Colour Film Processing Fun

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If you are wondering what is special about the picture above, its that I actually developed it myself. I’ve done a lot of black and white processing but I’ve always avoided colour because it just sounds too scary. But now you can get chemicals which only need two baths. This makes working with colour very like working with black and white, where you usually need dip the film in developer and fixer.

The only other problem with colour processing is that you need to keep the chemicals at a specific temperature; in our case 35 degrees centigrade. We did this by using a new fangled cooking tool called a “sous vide” which heats and circulates water around a bath we made from a plastic box. All we had to do was drop the bottles of developer and “blix” (bleach and fixer) into the bath and leave them there for a while, and then keep the developing tank in the bath while the film was being processed.

The whole thing went very well; once we’d mixed up the chemicals which took a little while. In all we developed four films. The chemicals should be good for another 8, and we might be able to develop even more if we increase the development time still further. I can’t really tell the difference between our negatives and ones from “proper” film processing places. By doing four films we’ve kind of broken even on the cost of the chemicals against sending the fillm away, the next few should see us moving into proper savings. Great fun. Just remember to wear gloves and work in a well-ventilated area.

Light Leaks?

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This one looks OK

I think I have a light leak. Either that, or something weird is happening with the film developing process.

At first I thought this was cloud, but it isn’t

This one has weirdness down the right hand side.

It’s here too

I don’t think it is problems developing because that would lead to dark marks, and these are light. I think some light is sneaking down the side of the dark slide and getting onto the film. It might be time to invest in some new felt here and there…

Exposure Testing..

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Instant photos are great fun. But not if they are completely white or completely black. In that case they don’t even make very good drinks mats. With this in mind I spent the afternoon measuring light levels and taking pictures using different lenses. It’s my idea of fun. OK?

Anyhoo, I got the results on the left. The top shot was taken with the wide angle lens, and it looks fine. Then we switch to the normal lens and things still look good. And then…..

My telephoto lens has a shutter in it which could be described as “a bit on the slow side”. This lets lots more light in with the hilarious white result you can see in the bottom picture. So, I’m going to have to make some adjustments when I use this lens.

This is something worth keeping in mind when using camera bits which are around 60 years old. Just because the mechanism goes “whirr-click” doesn’t mean that it is going at the right speed. Instant film is extremely picky about the amount of light it needs so a problem that might not show up on more tolerant film stocks becomes horribly obvious when you load up with instant film..

More Naval Battles at Scarborough

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Coming under heavy bombardment..

A while back I wrote about the Naval Battles that they stage at Peasholm Park in Scarborough. We went back there today and I took some more pictures. Fun fact, the camera I used this time was actually older than the one I used in 2009…

The bad guys get their cumuppance

Aircraft carrier

Sending in air support

The boats have people in them steering.

If you get the chance you should go along. The battles take place every Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 3:00pm and are preceded by a musical performance. It’s great fun and you can buy ice creams. And wine. Find out more here.

More Photowalk pictures

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Analogue Wonderland must have been very busy over the last few days, processing the films from the 40 photowalks that took place last Saturday. We got the rest of our pictures back today, which is much more quickly than I expected. Pretty much all of them have come out, which is very pleasing

I’d not used Kodak Pro Image 100 before, but I’m a convert now. Very nice grain and lovely colours. And on offer at the moment..

Loading film with my eyes shut

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I spent a chunk of today loading film into holders, ready for some photographic fun tomorrow. This involves putting all the elements into a bag and then shoving my hands through a pair of elasticated cuffs to keep the light out. Then, with my hands in the dark, I open a box of film, take out a sheet, put it into the holder and then close the dark slide. Then I take my hand out of the bag and let light in. Which is stupid. Fortunately I noticed in time and, since the film stays in a light tight bag most of the time, I think/hope I got away with it.

One of the problems that you have when doing all this is that you are working by touch. What you are looking at is irrelevant. I end up staring stupidly into space. Something which I’ve been told I do a lot of without my hands in a bag.

Anyhoo, today I tried something I should have tried a long time back. I closed my eyes. Suddenly everything made a lot more sense, and it was actually easier to load the sheets. I’m going to do this more in the future. There is no picture of of me doing any of this because it would, of course, turn out to be black.

Visit the London Camera Museum

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They have a camera on every table. Ours had a hasselblad

The London Camera Museum is one of my favourite places in the world. And I only went there for the first time last Saturday. It’s a camera museum in, er, London. It’s based in the Tottenham Court Road area. You just turn off the very busy main street into a quite side road and there it is.

They serve very good coffee, there’s loads of stuff on display just in the café and if you pay 3 pounds you can go round the museum and see even more. It’s not enormous. Just a couple of large rooms. But they are packed with interesting stuff. They also have a shop which sells cameras, film and other bits and bobs. I made a couple of carefully considered purchases.

If you go to London you should drop round. It’s a great place to grab a drink and a cake. And if you are into photography I think you will really like it. Hopefully I’m going back soon. I want to buy a T-shirt….

Photography and Video Show 2025

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I went to the Photography and Video show last year and bought a camera. This year I didn’t buy a camera, but I did buy a lens or two (or three) along with some film. It was a great trip, although getting up at 5:00 am to catch the 6:02 am train wasn’t really one of the highlights. Kudos to Hull Trains though. I got from the local station to London and back without changing trains. The trains were comfortable and speedy and I got there in enough time to join the queue waiting for the show to open at 10:00 am.

No second hand camera purchases this time. Perhaps I’m growing up a bit. Perhaps I’ve bought them all already. Anyhoo, there were lots of interesting stands and a whole bunch of tempting offers.

They have these little tableau set up for you to photograph. I think the lady is saying “You’ve forgotten you guitar again haven’t you”. They even had a Lego camera.

The next show is in Birmingham in 2026. I’m already counting down to it.