I was looking for something else when I started flipping through an old binder full of negatives.
Central Bucks West High School Football Game 1973
Nikon FTn, Nikkor 500mm Mirror lens, Tri-X, D-76
Not too bad for a more than fifty year old negative that I just pulled out of the Print File page and scanned. Straight B&W conversion from NLP, no other adjustments.
Anything but recent, but rather my first attempt at copying negatives with a mirrorless camera. This is a project that I’m about to start where I scan/copy all the negatives that preceded my purchase of the Coolscan 9000ED in 2004. Here is an image from December of 1970 and one from December of 1990. Pretty excited to see what is captured on these negatives.
I collect old cameras and one camera I bought had a roll of Kodak Safety Film still inside. I didn't believe anything on the film would still be good after about 60+ years in the old, Ansco Dollar Box camera. Anyway, a friend of mine said he would try to develop the film but couldn't guarantee any pictures would turn out. Well, I was surprised when 5 pictures did
Jim
I started scanning pages of 120 film. I scanned a couple individual negs (with a holder) from one roll that caught me eye. I don't recall shooting either image.
In 1973 I was experimenting with Kodalith graphics art film to create B&W photos with little to no gray. You would sandwich a negative and an unexposed sheet of film in a contact print frame to make an interneg (transparency), then you repeated it with the new interneg, and a new sheet of film. Other than reversing the grays were lost. One of the images I have the Kodalith high contrast film, the interneg, but not the original negative. So I tried to recreate what the original negative would have produced as a normal image by scanning the interneg. The amount of crud on the graphics art film was really bad - so I used the Lasersoft SDRx plugin on the files created from raw (dng) scans using Vuescan to try and recapture those lost grays.
raw scan
after SDRx - it needs retouching, but is closer to the original negative
Came across a film archival sheet from my long ago sold Zeiss Ikoflex Ia using Kodak T-max 100. I don't remember what developer I used, but this is 1997. I got the kids fake teeth at a novelty shop - so they were a bit hyped up at the time of this photo.
This is probably my earliest photo. As a kid, my mom bought me a camera and I made this attempt at taking a double exposure. Here's an experimental shot of a friend from around 1965.
A few sports related shots. First, Dave Kingman swings late on a pitch at Wrigley. Photo 2 - Pitcher Bob Fiske, who I played on a local team with in the 70s. Photo 3 - Bears QB Vince Evans gets protection from his line against the Lions in the Pontiac Silverdome on Thanksgiving day in 1980. I took all photos with the Canon EF film camera with the Canon 200mm 2.8 FD lens. The color shots were on Kodachrome 64 and the last one was Tri-X 400. Digital scanning done with Nikon 55mm 3.5 ai.
Two more from 1973. Exakta RTL-1000 Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f1.8 Pancolour lens. Bulk loaded (and scratched by me - I was 14 yo) Ektachrome 64 film. Discovered yesterday that the Nikon SF-200 scanner slide attachment works on the LS-2000 as well as the 4000, and 5000. I also fired up the Windows 2000 Pro computer that I built just for the Nikon LS-1000. I still am amazed how good Silverfast does with this old hardware. I tried to clean them up
Yellowstone Vuescan with the Nikon LS-2000 and SF-200 attachment at 2700 dpi
Mesa Verde_Silver Fast with the Nikon LS-1000 at 5400 dpi
This was 30 years ago on a locomobile meeting. Camera was an east german Praktika MTL 5b and lens probably the Zeiss Jena Fektogon 35 f2.4. Colour negative film.
" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Aug 24, 2025 at 12:51 AM
This was the same camera and either the Flektogon 35 or the Tessar 50 f/2,8 with a closeup achromat in front.
The negative printed well in analog way on 50x75cm. Generally the image quality of my old 35mm negatives varies, some are astonishingly good, others very basic, just good enough for postcard size.
Here's one that I did using my Canon R5. I had already scanned this with an Epson 700 but I think I like it better with the R5 and EF100mm. It seems to be much faster and easier. Originally taken with 4x5 Crown Graphic using it as a point and shoot.
27 years ago at a ground breaking - a freebie I did that went sideways. I t was raining, then the wind wiped up. and the signage went crazy, the guys in the church shoes were struck in the mud, and stopped looking forward at the camera. I was laughing so hard, my feet were stuck as well. To my side was a bystander enjoying the whole spectacle. Her smile wade it worth it.
Aug 24, 2025 at 12:51 AM
I t was raining, then the wind wiped up. and the signage went crazy, the guys in the church shoes were struck in the mud, and stopped looking forward at the camera. I was laughing so hard, my feet were stuck as well. To my side was a bystander enjoying the whole spectacle. Her smile wade it worth it.
