Bergger Pancro 400

This film is something special, a totally new film with two emulsion layers.

I am really impressed with the amount of detail it can hold in the shadows when underexposed, and how much detail it retains in the blown highlights. Scanning and processing was a little tricky, I always scan for neutral tiff files and then batch edit with a curve later on. The neutral scans were muddy in the shadows -its like the film retains details too well, and it took me awhile to sort out but I had to curve down the blacks a lot more than I normally would with HP5.

Speaking of hp5, the images are similar in tone but the grain is very different. Up close the grains are smaller and there seems to be more, probably because of the 2 layers.

I developed the film in my go-to HC110 at dilution B for 9 mins at 20c as recommended by Bergger in the data sheets (though, on the box there’s no HC110 data.) The film has to be fixed for a longer time than most films and it drys very straight with no curling.

The images were shot with my leica m2 at 400 iso and are a mixed bunch.

Three shades of silver

Flight

NEC Arena

Suit

Graffiti

Boat

Woods

Stranger on the stairs

The images have really nice tones but can I push the film to 1600 for some zone focusing street photography?

Photography show

I went to the photography show today with the art college. It was a little overwhelming, with lots to see, and yet nothing much of interest for me as I wasn’t interested in a new camera or lens.

I did however, get some film I’ve never shot before for cheap, with two rolls of pan-f and a roll of sfx200 for £11. That was from speed graphic.

I saw lok and warren from the old digital rev, and Lara Jade.

Also got to look at the new lomography instax camera, automat glass. I’m not a big fan of the company (the fact that they don’t produce film and just hoard and recycle it isn’t sustainable for the industry), but the availablity of a glass instax is a tempting one. Pitty it’s not wide format or have manual control.

Connor trying it out:

“Lets try this thing”

“Wait, theres no film inside”

Also spotted film at the Fuji stand except the boxes were emtpy, and they didn’t sell any. Go figure.

Stuff I saw, Lincoln in March

Doggo

Funky lighting

Wanted: missing pair of hands

Lincoln’s food festival

Woof

Condom?

Free school lane

The museum

This is not a hat? I think it is.

 

Taken with Leica m2, voigtlander 35mm 2.5, hp5 @ 1600

Holga documentary project update

Last week I got a new holga with the idea of shooting two when out shooting for my town documentary. No two holgas are alike so having two creates variation in the series. I can also start to think about which holga suites which scene. As this is a new camera I expect the shutter is faster than my 2nd hand holga, and better suited for bright scene as it struggled in the shadows.

I’m not sure if its because the holga is new, but I had problems with dust or paper (not sure what it is) in the camera causing weird flecks on the edges here and there. Another problem is that there appears to be a light leak somewhere which you can see in the salvation army image where a line goes across the size.

Here is a few images from a shoot with the new holga and red filter.

Old council builing

Graffiti

Graffiti 2

Alley

Leaning lamp post

Old fire station tower

The salvation army

Store

The Ship and its rubbish

I’m not sure how many of these updates I’ll do. I expect to be running a roll a week, or if not two weeks, between coursework.

35mm film in a Holga

This is the first time I’ve ever ran 35mm through a medium format camera shooting for sprockets. I want to see if the wide, slightly panoramic, frames are worth it by burning 35mm through the holga. If so, I might use it for my project.

Here is my ghetto setup involving foam packaging and rubber bands:

Foam packaging peanuts jammed around a 35mm canister and a 120 spool fitted with 2 elastic bands

The results show a lot of messed up compositions where I should have had the camera either lower or more to the left. Its hard to judge what will be in frame or not. The images I took are around Lincoln.

 

Lincoln cathedral

Ruddocks of lincoln

Guildhall

Michaelgate

Corporation Street

Wordsworth street

I don’t think I will do it again, it was fun but the whole point of shooting the holga is that its a lightweight portable camera with the benefit of medium format. Its also hard to judge what will be in frame. I also wasted some film by winding on too much. I originally judged that 2 rotations of the winder were enough, but this turned out to be too much, I probably should have done 1 and a half turns.

Printing my holga work

I spent a few hours in the college darkroom today, making just two prints from my holga negatives. I am trying to get better at it, so I took my time.

I used a medium format colour enlarger, starting off with no filters creating a very flat muddy print:

I then applied a magenta filter creating a better contrast and longer exposure, making this:

I was also able to burn in the holga vignetting and dodge some of the shadows like below:

Having the filters built into the enlarger takes some getting use to, but it is useful to create better prints on varrible contrast paper. 

I’m still working on getting the paper straight and framing but the sloppyness seems to look good for images from a holga. Practice, practice, practice.