Film Photography Podcast Episode 113 – November 15, 2014
The internet radio show for people who love to shoot film! Fujifilm Interview! Epson V800 Interview! Keep your Negs Clean! Houay 35mm Camera! Polaroid Minute! Book of the Month and More!
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Show Notes
Film Photography Podcast – Episode 113 – November 15th, 2014
Show Notes By Alex Luyckx
It’s the Internet Radio show for people who love to shoot film! On today’s show we have Interviews from the PhotoPlus Expo with Fujifilm and Epson, Cleaning your negatives and scanning tips, Polaroid Minute, Book of the Month, and much much more! Stay online with Michael Raso, John Fedele, Leslie Lazenby, Mat Marrash, Mark Dalzell and Hunter “Man on the Street” White!
35% OFF Everything at The Darkroom! Yes, you heard that right and just in time for the holiday gift buying season! Our good friends at The Darkroom (thedarkroom.com) is extending an offer to all the FPP listeners – a wonderful 35% off any of the services and products offered by The Darkroom. Simply enter the code FPP35OFF at checkout! Please note this discount does not apply to items already on sale and gift certificates. The offer runs from November 15th to December 6th!
Cleaning those Negs!
We often see it, especially when you’re developing at home and you have hard water, you’ll see spots and mineral deposits on your negs. Michael asks how to clean or even prevent this from happening! Your best bet is to use a squeegee to clean off any excess water from your negatives after developing. Just make sure if you’re doing B&W, C-41, and E-6 or any combination to have a separate squeegee for each type to prevent cross-contamination of chemicals. Additionally adding a touch of Kodak Photoflo, Ilford Wash Aid or similar product during the final stages of washing your film helps as well!
What about when you haven’t done that? Just keeping the dust off your negatives before scanning them or printing them in a traditional darkroom? The quickest method is using canned air to blow away most dust, a generic branded sticky (post-it) note can help get rid of the finer stuff says Leslie. But avoid the actual Post-It brand, they’re way too sticky and could damage it. An anti-static brush helps as well. The best out there (and most expensive) are produced by Kinetronics. For more serious clean up jobs, Leslie recommends Pec 12, which can clean nearly everything (sharpie, grease pencil, soot and smoke damage, and similar) from your negatives.
Better Scanning – Get rid of the rings
We’ve all seen them on our scans, funny rings from where the negative comes into contact with the scanner bed. This is often caused by cupping of the film negative and those rings are called “Newton’s Rings”. The refractive index of the scanner bed glass and your negative are different. There are a couple ways to prevent that. You can tape your negatives down flat on the scanner bed, or upgrade your scanner bed glass to ANR (Anti-Newton Ring) glass, or simply get a new holder that has the ANR glass built in, or just buy the glass straight and over lay it on your film. You can pick up the glass at: www.betterscanning.com but be warned it’s not cheap. But if you want better scans, it’s worth the investment.
FPP @ PhotoPlus Expo
Hunter “Man on the Street” White is at it again and is visiting some of the vendors at this past October’s PDN PhotoPlus Expo. First up is FPP super friend and Fujifilm sales rep Brandon Remler! Big news from Fuji is several new cameras from their Instax line.
First two are from the Mini 8 line in two new colors or flavors – Grape and Rasberry. Additionally the Mini 90 got a bit of a retro facelift with their Neoclassic and its faux leather finish. Finally an upgraded model of their Instax Wide, the Wide 300 also features that retro finish and as Hunter says, it’s the perfect size for a camera just like a Mamyia 7. And as discussed in past shows the Instax Share SP-1 bluetooth printer that lets your print from your smart phone or certain Fuji Digital cameras onto Instax Mini Film!
