Film Photography Podcast – Episode 95 – January 15, 2014
The internet radio show for people who love to shoot film! Today we discuss Infrared Film, Polaroid Instant Photography, Picturing Wanteete Uganda, Lens Fungus, Caffenol Giveaway and More!!!
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Show Notes
Film Photography Podcast – Episode 95 – January 15th, 2014
Show Notes by Alex Luyckx
Joining Michael Raso is Leslie and Mat with Dane and John too! On today’s show Infrared Film, Polaroid Instant Photography, the Pentax Spotmatic and Mamyia/Sekkor 500DTL, Lens Fungus, Picturing Wantee Uganda, Listener Letters, Caffenol Giveaway and much more. Don’t change that channel!
Develop your film in Coffee!
Lance from Belgium, famous for his wide selection or rare and unique hand rolled film has developed his own blend of Caffenol and is offering it for sale through his Labeautoire website, and has offered a package of his blend along with four rolls of hand-rolled film up to a lucky FPP listener, sign up today in the giveaway section! Enter by February 1, 2014.
Meet Mat! If you happen to be in Columbus Ohio or just passing through and are in need of film give a stop in at Midwest Photo Exchange, where the FPP’s Mat Marash is now working as a sales rep for Lumopro! Midwest has a great selection of film including the latest offerings from the Impossible Project. They also have a fantastic selection of used camera gear for sale. Midwest is located at 3313 N. High St, Columbus, OH.
Packtastic! The Polaroid Corner!
Impossible project film is better than ever, and with the new versions of the films coming out plus all the special editions such as black, gold, silver, and colour frames, the time to shoot Polaroid is now! Michael recommends the 600 series of cameras, they were produced well into the 1990s are still work well. Leslie still has a soft spot for the SX-70 cameras – many were produced cheaply and sold for 20 dollars. Due to their age may not work so well, so treat them with love and you may be surprised.
If you’ve found a Polaroid camera at a yard sale or thrift store it may be worth your while to test the camera first. The gang recommends keeping on hand an empty film pack, along with a dark slide and already exposed Polaroid images. You can fit these back into the cartridge, and then put it into the camera. If the camera spits out the dark slide and can spit out the exposed shots, your camera is good. If you don’t have these you can always find another film shooter that may or just put out the call on the FPP groups to see if there’s anyone in your area. If you’re in Ohio you can visit Image That in lovely downtown Findlay, OH or Midwest Photo in Columbus. If you buy a camera from Impossible Project or from our own FPP store they are fully tested and ready to go right out of the box. If you have any other questions please email us at podcast@filmphotographyproject.com (YO!)
Focus Day Camp: Analog Wow
FPP Listener and professional photographer Neal Carpenter along with partner Jessica Ashley are hosting a film workshop on Febuary 22nd, 2014 at Jessica’s Studio in Palmetto, GA. The cost of the event is 99 dollars with all proceeds going towards Charity: Water. The workshop is aimed at digital photographers who are new to film or interested in shooting film. Check out focus.peachtreephotography.com for more details and how to sign up.
FPP Donates Forward!Project Wanteete!
Louise and folks from the International Center for Photography in New York City has been working in Uganda to bring Photography to remote villages and get cameras into the hands of Ugandan Photographers. Louise came to the FPP for help and The FPP responded! Michael sent 15 cameras along with over 100 rolls of film! Louise is working with local photographers and photolabs to overcome the challenge of home developing film in remote regions without electricity and water. If you want to know more about the project and if you want to support it you can check out their Kickstarter page. And keep an ear to the FPP as our correspondent Viviane Li (who will be interviewing Louise in a later episode).
The Trackman and the Red Toolbox! The famous Trackman never fails to bring something new and in a recent trip to Florida Michael Raso was presented with two cameras in a 1950s toolbox style case. The first is a Mamyia/Sekkor 500DTL – this 1950s SLR uses the M42 screw mount lenses and features a top shutter speed of 1/500 (the 500 in the model number) and using a Dual Through The Lens (DTL) meter system either spot metered or center weighted. The second camera is a Honeywell (US Distributor) Pentax Spotmatic – another M42 mount SLR from the 1960s.
The 500DTL is not as well-known camera and you can pick one up easily from Ebay for around ten bucks. The Spotmatic will run you a little more a good one can run between twenty to forty dollars. Lens will not be hard to find as there are lots of M42 mount lenses out there for good prices.
Lens Fungus!
One thing you need to watch out for when purchasing older camera and lenses that come from humid environments is fungus in your lenses. Fungus will seem to give your lens elements a rainbow like haze on the glass. In minor cases you just have to stop the lens down and it won’t affect the image too much. However in larger cases you may need to get the lens cleaned. While you can do this yourself, Mat advises caution as you could damage the lens itself or wreak the lens coating if done incorrectly. Your best bet if you don’t feel comfortable is to seek professional help.
Out of Sight! – Infrared Film
So what is infrared film? IR film is sensitive to light outside of the visible spectrum, between 700-900 nanometers (nm). Most modern films today such as Efke (if you can still find it) and Rollei IR400 are into the 800nm range, the old Kodak HIE could see into the 900nm range. Kodak also produced a colour IR film known as Aerochrome. Neither HIE or Areochrome is produced anymore and there’s no chance of production starting up again due to costs. In B&W IR film will produce jet black skies and greens will be rendered in white. In colour you’ll get unique pink and purple hues. The real trick to get these results is to use filters. For B&W you can use a deep red (25) filter or get an IR filter such as an R72 (or 093/089b), for colour infrared you can start with a Yellow filter but Orange and Red will get even crazier results.
It’s important to handle the film correctly, loading and unloading the film must be done in subdued light to prevent fogging. It is also important not to shoot the film in cameras that us DX codes to read the film speed as that will also fog the film (as will x-rays from airport scanners). Read the technical information provided with the film to determine how to meter and shoot. You can process the B&W type film at home in traditional chemistry. The colour should be sent to a lab. Make sure the lab knows that the film is IR, TheDarkroom.com is highly recommended and they know how to process IR film right (and won’t charge extra). If you’re looking to try this out, Rollei makes a great IR film that’s available through Freestyle, for Colour Infrared check out our very own FPP Store! Ilford produces a near IR film, SFX200, to achieve IR like results just use a deep red (25) filter.