Ilford’s Mark V b&w cine film

 

Every once in a while, I see a film that I’d never heard of, and think “I have to try that!” Ilford has long been my favorite film supplier, and to see an old stock that I never knew existed, definitely piqued my interest.  For a while the Film Photography Project was selling this film that they called Mark V in 24-exposure rolls.  I think that Lance Rothstein is also selling it at his unusual expired film site. I didn’t know that Ilford manufactured film for the cine industry, but the Ilford Mark V film dates from 1978.  That indeed, is very expired.  After doing some research, I figured it was worth a shot with this film that expired the year I was married.  As you know, we have a rule of thumb regarding exposing expired film — which is that it typically loses 1 stop of sensitivity per decade.  Black and white films do a bit better with age, and the lower the ISO, the better the film survives.  Some films like the old Verichrome Pan, which was rated at ISO 125, seem to survive just about anything, with decent results on 50+ year old film.  The Mark V film was originally rated at ISO 400, and I looked at examples online, which are most often rated at ISO 50, so I went with that.

I loaded the film in my Nikon F3HP, which is one of my favorite Nikon SLRs. I didn’t shoot anything that was one-time thing, just in case the results sucked.  I finished the roll over the span of a couple of weeks, the last one being post-Helene, which devastated so many areas around me.  I developed the film in HC-110B for 6.5 minutes.  I must have been distracted, because after I rinsed with water, and poured in the fixer, it was actually from the jug of D-96, not fixer.  Oblivious to my error, I agitated the developing tank as usual, and then as I went to pour out the “fixer” into the jug, I saw my stupid error.  I rinsed the film again, and this time, poured in the fixer.  I didn’t know what I was going to get, but I figured that I really screwed up the roll.

After fixing and rinsing, I took the film off the roll and hung it to dry.  I could see that the film base was quite dark, but I could also see the frames - dark, but not opaque.  Once the film dried, I then scanned it in on my Epson V700, and I was pleased to see that the images actually looked pretty good!

Mark V film - it "cups" a bit and dies not lie flat in the scanner holder.

Here are a few examples from the roll.  

My thought on this is that it takes a lot to screw up a roll of film, especially b&w.  I basically double-developed the film, and yet I got usable images.  Unfortunately, I only purchased 1 roll of the Mark V, and now it is sold out.  Despite my best efforts to screw it up, the results were acceptable.

The film is obviously grainy, and the dark base is probably related to the age of the film.  Rating it at ISO 50 was a good choice, though.  Without knowing the history of how the film was stored, I’d say it did much better over time than I could have foreseen. 

Regarding b&w cine film — my current go-to is expired Eastman 5231, which is much like Kodak Plus-X.  I rate it at ISO 80, and have gotten stellar results using D-96 for 8 minutes.  While it’s a hard-to-find film, I have a source, and am really grateful to be able to shoot with it. The other b&w cine film choice is Kodak XX, or Eastman 5222. It’s a terrific film, and I used to buy it in bulk long before the cine film to 35mm stills became a big deal.  Another choice is Orwo UN54, which is an ISO 100 b&w film.  I have used it, and it’s a pretty decent emulsion.   So, there are other choices, but the Ilford Mark V must have been really nice back when it was fresh.  

More Slow Color - EASTMAN 5244 - ISO 1

You know if there is a low-ISO film out there to try, I will do so.  Ultrafine Online has the Motopix line of color films that are ECN-2 process cine films that are repackaged in 35mm cassettes for your still camera.  A while back, I purchased a roll of the Eastman 5244 from them. Rated at ISO 1, it's a tungsten-balanced film that was manufactured in the 1990s for use as a intermediate film for making master positives from Eastman color negative films and making duplicate negatives from those master positives.  To do this, the film has to be very fine-grained, have high sharpness and resolving power.  The film is on a clear acetate base, and has a remjet backing.

Eastman 5244 (image from Ultrafine Online)

The roll of 5244 sat around in my film box for a few months before I finally loaded it up in my Pentax Spotmatic F.  Here's the thing - of course my Spotmatic F does not have an ISO setting even close to  ISO 1.  Because the camera is all-manual, I could shoot it sunny 16 in full sun handheld at F/2 and 1/30 sec shutter speed. Here's how you can figure this out:

If the reciprocal of sunny-16 for an ISO of 1 is 1 sec at f/16, then:

f/11 = 1/2 sec, f/8 = 1/4 sec., f/5.6 = 1/8 sec, f/4=1/15 sec, f/2 = 1/30 sec., f/1.4 = 1/60 sec.

That of course, is in full sun.  I also used an external meter and set my shutter speed and aperture accordingly when I used the camera on a tripod for some of the later images.

You may think that one might want to use a warming filter over the lens as the film is a Tungsten-balanced emulsion.  That would only decrease the light, and make for longer exposures. I can always fix the colors post-scan if necessary. That said, the beauty of these odd films are the sometimes serendipitous crazy results that convince one that using these films presents a different avenue of exploration.

