Film of the 1930s

[wilhelm]

I'd like to make a set of photographs simulating the look (grain, sharpness, scale) of 35mm work of the early 1930s. What film/developer should I use? (I know available film at that time was actually tail-ends from 35mm movie film, and D-76 was still being cooked up in Kodak's cauldrons.) My best guess: either Plus-X or Agfapan400 in Rodinol 1+25. Isn't there some European film still made with thick emulsion and no anti-halation backing? Honest, fellows, this is before even my time!

[charlie_strack]

Efke makes some thick emulsion films, though I haven't seen them in

35mm.

 

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You could try: TMax 3200, expose at its reall speed (800 to 1000) and

develop in Dektol for maximum grain.

 

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I don't know of any films without anti-halation dye or backing for

35mm. There are a few for sheet film (mostly slow speed copy films).

 

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Another thought: use Kodak Infra-red, but filter out the IR. Just use

the visible spectrum. It's grainy, and so-so in sharpness, with

limited tonal scale.

[j._patric_dahl_n]

Efke KB100 is the older type of film with thick emulsion. I have "Das

Rolleiflex Buch" from 1938 and it has a recipe for "Metol-

Hydroquinone-Borax developer" that is the same as D-76.

 

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I would use the Efke KB 100 and develop it in D-76 1+1 (9 minutes 20

C)

 

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For the best 30's result I would use a camera from that period with

uncoated lens. My Balda 35mm with Schneider Xenar 2,9/50 is great for

that! :-)

 

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T-Max films all have T-grain, and will not give the wanted results.

[pete_andrews]

Plus-x is about as close as you'll get with a Western emulsion. That

stuff doesn't seem to have changed in decades.<br>Many years ago I

tried some Russian film. That would probably fit the bill. The colour

response was more ortho- than panchromatic, grain was pretty large for

100 ISO, and the contrast was verging on lith film.<br>I dare say the

contrast could be tamed a bit, I didn't experiment with more than a

couple of cassettes of the stuff.<p>I think it would be a mistake to

assume that 35mm work was over-grainy in the 1930s. Film speeds were

generally much slower then (I'm <b>not</b> speaking from personal

experience here!) and concepts of quality were still measured against

the commonly used 5x4 press cameras.<br>From pictures published from

that era, the main difference is in the <i>style</i> of the pictures

rather than technical quality.

[wilhelm]

Hi Guys, thanks for the suggestions so far. I don't think huge grain

was necessarily a problem in those days, but long scale must have

been, judging by the Paris photos of Kertesz, with burned out

highlights and styglean shadows. Efke film is available from

Freestyle, but the thick emulsion type "R" isn't in 35mm. Please

keep the suggestions coming, and I'll let you know what I settle on.

Mitch

[wilhelm]

I just discovered that D-76 was introduced in 1927, so that fixes one

part of the euation.

[michael_goldfarb1]

Not much to add. Either Plus-X or APX 100 in D-76 (don't believe

Agfa's times, they're too long! I do it 9 min at 68, 1:1 dilution and

1-minute agitation.) would be a good bet. Rodinal's even older than D-

76, so you could go that route too.

 

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Take care with your image-making apart from the film used: Avoid

using electronic flash, go with "hard" lights (photofloods,

theatrical spots) or window light if you're doing portraiture. Using

an old camera or lens would surely help too (but old doesn't have to

be ancient: a Nikon with a non-AI lens would be nice.) Wide-angles

weren't much used back then, go for longer lenses. If shooting

outdoors, try to avoid including recent buildings or cars...

 

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Sounds like a fun project!

[john_horowy]

Bergger BPF200 is an old emulsion film. Available in sheetfilm sizes

from 4x5 through 20x24.

 

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Bergger will officially announce BRF200 in both 120 and 35mm very

soon.

 

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John Horowy

Bergger Products, Inc.

www.bergger.com

[nigel_smith]

I purchased a book today with photographs by Stieglitz and others

which has pics from years 1906 thru 1917 and the thing that really

stands out when considering your question is the limited DOF.

Foreground elements are in focus but the backgrounds seem out of

focus and quite grainy (note this is from cheap printing - it was a

cheap book! so relavence may be minimal!) Another aspect, which I

have previously noticed in some vey old portraits hanging on my

Grandmothers walls, is the range of tones seems limited. Sure there

are black and whites, but in between doesn't seem gradual between the

two. My pinhole camera takes very old looking pictures, maybe thats

a possibility.

[j._patric_dahl_n]

Nigel, the pics you saw was shoot with large format cameras. In the

30's both medium and small format were popular, so the depth of field

were different.