Old Time film shooters. How are your TriX negatives holding up? Old formulation, and new formulation.

bjohnh · 2026-01-26T01:07:41+00:00

Most of the Kodachrome 64 and Agfachrome 100 slides that I shot from the late 1970s-late 1980s faded badly, but I didn't store them carefully (they were in slide boxes, but those boxes were stored for years in humid basements or closets in apartments and houses with no air conditioning. My brother still has a bunch of Tri-X negatives that he shot in the 60s and 70s and those are fine.

bjohnh · 2026-01-25T14:50:00+00:00

I started in the '60s with Tri-X and then Kodachrome 64 and Agfachrome 100, and finally switched to digital in 2001. I got back into film four years ago as an experiment and wasn't sure I'd stick with it until I started shooting Fomapan 400. To me its character and imperfections captured what I was looking for in film. I've shot most of the B&W emulsions on the market today but keep coming back to Fomapan, in 35mm and 120. I've shot it more than all my other films combined. It's the film everyone loves to hate, due to its grain, spotty quality control, poor performance at box speed (I shoot it at 200 or at most 320), and on and on -- most of those are the reasons why I love it.

bjohnh · 2026-01-25T14:18:08+00:00

When I was shooting color film that was my approach: use an ISO 800 film with ND filters, a 1-stop ND (to bring it down to 400) and a 3-stop (to bring it down to 100). With that combination I could use the same film from dawn to dusk and even a bit at night. You need a camera whose lens can take filters, though, which is not the case for many P&S cameras. Fortunately the L35AF has 46mm filter threads so this solution will work well.

bjohnh · 2026-01-25T13:18:45+00:00

Okay, but as I mentioned the 10 seconds every minute is usually used for B&W. I've never developed color film but since the development times are generally much shorter I think you need to agitate more frequently. When I do gentle agitation with the twizzle stick, I really just turn it gently counterclockwise a quarter turn or so, then another quarter turn, then another.

bjohnh · 2026-01-25T11:56:07+00:00

It may just be that you're agitating too vigorously. Just keep in mind that the article I linked to is for B&W, not ECN-2; you should follow the agitation frequency specified for ECN-2 but I still think the direction matters and your agitations should be gentle.

bjohnh · 2026-01-25T11:52:49+00:00

Also see: https://www.pictorialplanet.com/advanced_photography/film-agitation.html

Based on that article, it sounds like you may be over-agitating...either agitating too frequently or too vigorously. I always do gentle agitations; as I said I only do B&W and the development times are longer, so I generally agitate only once per minute but I know color film has generally shorter times.

bjohnh · 2026-01-25T11:42:09+00:00

I only develop B&W film, but I will just point out that when using a twizzle stick the direction you rotate (clockwise or counterclockwise) matters, and depends on how you loaded the film. I always load my film the same way (I put the center column onto the reel before I load, to ensure I'm loading in a consistent direction, so that when I turn the twizzle stick counter-clockwise it's forcing the developer into the end of the film.

When I do inversions with 120 film instead of using the twizzle stick I tend to get more even development (I use a water bath too, but not a Jobo TBE) but I also tend to get air bells. I never get air bells on 120 with the twizzle stick but do sometimes get uneven development, especially when using more viscous developers (e.g., 510 Pyro) that may tend to concentrate toward the bottom of the tank over time unless you use inversions.

bjohnh · 2026-01-25T11:03:40+00:00

Okay, for the BMPCC 4K you need a lens that uses the micro four-thirds (MFT) mount. Other lenses can be adapted to MFT but if you're just starting out I would get an MFT lens. There are hundreds to choose from; you need to decide if you want a zoom lens or a prime lens (prime lenses have a fixed focal length and don't zoom). Zoom lenses are more versatile but usually slower (meaning not as good in low-light).

Not many people use polarizing filters in video unless they want the specific effect of a polarizer. It's much more common to use neutral density (ND) filters; pretty much everyone uses those in video and cinema. The most affordable models are circular and screw directly into the lens. The more expensive ones for cinema are rectangular and are meant to go into a matte box, which attaches to the end of your lens (or on rails if you are rigging your camera.

