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.

Testing out the Rollei Chrome CR200 Colour Reversal film on my Hasselblad 500 C/M

I recently bought the Rollei 120mm colour film, which was on sale at a reduced price whilst purchasing some silver gelatin paper.

I had read that the Rollei Chrome CR 200 is an E-6 colour slide film which has rich, warm colours and subtle contrasts. It can be cross developed (C-41 process).

I knew I wanted to test this film out in my Hasselblad. I’ve recently become quite addicted to black and white photography so this was the first colour film that I decided to try and I was very excited to see the results.

After doing some research on the film and looking at other people’s photos online who had used it, I decided that I preferred the warm tones and colours when the film is cross processed under C-41 so got my film developed this way.

Here are a couple of photos I took of my nephews:

I was really pleased with how the above photos turned out. I felt the film being cross processed gave a warm vintage feel to the photos. I feel the colours all blend in together in a nice subtle way. I also love the crisp detail of the trees that my camera has managed to capture.

I next took some photos of blossom trees:

Again, there is very much a warm tone to these photos and I particularly like the darkness of the tree against the bright blue sky. Also the blossom has a yellow tint to it.

Lastly, I took some photos on the beach with the waves and sky:

I love the water detail in these photos and was surprised to see that the clouds almost look like paintings.

I especially love the last photo which I feel has a real 1970s dreamy, advert feel to it.

Essential Hasselblad Accessories

Since purchasing my Hasselblad, there have been a couple of accessories which I feel have been essential for the camera.

In one of my other blogs, I mentioned that when I bought my Hasselblad, I also purchased a camera strap.

I bought an original Hasselblad camera strap and I also previously mentioned that I had the choice of a thin leather strap and a thicker fabric one.

In the end I had decided on the thicker strap because the thinner strap easily slipped off my shoulder and also wasn’t as comfortable because it dug into my shoulder.

Here is a picture of the strap I got with my Hasselblad:

Whilst I don’t think it’s as nice looking at the thin leather one, it certainly has been very practical when carrying the camera and when taking my photos, it helps me to balance the camera and keep the frame as straight as possible without a tripod.

The other essential item which I knew I needed for the Hasselblad would be a case.

I don’t tend to use a ‘specialised’ camera bag as I tend to take photos everyday when I”m out and about so tend to put my camera in a handbag. I also find a lot of camera bags quite bulky which isn’t great for me. Admittedly, the Hasselblad doesn’t fit into a small handbag but it fits fine in one of my small rucksacks and also my bigger rucksacks.

However, I was worried about the Hasselblad getting scratched if just put in a bag by itself.

On eBay I came across a UK seller called ‘studentphotostore’ who were selling new leather cases for the Hasselblad 5 series cameras. They are made of genuine leather and have a lovely textured grain. They’re not an official Hasselblad case but are based on the original version and also have a Hasselblad stamp and logo on the case.

Here are some photos of the case:

It’s not the cheapest of cases as it costs £69.99 but since I spent quite a lot of money on the camera, I feel it warrants a decent case to protect it.

I’ve certainly not been disappointed by this case. It really is lovely and has kept my camera nice and safe when it is carried around in my rucksacks.

I currently have an 80mm lens on my Hasselblad which I’m really happy with but if at some stage, I wanted to add a slightly bigger lens, there is enough room in the case to accommodate this.

From the same eBay seller, I also purchased a really cool Hasselblad shutter button:

Unfortunately when I received the shutter button I was very disappointed because the button thread was too small for my shutter trigger:

I therefore had no choice but to return it which was a shame. I did ask the seller for a replacement if they had accidentally sent me the wrong one but they just refunded me in the end.

As I learn more with the camera, there may be more things that I want to add but for now, I’m really happy with everything I currently own for it.

Rollei Fantastic 5!

Recently on Instagram, I came across a camera shop called @macodirect who are based in Germany.

They announced they had put together a pack of different types of Rollei black and white films which came complete with a Japan Camera Hunter film case.

I really love the Rollei films, ever since I started using them in 35mm photography.

The great news is that these packs are available in both 35mm and 120mm options.

The pack contains the following five Rollei black and white films:

• 1 x Rollei RPX 25
• 1 x Rollei RPX 100
• 1 x Rollei RPX 400
• 1 x Rollei Superpan 200
• 1 x Rollei Retro 400S

I also really liked the orange colour of the case they had chosen to pack the films in.

