B&W Instant film on test (Impossible Project)

I have been thinking about starting to work with instant camera on some photo projects for a few months now. Yes -  instant camera :) There are many people who consider it as a nonsense when we are talking about serious work but it's the same with Holga - 'useless toy camera'. I am actually using it successfully for photographic projects and I am getting fantastic images. Why not do the same with instant camera? Exactly. 
Once you mastering specific camera it will become a perfect tool in your creative process.
Doesn't really matter what it is.
Never got a good results with Large format polaroid films but it was usually due to faulty or simply imperfect equipment (holders).  

Now, there is a chance to make it right...with something smaller.
There is a few options available these days but after all it will be a choice in between two films - Impossible Project and Fuji Instax.

Fuji - seams to work perfectly with consistent, good results and images which are not really changing in time...
Impossible Project - these films can surprise in every single shot for a change and there is no warranty that the look of the image will be the same in a few weeks...
But...there is one thing which keeps me away from Fuji at least for now - format. I don't really like Instax Wide format and Instax Mini is just to small. Impossible is way better in this field giving nice large photographs in Spectra film or slightly smaller but square (the best format ever) with its 600 Type, I-Type and SX70...
There is however another factor/category which is quite serious and makes Fuji stands out - price. Impossible is about 3EUR per image which is quite expensive considering the fact that Fuji Instax Wide for comparison cost about 1EUR per image.

Right...lots of pros and cons on each side.

A few years ago I got a great present from a good friend of mine, Bart (Light Painted) - Polaroid Spectra camera with glass coated lens. Really nice camera.
I tried it just after that with B&W film from Impossible...which came out totally sepia. That was it. No more tests, camera ended up in a drawer as there was no other option for photographic material.

I just decided to give it another chance when I started to think again about instant camera and when I realised that after all this time Impossible invented a new type of B&W film.

Film arrived just before Christmas. Great! All I wanted to know was if the B&W is B&W and if gives relatively good quality image with nice contrast and acceptable tonality (as for instant camera). Colour is beyond my interest if you are asking ;)

Film loaded. All seams to be working well. 
Time for a few snaps... and big disappointment on the first try as photograph was not coming out from camera. 
OFF and ON... Here it is. Wasted one, overexposed... probably due to the fact that it was exposed twice or even three times in order to get it out from camera. 

Problem with power? Hm, not really. It's a new film and battery in it is fresh. Camera seams to be fine as well. 
Another try... The same story...
These test brings nothing... Time to calm down, relax and find solution... 
I did a quick research online - the problem seams to be with the curtain which prevents accidental exposure (in the front of camera, over the pocket where film is ejected). It seams to be blocking for some reason film on its way out.
One quick move and curtain is removed ;)

Third try... and here it is. Photograph comes out smoothly.
Processing takes about 5 minutes as per instruction. Image is slightly overexposed and has a slight sepia tint but it is almost B&W. It's acceptable kind of B&W ;)

© Artur Sikora
(bright sun from the left side, camera set to '0', no adjustements)

Spectra has a possibility of making small aperture adjustments - brighter or darker. Next shot was with 'darker' option.
I was trying to shoot in a really bright day with nice strong sun and good contrasts to get images in the way I like... Holga with similar aperture and settings works well in it so I presume this camera should behave in a similar manner.

Have a look please..

© Artur Sikora
(bright sun from the back, camera set to darken image)

© Artur Sikora
(bright sun from the back, camera set to darken image)

© Artur Sikora
(bright sun from the back, camera set to darken image)

Almost there but not exactly. I am quite happy with contrasts. Images are Black and white and they are big :) comparing to Fuji... But the look of it is still lacking something which is hard to explain... 

Two shots left. Time for different lighting. Evening at home... As usually during tests I had to talk to Amelia (my daughter). Two shots in two slightly different lighting conditions (please see descriptions under each photograph).
One is just perfect technically the other one is better from visual point of view but not sharp enough. It was however my fault.

© Artur Sikora
(desk lamp in a front of Amelia, over the book, ceiling lights in room ON, camera set to '0', no adjustments)

© Artur Sikora
(desk lamp in a front of Amelia, over the book, ceiling lights in room OFF, camera set to '0', no adjustments)

Perfect! This is exactly what I was looking for.  Nice tonality and excellent sharpness once properly set and focused (It is of course rather camera not film itself).

Photograph on the left side was made with first version of 'B&W' Impossible Project film and it was never B&W.
Image on the right side was made with new version of the same film. Please see description under the image above. 

Will have to think now about getting nice SX70 with manual focus for square images at some stage. 

Now, Fuji plan to release square format Instax in a few months ...it will be smaller than Impossible but this will be a great option for consideration. 
Not sure if they will decide to go with Black and White as well though...

Questions, questions... and doubts ...


 

Tests with Holga 120 Pan

I bought my first Holga at the very beginning of 2009. It was a classic model 120GN with glass lens which suppose to be a bit sharper comparing to original plastic one.