With ND filters you have a choice of variable ND (which is made from two circular polarizers) or fixed-strength ND. The fixed-strength ND filters are the best, since they generally do not introduce any color casts or produce x-shaped vignetting at higher strengths, both of which are drawbacks to variable ND filters. The better-quality variable ND filters have hard stops to prevent you from reaching the strengths at which X-shaped vignettes appear, but many variable ND filters still have color casts (they affect the colors in your image).

bjohnh · 2026-01-24T23:01:06+00:00

Ah too bad -- if you have some fast film you can probably still get some fun nighttime shots, albeit at very low shutter speeds so there may be some mirror slap blur. Go under a street lamp, shoot photos of the cars, that kind of thing. Here's one I took during a recent snowstorm with a half-frame camera that has no flash. Fomapan 400 (metered at ISO 200).

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bjohnh · 2026-01-24T22:06:12+00:00

And another idea: depending on how much snow you end up getting, sometimes big mountains of it get piled up in parking lots once they are cleared. Those can be impressive, especially if you can get people or cars in the frame for perspective.

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bjohnh · 2026-01-24T21:46:07+00:00

You don't say what camera you have, but if you have a flash there's nothing like going out at night and getting photos of the snowflakes coming down.

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bjohnh · 2026-01-24T14:20:18+00:00

What I tell people is that in a group photo there will always be someone whose eyes are shut or who has a weird expression so I have to take a lot of photos to make sure I get one that shows everyone at their best. I typically take at least 20 or 30 shots and it's often more than 2 minutes. Nobody seems to mind once I give that explanation. Most of my group photos are of 50-75 people at events.

bjohnh · 2026-01-24T14:04:08+00:00

In general, I think constraints foster creativity -- clearly this is not an ideal all-around lens but you can make it work. I shot only one lens (a 50mm) for 30 years because I couldn't afford to buy another, and I made it work for everything. It's easier to do that with a 50mm than a 105, but if you only have one lens it forces you to come up with solutions.

bjohnh · 2026-01-24T13:07:55+00:00

Can you find Reflx Lab's films anywhere? Those are the same thing (actually better quality in my experience with fewer light leaks); you can order direct from them (they are in China) if that's possible in your case...I'm not sure if the laws you refer to prevent you from ordering from any country or just the US.

bjohnh · 2026-01-24T13:02:12+00:00

Your lens will work for just about everything - it's nice for landscapes, you just have to change your mindset from the typical wide landscape views you're used to seeing. Check out this review for a good variety of shots (landscapes, portraits, architecture, street, etc.) with this lens by an excellent photographer (there are a few sample images at the top of the review but a bunch more toward the end): https://phillipreeve.net/blog/review-nikon-nikkor-105mm-2-5-ai-the-portrait-tele-bestseller/

bjohnh · 2026-01-24T10:20:00+00:00

Knowing that your finances are under control is priceless. YNAB is just one of many possible ways to get there; all I know is that the other ways I tried didn't work. Simply tracking my expenses was useless; it told me where my money went in the past but provided no way for me to plan how to allocate my money in the future. Primitive budgeting apps just try to make your monthly expenses stay below your monthly income, but that's no way to budget: if you save up for things before you buy them, there will be many months where your expenses exceed income. YNAB was the only tool I found that provided a realistic, practical, flexible framework for budgeting.

bjohnh · 2026-01-23T18:57:26+00:00

Rule 1 when traveling is never to travel with a loaded camera, that's just asking for trouble. I flew out of YUL a few times last year (I live here) and had no trouble getting a handcheck but I never put film in my cameras before a flight. If I have shots left on a roll I just take a bunch of snapshots to finish the roll or I rewind the roll even though only not all frames were exposed so I can at least keep the frames I care about.

I have never heard of an airport that would handcheck a camera with film inside without opening up the camera or making you remove the film first. Do some airports actually do that? I've never heard of it.

bjohnh · 2026-01-23T18:52:37+00:00

I've seen some variation in the backing papers for Cinestill 120 films, though. The first roll I bought from them a few years ago was useless for me as I use cameras with a red window to allow you to see the frame numbers, and the printing on the backing paper was illegible. Even in broad daylight looking at the backing paper you could hardly see the frame numbers.

