Got the first roll from this guy
Dandy Burger
Lily – so bad it looks like I did it on purpose
Dead raven in the yard
Jemez Mountains from La Mesilla
Macro fun with the luchador salt & pepper shakers
I glossed over a lot of the features, face detect, in-camera effects like sepia and saturation, exposure compensation besides bracketing, etc. Even Sony divided the information into a setup guide, instruction manual, and handbook — probably 250 pages worth.
18 Jan 2019 – I used GIMP to fix the perspective & adjusted the levels. The deep shadows fooled the meter.
21 Jan 2019 – Waiting for moonrise. The camera biffed the white balance (WB) but GIMP fixed it up.
28 Jan 2019 – M at Plaza Cafe.
10 Apr 2019 – Macro is hard in high wind. The camera did a great job during a rare lull.
10 Apr 2019 – Lupines (I think) in the yard. Bokeh’s not great but not bad.
10 Apr 2019 – Shot through a filthy window at max zoom (78/465mm equiv). I tweaked WB & shadows.
Developing notes
I used Kodak HC-110 developer. I like it and it is what I have right now. I used dilution H, which is 1 part developer to 63 parts water. This is straight developer concentrate, not a stock solution. The concentrate is the US strength, where dilution B is 1+31 — I’ve read that HC-110 comes in a weaker dilution across the pond. I’ve never seen it or used it, just throwing the warning out there.
One thing about using more dilute developer is to make sure you have enough developer concentrate in the solution. The Yankee tank I used calls for 340mL of developer for one roll of 35mm film. Easy enough — divide 340 by 64 to get the amount of syrup I need. It comes out to 5.3125mL. However, you need at least 6mL of HD-110 syrup to have enough of the active chemicals to convert the exposed portions of a roll of 35mm film to metallic silver. So… 6mL X 64 = 384mL total. I use dilution H a lot so I made a mark on a graduated cylinder with a permanent marker at 384mL. That way, I just put in 6mL of syrup and fill to the mark with water. Use dilution H as a one-shot — don’t re-use.
An oral syringe for measuring medicine for children (cats in my case) is perfect for this. I fill a 3mL syringe twice, squirt it into the cylinder, add some water into the cylinder, suck and squirt the water a few times to make sure I get all of the syrup out of the syringe, then top off to 384mL.
I got the most useful information about HC-110 from this page at Covington Innovations.
I used Kodak indicator stop bath at a dilution of 16mL/liter. You might see the recommended dilution stated as 1:64 or 1:63. It’s meant to be one part of a total solution of 64 parts. That’s why I like the 1+## notation rather than a ratio — you don’t have to guess whether the writer means 1 part plus ## water or 1 part of ## solution. It can be re-used and changes color (the indicator) when exhausted but it’s inexpensive so I don’t re-use it.
*The stop bath concentrate is a strong acetic acid. Strong enough to require ground shipping only in the US, so don’t get it on you. It’s also flammable and an inhalation hazard, so seriously, treat it with respect and protect your eyes.*
I used Ilford Rapid Fixer at 1+4. I normally don’t re-use the fixer either. It’s more expensive than the stop but I shoot such a bizarre mix of color print film (usually developed as color print negatives), slides, B&W film, and digital that my problem is usually shelf life rather than chemical exhaustion. If I’m doing a large run, I might re-use. In this case, I didn’t know what the color print film might leave in the solutions, so definitely one-shot.
With everything mixed, we’re finally ready to go.
Everything was done at a temperature of 68F (~20C).
Develop for 11 minutes. The data sheet calls for agitation every 30 seconds. I have a tendency to agitate too vigorously and dilution H is a little more forgiving so I generally do 4 inversions immediately after filling, smack the tank on the counter as I set it down to loosen any bubbles, and repeat at the beginning of each subsequent minute.
Stop for 1 minute. I did 4 inversions + smack at the beginning and then let it sit for the rest of the minute.
Fix for 5 minutes. Ilford recommends 2-5 minutes for B&W films. This was an experiment so getting anything was the goal. I used the same agitation scheme as the developing step.
Wash using the Ilford method: “After fixing, fill the spiral tank with water at the same temperature, +/-5ºC (9ºF), as the processing solutions and invert it five times. Drain the water away and refill. Invert the tank ten times. Once more drain the water away and refill. Finally, invert the tank twenty times and drain the water away.”
I did an extra 20 inversion wash step for good measure.