I have used the Rollei RPX 400 and Rollei Retro 400S in the past with great results, but I had never used the other three before so thought this would be a great way to try them out.

I’d also been considering buying a plastic case of this type for 120mm film. This is because I normally have a couple of rolls I need to put in for developing at a time and wanted something sturdy to store the used film in when travelling to my local lab for processing.

The 120mm pack retails at €34.50 (around £30.00) and the 35mm pack retails at €32.60 (around £28.00).

Since I’m based in the UK, I knew that the postage wouldn’t be cheap and I wasn’t wrong as that cost an additional £10.

However, even with the postage cost of £10, I worked out that I would still be making a saving of approximately £8 than if I had bought all the films and the case separately in the UK. I therefore decided to purchase one of the 120mm packs.

It arrived quite quickly and I’m really looking forward to using all the films in my Hasselblad 500 C/M camera.

If you’re interested in purchasing a pack or happen to live in Germany so will be lucky enough to pay less postage, their website is:

https://www.macodirect.de/en/film/black-white-films/

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:

How different a photo can look from basic scanning to printing a copy of it in the darkroom

I suppose it’s quite obvious that there will be differences in a photo from being scanned onto a computer compared to if you print a copy of it in the darkroom.

I really noticed a difference in the contrast in a couple of my photos this week that I’d originally scanned using my Epson V600 scanner and then developed copies in the darkroom.

These photos were taken using my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera and Ilford Delta 400 film.

The first image was of a close up of a tombstone in the shape of a cross with a tree in the background. Here is the original image that I scanned on my Epson V600 scanner:

I didn’t tweak the original scan as I was happy with the original exposure. As you can see, it isn’t high in contrast and there are many subtle shades of grey which is what I would have expected from the Ilford Delta 400 film.

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I decided to print an enlargement in the darkroom but I was surprised by how different the contrast and tones were:

I cropped the photo slightly as I wanted more focus on the tombstone and tree and I felt the extra detail on the right hand side of more trees took attention away from this. The biggest difference I noted though was how much darker the trees and shadow detail were. Also, the grass, tombstones and background detail were left with really nice shades of grey.

I next decided to do an enlargement of a tree image I’d taken on the same roll of film with the sun shining through the trees. I was keen to see how this would look in a print. Here is the original photo I scanned on my Epson V600 scanner:

I made no amendments to this photo at the scanning stage as I was happy with the exposure. As before, the photo consists of various shades of grey with no real contrast.

Here is the same image which I printed in the darkroom:

Once again, I cropped the image, this time on the left hand side because I wanted more focus on the two big trees with the sun shining through. You’ll notice that the greys are much darker on this print compared to the original scan. I’ve also lost the grey detail from the sky which was in the original scan. This gives the image a lot more contrast.

I used Ilford chemicals to develop both prints and also Ilford Multigrade IV RC Deluxe Pearl 8×10 paper. I exposed both images for 1 minute and I didn’t use any contrast filters.

Personally I prefer the darkroom prints over the original scanned images. I’m very keen on contrast in my photos as I feel this adds to the dramatic effect I wanted to achieve in these particular images I took.

Perhaps I could have achieved this effect too on the scanner by changing the contrast but I am just surprised by how different they look in print.

I’m very grateful to have access to a darkroom and I get so much satisfaction in seeing my images almost come to life in print instead of just looking at them on the screen.

I’ve also enjoyed messing about cropping my images to see how different it can make my photo look.

Needless to say, there are many more prints that I now want to develop in the darkroom to see how different they look compared to my original scanned images.

Lastly, the darkroom prints have also been scanned onto the computer using my Epson V600 scanner and they look the same as the actual print.

Brighton Community Darkroom

In some of my previous blog posts I talked about taking a darkroom photography course at Varndean College in Brighton where I had an introduction to Black and White photography and developing my own contact sheets and prints etc.

I took the initial course in the Summer 2018 and ended up enjoying it so much that I signed up to do the course again in September 2018.

After I finished the second course at the beginning of November, I wasn’t quite sure whether I would want to do any more developing of my own prints and wondered if I could settle for digital prints instead.

However, by the end of December I realised I was really missing the darkroom process and the buzz I got from developing my own black and white prints.

I knew in Brighton that there is a community darkroom that I could join so I could continue developing my own prints without having to do any further courses at Vardean college and I wouldn’t have the initial expense of having to set up my own darkroom at home.

