Kodak

Loving the Tungsten Kodak Motion Picture Film

Nikon FA, Nikkor 50mm/1.8, Kodak Vision3 500T motion picture film

I have been shooting more and more of the Kodak Vision 3 tungsten motion picture film.  This is a color negative film color-balanced for indoor artificial lighting which is warmer than natural daylight.

I love its color rendition under incandescent, halogen and even fluorescent and mixed lighting.  Combined with its higher ISO speed it has become my go-to film for any indoor & nighttime shooting.

If you want to prepare to shoot it in daylight, throw a 85B color conversion filter on your lens and your color will come out fine.

This is not actually sold by Kodak for use in film still cameras, but there are two ways I am aware of acquiring it for such use:

One major caveat you must be aware of: this film comes naturally from Kodak with a Rem-Jet backing used to ensure smooth movement through a motion picture camera.  If the Rem-Jet backing is present you cannot have this developed through standard C-41 color negative chemistry.

The CineStill variety is easier to use because they pre-remove the Rem-Jet so you can have it developed pretty much at any lab.  However the Rem-Jet also serves as this film’s anti-halation layer so you run the risk of getting a orange glow surrounding very bright light sources which are inside the frame.  You can see this in my photos of the Tower Bridge engine room.

The FPP roles still have the Rem-Jet and avoid those halos, but they require special film development.  So far I am only aware of one lab that offers that, the Little Film Lab which (luckily for me) operates out of the California Bay Area.

If you want to try this film don’t worry, either route works just fine.  Give it a shot for your next indoor shooting and you might just get hooked like I did!

Jedi Cross Processed

Jedi
Nikomat FTN, Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 P, Kodak E100G cross processed

The second roll of cross processed film I just scanned was taken at about the same time as the first, back in June.  However, instead of classic cars at Fuddruckers it mostly contained Jedi at Legoland.

Well to be honest storm troopers, droids, and even wookies are well represented too.  They had just setup a bunch of new displays of Star Wars themed Lego scenes in their Miniland and I couldn’t resist taking some pictures with selective focus to keep the miniature feel.

As far as the photos go, this roll of Kodak E100G cross processed seems to me to have slightly more natural colors than the previous roll of E100GX.  I see a trend here which is the films which are more saturated when processes normally (ex. E100VS) are also more saturated and have a greater color shift when cross processed.

Note that I am using the auto white level feature in my scanning software Vuescan which to some extent counters the cross processing effect.  I think for most shots (especially with people) the raw or neutral color setting produces too wild a result, so I prefer reigning in the cross processing effect a bit.

Bel Air Cross Processed

GreenCar
Nikomat FTN, Nikkor 35mm f/2 OC, Kodak E100GX cross processed

Believe it or not almost four months later I am still working on scanning my box of shame.  I have been making progress on it, but also have been shooting plenty of new film.  I think (or hope…) my “backlog” is gradually dimishing.

I just scanned two rolls of cross-processed slide film which I shot back in June on my Nikomat FTN.  These were only the 2nd and 3rd times I had tried cross processing, the first being a roll I shot on Kodak E100VS back in March.

The above shot was taken at the Lake Forest, CA Fuddruckers regular Tuesday night classic car rally.  For this roll I cross processed Kodak E100GX which is normally less saturated than the VS.  I think this holds true for cross processing as well, as my earlier roll seemed to have deeper greens and reds.

But I like the metallic sheen in this shot, I think it worked for this Bel Air.

More next time on the second roll…

Put Your Hands In The Air

  HandsInAir

Petri 7S, Kodak Gold 400

The above shot is from that test roll of film I put through my recently repaired Petri 7S rangefinder.

Our boys were amazed when we removed the hard top from our Jeep Wrangler this summer.  We got them sunglasses and don’t take them out when it is too chilly or sunny, but they demand to ride in it every time we leave the house no matter the weather.

I received that roll of zoo shots back from the dr5 lab which processes traditional black & white negative film into black & white positive slides.  I have to say at first glance via loupe they look amazing with great detail and contrast.  This has moved up the queue to be the next roll I scan.

Rest assured I will use my trusty Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 rather than a gimmick like this one.

Matching Monsters

MatchingMonsters
Petri 7S, Kodak Gold 400

Welcome to my first blog give away, in partnership with Quilt Otaku!  To enter the contest merely comment on this post by August 3rd 2011 midnight PST, and for more details see here.

By the way, the above are examples of the Daphne and Delilah Momma and Baby Monster knitting pattern.  The yellow/green one was made by our friend So Sue for our younger son and the blue/red by my dear sweet wife for our older.

(Don’t tell them that our sons call the larger dolls “Daddy”!)

And now back to our regularly scheduled photography material…  I’m happy to report that the Petri 7S rangefinder camera is working well!

I ran one of my random junk rolls through it for test purposes, this one happened to be Kodak Gold 400.  I got it back from my nearby pharmacy hours later and all the shots came out OK.  (“Is this camera working?” shots are about all I trust to Kodak Gold and Walgreens…)

For the most part I exposed based on the Petri’s around-the-lens selenium cell ring which seemed to be metering accurately.  The above shot was an exception which I metered using my trusty Gossen Digisix.

It was taken inside with filtered light from a partially drawn curtain which was just below the sensitivity of the camera’s meter.  I wanted to test the camera’s capabilities, and this lighting called for a fully open aperture of f/1.8 at 1/60 second shutter speed.  Daylight shots at f/16 and 1/500 second came out just as well.

The shutter release and film advance worked just fine, no hint of the issue I resolved in the last post.

The only problems were that the film counter only caught about every fifth frame (by the time I was done with the 24-exposure roll it only read “5”) and the film rewind crank kept popping out as I moved the camera around.  Neither issue was a showstopper, although the “click clack” of the crank didn’t make for a silent experience.

I still have to test the Canon IV-S with the patched shutter, not to mention get even more familiar with my Nikon FA and Petri 7S.

Hello World!

helloworldflower

Nikon F100, Nikkor AF-D 50mm f/1.8, Kodak E100VS (cross processed)

Perhaps this should have been titled “First Post”, but this feels more like a welcoming to me. I also suppose I should wax poetic about my plans for this blog to become something impacting the very fibers of the blogosphere. But honestly, all I need to do is post some content to test out the design and formatting capabilities!

I suppose a few of you might wind up reading this first post though (hi Honey!) so just to set the record straight:

  • I love photography
  • I especially love film and more manual processes and techniques
  • My gadget-loving tendencies drive me to try new old cameras, lenses, and accessories

So if you were wondering what I will be capturing in this blog, it is my love for taking photographs using less-than-modern techniques! Now back to my formatting…