Chrissy

I do think tho that the perception of neutral grey is an individual one and also depends on the viewing conditions. For example in photoshop neutral grey is rgb 128/128/128 and it always looks warm to my eye, but then again I'm not viewing it under strict 5000k daylight conditions and perhaps I might be tired so my eyes are performing differently and my monitor is calibrated differently to another person's etc etc. Plus people just perceive colours and tones differently.

Hey Glen, is this like your camera? So cool you have your Dad's one :) my Dad didn't ever use a camera once! I have no idea where my interest came from.

AJG - thanks for sharing that pic! Wonderful looking those Contax cameras. Beautiful looking condition too. I looked up the weight and it says the Contax II body is only 610gm, that's a very nice weight. My Nikkormats weight in around 880gm without lens and I just weighed in my main one with its chunky Nikon 135mm lens and it's 2.8 pounds/1.27 kg for my (little) wrist. Got my first Nikkormat at age 15 that a teacher helped me buy and in hindsight what a heavy thing for a young girl to be using. Better off with something like your Contax but so used to them I probably wouldn't change now. Very sturdy and one easily survived being dropped on a train track once 🙄

That's interesting Glen, that's very a cheap service! I wish I lived in the US where there is so much to choose from. I'm interested in your point about modern papers having some degree of developer present, is this why older papers like the old Soviet, Czech or German ones do well as lith printing paper and not modern ones?

That was my thinking too when getting 100 sheet boxes of cheap older Ilford for contact sheets and work prints, but one whole box of 3 was fogged but the 2 was fine, came from same place, a closing down shop and stored in the same way, both factory sealed. Must've been the luck of the draw or an Ilford thing 🤔

AJG - I just looked up your Zeiss Contax Rangefinders and what a beautiful little camera that is 🙂 it looks lightweight too? Having used Nikkormats all my life it seems, they are pretty chunky, your camera looks a lot easier on the wrist. I think I read that Robert Capa used a Zeiss Contax at some point too, it looks like it'd be a very convenient war-time camera. Here's hoping you never have to use it for that!!! Again tho, am sure the equipment we use will have its effects on many levels. Have just acquired a very clean looking little Wollensak 50mm lens for my faithful Omega DII and looking forward to seeing any difference to the Nikon one that's always been used by me on it. It'd be nice if it lent an old-world charm to the prints 🙂 And totally agree, having worked as a commercial magazine retoucher now for 25 years, although Photoshop is amazing in it's own right it just feels so empty, and too easy compared to the hard-won darkroom victories. And it's depressing the standard of submissions that can come in now to magazines, many images shot on phones and drone cameras.... all this nostalgia is now making me want to buy that old paper!!! 🙂

Thanks AJG, you make some very great points. I would definitely not be satisfied with poorly made, imperfect looking prints; I was thinking along the lines of different papers have certain qualities and charms...reminds me when I used a Thornton Pickard quarter plate camera and everything I shot had an antique look no matter what. It just lent a charm to every negative. A bit like also how old portraits can look beautiful in part because of the now obsolete paper they're printed on, I have a wonderful old print of my grandmother and the paper has such an exaggerated velvet stipple that it lends another dimension to the photograph. And storage...had stored some Kodak Polymax RC for some years, thought it kept cool and dark but all factory sealed packets were fogged and moldy when I came to use it...and maybe they would've ended up that way regardless just thru age. So yes from that point of view a big risk and you're right, no way of knowing how stored.

Thanks Alan, that's a brilliant idea to try out! I think I have a tiny flashlight somewhere...😀 Cheers!

Hello 🙂 these old FB papers are going quite cheap on a local auction site, is anyone familiar with Tura and old Agfa papers? I'm only interested because they're much cheaper than FB paper new here, ( I recently bought an ilford FB 100 sheet box for $247 ($157 US) here because with high international shipping it was worse and this stuff - if not fogged - might be interesting to use, around $20 USD for 40 sheets total), but anyone know if these brands stand the test of time? Seller says all packets are unopened and the Tura unknown what grade. I read somewhere that old papers can drop a grade or two in contrast, so the Agfa if not fogged being 4 and 5 might be more useful if it drops down. I've also read that Agfa paper can generally last well? I got burned last year with older Ilford grade 3 all fogged tho factory sealed but the grade 2 box of the same vintage was fine. Any thoughts and anecdotal experiences? And any extra considerations for printing beyond usual FB procedures? Thanks 😊

Thanks everyone for your amazing help! Looks like ebay is my best bet, even foam is hard to get in this expensive little country, even black knitting yarn!!! Anyway cheers and thanks to you all for the encouragement ☺️

Awesome, thanks so much Stuart for taking the time to advise in such a helpful, detailed way. Definitely seems doable now thanks to your comprehensive advice, will be checking out eBay, and get this camera fixed up! It seems otherwise in good shape and so lightweight (shockingly light when you've used Nikkormats all your life!) I took another picture of the seal around the body part and I think it's intact..? Great tip thanks for using a white tray to test for thorough washing; I try to go easy on water use being on rural tank water and am using hypo clear. Anyway cheers for all the help, its very much appreciated, 😀Chrissy

Thanks Stuart and Joe, really appreciate your comments and advice. So I looked closely at the camera light seals and found them to be crumbly in parts 😔 particularly right near where the sprockets are so this might be the cause. I think I know what you mean Stuart about door seals not running the entire length of the door, the foam just stops in the pics? And lastly, because I didn't like the slight pinkish tinge of the Tri X films (Tmax looks fine) I refixed (Hypam rapid) an extra 5 or so mins and the dark streaks have curiously faded to now lighter streaks. Pink tinge gone. But that is puzzling to me how the black streaks have now faded. (Am also guessing Tri X might generally require longer fixing times...) Any advice for replacing light seals, is this a careful DIY job or best left to an expert? 🙂 uploading pics of the seals and thanks for any tips in advance, Cheers, Chrissy

Hello! Please could I have your opinions on the weird dark marks on the edges of 2 rolls of Tri x 400 film I've just processed today, in Ilfotec HC 6.5 mins 20 °. I processed 3 rolls together, one was a TMax 400 shot on my trusty Nikkormat - and that looks normal - and fine...the other 2 rolls were Tri x 400 but shot on a newly acquired little Nikon FG20 I just bought as a back up camera. All 3 rolls in the same 3 roll Paterson tank at same time, so I'm ruling out a chemistry problem, which was fresh. These marks all appear in the same place on the Tri x films, the Tmax was in the middle of the tank, the Tri x's have the same pattern marks but also each has the same long strips of dark fogged looking marks, left side lighter than the black streaks on the right side...this seems like it must be a light leak in the camera? Maybe light leaking in the sprocket area or is it worse since the streaks look so long? Not affecting the actual images but reason enough to ditch the camera should it get worse? I can't think of anything else and am shooting a roll of the Tri x in my Nikkormat to see what that does to test the film 😕 (film always stored in the fridge too and not expired) thanks for any opinions! Cheers, Chrissy