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a._valerio

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Posts posted by a._valerio

    Is Kodak still making Ektachrome?

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <blockquote>

    <p>I emailed Dwaynes a few weeks ago & was told that Fuji would honor their mailers beyond 12/2009. They are using dated mailers now so that people won't "overstock" on them. Even the dated mailers would be granted a bit of leeway. As of now, Fuji has no plans to discontinue their use.</p>

     

    </blockquote>

    <p>They really need to announce this publicly. They could change their policy at any time.</p>

    Fuji Decides NOT to discontinue 800z

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>If you care, you need to email Fuji right now through their contact us utility.</p>

    <p>I do agree that a new 1600 ISO film with better quality and the same price as 800z would be ideal. If it's better than 800z, why not discontinue both 400H and 800z and replace it with 1600z? As long as it's made in 120 and has quality equal or better than 400H, I'll be happy. With 160s, 160c, and 1600z, you don't really need much else.</p>

    <p>Regarding Natura: Some say it's identical or nearly so to Superia 1600. Who knows...</p>

    Time to bail out?

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>If everyone were to do likewise, there would be no film recorders left anywhere. And that would be bad for people like me who are intrigued by the possibilities of working in the wet darkroom with negatives made from our digital captures.</p>

    <p>If everyone shuts down and no one is left offering film recording service, one of the most convincing applications of the wet darkroom in the modern digital era--"tradigital" photographic printing--will be lost forever. And that seems counterproductive.</p>

    <p>I fully intend to work from this angle in the future. I want to be able to print my digital files in the black and white darkroom without spending a fortune on a DeVere digital enlarger. I don't know for sure, but I've heard that in order to get decent output, one really has to image onto 2 1/4 film at 8k resolution. Apparently 35mm output doesn't cut it for wet printing. Have you found this to be true through your experience?</p>

    <p>I'm so new at this hybrid game that I don't know a lot of the details.</p>

    Kodachrome Shooters-Does Kodak Care About Us?

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>The decrease in RA-4 paper sales...I wonder what that is attributable to. Sure, maybe a lot of people print less now with digital, and some are using inkjet or dye-sub instead of RA-4. But many professionals and serious enthusiasts crank through RA-4 like crazy. My colleagues and I probably used up several rolls this past winter. We had between 300 and 400 prints up on the walls of a gallery. It was like wallpaper.</p>

    Kodachrome Shooters-Does Kodak Care About Us?

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>"But bottom line, use it. It's like falling in love with a girl that you want to keep around forever. If you are worried every day you are with her that she will leave, then you will have squandered the very thing that is the gift you have, the here and now."</p>

    <p>Nice wording. And just to expand on the metaphor a bit: the answer is not to leave her before she has the chance to leave you--if everyone did that, there wouldn't still be Kodachrome in production. The answer is to treat her (or him for the ladies out there reading this) the way you want to be treated. In other words, use Kodachrome, or whatever film you decide to use, to the best of your current abilities and respect it...and it will reward you back by bringing out your best. Yet, when it comes time to say goodbye, one has to be mature and detatched, knowing that all the effort you put in to the past made it worth it even though the relationship is over. Kodachrome is just a photographic medium. It's the resulting images and what you got out of your time with the medium that really matter.</p>

    Kodachrome Shooters-Does Kodak Care About Us?

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>Josh,<br />Talk about doing more than our share...I've very recently pretty much ceased shooting any other color slide film now, and am sinking most of my film money into Kodachrome 64 and will be shooting it almost exclusively for the next couple of months. That said, I'm still not likely to rack up more than 30 rolls or so over the next few months. I'm glad there are still a few high volume shooters out there.</p>

    <p>Nicholas: As for whether that new film is indeed a new run, we don't really know for sure and we cannot be totally sure yet. Let's not start rumors until we have had it confirmed somehow...unless you know something that the rest of us do not.</p>

    Kodachrome Shooters-Does Kodak Care About Us?

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>Ellis,<br />I'm sure you've probably shot tons more Kodachrome during your career than I ever will during mine. 500, or even 100 rolls per year is going to be really tough for me. I'll do it if I can get a grant. But let's be honest with ourselves here...most of us are not high volume Kodachrome shooters. I'm lucky if I can buy, shoot, and process 50 rolls of Kodachrome in a single year. But take a bunch of 50-roll-a-year shooters, add them up, and every little bit helps. At the very least, it certainly won't hurt and is better than shooting 10 or 20 rolls a year.</p>

    <p>So, anyone who shoots Kodachrome, whether that is 10 rolls a year or 10,000 a year, I strongly encourage you to join the forums that Patrick provided a link to. The more new low-volume shooters there are, the more rolls will be sold, and the film might have a shot at sticking around a bit longer.</p>

    <p>By the way, if anyone knows how to apply for a grant, please help me out. All I want is enough to shoot and process a few hundred rolls, and I'll come up with a really worthwhile idea for a book project or something.</p>

    rating old color negatives?

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>I would set my trusted in-camera meter to ISO 200 (and ISO 250 for the Portra), and then bracket up and down a stop or two from there. Keep track of which frames are which, and then inspect the negs (and any prints) and calibrate from there.</p>

    <p>I used old Ektapress PJM-640 form 1999 (that had been frozen) at ISO 320, and it came out perfect. I used some old Max 800 (GT-2) from the same person at EI 320, and it worked well (for Max GT-2) except for being heavily scratched and curled for some reason.</p>

    <p>And I shot some old refrigerated Fuji Super G+ from Freestyle (best guess is they had it since 1997) at EI 64.</p>

    <p>My only negative (no pun intended) experience with old C-41 film was some really old Fuji 800 (like 10 years old). I shot it at EI 250. My indoor shots with flash were well exposed, but outdoor shots around sunset time (where there were shadows) were between 1 and 2 stops underexposed. I should have rated it at EI 125 under those conditions to get a little more density and detail and far less grain.</p>

    <p>The higher the film speed, the faster it goes bad, and the more you'll have to compensate.</p>

    <p>I would normally shoot the above films (if fresh) at ISO 400, 640, 100, and 640 respectively.</p>

    CVS film

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>Well, thanks for letting us know. Please let us know in the future if you see it on sale again! Also, I wasn't even aware that CVS still sold CVS brand film. Once they stopped selling Fuji and all that was left was Kodak, I didn't really look much. (I saw some Tri-X there today, too...didn't want to look at the price tag!)</p>

    <p>And for those who confirmed that the new CVS film is Fuji, thank you. I don't think I'd have bought it otherwise. CVS used to used to sell CVS film a while back. I believe it was Agfa. Once in a while I would buy some. I used my last roll that I had frozen a year ago, and was shocked; the old CVS/Agfa had some amazing colors, too.</p>

    CVS film

    in The Wet Darkroom: Film, Paper & Chemistry

    Posted

    <p>Just picked up a pack of 200, today being the last day of the sale. Been using Fuji HQ 200 for years and like it. This was a great deal at $5 for 4 rolls. Mine is marked 1/2011, and they had a lot of it.</p>

    <p>There was no evidence of a sale, either in the store, online, or in the weekly flyer. I had to have them scan it to confirm the $5 price. The regular price would have been $8.00. How did you know it was on sale?</p>

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