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Showing posts from May, 2020

Nikon FE2, Bergger Pancro 400, and HC110 B.

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Ok, Rodinal 1+25 is not the best developer for Bergger Pancro 400 in 35mm. With this roll I went with HC110 dilution B (1 part developer, 31 parts water) and I used my Nikon FE2. I got a lot more of the shadow detail this time out and the grain was a lot smoother. I made a couple of 5x7 darkroom prints of the Mercedes AMG Roadster and the line up in front of Cobs Bread and they came out as great looking prints. Camera: Nikon FE2, Nikkor Ais 50 f1.8 lens. Film: Bergger Pancro 400, HC110 B.

Wandering Around with the Mamiya C220f.

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When I traded off my Hasselblad kit last year some friends wondered if I was going to miss having an interchangable lens medium format camera in my line up, the answer was no, because I have one, the Mamiya C220f. What a tank of a twin lens reflex camera, especially compared to Rolleiflexes and another TLRs out there, the Mamiya C220f is sturdy, and the lenses available for it are 55, 65, 80, 105, 135 (an interesting lens in its own right), 180, and 250mm. The only lens I don't have is the 250mm, I should look for one at some point. Yes I lose out with the lack of interchangable backs but I'm one for finishing the roll of film. I managed to stuff my C220f with the 80mm lens on, some film, a light meter and the 55mm lens and hood into my Lowepro sling bag I use for skiing for my morning walks. What I should do next time is rock a 65mm and 105mm lens combination. The Mamiya while hefty sits well on my back while walking around the neighbourhood. I used Freestyle Photograp

Bergger Pancro and Rodinal 1+25

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Bergger Pancro 400, a dual layer black and white film that looks beautiful in medium and large film formats, the tonality is gorgeous. In 35mm, the tonality is there but we got grain, a fair amount of it. I decided to give it the college try to crack the cold of Panrco 400 in 35mm, the first roll you seel below was processed in Rodinal 1+25. Yup, grain, reminds me of J and C Classicpan or Fortepan 400 from 15+ years ago. Great tonality but grain you can play nine innings with. My Portrait with Alexandria has the depth, and I like what I got out of it, the shots during the rain on Kerr St. look great but downtown Oakville was dark and lacking in shadow detail which is hard to come boy. Not sure I'm going to process again in Rodinal, I have shot a roll of Pancro 400 up in Elora a few years back with some success with it being processed in HC110 B. Now the big proviso, I shot this roll at 320 ISO which usually gives me shadow detail I need, I may have to expose at 250 ISO and see w

Oakville on a Nikkormat EL.

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You really can't go wrong with Fomapan 100 black and white film processed in Rodinal 1+50. Camera: Nkkormat EL, Pre Ai Nikkor 50 f2 lens, Micro Nikkor 55 F3.5 lens. Film: Fomapan 100, Rodinal 1+50.

Nikkormat EL, the Signal of Things to Come.

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The Nikkormat EL is an interesting camera, Nikon wanted to keep up with consumer demand for bodies with electroncially controlled shutters, Pentax was there with the Electro Spotmatic and later the ES and ESII, Minolta later on had the XE-7 they co developed with Leica, and Canon was off doing their own thing with the EF. The EL was the top of the line of the Nikon Prosumer line up from 1973 to 1977 when it it was replaced with the EL2 and a few months later with the FE. The camera had full manual and aperture priority, if you own an FE, the EL was the testbed for design and proof of concept. The only downside if the electronics go bye bye, the camera becomes a doorstop because NOBODY really wants to work on them. That's pretty much the only downside if you find a camera that works, and they cost usually around $75, get it. The EL takes the same battery as the Canon AE-1, the 4SR44 which is good. The vast majority of cameras in the early to mid 1970s were still using 1.3v mercu