Some Iced Coffee... my last rolls of Mr. Brown

A few years ago, I did a one-roll review of the Mr. Brown film from the Film Photography Project Store.  Over the past month, I have managed to shoot my last two rolls.  The first roll was shot at ISO 6, and developed in my caffenol recipe for 15 minutes at 20°C.  It was quickly apparent to me that the negatives were overdeveloped, as they were quite dense.  Well, one fix for that was to try the second, and last roll at a higher ISO and cut a smidge off the development time in caffenol.  Since Mr. Brown is now out of stock, you may wonder why I am publishing this now.  Well, I imagine that there are some users that have yet to shoot all that they purchased and have some rolls left.  Also, film photography is also about experimenting and sharing results, so here we go.

First of all, here is the Caffenol recipe that I use:

450 ml water
27 grams Sodium Carbonate
8 grams Ascorbic Acid
20 grams Instant coffee
5 grams Iodized salt

Mix in 30°C water and let cool to 20°C before using.  Development times can be from 10-15 minutes, depending on film, so experiment to see what works for you.

Roll 1: Mr. Brown at ISO 6, shot with Nikon N80, 15 min development time. The negatives were very dense, so I had to adjust the curves in the scans to get a normal-looking image: 

You can tell that the highlights are blown out.  So, after that, I decided that in Caffenol, Mr. Brown could be rated at ISO 12-25, perhaps even higher. 

Roll 2.  Shot in my Nikon F2S, 105mm Nikkor, I rated the film at ISO 25.  Quite different subject, with the high contrast ice and dark water, but I also figured that I would develop it for 1 minute less in the caffenol, for 14 minutes.  I still had to do some adjustments in the scans, but still very good for this type of subject, which is about as contrasty as I could get. These are all along Mill Creek in Dexter, MI.

Overall, very good.  So, this tells me that Mr. Brown is certainly a film worth trying in Caffenol, with the added benefit of being able to shoot at a higher ISO than 6!   Of course, you may want to also try this recipe with other low-ISO films to see what you get.  I'd be happy to hear about your results.

Polypan-F on the Ice.

Last Saturday, I did some shooting on Fleming Creek with my Nikon F2S and my Nikon 1J1.  The F2S was loaded with Polypan-F, an ISO 50 b&w film from Germany that I purchased in 2012.  Conditions were amazing, as there were some really incredible ice forms and some streams running above the ice.  I have shot at this spot repeatedly, and like many photographers, I revisit familiar spots because things do change, and there is always the desire to get something better than the last attempt.  Rivers and lake shores are places worth revisiting, as they can change dramatically when weather conditions are in play. Fleming Creek has been photographed quite a few times, and this creek always has something to offer. One just has to look.

Taken with the Nikon 1J1 with a polarizer, ISO 100.

Winter photography has its own challenges, and my favorite film camera for this kind of work is my Nikon F2S.  The controls are easy to work with gloves, making cold weather shooting much easier.  You kmow what though, the Nikon 1J1 is also easy to use with gloves, which was kind of surprising. You can see in this photo that the water has frozen in large sheets, and some of it is flowing on top of the ice, rather than under it.  I shot the 1J1 in monochrome mode, because to me, winter IS monochrome.
I used a Tamron 35-135 zoom (in the old Adaptall2  mount), which is an excellent lens.  The Polypan-F was developed in Rodinal 1:25 for 6.5 minutes.  Some of my shots were bracketed, and all looked pretty good.








As you can see, I like zooming in on the details, which obscures the scale of the features.  I had a show up on this topic at Matthaei Botanical Gardens in 2012, and I should do another one with the same theme in the near future.

One last photo, taken again with the IJ1, which I have to admit does a pretty decent job.  This is Fleming Creek on the N side of Geddes Road near Parker Mill. There was a lot of texture to the ice on the creek.



That's it for now.  We have had some serious cold the past week, with temps at -15F on Tuesday.  I hope to get over there early Saturday before it warms up and gets slushy.