Results from the Maximar

I have now developed and scanned the first photos from my 1930s Zeiss Ikon Maximar camera. The film I used was some expired Ilford sheet film I bought on e-bay.

First problem was that the film was smaller than the size of the plate holders. Ok, so I thought I would slide it under the little spring flaps on the plate holders, and this would hold it firm and flat. This worked OK and I got the film loaded in my changing bag.

The camera proved to be very fiddly to operate and impossible to focus in daylight. I had to use my dressing gown over my head to keep the light out so I could focus it on the ground glass screen. I also forgot to check which way around one of the film sheets was and got it back to front. 

To process the film sheets I used the 'taco' technique in a Paterson type tank, using hair tie elastic bands I bought in Boots. This did not work well and the sheets came out of the bands in the tank during development and stuck to each other. The end result is this:

The only way I could scan it was by sticking the sheets to my scanner 120 film mask so this is only a small portion of the image.  The image is covered in small black spots which may have come off the hair bands and also quite badly scratched, this may have been me handling the film or the film may be scratched anyway. The film is over exposed, so the shutter may be slow, but it is pretty sharp for a 80 year old lens.

Another Exakta

You might have thought one Exakta that does not work very well was enough, but I have always wanted a Varex IIa. Now I have one!

This one, although it looks quite good here has fungus in the lens and pinholes in the shutter curtain. These are the pinholes:

I have heard on the Exacta web site (www.ihagee.org) you can repair these with 'liquid electrical tape' which is a sort of flexible rubbery goo. I've got some (from Amazon) and will try it out.

I'm not very hopeful this will work but there is nothing to lose. Any photos I take with the shutter like is it will  have a lot of light leaks I think.

Stand development

After yesterday's disappointment with the Contax I thought today I would try my first experiment with stand development.  This is where you go against the normal rules of film development and use a very dilute mixture of developer with almost no agitation and long times. To be sure any problem with the results were not down to the camera I got my trusty Nikon F out. Both the 50mm and the 24mm Nikkor lens on this are pin sharp.

I loaded up a roll of my 'test' film, recently expired Legacy Pro 100 and took some shots. This was then developed in Rodinal mixed at 1+100 (only 5ml of developer for 495ml of water). The only agitation used was 30secs at the start. Then the developing tank sat in the kitchen for 1 hour. After that fix and wash as normal.
I have to say I'm very impressed with the results, very nice tones, which is what stand development is supposed to produce.

And it's so easy! Just set my alarm clock and get on with something else for an hour. I will definitely use this technique again.

Disappointment!

The results from my Contax II are not good :-( The film has come over exposed, by several stops at least. I think the meter is at fault. I checked it briefly against my Weston meter and it seems to be reading only about 1 stop over. I have tried to recover the photos but they are not very good. These are the best:

Wembley stadium arch reflected in windows.

I am particularly disappointed as I was trying out a new development process. These are taken on Ilford FP4+, developed in Rodinal (R09 as it is now called) 1+25, 9mins at 20C, 1 minute initial agitation then 1 inversion every 30 secs. 

Another one of the Wembley stadium arch

All of these were taken at  a shutter speed of 1/50sec. I think this may also be slow.

Stairs, shopping center, Dunstable

The rangefinder may be out too, as close up shots are out of focus. Oh well, better luck next time. When I win the lottery I will get this camera serviced!

Zeiss Ikon Maximar 207/7

I got this beautiful camera from ebay for just £30. I was amazed at the condition it was in and what a great looking camera it is.

It has an F4.5 Tessar lens which is in excellent condition. The camera was made in 1930 and takes quarter plate 9x12cm film (in single sheets). The camera has come with 3 plate holders. These need to be loaded with individual cut film in a darkroom.

Quarter plate film is quite hard to come by now. Ilford make small quantities but it is very expensive. Eastern European makers like Adox and Forma make it but I haven't yet found a UK supplier with it in stock. Expired plate film is also often found on ebay.

As soon as I get any photos I will post them here although I'm not sure how I will scan such big negatives as my scanner can only cope with 120 size negs. I'm hoping I can contact print them but I have no printing equipment. I guess I should just wait to see how the negs turn out!

Colour developing

I used to think that developing C41 colour films would be difficult, but actually it's quite easy. I use the Tetenal kit. The chemicals I'm using were purchased in Oct 2011. I made them up in two batches, I made up the current batch in March 2012 and I have done 5 films in them and they still seem fine.

I do the development in the kitchen sink, making a bath of hot (38C) water, using a standard development tank. I use a digital thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature and add more hot water if needed but as the development times are quite short I don't have a problem keeping an even temperature
Results might not be perfect but I'm happy with them.

This one was taken yesterday in Bristol with my Canon QL19. Film is Kodak 200 - £1 in Poundland.

Little rangefinders

I love little rangefinders! I carry them everywhere I go. Just finished the film in the Canon (I will develop it tomorrow). I've always had great results from this camera.

Time to load up the Olympus with some film. So far I have only run a test B&W film through this camera so will try a colour film.

Contax

I decided to use my 1938 Contax over the next few weeks. I bought some fresh stock Ilford FP4 B&W film as I'm not happy with the results from my expired Fuji film. I also find HP5 a bit too grainy. I took this digital photo of my Contax. It all seems to work OK, I even got the light meter working.

Once the I have finished the film I will develop it in Rodinal. I'm tempted to try 'stand' development (very little agitation of the tank during development) but I will probably stick to standard development technique with regular agitation. Watch this space for results!

Old lenses

More messing about today with old 'film' lenses on my Lumix GF3. I started off with the Olympus OM 50mm and a X4 close up lens trying to take pictures of bees. The bees had other ideas and would not stay still or hold an interesting pose. This was about the best one:

Terry, out terrapin was a much easier subject as he doesn't move much:

Flowers also came out quite well:

Then I tried out my 30yr old Paragon 400mm telephone lens. On the micro 4/3 format GF3 this has an equivalent focal length of 800mm! However the sun had gone in by then and the colours are not very vibrant. Not bad tho', worth a try again if the sun ever comes out.

Exakta Test Film

Bit disappointed :( Many of the shots where out of focus, seems like my mistake... Also the shutter stuck on a couple of shots, rear curtain I think as the last third of the frame is black. This is the best one:

Also I didn't realize that you have to press the rewind button all the time while you rewind the film and I tore the film near the end of the roll. Managed to rescue it in my changing bag.

This is film is Fuji Arcos 100 expired 2010, developed in R09. To me it lacks contrast (adjusted in photoshop here).

Film Cutter

Having read the manual for my Exakta I have discovered it has a film cutter! This allows you to change your film half way though. All you need to do is to load the film so you wind it on into another spare 35mm cassette. Then when you want to change films, just use the cutter to cut through the film, open the back and change the film. Amazing!

That's it there! Pretty sharp too!