I own the coveted 1.2,42mm std lens,Pen FT,but it produces a softer image untìl stopped down to 2.8,so it is good for portraits wide open.I also have an angle magnifier and bellows -slide copier,also soligor500mm ,mirror lens and a pre set 180mm soligor lensf2.8 both used via adapter to mate practica thread to olympus Pen fitting.One note re B&W Negs I used to be OCD re developing,temp control,filtering,dust control and exposure.I had a Vinson enlarger taking max 6x6 negs
With an excellent Nikkor enlarging lens and an effective mask for half frame. Waiting minutes for a lorry to pass by on the road to expose without vibration.I was a wedding photographer for sometime and used to give 2x proofs for ease of choice,and contrary to then practice, used to give the negs to the married couple.I also used to make slides for lectures using the enlarger column to mount the camera.
Thanks, Dmitri, very interesting and informative article. I shot my first roll of Phoenix yesterday, June 7th, at EI 160. Looking forward to seeing the results.
I had never really been charmed by instant film until I saw Liz Potter’s emulation lift projects. It’s so cool, film’s physicality continues to inspire and impress.
i prefer shooting film because i think the limitations are more fun and inspire more creativity, also it’s so fun seeing your shots once you get them scanned :)
Totally. I find that having too many photos at the end of the shoot makes curating a lot more difficult. Having a physical limit facilitates thinking in advance quite well.
Enjoyed reading your reflections Michael, thank you. Increasingly I’m also feeling the pull towards more film photography again for much the same reasons you give — photography becomes a more mindful pursuit again.
We may get a new colour film later this year or early 2025; it would be coming from China, and it has much to do with Kodak.
Before you read any further, you should know that the info presented here has sparse evidence. Moreover, all things said here are based on English translations from Chinese social media (i.e., the Redbook app).
There, he shared rumours from Reddit that the Chinese firm Lucky (who has already promised a re-release of the B&W SHD400: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…) may be working on reviving of their short-lived colour film line.
Those colour films, as reported by Kosmo Foto, are the product of Lucky’s collaboration with Kodak in the early ‘00s (kosmofoto.com/2024/05/chin…).
It’s hard to say whether this will mean affordable, quality emulsions based on proven science or litigation that would block sales in the US/EU due to the IP that Kodak still owns. Only time will tell. Remember, this is not an official announcement but rather a collection of corroborated rumours about a Chinese company’s intention to step into colour film production.
There’s something special about shooting on film. The picture you take isn’t a bunch of 0s and 1s. You are literally capturing the light that you see. I feel a personal connection to the image I take. It really feels like you have sucked the scene into your lens and your roll of film. It’s yours. You took the picture. The moment is yours. The story is yours.
I like to shoot on film because of the kind of light you can capture that seems to be unique to the chemistry behind film photography-also because working within the limits of film really makes me consider each shot I take instead of snapping a bunch of mediocre pics on a DSLR.
#video: Brian Wright shows Linus how to clean up the negative transparency from the peel-apart instant film.
Brian is one half of the Brothers Wright ensemble (the other, Brandon), who founded the CineStill film company. In this video, Brian shows Linus a technique that the Wrights developed for freeing up the negative from the black goo that covers it:
Peel-apart film is a virtually extinct format that still has legions of fans admiring the fidelity of the images and the experience of revealing the photographs. Once peeled, you get a grainless positive and a negative. The negative is often discarded as it barely contains a picture — but the technique Brian shows here turns it into a scannable transparency using a bleach washing method.
Once scanned peel-apart negative transparency is a lot sharper and noticeably grainer than the print. One could argue it’s the most important/archival part of the package that is peel-apart film.
I am now curious if a version of this technique could work for the modern integrated Polaroid film frames, which are descendants of the original Polaroid peel-apart film (see this passage about the modern Polaroid film’s technical origins: analog.cafe/r/a-brief-hist…).
Because I started out shooting film, I have never been able to form a preference for digital! I just feel like shooting things that “matter” on film is important for me.
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