chris_waller

<p>Paul, hi.<br> I too have shot Neopan 400 at 250 but I reduced the dev time by about 15-20 percent to allow for the 2/3 stop downrating. I also generally use Rodinal at 1/50 dilution. Rodinal at higher dilutions gives some degree of compensation, i.e. it prevents the highlights blocking up so it would have helped save the situation.</p><div></div>

<p>Paul, hi.<br> I too have shot Neopan 400 at 250 but I reduced the dev time by about 15-20 percent to allow for the 2/3 stop downrating. I also generally use Rodinal at 1/50 dilution. Rodinal at higher dilutions gives some degree of compensation, i.e. it prevents the highlights blocking up so it would have helped save the situation.</p>

<p>In my home city, here in the UK, we are setting up a new public-access darkroom in response to demand for film and print processing facilities.</p>

<p>Liquid concentrates can be diluted to make working solutions as needed. However, the working solutions can be stored. I use old 2 litre bleach bottles which have been thoroughly washed out. The bottles have air-tight caps (so OK for storing developer) which are also child-proof. The bottles are high-density polypropylene. I replenish the developer after each session by adding a little freshly made up developer to fill the bottle to the top and exclude air. The bleach bottles also have the advantage of being in different colours so I can 'colour code' the solutions.</p><div></div>

<p>A good photograph is the one which corresponds to the image I saw in my mind. I do not even think of an audience when I take a photograph, I think only of what I am trying to achieve. Equipment is not important beyond its ability to allow me to produce the photograph I want. Technique (skill) is likewise only important insofar as it contributes to the final print. Subject matter is of prime importance. The questions I ask myself are: What do I want to photograph? Why? What do I want to say about the subject? How will I say it photographically?</p>

<p>Tim, hi. That's OK! :)</p> <p>Here's an example of my RC table in operation. The exposure time was 30 seconds, based on a Zone III reading , with + 2 stops RF compensation and a development factor of 0.45 ( though please make allowances for my cheap scanner!). :)<br> Film was FP4, rated at 50 and devved in Rodinal at 1/100 dilution, 20 C, 8 minutes.</p> <div></div>

<p>Tim, my rule of thumb for RF correction, based on the raw meter reading is:<br> 1-5 seconds - +0.5 stops, development 0.85<br> 6-10 seconds - +1 stops, development 0.67<br> 11-20 seconds - +1.5 stops, development 0.55<br> 21-40 seconds - +2 stops, development 0.45<br> 41-80 seconds - + 2.5 stops, development 0.40<br> over 80 seconds - + 3 stops, development 0.35<br> The development factor is based on the normal development time, e.g. if the normal development time were 12 minutes then at, say, +2 stops RFC, the adjusted dev time would be 5.4 minutes.</p>

<p>My favourite MF cameras are my Mamiya TLRs - C3, C220 and C330.</p>

<p>See if you can find some Lucky SHD 100. I tried some a few years ago. It has a slightly 'old fashioned' look to it.</p>

<p>I shoot a lot of 6x6 MF so square is natural for me.</p>

<p>This might help. <a href="http://www.khbphotografix.com/LPL/LPL6700Dichro.htm">http://www.khbphotografix.com/LPL/LPL6700Dichro.htm</a></p> <p>Which version of the 6700 do you have - the colour head, the VCCE (variable contrast head) or the b+w head? If one of the first two then you will need a 100w/12V dichroic lamp? (Does your enlarger have a transformer?).<br> <br />As for the lens, I use a Minolta CE Rokkor 80mm/5.6 for 6x6, or a Rodenstock 105/5.6 for both 6x6 to 6x9 printing, though I also have a Minolta Rokkor 105/4.5. </p>

<p>Look at the fall of light. Look at the subject and see the visual possibilities. Move around, look at the subject from different viewpoints. I remember once going to photograph an interior and it took me 45 minutes of walking around the building until I could see the best viewpoint. Then consider the best time of day to take the shot, even the best time of year.</p>

<p>I have a Meopta Magnifax 4a, the top of the Meopta range and I settled on this after many years of using a wide range of enlargers. I have also used the Opemus 6 in colleges, where it proved itself a robust, workmanlike enlarger.</p>

<p>As John says, shoot something on the first frame that will identify the roll.</p>

<p>Amazing! I am fascinated by fungi. I've just been wandering around the woods following a day of two of rain. Shot this.</p><div></div>

<p>... and here is a link to the camera it was taken on. Note the curved film rails to compensate for the curvature of field of the lens.<br> <br /> <a href="http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Sprite_127.html">http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Ilford/Sprite_127.html</a></p>

<p>When I was 12 years old a man by the name of Dr. Richard Beeching, commissioned by the government, decided to rip up our local railway line, which ran just over the fence from our garden. Now, as a child, from pretty much as soon as I could walk, I used to hang around the railway sidings watching the wagons from the local colliery being shunted. Occasionally, if work was slack, I'd be invited up into the cab of the shunting locomotive. (This was in the days before the health and safety sturmstaffel had stuck their noses in.) Happy days - and then it all came to an end.<br> That previous Christmas my aunt had bought me a camera, an Ilford Sprite 127, which had two aperture settings (bright and dull) and a single shutter speed. Nevertheless, with this rather quaint little grey plastic camera, I took four shots of the final day of our railway line. And it was then I discovered the documentary power of the camera.</p><div></div>

<p>I haven't used RPX 25 but I used to use Agfapan 25 many years ago and loved it. I did some great landscape with it. D76 would be a good starting point for this film. Like most very slow films you need to watch contrast and not over-develop. I suggest you try shooting a roll on a fairly dull day and develop as directed in D76.</p><div></div>

<p>Speaking a s a user of Rodinal for 30-odd years, I mix 10 ml of Rodinal to 490 of water to make 500 ml total of developer solution. This, strictly speaking is 1+49 but the difference from 1+50 is so small as to be of absolutely no practical importance.</p>

<p>To add to David's comments. Yes, you must mix the whole packet at once. Once completely dissolved, I suggest you then decant the liquid into a number of smaller (say,1 litre) air-tight bottles and use them in sequence. In this way you avoid loss of developer action due to oxidation by contact with the air.</p>

<p>Nice shot. I'm looking forward to the usual seasonal eruption of fungi in our local woods any time now.</p>

<p>My IR film stash. All kept in the fridge. The Konica is 22 years old, the HIE a mere 7-8 years old.</p><div></div>

<p>There was similar legal battle over O. Winston Link's estate. I've heard injury claim lawyers described as 'ambulance chasers', - are these hearse chasers?</p>

<p>As Lex says. If you cannot find a local camera service technician then try either MW Camera Repairs ( <a href="http://www.mwcamerarepairs.co.uk/">http://www.mwcamerarepairs.co.uk/</a> ) or Black On White ( <a href="http://www.bonwcameras.co.uk/">http://www.bonwcameras.co.uk/</a> ).</p>

<p>Isn't there a small doofer on the back of the camera into which you slide the top of the film packet after ripping it off?</p>