Ilford Delta 100 Pro 120mm Film

Following on from my recent blog about a visit to the Kaunos Ruins in Dalyan, Turkey, there were many photo opportunities.

Since my Hasselblad only takes 12 shots per 120mm film, I was able to try out some other black and white films whilst at this location.

Next on my list to try was the Ilford Delta 100 Professional 120mm film.

Normally in the UK I wouldn’t necessarily be inclined to use this film in view of the low ISO so thought a bright, sunny day in Turkey would be a perfect time to try it out.

I took these photos on my walk back down to the river from the Kaunos Ruins.

I was really happy with the detail of the trees in this photo:

I wasn’t sure if the next two photos would actually come out because I took these photos of the Donkey in very dark shade and light metered it as best I could. I’m therefore happy that I did manage to get the photos even if they are a bit dark:

I’ve realised that I’ve much practice to do on perfecting my photos of animals. The next set of photos were taken in a field where I had to climb onto a fence to take the photos. This was slightly awkward with the Hasselblad since its a camera I tend to ‘shoot from the hip’. The first two photos were ruined by a cow stepping its ‘back end’ into the shots as I took the photos and I slightly missed the face off the cow in the third shot but I can see the funny side of it because they are so bad:

The next couple of photos are of the Mountainside as I was walking back down:

I really liked this film and was pleased with the tones of black and white it produced. Once again, I was also impressed with the amazing detail thanks to the Hasselblad lens. I would definitely use this film again on a very sunny day.

My first time using the Rollei Ortho 25 Plus Black and White 120mm Film

During my recent trip to Turkey, I decided to try out this film in my Hasselblad 500 C/M camera.

Since I take most of my photos in England, I don’t really tend to use low ISO films. However, Turkey was extremely bright and sunny and this film had been in my film stash for a while, so I thought it would be good to try it out.

Here are some photos I took of the mountain areas in Dalyan, Turkey:

The next picture I took has some streaks on the negative but I actually quite like the old feel it seems to give the photo. It reminds me a bit of the Washi film and looks like the photo could have been taken a long time ago:

Whilst staying in Dalyan, I was keen to visit the Kaunos tombs which were on the other side of the Dalyan river. The easiest way for me to get to the tombs was to go across on a row boat that was rowed by a local lady which cost less than £1 for the ride. Once across, I then walked up the hill to the Tombs and the views were amazing:

Here are some photos of the ruins I visited in Kaunos:

Here is a photo I took at the ruin’s of my friend who visited Kaunos with me:

I was extremely impressed with the detail the Hasselblad lens gave me in these photos.

However, I don’t think I’ll be using this film again any time soon as there wasn’t as much contrast as I like in my black and white photos so there would be other films I would choose first over this one. Although I’m glad I tried out this film and I still feel that a bright, sunny day in Turkey was the best place for me to test it.

The negatives were scanned on my Epson V600 scanner so I will be interested to perhaps develop some of these photos into prints during one of my darkroom sessions to see how different they look. I will blog about this when I do it.

Using the Cinestill 50D 120mm film with my Hasselblad 500 C/M camera

This was the only colour film I ended up using in my Hasselblad camera whilst I was away on holiday.

I had previously used this film in the 35mm format on my Olympus Pen FT Camera at a car show which I blogged about last year and was impressed with the results so was interested to try out the 120mm format in my Hasselblad.

It was one of the last films I used during my visit to Dalyan in Turkey so half of the film is of that. I used it during a visit to a hotel which had a beautiful enchanted garden where I ate a yummy local turkish breakfast and here are the photos I took:

Although I used a lens shade, there is unfortunately a slight red flare (from the sun) in a couple of the photos which I think makes it look like I’m using one of those experimental colour films. Also I’m not sure if there was a fault with this particular film? as there is a black line going through some of the photos on the left hand side.

Anyway faults aside, I really hope I managed to capture the magical feel of this place. I could easily have spent all day there but I was on an excursion for the day so this was only the first stop (to have our traditional turkish breakfast).

