Wednesday, November 10, 2021

DIY Redscale Film - Kodak Portra 800

 



I recently purchased a 2 rolls of CineStill Redrum 120 film. Redrum is a limited run 120 film re-rolled 800T by CineStill. Redrum is a redscale film. 


Here's an example of a photo from the CineStill Redrum shot in a Mamiya 6 & developed with CineStill C-41 chemistry.



My results had a yellowish red tint. The amount of red can be impacted by the light conditions and the ISO used. The box speed of Redrum is 200, but next time I might shoot it at 50-100 ISO.

Well, I decided to DIY some redscale 120 film. Since CineStill Redrum is 800T I decided to use some expired Kodak Portra 800. 


From some basic research on redscale film I read the film is shot through the back of the film and at 200 or lower ISO.

The process I used was simply (in complete darkness):

  1. Unrolled the Kodak 800 keeping the film / backing paper on the reels,
  2. Taped the backing paper (film up) to a table,
  3. Removed the taped end of the 120 film from the backing paper,
  4. Flipped the film over and re-taped the film (I precut a pc of painter's tape the length of the film width) in the exact spot it was originally taped,
  5. Rerolled the film onto the spool. 
  6. Taped the film roll to securely close it.
Not surprisingly, the trickiest part was re-rolling the film. The film has a natural curl from the original rolling and while rolling it up I had to overcome the natural curl. Also, you need to keep the film tight to the backing paper as you re-roll the film so the film doesn't bunch up. In the dark I had to roll, unroll and re-roll it several times to get it tightly rolled.


Here are a few images shot in my Mamiya 6 on a fairly bright fall day. The film was shot at 200 ISO and developed with CineStill C-41. I increased the contrast & black point of the histogram slightly in Adobe Creative Cloud Lightroom Classic.




A few things I noticed and this might be due of the age of the film. First there is considerable grain in the DIY version and a slight wave pattern in the lighter areas (noticeable in the sky of the 2nd image).

This was a fun experiment that worked better than originally envisioned. However, because redscale is such a novelty effect I doubt I'd do it more than occasionally. Therefore, it probably makes more sense to simply buy Redrum when it's available and use the real stuff even if it costs more than rerolling your own!

But if you want to DIY redscale this process works. 

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Kodak Tourist (6x9 folder)

 


I recently shot a roll of Ilford Delta 400 through this Kodak Tourist. The camera takes 620 sized film, so I rerolled a reel of 120 onto a 620 core in a black bag. This is a 6x9 negative format folding camera with bellows. The camera is completely manual. There are a couple of versions, but the one I have has the T, B, I speed setting (unless you are shooting bulb it's really only 1 speed. The aperture range is an f/2.5 to 32. Pretty impressive for such an old camera.  

The nice thing about the camera is that you can easily hold / shoot it in both landscape and portrait format. When not in use it folds up into a very compact sized.



You get 8 shots out of a roll of film. I home developed the roll of Delta 400 with Ilford Ilfotec DD-X (my go-to B&W developer) at 1+4 for 8 minutes and scanned the negatives with my Epson V800. Here are a few images. 







Friday, May 21, 2021

Holga 120N & Ilford Delta 400

 


I took my Holga 120N out again the other day. I really like the 6x6 negative ratio size. The quality is surprisingly good for a plastic "toy" camera. This time I shot at Ft Harrison State Park and Eagle Creek Park in central Indiana on a cloudy / overcast day. I used Ilford Delta 400 in 120 size and developed it with Ilford Ilfotec DD-X 1+9 ratio for 9.5 minutes. The negatives were scanned with an Epson V800 Photo Scanner.

The results









Sunday, February 7, 2021

Yashica MAT-124G with Wolfman


The Yashica Mat-124G is my favorite TLR medium format cameras. It's super simple to use, I love the 6x6 ratio (square) & it has a working but simple light meter. It's build sturdy.

I took the Yashica out for the first time in quite a while. Covid-19 significantly dampened my film and street photography in 2020. However, I decided to start shooting film regularly starting this January. I have plenty of 120 film on hand both fresh and expired, but wanted to try a roll of Wolfman 120 purchased during a recent trip to Roberts Camera in downtown Indianapolis. The film is distributed by the Film Photography Project store. The film is rated ASA 100 so I needed a fairly bright day. Also, the battery for the light meter needed to be replaced. The camera takes a specialty-type battery (PX625). A downside is that this battery is air activated lasting only a few months. Literally, every time I take this camera out a new battery is needed. The upside is you don't need the battery for the camera to work ... only the meter. You can always use an external light meter, use Sunny 16 or just guess at the exposure.

I shot the roll on the near south side of Indianapolis on a bright but very overcast day. The camera only shoots 12 shots in 6x6 so it goes fast. I did also shoot a roll of Ilford Delta 100 while I was out.

I didn't have any of the developing chemicals recommended by the FPP for the Wolfman film so I learned online that the film could be developed like ORWO UN54. This film can be developed using Ilford Ilfotec DD-X (which I have) in a 1+4 ration for 9 minutes at 20C. That's what I used. I'm happy with the results. 

The film is crisp with lots of contrast with the day's conditions. Some shots