Kodak 2238 and a Rollei 35 TE

I first reviewed Kodak 2238 in 2017, and shot it under winter conditions, where the contrast was already quite high.  Also known as Kodak Panchromatic Separation Film for use in the cine world, it’s a low ISO film that’s rated at 12-25 ISO, and does not require a special low-contrast developer to get a proper negative.  That’s what I like about it, since D-76 and D-96 are my favorite developers.  But the other thing I like about 2238 is it’s ultra-fine grain - nearly grainless, and the way it renders landscape scenes.  I loaded a roll into my Rollei 35 TE, which I’ve owned for well over 20 years.  The Tessar lens in that Rollei 35TE is sharp as can be, perfectly suited for a high-definition film like 2238.

Since 2238 is shot at ISO 25, I limited use to daylight photographs, as my Rollei 35 TE shutter no longer operates at speeds below 1/15 sec.  That’s due to the way these cameras are typically stored - with the shutter cocked and the lens retracted into the body.  Long-term storage like that causes the loss of the slow shutter speeds.  

I shot most of the roll of 2238 on a trip to Ludington State Park, Michigan, in mid-September.  It’s a great little camera to keep in my camera shoulder bag, as it takes up very little space, and I have always had great results from it.  While it does need a battery for the meter, I rarely use the meter, and just go with an external meter of sunny-16 estimates.    

Ludington State Park is on the Lake Michigan shoreline about half-way up the west coast of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. There are lots of sand dunes, inter-dunal ponds and wetlands, as well as Big Sable Point light house at the northern end of the park.  So, it has great lakeshore access as well as a nice road/trail that runs N to the lighthouse.  I mostly shot that day with my Nikon F3HP, but the trusty little Rollei 35 came out towards the end of my day of shooting. 

The film was developed in FPP D-96 for 12 minutes, and the results were what I expected.  It turns out that the roll of 2238 had been loaded nearly a year prior, when I was in Lexington, VA.  That’s what happens when there’s a small camera in my bag — it sometimes can take a year to shoot with it.  Here are a few shots from that roll, all scanned on my Epson V700.

my favorite of the series

I encourage you to try some of these oddball films like Kodak 2238.  They are not what I’d call general-use films, since they are very slow.  But, for detail-rich landscapes, architecture, and a different take on portraiture, they can yield great results depending on the lens and the lighting.  Another good choice for slow films is Rollei RPX 25, which is readily available and can be easily developed.  

PANOZINE - for Panoramas

I’ve been thinking for a long time about publishing a zine dedicated solely to panoramic film images.  The first iteration in a way, was the Monochrome Mania issue No. 9 featuring the works of 4 photographers using the Ansco Pix Panorama camera.  Instead of being a typical portrait 8.5 x 11” format, I switched the layout to landscape format, so that the page was 11” long and 8.5” high.  It worked well, but there was a lot of white space, which in the presentation of Monochrome Mania, is quite okay.  However, I didn’t feel that it was the best way to convey the panoramic idea on the page.  It would have been even better to have a page 11 or 14” long and about half the height.  I started looking at the page layout offerings of my printer (Mixam) and found that they have a 4 1/4 by 11” print size.  That could work.  So, after developing the negatives from my Sprocket Rocket from my mid-September trip to Michigan, I immediately started working on the first issue in the new format, and PANOZINE was born.

I feel pretty lucky to be able to afford to have a zine printed and then be able to sell it, and with Monochrome Mania already established as a three-issues/year zine, I have a ready audience for any new venture.  At least I hope so. My plan is to sporadically publish PANOZINE, with each issue featuring the results from a particular camera.  I also would like to be able to print in color, as well as feature other photographers.  I’m not yet sure how I’ll do that, as I don’t want a situation where I get a hundred submissions from random people for a single issue.  Given that panos are not something that everyone does, and fewer do well, I think the opportunity to present other photographers’ work could be quite interesting.  I can envision issues either featuring a certain camera or a theme as being something that could work.   I will probably do what I did for the Ansco Pix MM issue, and invite photographers that have already produced quality panoramic images.

This first issue of PANOZINE features images from my Lomography Sprocket Rocket, a camera that certainly has a distinct look, and provides pretty good results within in its capabilities.   My camera has a bit of history, as I bought it from Trish Korous in Chicago, back in early 2017.  I have been using the camera every so often, and when I see my negatives, I usually wonder why I don’t shoot with it more than I do.  Anyhow, after my September Michigan trip, I realized that I had enough shots with it to put together at least a proof-of-concept zine with the name I had stored away in my head - PANOZINE, which of course, sounds a bit like some Italian dish.  

My run of this initial issue is 60 copies, as I am not quite sure how the sales will be. If you are interested in a copy, it’s 32 pages with covers, in b&w, and the cost is $7.00 + your state tax and $1.50 for shipping via first class mail.  I am selling only in the USA at this point. You can order it from my Etsy store.

So, perhaps you’ll see color and more pages in future issues, but I guess that depends on how well this first attempt sells.  I do have high hopes for this venture, though. It’s certainly been a really fun zine to put together, with minimal text and one photograph/page.  If you have purchased a copy and are reading this, I would definitely appreciate any feedback.

