Thank you very much, Bob! I’m enjoying all of your black & white work.
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madNbad wrote:
As you have found, this forum is full of fun. Old cameras, plastic cameras, stuff found in thrift shops and grandma's attic. Respooled movie stock and forty year old Panatomic X that was hidden in the bottom of a freezer.
I never left film and currently, having the best time. Scanning has stepped in for darkroom work and things that were learned decades ago are put into action. Information is shared and I'm constantly learning something new.
Fred did us a big favor by having a dedicated film forum and it's always nice to have new contributors.
That’s all great stuff! I too am glad Fred added the film section.
Today I received the FM2. It’s in beautiful near-mint condition, very lightly and gently used, was package very well, from a 100% feedback experienced eBay seller in Illinois. The description was very highly detailed and accurate down to the minutest detail, but unfortunately the seller did not reveal that the camera absolutely wreaks of smoke. I knew there was a problem as soon as I opened the box, at arm’s length the stench of smoke was obvious, each packing material saturated with it, then unfortunately the camera itself. When I put the camera up to my eye the smoke stench is so strong it almost make me nauseated. I’ve been a seller & buyer of camera gear on eBay for 24 years and I have not had this happen before. I messaged the seller and said I’ll leave it out on a table to hopefully air out for a couple days, but if the stink remains I’ll have to file for a return.
Today I received the FM2. It’s in beautiful near-mint condition, very lightly and gently used, was package very well, from a 100% feedback experienced eBay seller in Illinois. The description was very highly detailed and accurate down to the minutest detail, but unfortunately the seller did not reveal that the camera absolutely wreaks of smoke. I knew there was a problem as soon as I opened the box, at arm’s length the stench of smoke was obvious, each packing material saturated with it, then unfortunately the camera itself. When I put the camera up to my eye the smoke stench is so strong it almost make me nauseated. I’ve been a seller & buyer of camera gear on eBay for 24 years and I have not had this happen before. I messaged the seller and said I’ll leave it out on a table to hopefully air out for a couple days, but if the stink remains I’ll have to file for a return.
Odors are notoriously difficult to abate. I had two different Artist & Artisan half cases that arrived smelling like a damp warehouse. I tried leaving them on a table to air, placed them in a low temperature oven for a couple of hours even wiping them with alcohol and leather cleaners. None of it worked and I returned both. Good luck with it and there are plenty of other FM's out there.
I shot a roll of Tri-X on the Mamiya NC1000. I haven't shot much Tri-X but the past couple of rolls no matter the developer does not inspire me. It works well on the old truck below but otherwise, meh.
I also shot this entire roll with only the 135/2.8 on the NC1000. I haven't used the lens much so wanted to see how good it is. I certainly won't judge by this roll but I'm encouraged.
I love Tri-X! Spent a better part of a year leaning how to use it with Rodinal. One of the main things I learned was to not over agitate. With Rodinal, I'll start with thirty seconds of constant, gentle agitation followed by three inversions every minute. I started doing the same with Film Photographt Project's D-76 clone and now with Adox XT-3.
Today I received the FM2. It’s in beautiful near-mint condition, very lightly and gently used, was package very well, from a 100% feedback experienced eBay seller in Illinois. The description was very highly detailed and accurate down to the minutest detail, but unfortunately the seller did not reveal that the camera absolutely wreaks of smoke. I knew there was a problem as soon as I opened the box, at arm’s length the stench of smoke was obvious, each packing material saturated with it, then unfortunately the camera itself. When I put the camera up to my eye the smoke stench is so strong it almost make me nauseated. I’ve been a seller & buyer of camera gear on eBay for 24 years and I have not had this happen before. I messaged the seller and said I’ll leave it out on a table to hopefully air out for a couple days, but if the stink remains I’ll have to file for a return.
That happened to me with a Zeiss Ikon ZM. The seller did not disclose he was a smoker, and the camera stank. I let it air out for a week, wiped it with isopropyl acohol etc. Did not do a thing, still stank.
Luckily (!) the camera had a film advance fault and so I got to return it. If it didn't stink I may have tried to fix it.
rji2goleez wrote:
I shot a roll of Tri-X on the Mamiya NC1000. I haven't shot much Tri-X but the past couple of rolls no matter the developer does not inspire me. It works well on the old truck below but otherwise, meh.
I decided to get back into shooting and developing b&w myself after a fairly long hiatus, and tried to really make up my mind on what film and dev to use (never been really consistent with it in the past, frankly), so I spent the last week looking at myriads of images and reading a ton of stuff regarding dilutions, dev times, agitaion etc.
As a sidenote, this guy's comparison / review videos I've found rather helpful in this regard: The Naked Photographer
I can see how Tri-X may fail to look "exciting" or "inspiring".
Still it ended up on top of my list (actually shooting a roll of Delta 400, Hp5, T-Max 400 and Tri-X side by side right now; will develop them all the same and then hopefully be wiser / able to decide what to settle on : )
As always, it obviously depends on what mood you're going for, I'd say Tri-X just lends itself very much to an understated, "classic" vibe. That will be even more pronounced the less spectacular the light is.
Are both your shots developed with the same developer? They look so different..
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madNbad wrote:
I love Tri-X! Spent a better part of a year leaning how to use it with Rodinal. One of the main things I learned was to not over agitate. With Rodinal, I'll start with thirty seconds of constant, gentle agitation followed by three inversions every minute. I started doing the same with Film Photographt Project's D-76 clone and now with Adox XT-3.
Nice shots, I appreciate how Rodinal looks sometimes in other people's shot, yet don't "dare" to use it myself, it's so brutal 😅
XT-3 is basically the same thing as XTOL, right?
While I haven't decided on what film to use yet I did settle on XTOL, found this gives kind of the classic look, but with a little bit more of an "edge" (compared to HC-110 / D-76).
Please post more Tri-X / XT-3 examples, if you like!
