kwoodard wrote:
Amazing capture! I want to know everything about the person and everything else.
She is a lovely lady that sells 'organic, vegan marijuana products' (her words) in Venice. She was a bit bummed that I was not/am not a 'user' and was very camera shy. Until I told her it was film, then she perked right up and posed for the pic! I sent her a copy.
I find that if I have a far more old school camera with me, like a Nikon F/Leica film, TLR etc, instead of the DSLR looking F6, strangers are far more receptive to having their picture taken. I think it is because they understand - unwittingly or not - that there is a far greater commitment from the photographer in this act, as there is a real cost in taking that shot. And a permanence to it, instead of capturing a digital image that most probably will dissolve into the ether.
I've been using the FF (Famous Format) No.1 Monobath for about 5 months now. I absolutely love it. 6 minutes to develop, inversion-agitating every 30 sec., then 5 min tap water wash. Done. And all at "room temp" 72ºF!
At the end of the wash I stop the tap and swish a tiny little bit of dish soap into the water, dip and dunk the reels a few times, finger squeegee once or twice, and hang 'em up. The whole process, from loading to hanging takes about 15 min!
As (I hope) you can see, the results are very nice. Crisp, clean very little grain and nice contrast. Of course, that's the T-Max talking, but the monobath definitely "agrees" with it. It also works fine with PanF Pro 50. Next I'm going to try Ilford Delta 3200...
Only note is that you definitely have to inversion-agitate. I tried being lazy and spin-agitating on one roll, but that created a streaky negative. (Spin-agitating E6 works fine.)
Activatedfx wrote:
I've been using the FF (Famous Format) No.1 Monobath for about 5 months now. I absolutely love it. 6 minutes to develop, inversion-agitating every 30 sec., then 5 min tap water wash. Done. And all at "room temp" 72ºF!
At the end of the wash I stop the tap and swish a tiny little bit of dish soap into the water, dip and dunk the reels a few times, finger squeegee once or twice, and hang 'em up. The whole process, from loading to hanging takes about 15 min!
As (I hope) you can see, the results are very nice. Crisp, clean very little grain and nice contrast. Of course, that's the T-Max talking, but the monobath definitely "agrees" with it. It also works fine with PanF Pro 50. Next I'm going to try Ilford Delta 3200...
Only note is that you definitely have to inversion-agitate. I tried being lazy and spin-agitating on one roll, but that created a streaky negative. (Spin-agitating E6 works fine.)...Show more →
Great feedback - thanks! I have quite a bit of B&W chem stockpiled but when it is done I will try out a monobath. I may try the Cinestill version....
I'm sure they are all similar. The main attraction for the FF No. is that it works at room temperature. FF No. 1 has been around a long time and improved along the way. The CineStill mono looks interesting, though!
Nice! How do you like TMAX 400? I've shot with Tri-X and have now switched to HP5 PLUS but am thinking about trying out TMAX 400. Any tips on what it's best used for? I know certain B&W films are better for landscapes and others for portraits.
hulk2006 wrote:
Nice! How do you like TMAX 400? I've shot with Tri-X and have now switched to HP5 PLUS but am thinking about trying out TMAX 400. Any tips on what it's best used for? I know certain B&W films are better for landscapes and others for portraits.
I like TMAX400 quite a lot. It's my go to film for ISO 400-800. The grain is exceptionally low so use this film if you want near zero grain. It will seem somewhat sterile compared to HP5 Plus.
For those of you that own the FUJI GW690III are you getting 7 or 8 photos per 120 roll? I am getting 7 shots and am wondering what I'm doing wrong. How are you guys loading your rolls?
For me, 8 shots, and perfectly spaced between the leader and tail. Try holding a finger on the film spool as you wind onto the take-up reel so there's a little tension to keep things taught. Line up the film arrow with the camera arrow on the right, near the take-up spool. Should work perfectly.
