdivided in 4 ounce bottles (I'm on the last one now) and still works perfectly.<div></div>

Rick, Thanks for the Ilford liquids tip.

Mike, I used Agfa Agefix (cheap at ?3.20 for 500ml) - I guess that's a rapid fixer. But I don't know if I scratched the emulsion during loading or at unloading the wet film from the reel. It looks like a bad streak from a sharp edge or object. Thanks.

Donald, thanks. I used 1+50 at 11 min. instead of the other labelled possibility of 1+25 at 6min. Would that have made a difference maybe?

Rodinal is fine with most emulsions, but the only reason to use it is to get the extra sharpness it produces (it doesn't dissolve grain) and, especially, the distinctive "edge effect" for which it's famous.

 

Nice shots!

 

Rodinal had nothing to do with your scratching, but if the negs were extra dense due to over exposure or over development (or maybe just the subject matter), flatbed scanners (don't know about other kinds) exaggerate handling damage that might not appear with an enlarger or with a lower density...that's my subjective experience :-(

Wonderful sharpness and tonality on those. I bet they'd look great on paper.

Beautiful shots indeed, quite haunting. I would love to see prints.

I like these Benny, Rodinal or not. There may be better developers for this film, but the subject matter is grand. Thanks.

I've been using Rodinal 1:75 for 15 minutes. Been using this concoction for about three years. I didn't care for TMax Developer -- thought the negatives seemed very flat.

Thanks to all of you for the nice comments and the good tips.

Benny, unloading (with the emulsion wet) is the most vulnerable time for scratches. The corner of the base on a 120 roll is more than sharp and hard enough to scratch the wet emulsion if you let the film curl on itself (as it almost certainly will try to do). I unload by peeling off the start of the roll, clipping the first clip, and then lifting by the clip while I support the reel with my other hand. When I come to the inner end, I invert the whole shebang so the weight of the hanging clip holds the film straight while I disengage the film from the reel's spring clip and attach the second drying clip. At no point do I allow the film to touch itself.

Slightly off-topic: I googled "M906 minesweeper" and came up with a little history of the boat, which apparently was in service in the Persian Gulf as recently as 1988:

 

"In 1987-88 USS Illusive was deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Earnest Will, which was designed to escort oil tankers that had been re-flagged as belonging to Kuwait. There she joined mine sweeping operations with MSO-437 USS Enhance, MSO-438 USS Esteem, MSO-442 USS Fearless, MSO-456 USS Inflict, MSO-488 USS Conquest and the Belgian Navy minesweepers M906 Breydel and M909 Francois Bovesse. The crews performed extremely well in very demanding conditions and cleared hundreds of mines from the international waterway."

 

See: http://www.allwoodwings.com/5-Ships+Boats/04-MilitaryShips/007-Minesweepers/MSO-448,Illusive.htm

Donald : Thanks, I am (was) used to developing 35mm and I obviously will have to improve on my 120 film handling to avoid those scratches in the future as I plan to use that Rolleiflex a lot more...

Daniel : that is impressive info and nice minesweeper pictures too. Those scale models look great but are beyond my budget ;-) Don't know why I did not think of Googling that boat nbr. myself... They must have removed the nice engraved wooden 'Breydel' nameplate from the side of the upper structure. So, I didn't know it was the Breydel, but I know the name. The ship looks tatty from close by because the grey paint peels severely from the wood. I took the second picture from an old lightship that is also anchored 30 meters further.

Benny, the shots are superb.

 

Regarding the bottles for stock solutions, I sugest you to buy the "bellows" looking ones. You'll conserve the develop long more time.<div></div>

Thank you Luis, but still not long enough for my laziness. I'm afraid I will have to change my habits and shoot more film ;-) Or they should start selling developer in gel capsules.