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abjectwoe
May, 2025

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Film (Analog) Photography Thread

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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,008
Might as well be time to have a dedicated thread on this. Call it a consolidation if you will (or at least another thread to chat about our artz)

Ask film related questions... Post film related discussion topics... Get stoked on real photography with real cameras with real reels of real film...
11 years ago
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*DUMBCAN*
Posts: 2447 - Karma: 5,628
Developing question:

This last few weeks I've been developing in my Uni's little darkroom instead of with my own stuff cos I'm out of some chemicals. It's all been fine up until today.

The film I used was HP5+, pushed to 800. Developed in D76, 20º for 13 minutes as instructed. No stop bath, ilford Hypam fixer.

The film came out translucent. Not full out opaque, it was the right colour, just you couldn't see through it. If you shone a light through you could tell that there was a light behind it.

Anyone know what went wrong?


11 years ago
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
Are the frame numbers visible? If so it wasn't exposed, has happened to me once.
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
this guy does: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ps_photo/

but he also scans with an imacon and shoots contax/leica, at that altitude and likely temps I would be more concerned with the camera's mechanical function then metering
11 years ago
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plorr
Posts: 3131 - Karma: 520
Is it consistently translucent across the roll or less so towards the edges? Sounds like maybe your fixer was over diluted or exhausted? Try refixing it.
11 years ago
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zahava
Posts: 7791 - Karma: 12,039
That could definitely be it; exhausted fixer will leave your film muddy looking. Its hard to keep track when sharing chemicals, I usually clip test with some old B&W that I'm never going to use, if it clears in 20-30 seconds then you know its still good to use.
11 years ago
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TijmenDal
Posts: 4849 - Karma: 1,296
20-30 secs? Dude, you're wasting so much fixer if that's your rule of thumb. Anything under 3 minutes is fine. Just fix for twice as long as it has taken to clear.

And yeah: what Lawrence said: are the frame numbers visible?
11 years ago
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erikK
Posts: 3245 - Karma: 2,329
just won this guy, pretty stoked. everything looks like it's in crazy good condition.

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11 years ago
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bakedpow
Posts: 8770 - Karma: 10,468
little bit of a photo dump of some im stoked on from my last roll.

first 3 are from NC in a massive ice storm, last 2 are in bellingham.

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11 years ago
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,008
Congrats, man. Looks even better than mine, and you have the case and manual to go with it.

11 years ago
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*DUMBCAN*
Posts: 2447 - Karma: 5,628
Thanks guys, problem solved. It was the fixer, I refixed with new fixer and it came out perfect.
11 years ago
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,008
If you folks havent seen this, I feel like it's a pretty sweet watch if you're a film lover.


11 years ago
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No.Quarter
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 16,966
So when I am using a spot meter and I meter something like snow, The reading that it gives me is Zone 5, which means that if I exposed at those settings, the snow would turn out zone 5 grey? So I "should" be exposing a couple zones higher than that since snow looks white, correct?

Also, should I avoid spot meters in the $50-$100 range? The Pentax meters that go for hundreds of dollars seem to be recommended a lot. I have been browsing KEH for them BTW
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
light meters meter for 18% gray, and you don't meter snow you meter your subject
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
oh and to answer your other question yes you should avoid $50 spot meters and any meter that is only a spot for that sake. Buy a sekonic l-508 it will be the last meter you ever need to buy period. I have the L-758dr which is the newer version and it's fantastic. The most important part of getting a good image with film is getting the correct exposure, having a meter you can trust and knowing how to use it properly are crucial.
11 years ago
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No.Quarter
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 16,966
Are there any others like the L-508 that might be a little cheaper?
11 years ago
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No.Quarter
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 16,966
Also, can someone maybe do a quick 101 on different types of meters and what situations they would be best for?
11 years ago
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,103
quoting for emphasis
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
I'll try to keep this as simple as possible

Incident (dome out) - When you are metering the light falling on the subject. Typically used for portraits or general front lit situations, the meter is help directly in front of the subject(someone's face for example) with the dome facing the camera/light sources. The dome allows the meter to take in a greater range of light for a more averaged reading

Reflected (dome in) - When you are metering light that is being reflected off the subject, often used in say studio product shooting when having the dome out can cause the meter to read to much light or pick up a source you are not wanting to meter.

Spot - When you have a specific point you are metering for or you are at a distance from the subject, often used in landscapes and macro, though I like to use it for portraits on the subject's eyes sometimes.
11 years ago
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Aenigma
Posts: 11256 - Karma: 428
A spot meter is also absolutely essential if you're shooting B&W and want to use the zone system.
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
which is only usable for sheet film so not something most here have to worry about
11 years ago
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No.Quarter
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why is that?
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
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The use of the zone system is dependent on being able to individually develop shots which you can not do with roll films.
11 years ago
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No.Quarter
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 16,966
OK, I get that. I was thinking of just super basic zone system stuff like 1 stop=1 zone

derp
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
Unless you are shooting LF just remove all notion of the zone system from your mind, it doesn't work outside of very very rare circumstances (who shoots 36 frames of 1 subject with the same exact light)
11 years ago
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TijmenDal
Posts: 4849 - Karma: 1,296
There's quite a few people that shoot medium format camera's with interchangeable backs and have backs for n-1/2 and n+1/2 depending and depending on the lighting they just swap the backs. Works really well actually. Really fucking neat I think.
11 years ago
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TijmenDal
Posts: 4849 - Karma: 1,296
This actually works? I honestly never use reflective metering, but it's nice to know if this actually works. I've never heard of this. How acurate is this? Or is it just a 'pretty' good rule of thumb? I should read my lightmeters manual - is it in there? I own a Sekonic-558 btw.