The second part of the film was used during a trip to Le Havre in France. I literally got back from Turkey, was home for one day before my husband and I set sail to Le Havre for my second holiday of the year.

It was thankfully a pleasant sail as the sea was nice and calm and it was also our first trip to France on our boat which was quite exciting.

I took some photos in the harbour that we moored at in Le Havre:

Overall, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the photos as I had previously been with the car show ones and I question whether I would have had better results if I’d used this film again at another car show.

However, I’m pleased I tried it out with a different subject matter but know in future if taking similar photos, I would most likely use a cheaper colour 120mm film which I think would have just as good (if not better) results.

The Washi S Black and White ISO 50 film with my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera

I was pleased to see that Cool Film Club are now doing a monthly 120mm Film Subscription so I signed up to it to enable me to try out films that perhaps I’d never tried before.

I got my first box of 2 x 120mm films the other week from them and in the box was the Washi S 120mm 50 ISO black and white film.

I had been intrigued by this film in the past because it is an emulsion designed for sound recording and it appeared in the sample photos to have a high contrast which I quite like.

However, when I looked at purchasing this film in the past, it always appears to be sold out so I was really happy to get a roll of this in my subscription box.

I decided to try out the film in my local cemetery as I thought the film style would be suited to this style of photography.

Since it’s ISO 50, I went and shot the roll on a bright sunny day and used the sun shade attachment on my Hasselblad.

I wasn’t sure how the negatives would turn out since I felt this film is quite unusual.

I noticed that the film is packed in a recycled roll of 120mm film and this particular film had been repacked in what was originally a Tri-X 400 film roll. This actually turned out to be an issue when taking it to my local lab for processing because although I packed it in the plastic Washi Case which, clearly states 50 ISO, they processed it as the Tri-X 400 film so I’m not sure if this affected the way the negatives turned out.

I can completely understand how this confusion would have been caused and in some ways it was frustrating that a) I didn’t make it extremely clear to them that it wasn’t a Kodak Tri-X 400 film and that b) the Washi is packed in a recycled film package and they don’t have their own brand one which clearly states it’s an ISO 50 film. This makes me wonder if anybody else has encountered similar problems if relying on somebody else to process their film for them.

Thankfully the photos still appeared on all 12 negatives!

I scanned the negatives myself using my Epson V600 scanner and here are some of the photos I took:

The photos are quite high in contrast as I expected they would be. Where I’ve taken the photos in shaded areas they have come out quite dark. I’m unsure at this stage whether this is the traits of the film, the way I exposed the photos (i.e. not stopping up or down and shooting exactly as my light meter stated) or if the fact the film was processed by my lab as a Kodak Tri-X 400. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about the film developing process to know if that would actually make much difference?

I also couldn’t help but have a play with my new (to me) multi-prism filter:

I quite liked the results of the prism effect, especially the last photo. I just knew the statue may be quite an interesting one to try out with the prism filter and the contrast of the film has given it quite a cool, heavenly effect in my opinion.

I’m quite keen to see if any of these negatives will develop into nice prints in the darkroom or whether the high contrast will mean I will struggle.

Using the Multi-Prism Lens Filter with my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera

A couple of weeks ago, I found one of the multi-prism lens filters for the Hasselblad for sale on eBay in the UK with a buy it now price for around £20.

I knew this would be a fun accessory to have for my Hasselblad and experiment with and didn’t think it was too expensive compared to other lens accessories I’d seen for sale for the Hasselblad so purchased it.

Thanks to the Hasselblad booklets I own, I discovered that it was a bayonet 50 mount so it would fit my 80mm lens. The booklet also told me that I had purchased model number 50679 which has five prisms.

I also loved the fact that the booklet states ‘These multi-prism lenses have prisms producing multiple images on the film. A striking accessory for the advertising photographer and an interesting, creative tool for experiments.’

Although the lens filter didn’t come with the original box, it was in immaculate condition when it arrived and looked like it had hardly ever been used!