The Simple Plastic Camera

 Over the course of a couple of decades of photography, I’ve often extolled the virtues of simple plastic cameras, and with two issues of Monochrome Mania that dealt with medium-format and 35mm simple cameras, I guess I have promoted them as much as anyone can. That doesn’t mean that they are the best cameras, by any stretch of the imagination. But what they do well, is to offer a different image than something from a much better set of optics that are found in your "real cameras."  I’ll never forgo using my Nikons or Spotmatics, Leica M2, or my Yashicamat, Pentax 6x7, etc. in favor of a simple plastic camera. However, that does not mean that I won’t carry one in a camera bag along with the pro gear. Michael Kenna, a fantastic photographer that has mostly used Hasselblads, published a wonderful book of Holga-based photographs which I wrote about several years ago.  It’s often dependent on a situation where one can use a simple plastic camera (toy camera, crappy camera, etc.) in a way that complements your other cameras. In fact, there have been times when a Holga image from my travels captured a place and time far better than any more complex camera could have. Part of that is knowing the best situation for simple cameras, and knowing that the exposure falls within the capabilities of the camera. 

In the past few years, we have been inundated with new plastic 35mm cameras that are reusable, and generally have the same specifications - a 35 mm focal length lens with an aperture of f/8 or f/11, and a single shutter speed of about 1/100 sec.  All have a flash, and that’s pretty much it for control.  We all know that those small acrylic lenses are actually pretty good, because the single-use cameras have been using them for years. I’m not saying they are better than my 35mm f/2 Nikkor, which they are not.  But they have a specific character that I find endearing - sharp at the center, but no so much at the edges.  These cameras also weigh nearly nothing and are compact.  So, adding one of them into your camera bag or jacket pocket isn’t a big deal. 

I recently finished up a roll of film in my Dubble SHOW camera.  It had been bouncing around from bag to bag for over a year, and it had a roll of Fujifilm Superia 200 loaded the whole time.  It’s obvious that I didn’t shoot with it a lot, but when I had the film developed I was surprised at how long it had been loaded with the same roll of film. I had shot the last half of the roll when I was in downtown Asheville, and had already shot the film that was in my Leica M2 and Spotmatic, and rather than reload them, I just shot with the Dubble camera on my way back to my car.  I’d forgotten even what film stock was in it.  I was quite pleased to see the negatives, and the Superia 200 has a very good latitude of exposure.  What pleased me the most though, was that the scanned images had saturated tones and just enough loss of detail, that they demonstrated that sharpness does not matter nearly as much as composition and subject matter.

It’s certainly possible that one could use one of these little plastic cameras for a lot pf photographic projects and come away with some memorable images. Yeah, I know it’s not the camera, but the photographer, but if you work within the parameters of the camera’s best scenario of exposure, you will come away with better images.  A lot of people trying film for the first time will pick one of these simple cameras and then wonder why their photos look like crap.  Most of the time, it’s because they don’t understand exposure or understand light.  These cameras will do fine if in perfect (for them) conditions, and loaded with any film of ISO 200-400.  After all, they are basically nothing more than 35mm box cameras.

But whoa, if these cameras are just cheap little plastic box cameras, why am I recommending one?  As I said in the beginning, put one in your bag with your better gear.  You may find that perfect moment when using one makes sense.  It’s not about the megapixels, it’s not about perfect sharpness and great detail - it’s about emotion, sense of place, and the unsharpness of memory. I’ve used toy cameras for 20+ years, and whether it’s a 35mm Holga, a Vivitar T101, a Reto Ultrawide and Slim, or the latest Kodak/Harman/Ansco/Reto /Dubble 35mm camera, you’ll find that having one (or even two)  in your camera bag will afford you the opportunity to exercise some creativity and even freedom to try something different. If you are curious about what 35mm simple plastic cameras are available, get a copy of Monochrome Mania Number 7 - The Magic and Allure of Toy Cameras, Vol. 2 - 35mm. It’s a steal at $10.

Someone’s going to ask - "How do I know what are the right conditions?"  Learn about exposure as it relates to ISO - film sensitivity to light, aperture, and shutter speed.  If your plastic camera is the Harman simple use camera or the Dubblefilm SHOW - it has a 32mm f/8 lens with a 1/100 sec shutter speed. On a day in full sun with ISO 100 film, it will slightly overexpose the film (should be f/11 or f/16) with that combination.  Overexposing a bit is not a problem with b&w and color negative films.  On on cloudy bright day, it should still be good.  Not so good in shade or overcast conditions, though.  Under overcast conditions, ISO 400 film would be a better choice.  Indoors, you’d need to use the built-in flash for subjects no farther than 12 feet away.   The specifications for the other cameras introduced in the past few years are going to be similar.  In most cases, if you use a 200 ISO black and white or color film, you will be pleased with the results with outdoor photographs on sunny to partly cloudy days.  

I highly recommend David Mihaly’s "The Old Camera Guy" YouTube videos where he uses simple plastic cameras.  They’ll give you a good idea of the type of results you can expect.  Unless your camera has a Bulb mode for long exposures, stay away from any film that has an ISO lower than 100. ISO 200 film is the sweet spot for most of these cameras.

Photography should be fun, and while one should be attentive to the proper techniques for the best results, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to take a chance and let that imprecise 35mm plastic camera do its magic.