Also: I'm gonna have to disagree with you on the not-anything-but-Sekonic statement. The Pentax Spotmeter V is absolutely AMAZING and might even be better than the Sekonic combi'd incident/spotmeter meters.
I wouldn't buy one just for the sake of having incident/spot in one device, but the Pentax spotmeters are VERY good and you can't go wrong with them.

Lastly: using a spot reading is actually quite useful, even when you shoot roll film. Especially on chromes where the dynamic range is so small. I never shoot chromes without my spotmeter. I think it's absolutely crucal to getting the most out of them in combination with GND's.
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,299
I have the little sekonic one, never fails me.
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I always use incident pretty much, then alter as I see fit. Or if there's a lot of shadows I'll shade it slightly with my hand then take a reading or something. Stuff like that. Easy.

Reflected requires more judgement from the user. If you reflected meter at the beach or in snow it's gonna tell you like 1/5000 at f8 or something crazy like that.
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
Very few do this and it is not a simple thing to do, again it is very dependent on you shooting an entire roll under the same light. Use of the zone system is not in anyway practical with roll film and this has been the main issue with it for 50+ years.

And the reason I say the sekonik being the only meter he will ever NEED is it has all 3 meters built into one, why would you waste money on JUST a spot meter, thats a stupid purchase when you can get an l508 for ~$200.
11 years ago
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,008
I use a Minolta Auto Meter IIIF, and I'm pretty impressed by it's accuracy, for what.. 40$ or whatever I paid for it? Does both Ambient lighting and strobe. All I really need.


11 years ago
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TijmenDal
Posts: 4849 - Karma: 1,296
Good point.

Could you also anwer the question about the reflective metering please? I'm really curious about it.
11 years ago
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
Come down to my level. Click for larger image
11 years ago
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TijmenDal
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11 years ago
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,008

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11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
The guys at cinestill are working on a new chemical process that renders c41 films as positive slides...

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11 years ago
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*DUMBCAN*
Posts: 2447 - Karma: 5,628
That's actually pretty cool.
11 years ago
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No.Quarter
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 16,966
Any links or more info

I am quite intrigued
11 years ago
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cwphoto
Posts: 2332 - Karma: 780
any suggestions for light meters around $50?
11 years ago
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,008
Minolta Auto Meter IIIF.

Probably one of the best deals out there.
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
No thats all I know, I'm friends with one on facebook and got those from his wall.
11 years ago
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,103
pretty in awe that it fucking worked. i can't wait for my scanner to get here.

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11 years ago
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steezysteeze
Posts: 1739 - Karma: 1,012
What makes this more desirable than negs?
11 years ago
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Bloc_chain
Posts: 26051 - Karma: 4,433
Nothing really, probably safe to assume color rendition will be slightly different then normal for the film, you can mount and project them with a slide projector or look at them on a light table under a loup, and scanning/color correcting with a dedicated 35mm scanner that isn't a pakon (nikon/plustek/minolta) would be a easier then negs. The key thing though is a roll of ektar is $5 and a roll of provia 100 is like $11.
11 years ago
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
Is that taken with the Yashica? :)
11 years ago
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,103
You know it! Shout out to Thomas for all his help and technical talk that forced me to google frantically. My scanner should be here today so I'll probably get to fiddle with it tonight.
11 years ago
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No.Quarter
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 16,966
What scanner did you end up going with?
11 years ago
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,103
canoscan 9000F mkII. I found a great deal on it and decided to give it a go instead of the V600. Just came in and looks pretty sweet, I'll report tomorrow.
11 years ago
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,103
definitely need work on developing (i'm guessing that most of my images are dark on one side due to not enough chemicals in the tank), but holy shit am I stoked. all on the Yashica A (thanks Lawrence!) with portra 400.

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i didn't flip this one because for some reason i liked the left framing better than the right.
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11 years ago
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PacificRimJob
Posts: 24730 - Karma: 30,008
What on earth is going on with those?
11 years ago
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
I remember that those green lines on Epson scanners are caused by dust on the calibration area. But you have a Canon, I don't know if they work in a similiar fashion (which I presume they do)

And thanks Logan, great to see that black box working.
11 years ago
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loganimlach
Posts: 5132 - Karma: 14,103
I'm not really sure. I'm going to chalk it up to bad developing like I said, as I don't think I poured enough blix into the giant ass Paterson tank that I got. Green line isn't present on all of the scans so I'm not really sure. I'm honestly just stoked that pictures came out on them, I'm sure the next roll will be better.
11 years ago
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