I was excited to try it out so headed to my beach opposite where I live.

I decided to use the Fujichrome Velvia 100 colour reversal film in the 120mm format as I was hoping if I got it processed in E-6, it would have a real pop of colour which I thought would be great for the prism effect.

I’m fortunate enough in Brighton to have a local lab called Colourstream who are able to process the film by hand in the E-6 chemicals for me.

I was very excited about this experiment because I had obviously never used this lens attachment before and also I had never had a film developed in E-6.

Here are the results:

I was able to twist the prism around on my lens so I could get different prism effects which I thought was fun.

Overall, I was really happy with the way the photos turned out and I really like the intense colour of the Fujichrome film.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the colours from the sky and beach did the film justice. I would definitely like to try this film out again with some more colours in the photos.

I also have some more creative ideas using the prism filter so am looking forward to trying them out and blogging about them in the future.

The Fomapan Creative 120 ISO 200 Film and my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera

I recently purchased this film from Analogue Wonderland whilst buying some other 120mm film:

The Fomapan film is available in different ISO’s from 100-400. I decided on the 200 ISO because I knew I wanted to use it on a bright sunny day in England.

I had seen some photos taken by other people using this film and I liked the style of photos the film seems to produce.

The other appealing thing about the film is that it is very cheap and can be purchased for £3.50 at Analogue Wonderland.

If I’m completely honest, amongst the other more expensive films I had purchased from Analogue Wonderland, this one had remained at the bottom of my pile. This was because I was waiting for a very sunny day and I also viewed it as not being of great quality because it was very cheap.

I recently spent the weekend in Rye with some friends. It was a beautiful sunny day on the Sunday so I decided to take a walk around Rye and test out this film in my Hasselblad.

When I got the film developed, I was extremely impressed with the quality and contrast of the photos. Here are some of the photos I took:

It’s definitely a film I’ll be buying again as I think it is great value for money. I also want to try out the other ISO formats they do.

Silver Gelatin Prints make lovely gifts

I was thinking today about the satisfaction I’ve had recently in being able to produce silver gelatin prints in the darkroom for gifts.

Whilst I appreciate that it’s a very personal thing to decide what photos you would like on display in your home, I’ve only gifted a couple of photos so far, to people who I know would love them and would definitely have them on display.

The first silver gelatin print I gifted was to my friend Clive, who went away with me last year to Singapore when we watched the Formula 1 Grand Prix there.

It was an amazing trip away and I managed to take a nice photo of Singapore using the zoom lens on my Pentax K1000 camera and Kentmere 100 black and white film.

I really liked the photo when I got it developed and practiced printing it on silver gelatin paper at my second black and white photography course at Varndean college. Here is a scanned copy of the print I did using a 3.5 Contrast Filter:

Clive saw the photo and really liked it. He had recently moved houses and said how lovely that picture would look framed up in his home office.

I therefore mounted it using white card and framed it in a nice black frame and gave it to Clive and he was really happy with it. It also felt like a nice moving in gift to his new home.

The second photo I gifted was to my husband today as it’s his birthday.

He is actually quite a difficult person to buy gifts for since he never really wants anything and if he does, he just buys it himself.

In the past I’ve taken him away on holiday for his birthday but due to current work commitments, he cannot take any time off work in the near future so I knew I wouldn’t be able to do this for him at the moment.

In fact, I think I felt more sad for him than he did at going to work today.

A couple of weeks ago, I had been practicing portrait shots with him using my Hasselblad 500 C/M camera and some Rollei RPX 400 black and white film.

I particularly liked a picture I’d taken of him cuddling our dog so decided yesterday when I was in the darkroom to make an enlargement of it.

Early this morning before he got up for work, I placed the photo on the mantel piece in our living room for him to see.

I’m pleased to say he really loved it and left for work with a big smile on his face. That was a great feeling for me knowing how happy I’d made him and I knew that photo meant more to him than anything material I could have bought.