It’s been a mainstay of many FPP listeners and FPP itself since the show’s inception, the Epson V700! Mark from Epson talks to Hunter about their latest models in top-of-the-line flatbed film scanners. The Epson V800 and V850. The V850 is the top of the line model features high quality optics and a top resolution of 6400DPI. But what really makes it stand out over the V700? First off the light source has been switched from florescent to LED, allowing for faster startup time. And the big one is a huge leap in quality from the film holders that come with the scanner out of the box. These are much sturdier than previous ones, and even feature ANR glass! But what about maybe odd sized films like 110, sadly the answer is no from Epson it just wouldn’t be cost effective.
Mark Dalzell drops into the studio to show off one of his flea market finds, the Anny 35. This Japanese point-and-shoot camera was produced in the 1960s by the Houay (Hoei) Ccompany. Featured a fixed-focus 50mm f/8 lens. Settings wise you can set various apertures between f/8 and f/22 but only a fixed shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. It’s a bit of an odd-ball Mark says, perfect for Dane. It’s a blend between Russian, Japanese, and American camera design. And while a toy, it’s a little more civilized with the ability to set the aperture.
FPP helps out!
FPP gives back to the community, are you a teacher or a professor? Doing a project that promotes film photography? Shoot a line, podcast@filmphotographyproject.com ! FPP receives LOTS of film cameras, refurbishes them all and gets them out into the community? If you have a stock pile of cameras or film that you’re not using, you can always donate them to the FPP for use in our outreach programs. You can send them to: Film Photography Podcast PO Box 152 Butler, NJ, 07405 USA.
Letters! FPP Listener Paul writes in with a little problem. He’s been shooting FP-100c in his Crown Graphic but instead of getting beautiful pictures, he’s just getting a smug of color on the film and wants some pointers on how to set his camera. Since FP100c is an ASA-100 film, Mat suggests starting with the Sunny-16 rule, setting the shutter speed or 1/125 or 1/100 (in older lenses) then if it’s sunny outdoors set the aperture to f/16, and then open it up from there if the light is duller. Working inside, best bet is a light meter, either a dedicated unit or download an app for your smartphone. Also you may have to factor in bellows extension, but Mat has a great video up on YouTube that explains it all. Have a burning question, write to use: podcast@filmphotographyproject.com we always answer!
Book of the Month
Mat brings us the book of the month, sort of. It’s more a magazine, a digital one, an e-zine. The zine is called “Looking Glass Magazine” and is produced by the Eastern Sierra Center for Photography. If you like View Camera Magazine, this is very similar Mat explains, but doesn’t have the same amount of adverting. In fact Mat is featured in their latest (October-November 2014) issue! You can read more about the magazine at their website: lookingglasszine.com or hit up their kiosk and make a subscription, 19.99$ gets you a full year (six issues) or pick and choose for 3.99$ a piece.
Polaroid Minute
One of the most common questions that flood the inbox is how to test your SX-70/600/Spectra Polaroid camera. Since these cameras rely on the film pack to power them, if you have never shot the format before and don’t have a fresh empty pack, you’re in a bit of a pickle! If you’re buying one from a Garage Sale, Antique Store, or Flea Market, your best bet is to contact people who have shot the format and see if they’ll loan/give you an empty pack. Additionally adding some exposed Polaroid film and a dark slide into the empty pack means you can easily test all the functions of the camera before purchase!
110…we haven’t forgotten
Like Polaroid, now is the best time to shoot 110 film, Lomography produces a B&W, Colour Negative, and Colour Slide in the cute 110 format, and the cameras have never been cheaper. The FPP ON-Line Store is jam packed with 110 film! Michael suggests getting one that doesn’t take batteries just to make your life easier. Looking for processing, send it over to The Darkroom, and they’ll even scan it for you! Check out our store for a good selection of film and cameras.
And that’s about it for us, but we’ll be back in a short two weeks. But do stick around for some music from The Vanishing Hitchhikers, whose new album, Tales from Hook Point, will be released soon and even on vinyl thanks to their successful kickstarter campaign! Following that is always a favourite, a cut from the Pink Delicates first Album Who Stole the Quiet Day!
Love The FPP? Visit our On-Line Store for unique hand-rolled film and amazing deals on filM!