And it is very sharp indeed as for toy camera once you manage to judge distance to your subject properly.

Extremely light, small and easy to use makes it perfect portable medium format camera.

My 120GN allowed me to record many great photograph in the last years. Some of them like ‘Film House’ received quite serious appreciation.

In mid 2013 looking at some work of other photographers my attention caught series of photographs taken by Phil Kneen with his wide Holga called 120 pan. Link is HERE.

That was something totally new for me especially in this format. I love wide aspect ratio like the one in fantastic Hasselblad XPan but this time it was medium format and what is very important - very affordable medium format. Of course there is no comparison in optics haha ;) 

It took me over a year to get this camera into my hands. I did it anyway ;)

First impression - simply stretched 120GN ;)

I have to ad that I was using for a while pinhole model but it’s not the same. I am not a huge fan of pinhole photography as I really like to have as much control as possible over the frame I am going to record. 

Last weekend weather was just perfect for the experiment with my 120 Pan.

Destination? UCD campus - the best place ever ;) Beautiful sunny day, modernist forms of an old campus, lines, shadows …

Couple of hours of shooting, 2 rolls of film (6 photographs in each! love it) all with a big excitement.

Next day another roll and …processing time in the evening.

And that’s it …

All mentioned excitement has gone. I did the most ridiculous mistake or maybe oversight is a better word. 

Doesn't matter - ridiculous is how I describe it. I did something which I am always talking about in a form of warning when somebody is asking me about using Holga. 

I switched it into BULB mode ;) Yes. all of you who own Holga know this little switch at the bottom of the lens ;)

Position of mention switch is very easy to mix up especially when another switch theoretically responsible for aperture works in sort of inverted way.

All this time was wasted. Films ruined…well almost. I quite like photograph presented below which was made outside campus, on the way to Blackrock. 

I am coming back next weekend to UCD if weather allows of course! 
For now however I couldn't wait and had to make some images before that.
I simply had to check if it really works in the way I want. 

And... it does work  ;)

Yesterday I went outside my place and made a few photographs in the area. Images are still not perfect as film was expired and didn't gave me desired quality but I am really happy with it anyway.

So.. camera is fantastic! 
If any of you is thinking about it just give it a go! 

Pleasure guaranteed ...once you will remember about all switches ;)

Espresso...(tests with Caffenol-C-L for fast films)

Enjoying quiet days after really busy time related to my last exhibition  I decided to do small experiments from my list ;). Alternative ways of developing are on the top of it. Described some time ago Caffenol-C-M became my favourite developer for slow and medium speed films. It gives results unreachable for other developers available on merket.

It is a time for faster films now and Caffenol-C-L. I have a box of undeveloped negatives. Some of them are even 2 years old. Its a good moment to work it out and try new methods as well. I grabbed roll of Trix (135) for a start.

Chemistry is the same as in case of Caffenol-C-M. Proportions are  different and Potassium Bromide (Kbr) has to be added. (all taken from Caffenol blog /please click the link/)

proportions for 0.5l:

- 8g of washing soda (has to be water free)

- 5g of vitamin C

- 20g of instant coffee

- 0.5g of Potassium Bromide (Kbr)

It is stand dev. 70min with 10 gentle turns at the beginning, 20°C. About 5 min of pre-soaking is recommended to promote even development.  I am always pre-soaking (even before using traditional dev methods) so it is kind of routine for me.

Long waiting time to see the results.

Unfortunately all the excitement has gone when i took out completely empty roll from dev tank. What went wrong? ...

Caffenol-C-L is a very strict developer. All ingredients has to be perfectly prepared and measured. I did everything exactly as it has to be done.

I decided to contact Reinhold, author of Caffenol blog .

He advised me to check bits and pieces i wasn't really aware of. One of them it was to ensure a type of washing soda I am using. I tested it in the oven. 100g of washing soda on the tray in 120°C. After a while I noticed a water allover soda on the tray.

washing soda in the oven (with water)

That’s it! Caffenol-C-L require water free soda! To be honest i didn’t know that washing soda I am using has water in it...especially when it works perfectly with Caffenol-C-M where theoretically water free soda should be used as well.

Anyway, after a bit over an hour I took the tray out of the oven. I checked weight of soda again - Only 38g!

There was almost 2/3 of water in it obviously.

washing soda after over an hour heating

After that I repeated all developing process. This time everything went perfectly.

Below you can see result. This photograph was taken about year ago in Wicklow Mountains.

Wicklow Mountains. Nikon F5, TriX 400 (135) in Caffenol-C-L

After TriX I developed roll of Ilford Delta 400 (120), just a couple of months old. The same proportion, time and temperature as in case of TriX.

Killruddery Gardens, Yashica Mat 124G, Ilford Delta 400 (120) in Caffenol-C-L

According to Reinhold's advice I can add relatively more soda instead of drying it. It would be better to have waterfree soda of course but this method works quite well.
I assume the same will be with Caffenol-C-H. Will try it tomorrow. You can follow my facebook  website to see the results. Thanks!