My Public Relations and Speechwriting instructor Dave Turnbull gave me some darkroom chemicals last spring after he cleaned out his darkroom. Amoungst the assorted chemicals was a quart kit of Diafine, fine grain film developer that pushes the film speed, in case of the Agfa APX 400 I shot yesterday the speed went to 500 ISO with no grain increase on average. I became a convert, I still love my HC110, Rodinal and D-76 but with another developer in the tool kit and that is low maitainence as long as you follow the instructions.
Barnack Madness, What Was I Thinking?
My last adventures with Scewmount Barnack Leicas didn't end well, on the few occasions I tried my brother's IIIf and IIIg, I botched the loading and got 36 exposures on one frame. I was quite content to just shoot with my M3 and M4-2, even though I wanted to get a IIIg because Alex got dad's from the estate. Logic has no place shooting with a Barnack Leica, if the cliche film photography slows you down, working with a III series body is an exercise in zen. First you have deal with bottom loading, wind the film advance before adjusting shutter speed and be careful where you point your camea as bright sunlight can incinerate a rubberized silk shutter cloth instantly. That said, Joan at Burlington Camera had this red dial Leica IIIf from the mid 1950s with a pre war Elmar 50 F3.5 lens, on the used shelf, I saw it, handled the camera, and put it back. In a fit of camera GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) a few weeks later I came back in and bought the camera. I wonder if Joan...
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