# Snowy Suffolk (120mm Colour)



## Tom (6 Jan 2011)

*[EDIT: IMAGES FIXED - NOW WITH FLICKR, NOT PHOTOBUCKET!!) Please see here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tommessengerphoto if they still don't show properly!!]*

This was the day my 5D gave up. -7degC and at 9am and it was having none of it!! Still won't turn on   

Anyway, I had my Yashica Mat 124g with me, so I tried out a roll of 120mm Kodak Portra NC 400. Not bad for a 40-odd year old Twin Lens Reflex and a freezing cold me!!  Scanned in at Peak Imaging, and very little adjustment by me (just a couple of power lines removed!) Quite pleased how they turned out really  






















Tom


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## Dan Crawford (6 Jan 2011)

Tom said:
			
		

> *[EDIT: WHY ARE THEY IN NEGATIVE??? LOL)*


I've had that before mate. For me it's when you've save something as a JPEG which wasn't originally a JPEG ie. You've scanned it in as a TIFF and then saved that as a JPEG.

Lovely shots BTW mate!


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## Tom (6 Jan 2011)

Yeah they come as epic huge TIFFs - I just converted in Photoshop and uploaded. 

EDIT: IMAGES FIXED

Cheers


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## Tony Swinney (6 Jan 2011)

Nice work Tom, and great to see something shot on film again - its been a while !

Tony


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## BigTom (6 Jan 2011)

Bet these would look great full size. Good exposure control, I like 3 and 4.


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## Tom (6 Jan 2011)

Thanks  A lot of people have said how bad the light meter on the Yashica Mat 124G is, but I can't fault it. It's so much more rewarding too, shooting on film. I might not bother fixing the 5D!! Shame film costs so much to process and scan/print these days.


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## ceg4048 (6 Jan 2011)

Just get a used Jobo processor, buy your own chemicals and do it for the yourself. It's so easy. Cheap too - and same day.

Cheers,


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## Tom (7 Jan 2011)

I can do Black and White processing at the moment, and I have equipment for a colour darkroom - just no chemicals and nowhere to set it up. I'm working on it though!! One day I'll have my own mini-darkroom  I am seriously looking into a decent neg scanner for 35mm and 120mm which would dramatically reduce the processing costs, but I do much prefer a real printed image to anything digital.


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## ceg4048 (7 Jan 2011)

With the Jobo type system you actually don't need a dark area except to make the exposure onto the paper from the enlarger. I've just waited till nightfall and cleared out enough space in a closet while having all the lights out. Close the closet door and viola, instant darkroom. The film can be removed form the canister during broad daylight using  a darkbag where you just stick your two arms in and wear it like a jacket. The film is then threaded onto a spiral wheel and placed in it's cylinder. Processing is performed in daylight because the cylinders containing the film or the paper are light-tight but not liquid-tight. So you just pour the developers into the cylinders and rotate them in the water bath. Afterwards film/print are removed from the cylinders.

Check out Jobo Inversion Tanks

You can do B&W, colour fill and slides as well as prints from all of these (up to a certain sized print of course due to tank size limitations). I used to do my processing in the laundry room. All you need is counter space. When lacked counter space I just used my ironing board. No need to dream about future darkroom. Do it now while you're doing the laundry! Multitasking supreme.  

Cheers,


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## Tom (7 Jan 2011)

Ahh, Ok. I've got a couple of those Paterson developing tanks and darkbag, spiral etc that I use to do black and white. Just never attempted colour before. I'll have to look into that. In the darkroom set I got at auction, there was also a light-tight paper tank about 8"x10" size, with bits on top to add chemicals. Never really got round to looking at it properly. 

The enlarger I've got is a decent LPL colour jobbie, then there's normal developing trays. I haven't heard of doing paper in those developing tanks before, but I don't see why not! It's just how do you set up the enlarger and line up and expose paper without being in a darkroom?


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## tyrophagus (7 Jan 2011)

Lovely photographs.  Well worth braving the cold.  That film applies a nice contrast to the image.  Perfect for snow!


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## Tom (7 Jan 2011)

Yes I thought that, it does a good job balancing the dark areas while keeping detail in the snow


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## ceg4048 (7 Jan 2011)

Tom said:
			
		

> Ahh, Ok. I've got a couple of those Paterson developing tanks and darkbag, spiral etc that I use to do black and white. Just never attempted colour before. I'll have to look into that. In the darkroom set I got at auction, there was also a light-tight paper tank about 8"x10" size, with bits on top to add chemicals. Never really got round to looking at it properly.


Well there you have it mate. The Patterson units are exactly the same. The thing about color is that you need to keep a very stable temperature warm bath so the tanks have a heater and thermostat. You let the water warm up and stabilize. For prints, paper is held off the inner wall of the cylinder by a few simple standoff clips inside the cylinder. The only difference for color film is the number of chemicals and the number of water washes, that's all. I've even used Cibachrome chemistry kits to produce great slides. Again, the only difference is the number and types of chemicals. Fuji Velvia slides do really well with Cibachrome processing - professional quality mate. You can even do prints from slides, but that's a major pain in the backside.



			
				Tom said:
			
		

> The enlarger I've got is a decent LPL colour jobbie, then there's normal developing trays. I haven't heard of doing paper in those developing tanks before, but I don't see why not! It's just how do you set up the enlarger and line up and expose paper without being in a darkroom?


Well it's just like I mentioned. All you need is a small room like a walk-in closet or small bedroom. I just waited till nightfall to work with the enlarger. Make sure the room/closet is away from street lights. Turn off all internal lights and you've got it made. You really only need less than a minute to make the exposure unless you're doing a lot of dodging and burning on the print (which you don't need to do so much now) Once you have the film you can project onto any A4 sized white paper while the lights are on. This lets you see the image and allows you to make adjustments to the mask, or to the magnification/positioning. Once that is set, then turn the lights off, pull the paper out of the jacket, and place it on the board. Make your exposure and place the paper in the cylinder. This takes a little practice and coordination, but once you get used to working in the dark you'll be amazed at how proficient you'll become. OK, it's spooky at first because you are unsure of yourself and you're by yourself in the dark - and it's a novelty. After I made about a dozen prints it became a routine. I did have to practice inserting paper into the cylinder because the clips are fiddly, but again, you do that in the light and you become proficient at it.

Now, it would never occur to me to spend money for a darkroom. If you have gaps or cracks near windows/doors  that let light in, just use duct tape to seal them up. Of course the down side of this method is that you may not be able make the print exposures during the day depending on location, but I got over that in a hurry because it was so cool making my own pro quality slides/negs/prints. 8) 

Cheers,


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