I filled the tank and added a couple of drops of Kodak Photo-Flo and did 20 inversions.
I took the film out, gave a loud YES! when I saw images, squeegeed with a cellulose sponge and hung to dry.
Interesting that both rolls, shot about a year apart, are partly shot at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. Some moiré pattern on the 1st image here – I must not have had the film secure in the negative holder.
C-41 developed in B&W chemicals with no color correction.
She knows me too well.
Lots of grain & scanner noise but nice color and exposure.
Iron gate near Il Vicino Pizza in Santa Fe.
Seems a bit late but OK.
It’s only fair — I took a picture of the Franka with the Photura
The wedding bouquet after a few weeks
Playing with the double exposure
Detail — Jem The Cheshire Cat
I was so stoked when I saw the old 3000 speed film inside the Polaroid 100 with the Zeiss viewfinder, I didn’t thoroughly go through the kit. Inside the cold clip was this old sepia Polaroid print.
Looks like an airport terminal.
On the back is what looks like the letter ‘H’ and the number 815341. It seems to be part of the print and not a catalog number or something added later.
I started looking up what the codes mean. What I found referenced other information on the back of the print. I hadn’t seen anything but shining a flashlight on it, I could see more information. I mangled the scan to get anough contrast but here it is.
Hidden (as in faded to near invisibility) information.
“POLACOLOR ® 75 SPEED TYPE 108”. Interesting. This isn’t sepia, it’s color, just really faded.
The blob at the far right goes with the manufacturing code — it should end with a letter. I didn’t chop off the scan, the letter is just badly placed and only half on the print.
According to this document (820K PDF), ‘H’ is the month of manufacture, so, August. The first digit is the year of manufacture, so ‘8’, but 19_what_8? It would seem to be 1968 since the same document says “renamed Type 108 Polacolor 2, 1975”.
Screen grab from the document. I’m confused
The example shown in the document for Polaroid Land Pack Film is confusing. The example serial number is “H612591 P” and they give August, 1976. It seems that the example should say “Polacolor 2” since it’s after 1975. Unless they mean it was renamed to “Type 108 Polacolor” in 2, 1975 (as in February, 1975)? Or maybe the film name change doesn’t correspond to what’s printed on the back of the print?
OK, I will have to dig more for what decade. This other document (155K PDF) from 1998, shows better what the other numbers mean.
The next 2 digits in H 815341, the “15”, are numbers showing what machine made the film pack. The next 2 digits, “34” are more useful. Using the lookup table on page 7 of the 2nd document, “34” means the ‘A’ shift on the 12th of the month.
So, this print was made on machine 15, during ‘A’ shift, on 12 August, in either 1968 or 1978.
I’ll try dating the 3000 film that was in the camera. Of course, like Midge, the print may have nothing to do with the camera.
Update (still 1 March 2019): The 3000 film wasn’t as old as I thought. It was made 10 May 2001 so it’s no help trying to date the photo. At least I know for later films, the date codes work.
2nd update (still 1 March 2019):
Heritage Auctions has Andy Warhol Polaroids on Polacolor 2 and it does say it.
Polacolor 2 does say “Polacolor 2”. H107621
Finally, I’m happy enough with the evidence to say my print’s film was made 12 August 1968.
Processing and scanning by The Camera Shop of Santa Fe.
Plant buddies. Time to re-pot the spider plant.
Still life with 1/4 scale Neanderthal skull, urn, and stalagmite. Ignored the parallax marks & cut off the urn.
The neighbor’s cat waiting for feral food on top of our shed. We call him/her/not sure Cha-Ka.
Goober knows what to do on a cold, snowy day.
Sinclair mascot at the Pojoaque Dino Mart.
Saw blade target. The lens in this weird camera is sharp-sharp.
I recently acquired an old Canon Digital Rebel. I don’t have a charger yet so I haven’t used it but it has a CompactFlash card in it with images from July 2013 to August 2015.
Whoever the photographer is, I hope she sticks with it.
Probably San Diego based on a ship in another image.
Nice macro.
A person of discerning taste I see.
Christmas ornament selfie with festive nails.
Out of focus but this is a cool shot.
Goober thinks he wants out.
Banana tree just might make it through the winter.
Some moiré from the plastic covering on the power pole.
Fall colors
The stripey bros – Jem and Goober
Not bad for indoors, handheld, and ISO 100