Tag: reference

Heat-damaged film examples

Nicolai Grossman 3 Comments

Heat fogs film and creates other "interestingness", which is why most people store it in the fridge or freezer (but don’t freeze Polaroid!). It’s impossible to predict exactly what will happen to any given roll of film, so don’t mistake this as a "this is what you’ll get if you take this emulsion and expose it to this amount of heat" reference. It’s different every time, this is just meant to show some of the different effects I’ve run into. Most of these are from a bag of rolls I left in a hot car in summer: same conditions, many of the same emulsion even, different results.

 

Bras

Kodak Portra 400UC 120 in a Holga left out in hot summer sun for about an hour, after which the camera was hot to the touch. This is the frame that was advanced, ready to be shot, and therefore got the most heat exposure. Curiously, the rest of the roll seemed unaffected.

 

Heat Damage Example: Ignore

The distinct red spots are from the heat and the vertical line of white spots is chemical residue from crappy processing. From here on out, the film was left in a hot car, not sure for how long.

 

Less-defined red areas. Kodak Portra 400VC, 120.

 

Mottling. Kodak Portra 400UC, 135.

 

Blue edge. Kodak Portra 400VC, 120.

 

Rusty swath. Kodak Portra 400VC, 120.

 

Rusty swath and mottling. Kodak Portra 400VC, 120.

 

More examples in the Heat-Damaged Film group on Flickr.

Fomapan 100 film in Diafine developer reference

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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.

High speed Tri-X in Diafine reference, ISO 2000-6400

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

High speed Tri-X in Diafine reference by Luke H

Flickr member Luke H tested Kodak Tri-X 400 film (400TX) in Diafine developer at high speed. He shot the frames above at ISOs 2000, 2500, 3200, 4000, 5000, and 6400 with a yellow filter.

Check it out in Luke’s photostream at Flickr

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.