I shot some of the roll two months ago and finished it up at the end of March, when our daffodils were coming into bloom.  I used a tripod for many of those shots, but the early ones were hand-held - hence the shallow depth of field, as you'll see.  I developed the film in the FPP C-41 kit, but first used a sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate pre-bath at 102°F for one minute, and then after pouring out the pre-bath, poured in several changes of water at the same temp, shaking that developing tank like a cocktail shaker. The first pour out will be really black, and subsequent rinses will go from gray/brown to light pink.  At that point, you are ready to do the  C-41 or ECN-2 developing.  The initial carbonate prebath is essential in removing 99.9% of the carbon remjet and not contaminating your developer. After hanging the film to dry, I used a photowipe on the base side of the film to remove any remaining remjet, of which little remained.  

The film was scanned on my Epson V700 scanner, and files were opened in Corel PaintShop Pro, which has been my image editor for over a decade.  

Hand-Held Results --

Upper photo before adding a filter post-scan.
Lower photo, after an 85B equiv. filter

As you can see, the film is extremely fine-grained, and in the photos below, I'll point out any that have been altered by filters.

85B post-scan filter

Tripod-mounted results

Just a bit of filtration

This was pretty much a test of this film, and I should get more of it to shoot some colorful city scenes.  Shooting it indoors would be crazy, as it is so slow, and for photos of people - well in bright sun you could go f/4 at 1/15 sec if you dare.   However, it could be nice for shooting a 1 sec (or longer if not sunny) on a tripod to achieve a series of ghostly movements of people in a city landscape.  

One Roll Review - Kodak Vision3 50D film

image courtesy of the FPP 

If you have been following the Film Photography Project or Cinestill, you have undoubtedly heard about the Eastman Kodak Vision films. The Vision3  films are ECN-2 process color negative films designed for movie-making.  Each film is designed for a particular need, and there are daylight (D) and tungsten (T) versions to impart the proper color palette and balance for the movie filming.  As they are designed to be used in cine cameras, the film has a remjet layer on the base side, to allow lubrication of the film in the movie cameras.  Remjet is a layer of mostly fine carbon.  ECN-2 process removes the remjet layer in the processing sequence.   There are subtle differences between ECN-2 and C-41 processes, and if you wish to process the Vision films you can do it yourself in a C-41 kit.  What you can’t do is send the film to a lab that does not do ECN-2.  Don’t try and trick your local lab, either. You will be persona non-grata when they realize that your roll of film contaminated their chemistry.  When you develop it yourself the best way to remove the remjet is before the processing steps, not after.  I use water at the same temp as the developer - 39°C.  I dissolve 1 tsp of Sodium bicarbonate in 500ml of water and presoak the film in it -- shaking it vigorously like a cocktail shaker.  Shake for 30 seconds, stopping to burp the gas released from the tank.  Pour out the water - it will be gray with the dislodged carbon from the remjet layer. Refill with water at the same temp and shake vigorously for 10 sec and pour out the water. Repeat until the water looks clear.  Then, continue with the C-41 processing. After the stabilizer step at the end, wipe the base side with a microfiber cloth to remove any remaining remjet.  You can elect to remove the remjet after processing, but you'll end up with more carbon in your chemistry than doing it beforehand.

Who sells it?
Cinestill has already treated their films to remove the remjet before you shoot them.  Of course, that figures into the price of their film.  The Film Photography Project Store  sells the Vision Films just as they are (in 24 exposure rolls), without any remjet removal.  That brings the price down, but you will have to send your film to an ECN-2  lab like Blue Moon Camera or do it yourself.

A while back, I picked up some Vision 50D from the FPP, and finally finished the roll in my Yashica FX-7 Super back in October.

My Results

Kodak’s Vision3 50D film is daylight-balanced for 5500K sunlight.  It’s a rather slow film at ISO 50, but the consequence of that is that it is practically grainless!  It’s a wonderful film that renders colors - especially the greens, in a very true to life manner.   I have used other Vision3 films - 100T, 500T, and 250D.  Of all of these, I like the results from the 50D the best.   There is a Flickr group for the Vision3 films.

If you look carefully at the images below, you can see some lines and markings where I didn't get all of the carbon removed before I scanned the negatives.  That can be remedied by using one the Pec film cleaning pads. Remember to only treat the base side, not the emulsion!

shade, at Knight's Restaurant

morning sun on chairs, Jones Mansion

Mural in Holly, MI

Holly, MI

Holly, MI

Bev, in shade

Adrienne, in shade

sunlit interior, Jones Mansion FPP meetup, August

window light, Holly, MI

Holly, MI

I asked Mike Raso about how the 50D fares in comparison to the other Vision films at the FPP store, and he said that the 50D doesn't get any love, as everyone seems to want the 500T.  Well, I love this film.   The Vision3 50D is a fantastic, nearly grainless color negative film with lovely color rendition.