Also, the college only caters for 35mm film photography and I have recently been working more with medium format photography (120mm negatives) so require an enlarger that will work with both 35mm and 120mm negatives.

Thankfully the community darkroom was able to meet these requirements with their enlarger.

The community darkroom I joined currently has availability for new members. Here is a link to their website: http://coachwerks.org/the-darkroom/

They use a Durst DA 900 Enlarger and have the equipment I require to develop my own prints such as the developing chemicals, a place to hang prints to dry, masking frames etc., although you need to bring your own photographic paper.

They charge £25 per month for use of the darkroom which is open 24 hours and I plan to use it at least 1-2 times per week for a minimum of 4 hours at a time so for me, I think its great value for money.

I look forward to blogging further about using the darkroom over the next few months and how I’m finding it.

Highgate Cemetery Tour with the Diana F+ Camera

On Saturday 20th October I visited Highgate Cemetery to do a Lomography workshop using the Diana F+ camera.

You’ll see from one of my other blog posts that I already own a Diana F+ camera so am familiar with how it works, but I’ve always wanted to visit Highgate Cemetery so thought this would be a good opportunity to finally go.

The cost of the workshop was £20 which included a loan of a Diana F+ camera, a roll of black and white 120mm lomography film, entry to Highgate Cemetery’s East side plus development and scanning of the film that was used during the workshop.

I arrived at the cemetery’s box office (where the meeting point was) and quickly saw how popular this workshop was going to be since there were a few of us.

There were several employees from Lomography who also attended the workshop so they were able to split us into two groups.

Before we went into the cemetery, we were given a handout about occult photography in the 1800’s. We were told that with the Diana F+ we would be able to create some ghostly style images and were even offered some tissue paper if we wanted it to create an ectoplasm effect.

There was a whole bunch of Diana F+ cameras in different colours on display at the meeting point which were pre-loaded with black and white 120mm film. The nice thing was that we were allowed to pick a camera ourselves rather then just be handed one.

We were shown the features of the camera and were informed that we’d always be best off using the cloudy setting on the camera for UK weather even on a bright sunny day. The day of the Workshop was very bright and sunny which I was pleased about since we’d be outdoors. I’d also learnt something new as I personally would have used the Sunny setting if I hadn’t have been told this.

We were talked through how double exposures can be taken on the camera to try and create a ghostly effect. We were also shown how we could take pinhole photos if we removed the main lens and took a longer exposure in bulb mode.

Since the film only has 12 shots, we were also able to purchase more film if we needed it for an additional £5. I’d thankfully thought ahead and brought my own Diana F+ camera with me and some spare black and white Lomography film. However, I initially used the camera they loaned for the workshop since it already had the film pre-loaded.

We proceeded to walk round the East Side part of the cemetery and it certainly didn’t take very long to use up the 12 shots. I then used my own Diana F+ camera with the spare film I had brought with me.

I decided to take the used film home with me rather than let Lomography develop and scan them since I have my own flat bed scanner that I scan my photos on and I wouldn’t have to wait for them to post me the negatives after scanning the film etc.

Here are the results of the photos I took using the camera that Lomography loaned me during the workshop:

I can see why Lomography used this particular camera for the workshop as the heavy vignetting produces a great dreamy effect which I think works really well with the graveyard shots and also the black and white film gives them an old fashion feel.

Here are the photos I took using my Diana F+ camera and the black and white 120mm Lomography film I own:

I think most people will agree that the photos I took using my camera are a real disappointment and this is because the backing paper from the film has imprinted itself onto the negatives.

I can see this has happened on a couple of the shots too using the loan camera from lomography but it’s not been no where near as bad as my film.

I’ve since discovered this will most likely happen if the film is expired or not stored correctly.

I normally store my film in the fridge, however, I have to admit that I had originally intended to use this black and white film in my Diana F+ camera several months back for another project which I didn’t end up doing and I lazily left the film on the side and didn’t end up putting it back in the fridge. We’ve also had quite a warm summer in England and the room where the film was left does get very warm so I think this has definitely been a contributing factor.

Overall, I found the workshop great fun and the Lomography staff were really nice and extremely supportive with any queries we had throughout the workshop which ran from 1pm-5pm.

I thought the workshop was great value for money and such a good thing to do around Halloween time.

If they run one next year, I would highly recommend it to anyone who can get to London and is keen to try out the Diana F+ camera.