ptourtellotte

Ten years ago I started working on a basement darkroom. It is 80% finished.

Alas, it was never finished due to work and traveling for research.

Most of my paper was double/triple wrapped in plastic and has been kept frozen since that time.

Other paper just on a shelf.

I also have about 20 bottles of unopened Sprint chemicals.

I am in the process of moving into retirement and a house 500 miles away.

My question- Is the paper and chemicals still good after 10 years.

Should I discard it all or take it with me to use in the leisure time of my retirement

<p>Years late to this discussion but I have a Super II with 1.9 lens K 9921. So there are a lot more than Jason's K 5600. Just got my shutter fixed and looking forward to using it!</p>

I am sure its black and white and was thinking along your line of thought.

I have a few (old) Soviet photo books which have appendices of chemical formulas.

Interesting books, for the most part, copied from German photo text books.

<p>I have 2 cameras that came with exposed rolls of 120 film.<br>

Any suggestions on how to develop?<br>

Red paper backing with now Gost designations</p>

<p>Also have quartz Soviet movie camera with exposed film!!</p>

<p>I have the FM2n, FA, and used them for 20 years. About 5 years ago I bought a F3HP- a tank next to the Fm2n .<br>

The Fm2n is as many pointed out a much lighter camera. But I feel most importantly, is that it can be used without batteries at all speeds. The other two are dead weight. I have spent time over the past 30 years in places that if you run out of batteries you are out of luck. I have shot in the cold in snow of Kazakhstan until the batteries went dead in the other cameras-due to the cold. But the Fm2 kept working until I ran out of film.<br>

I recently shot 4 rolls of Kodachrome in the FM2N and fell in love with the camera all over again.</p>

I spent 5 months in India last year. Mid-December until May. At the end it was very hot

and only pleasant in Delhi in the early mornings and evenings. I shot mostly digital but I

visited many photo shops in Delhi, Jaipur, and Vizag and saw lots of film. You can find

reliable film from the bigger stores in the big cities.

Safetly depends on what kind of hotels you stay at. I stayed at a place in Jaipur which

stated to keep the windows closed to keep the monkeys out! Dealing with the monsoon

will be tricky.

Once it starts you could be stuck somewhere. You just might want to have your film

processed over there in one of the large cities. Shoot a couple of rolls and get them

processed before you commit to anymore than that.

Dennis- I would never buy a camera over there sight unseen. I went into a shop and asked if

they had any old TLRs , they brought me out a box of junkers- only good for parts. Yes, a

combination of the humidity and dust quickly desstroy cameras there. I spent 5 months in

the desert and got alot of dirt in my DSLR.

Last year I had the good fortune of spending 5 months in rural Rajasthan and got to see Indians taking

photos with everything from camera phones to old Japanese rangefinders.

While in Delhi my wife and I ventured into the stream of life in Old Delhi.

It is here just 2 blocks fdrom the historic Red Fort were we found the Camera District. There are many

shops there selling old rangefinders,slr,cameras from the Soviet Union, as well as film, and digital

cameras. I bought a Rollei lens shade for my TLR for less than $5.00. An interesting place to visit and find

classic cameras.

I am here in Rajasthan at the present. I took a 8 day trip around the state. So much to photograph and so little time. I am now in a rural area where foreigners are not common- especially 6' 2''. I have made alot of friends. Fast film is advised in the back alleys.

I have been doing most of my shooting with my D70 but have my F80 as well as my TTL Yashicamat. Venturing into the areas of the beaten path are great and very rewarding. As someone else mentioned only drink bottled water. This has been the coolest winter in 71` years.

This is a FED lens and an early one at that- a quick look at the f. stops shows that they are

not the usual "f stops"

Note that f 18 is the smallest F stop and not f.16

I have this lens on one of my early FEDs.

Peter, as someone who has lived and worked in Kazakstan for the past 11 years, here are a

few suggestions. Speaking Russian is important since you do not speak Tajik. Bring along

some small trinkets as presents or trade items- no not jeans and photos of your family

and friends back home.

The locals for the most part should be quite friendly. Having lived in tent camps for a

month at a time at 2400 meters my family and I have made quite a few friends with the

nomads. As always repect their religion and their culture and you should have an

enjoyable time.

The skating rink- is not just a rinky dink rink but MEDEO- supposedly the highest rink in

the world. This is the outdoor rink where the Soviets trained their skaters. A nice places to

go now on weekends. I will post a few photos in a few days. Also I will cut a reject slide

and see if it may be 200 film. I did use some at one time but then stopped using it.

The interesting thing is the film was all bought either from B & H or Adorama. I kept the

film refrigerated as much as possible. Where I would expect to see a difference is in the

summer when I am in a field camp on the steppe in Kazakstan where it is hot and I kept

the film as cool as possible. But this film was exposed in winter and then refridgerated

until I returned home. This processed film was stored in archival conditions along with the

other roll from two years earlier which wasn't affected. It is possible that this film was

developed in Europe and not here in the USA. I will have to check other slides that were

processed at the same time. I still use outdated Fujichrome to test a camera once in a

while and that film has no problems.

I just started to examine some slides I took at a skating rink and one batch of

slides from 1998 has a pink cast to them. Another batch shot at the same

location in 1995 appear normal.

Any ideas?

I have experimented with these so called "cheap lenses' for years and have had some great

results. I have two photos posted on this site taken with a Kiev 3 and a Jupiter 12 lens-

both taken in

snow. One must remember the conditions in which these photos were taken during war

conditions, film storage

before and after exposure as well as other factors....

I have been working in Central Asia for 9 years. I spent 26 months there with

a bus trip to Xinjiang . Uzbekistan gets very hot by the middle of May.

Vegetarians can get along quite well there during the summer months. We

have many vegetarian friends- Althou Kazaks and Kyriyz do like to eat alot of

meat. I like to spend the hot months up in the mountains -jialau. We spent 21

days in July and august at 2500 meters and had frost and snow.

More and more people speak english these days but when I first went to

Uzbekistan, Russian was the lingua franca. The best architecture is in

Uzbekistan but there are also interesting sites in Turkistan -a region of

Kazakstan adjacent to Uzbekistan.

Remember the longer the lens the faster the film.

I think a monopod would be better. and a bean bag. Have a bean bag with

you and just buy some dry beans at the bazaar and fill it up.

What do you plan on using the tripod for?

Landscapes aren't going to move and I don't think that you would be using a

tripod on the city streets and at the bazaars.

I will be in the Almaty area from June 10th until early August on expedition.<div></div>

Yes the 120 Vega is more uncommon than some of the other lenses.

I have been looking for one for several years now in my haunts in the FSU and have not found one.

I have seen them listed for sale here in the US

I have the 150 in both Kiev 6 and Kiev 88 mounts and will be selling all my Kiev 88 mount lenses since I had the camera converted to Kiev 6/Pentacon mount

Perry

Most of the Moskva's are missing the 6x6 mask- I was lucky to obtain

3 of them this past year.

I personally prefer the Moskva 4 because it will take screw in filters