I attached a copy of the photo in the blog heading but here it is again:

My first roll of film on my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera

From my previous blog I explained that the Camera Museum in London provided me with a free roll of film when I purchased my Hasselblad camera from them.

The film they provided me with was the Ilford Delta 400 black and white film, which I had never used before.

I also explained in my previous blog that I didn’t have time to try out the camera in London and had to wait until I got back home to Brighton.

I was keen to try out the camera asap so the first photo I took was of one of my cats in my living room:

I balanced the camera on a foot stool to take this image and I was still getting used to the focusing screen so it’s the corner of the blanket which is really in focus. However, I still quite like the image and the way the corner of the blanket is nice and crisp. The exposure could be improved since my cat is really dark in this image.

The actual negative itself is marked and I’m not sure if that was because it was my first time loading film into the camera and perhaps I accidentally marked the beginning of the negative whilst loading since the rest of the negatives are absolutely fine.

I decided for the remainder of the film that I would go to Hove Cemetery since it’s nice and quiet there, which meant I could really concentrate and focus on how to use the Hasselblad.

I personally think it’s essential to use an external light meter when using the Hasselblad and I used one for most of the photos I took. I’m going to blog about the light meter I used separately.

When I took the camera outside and started to use it, I was extremely impressed by the bright viewfinder:

I’ve personally never owned a camera with an amazing viewfinder like this before. I also felt it really helped me in composing my shots.

Here are the photos I took:

This was the first time I had used an external light meter and I was extremely impressed with the results from using one.

I scanned all my images using an Epson V600 scanner and I didn’t have to ‘tweak’ any of the photos for the exposure.

For my first roll, I’m very happy with the results. I handheld the camera when taking the photos rather than using a tripod and I’m impressed with how crisp the images are. The lens is amazing.

I found the camera really easy to hold and use. It still felt fairly light to me and with the strap it just felt like I had a handbag over my shoulder.

I am so happy I purchased this camera, I definitely have no regrets and I’m really excited about shooting some more images with it. I can’t wait!

Lomography Redscale XR 120mm Film and my Lubitel 166B

I recently purchased a triple pack of Lomography Redscale 120mm film for £5.00 which had expired back in 2012.

I’ve shot redscale film on my 35mm film camera’s before but thought it would be fun to test out on my Lubitel 166B camera during the daytime.

Here are some photos I took using a roll of the film:

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The rescale wasn’t as ‘red’ as I thought it was going to be but I wonder if that was because the film was several years old. Instead, I thought the pictures had more of a Sepia tone to them. I also note that the film states to have an ISO of 200 for super-intense red and orange colours and ISO 25 if you want to mix additional tones of blue and green to the image. The Lubitel doesn’t have a light meter but from my previous use of the camera and the weather we have in the UK in the winter, I tend to shoot the Lubitel with a shutter speed of 1/125s and an aperture between f/5.6 and f/8.

Either way, I think the Sepia tone works quite well with the garden images I took.

Using the Ilford HP5 Plus Black and White 120mm film with my Lubitel 166B

Since I really loved the previous black and white photos I had taken using my Lubitel 166B, I thought I would try out the Ilford HP5 Plus film as it’s a very easy film to get hold of in a few of my local shops in Brighton.

The more I use the camera, the more I continue to love it. Since my last blog, I’ve now discovered how to focus the photo properly by using the attached magnifying glass in the viewfinder and looking at the central circle in the viewfinder.

I also thought I’d test out the eye level viewfinder on the camera which is a small square in the plastic at the top so you don’t actually look into the picture part of the camera. Here are two photos I took using this method of shooting:

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I didn’t feel that using the little square viewfinder gave an accurate image of  what I inevitably shot so I know I definitely prefer using the actual picture viewfinder and mainly shooting from the hip.

It was a cloudy, windy day in Brighton and the waves were immense. I wanted to capture this as best I could using the Lubitel and here are the results:

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I wasn’t sure when taking the photos if I was going to find them boring once developed but I do really like them. Again for me, I just really like the style of photo this camera produces.