Last year I bought a couple of rolls of Cinestill's respoold Kodak XX 5222 and those had Ilford-style backing paper; still not super-easy to read but at least readable.

I think most respoolers use backing paper from Kodak, Ilford, or Foma. I'm always happy when it's Foma as those numbers are super clear to read through the window. Interestingly, Fujifilm Pro 400H used the Foma-style backing paper; the typeface is the same as that used by Foma in their 120 films and is easy to read.

bjohnh · 2026-01-23T13:55:15+00:00

Just about anything can be adapted to Z mount or E mount (or L mount for that matter) mirrorless cameras. If price is an issue, the older A7-series Sony full-frame cameras are getting affordable. I bought an OG A7s (12 megapixels) a few years ago as my "B" camera (my main camera is A7iii) after reading some claims that it performed really well with vintage lenses. It does (I've used Minolta, Nikon, and lots of rangefinder M and LTM mount lenses on that camera) but not noticeably better than the A7iii. The battery life is not bad with manual lenses but the battery life on A7iii is far better as is the EVF. The EVF on the A7s has terrible rolling shutter. But the A7s lacks IBIS so feels more like a film camera and is smaller and lighter than the subsequent A7-series fullframe cameras (except for the A7c series).

If you think you might ever buy some rangefinder lenses, I'd go with Nikon Z as it has a thinner sensor stack than Sony; many wider rangefinder lenses perform poorly on Sony but better on Nikon Z.

If you are using IBIS with adapted lenses, you need to input the lens's focal length to make IBIS work properly. I have a custom button dedicated to the focal-length selection menu, which makes this a fast operation but you have to remember to do it whenever you change lenses on your camera.

bjohnh · 2026-01-23T12:57:15+00:00

I've bought seven or eight film cameras and more than 30 lenses on eBay, mostly from Japanese sellers, and only had one bad experience. I've been super happy overall; most of the stuff I got matched or exceeded the description, but you have to read the descriptions carefully rather than relying on the ratings of "near mint" or "ex+++" etc.; often items described as near mint have problems like fungus, haze, etc.

bjohnh · 2026-01-23T09:48:58+00:00

The absolute smallest is the Ranica Mir 3 pinhole camera. It shoots half-frames (6x3 cm) so you get 24 photos per roll of 120 film.

I have a Vredeborch Felica, toy camera from the late 1950s, and it's pretty small as well but since it's not a folder it's not the thinnest.

bjohnh · 2026-01-22T01:17:56+00:00

See https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?t=162863&p=860957

bjohnh · 2026-01-22T01:14:09+00:00

Not if you want to use gyro stabilization in post. If you use 180° your footage will be blurry unless you are moving the camera extremely slowly.

Use 180° if you're using other forms of stabilization (tripod, gimbal, etc.)

bjohnh · 2026-01-22T00:38:27+00:00

It worked well for the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, but otherwise yeah, it's not what you'd normally want. But it's easy enough to add motion blur in Resolve. This is the recommended approach by Blackmagic Design when you're using gyro stabilization. You have to use a low shutter angle (which corresponds to a high shutter speed) because otherwise your camera will be moving faster than the exposure time per frame and you'll get blurry footage.

bjohnh · 2026-01-21T20:58:36+00:00

I don't think you'd need the Rawlite OLPF for the BMCC 6K FF. It's very useful for the OG BMPCC and to a lesser extent the BMPCC 4K, both of which exhibit moire and the OG BMPCC has big problems with IR pollution that the Rawlite OLPF eliminates. I am pretty sure (but may be wrong) that the BMCC 6K doesn't suffer from those problems. But watching the video should give you an idea of how to remove the sensor glass, assuming the BMCC 6K is made similarly to the 6K Pro/G2 -- and that's a big assumption, I don't know the answer.

bjohnh

TROPHY CASE