Bill Smith's Photography

I always use Rollei Supergrain developer with Fomapan film stocks,  there were three rolls of Fomapan 200 Creative to be processed, let's roll with 510 Pyro and see what we get. With the 1+100 dilution, this developer was a no brainer for three rolls of 35mm film, or two rolls of 120 in one of the bigger Patterson Tanks.  Um, wow, a really nice set of sharp negatives with a fine grain structure. I think I found the sweet sauce for Fomapan 200 Creative. Now, I exposed the film at 125 ISO, overexposing delibrately and using the time recommended by Zone Imaging, 510 Pyro's manufacturer. This particular pyro staining developer is much easier than pyrocat more traditional staining developers than can be quite toxic to handle, 510 Pyro is much safer and there's only one dillution 1+100, the variable is the developing time.  Camera: Olympus OM-1n, MC Zuiko 50 F1.8 lens.  Film: Fomapan 200 developed in 510 Pyro 1+100.  ...

 I didn't intend to add another OM-1 to my Olympus collection, sometimes I wonder if I'm running a camera rescue with this particular camera. Dave Smith, the former Darkroom Chair at the Toronto Club runs the Used Camera Donations and Sales committee emailed me. Ariel the current darkroom chair had an emergancy and couldn't volunteer during the club open house with used camera sales. I volunteered Sunday and joined the Used Camera Committee by accident, a happy one.  Scanning the spreadsheets I noticed an Olympus OM-1n kit, of course, I had to look. I found a pristine black OM-1n bundled with a Zuiko 75-150 F4 Zoom Lens. I was torn, the price was too good to say no. A few days later I loaded up with a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400, and considering how the morning turned out, should have gone with Ilford FP4 or Fomapan 100. Hindsight is 20/20. That said, the camera sang no mechanical issues and the meter was sort of accurate, I had an MR9 adapter and the meter dialled in.  A ple...