Tag: black and white

Agfa Multicontrast Classic fibre paper to be reissued by ADOX!

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

It’s coming back, maybe in August [2008]! ADOX says:

The Emulsions for this paper are being produced on the original Agfa machinery which ADOX purchased together with former Agfa engineers from the liquidator of AgfaPhoto in Leverkusen.

They are identical in all measurable parameters with the papers formerly sold by Agfa under the “Agfa Multicontrast Classic” name.

This paper is among the technologically most advanced papers in the world. With its four separately made emulsions which are coated together it yields a range of achievable contrasts from 0 to 5,5. Other variable contrast papers, especially those with only one emulsion layer, reach at the outermost grade 4…

Continue reading at ADOX’s product page

Via Tom Persinger

Fomapan 100 film in Diafine developer reference

Nicolai Grossman Leave a comment

Fomapan 100 film in Diafine developer reference by Luke Healey

Luke Healey has posted another Diafine EI test (see his previous test of Tri-X), this time of Fomapan 100. Check it out in his photostream at Flickr (larger version available there).

If you’re not familiar with Diafine developer, it’s got several magical properties: it’s a split-bath compensating developer, so it’s difficult to get blocked shadows or blown highlights, one batch can last for well over a year, its temperature range is wide enough (21–30°C / 70–85°F) that you don’t need a thermometer, they recommend you not use a chemical stop bath (just water), film needs to spend at least 3 minutes in each bath (but can spend more), and since the development time is the same for every film, you can develop different emulsions in the same batch at one time. If you’re gentle with the agitation, it’s quite fine-grained. In short: AWESOME.

For more info, see the Diafine group on Flickr, Grant Heffernan, or Sherman Dunnam Photography.

You can buy it from Calumet Photographic, B&H, and Amazon.com in the US, among other places. For the UK, hit Retro Photographic.

OMFG! J and C Photo developing new film range!

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As many of our customers know we have spent the last few months looking at how to best provide as many film choices as possible. We have looked at many ways to bring new films to the market. This includes plans going forward right now to operate our own coating facility and producing high quality films in various formulations.

Over the next 18-24 months we are planning on introducing the following films to the market. All films we produce will be available in 35mm roll and sheet film formats.

Continue reading at J and C Photo

Who said film was dead?

Via the always excellent Online Photographer

ISO 24,000 film is not to be

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

In May, I re-posted Oran Grad’s post from The Online Photographer about a high-speed, ISO 24,000 black and white reversal (slide) film that Kodak’s research department came up with and was quite excited about its implications for pinhole and zone plate photography. Unfortunately, it appears that there wasn’t enough interest and they will not be offering the film commercially.

I received this from them via email:

The purpose of Dr. Gilman’s presentation, "A High-Speed Direct Positive Photothermographic System", was to share information on an innovative technology and to showcase its potential. Eastman Kodak Company invents and evaluates many technologies annually for possible commercial applications. However, Kodak does not have any plans to make this technology available in a commercial product.

I guess it’s time to start pushing the hell out of ISO 3200 film. I’ve successfully pushed Kodak T-MAX 3200 (TMZ) to 12800 using T-MAX developer and will see if I can coax another stop out of it or Delta 3200 to achieve the equivalent speed and report back with the results. It’ll be a negative instead of a positive and will have boulder-sized grain, but I’m still really excited about the prospect of handheld, freeze-frame, normal shutter speed pinhole photography.

Awesome implications of ISO 24,000 film

Nicolai Grossman Leave a comment

Yesterday, I posted (well, lifted Oren Grad’s post from The Online Photographer) about an ultra high-speed ISO 24,000 B&W reversal film emulsion that Kodak have developed, but one implication didn’t hit me until today: if released commercially, it would allow handheld pinhole photography at normal shutter speeds.

An aperture of f/185 gives you a shutter speed between 1/125 and 1/250 second in about a half stop under full sun, and you’d have an even wider range of choices with zone plates or photon sieves, whose aperture equivalents are larger.

This opens up a lot of possibilities that didn’t really exist before: tripod-free shooting, flash (including fill flash), precision exposure control with normal shutters, and a whole world of candid/documentary and indoor and outdoor stop-motion photography.

While I generally like the slower shooting experience of pinhole photography, sometimes it’s just annoying, and sometimes it outright prevents me from getting the shots I want.

I’m really excited by the possibility of more creative choices. Bring it on, Kodak!

ISO 24,000(!) film developed by Kodak

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

Oren Grad’s entire post from The Online Photographer:

No, that’s not a typo. This week at the International Congress of Imaging Science in Rochester, NY, Kodak researchers presented a new silver halide emulsion that is thermally developed to produce a positive image at speeds of up to ISO 24,000. You can read the conference abstract here.

Kodak is currently seeking to determine whether there is sufficient demand for such a film to justify a trial production run. More in this thread over at APUG, including instructions on how to communicate your interest to Kodak.

Via The Online Photographer