Some winter scenery on Kodak 2238 film.

a roll of 2238 from the
Ultrafine Online site.

If you have been following this blog for awhile, you'll know that I am always eager to try out some odd b&w films.  A few months ago, I purchased some Kodak 2238 Panchromatic Separation Film from Ultrafine Online.  It has been touted as a "poor man's TechPan!" and after seeing results from my first roll of this film, I am inclined to agree.  The typical use of this film is to make archival black and white positive separations from color movie film negatives. It can also be used to make special effects, panchromatic masters from b&w negatives, and other movie-industry applications. It's on a polyester ESTAR base like Techpan, and has a blue-antihalation dye that comes out in developing.

I loaded up a Nikon F2 with a plain prism, and headed out into the 10 degree F weather at Matthaei Botanical Gardens.  The film is rated from ISO 6 to 50, depending on the use, I suppose, and I followed Ultrafine's suggestion of ISO 25.  Unlike TechPan, this film can be developed as a panchromatic pictorial film in D-76 (1:1 for 10 minutes), which greatly facilitates its use, and not having to use my dwindling supply of Technidol. Photographer's Formulary sells the TD-3 low contrast developer for films like Techpan that would otherwise result in high-contrast negatives using typical developers.   

Winter warrior.

Shooting in winter in northern climates has its share of obstacles - cold temperatures mean low battery life when outside, and I picked the meterless plain prism F2 because it works flawlessly without a battery, and the ergonomics with gloves on make it easy to use. I had an external meter, but generally went sunny-16 for most of my shots.  In full sun, that would be f/16 and 1/30 sec, or f/11 at 1/60, or f/8 at 1/125.  F8 at 1/125 seemed to work pretty well when it was sunny.

I developed the film as I described above, in D76.  Some of the frames were underexposed, and I think that was when I forgot to adjust my aperture when the sun went behind the clouds. For the images that I estimated properly, the negatives looked good.   At ISO 25, I would recommend a tripod for most subjects, but my results were pretty good.
Okay, so if this film is like TechPan, how does the grain stack up?  It is extremely fine-grained, and almost as good as TechPan. I would say that the negatives do remind me of that film, and I will have to experiment with it some more to get an idea of how versatile it is.  Some portraits are in order, as well as some non-snowy scenes.  The film comes in 100 foot rolls as well as 36 exp. cassettes, so for $50, one could do quite a bit of testing with the bulk roll.  It may be advisable to bracket to see how the film performs for your particular use. The nice thing is that it is also easy and economical to develop!

Here are a few images from that roll that I shot earlier this week. 

One of the fun aspects of film shooting is the appreciation for different films and the qualities that each film stock has.  Shooting something new (to me) means that the results may not always be what I expected.  In the case of the Kodak 2238, I think the shots where I exposed correctly have good range and bode well for further testing.  The film is a tad curly drying, but flattened out fine in the scanner film holder. 

I suggest that you give this interesting film a try. There are plenty of examples of it on Flickr. 

It's that time of year!

Card design by Samara Pearlstein

When the snow starts falling, my photographic output falls a bit, until I get my mindset aligned with the change of seasons.  First of all, doing any photography in the winter can be a challenge, depending on the severity of conditions.  There are factors that work against you, aside from getting cold fingers.

Keep your gear from getting wet. Snow can cause havoc -- and if you are in a snowstorm, you really don't want it on your lenses.  An easy way to keep the snow off the front element is to just use a skylight filter on the front. It will making cleaning it off a lot easier.  Use a soft cloth, such as a piece of an old t-shirt to wipe off the snow or condensation. A micro-fiber cloth for fogged lenses usually works pretty well, and a lens hood also helps to keep snow from the front of the lens.

Try to avoid changing lenses, but if you must, keep them wrapped in a cloth until you need them.  There are lens wraps available that protect lenses quite well.  Changing lenses in the cold weather with cold fingers is a good time to have a case of the fumbling fingers appear.

Some cameras are just harder to use in the cold -- folding cameras are a good example. The bellows get stiff, controls fiddly, and so on.  All-metal cameras with small dials and metal lens barrels also may become difficult to use.  While I wear gloves or mittens with flip-away tips, my fingers get cold from handling equipment, and it helps to have a warmer in your pocket.  Carrying a tripod is another source of cold hands, so use some pieces of foam pipe insulation and tape them over the topmost leg section.  It really makes a huge difference.

If it gets, really, really cold, you can strip the sprockets right off the film with a motor-drive.  If you are shooting film, I advise you to use as simple a camera as possible for below-zero conditions. A Nikon FM2N, Pentax K1000, or similar camera will be ideal.  If you are shooting digital, keep spare batteries inside your coat.  Nikon made an external battery holder (DB-2)  for the FM and FM2N and similar cameras-- it has two AAs with a long cord that screws into the battery compartment - keeping the battery inside your coat. Cold dry air can cause static discharge on the film as it is wound or rewound.  I have had that happen only once, and it wasn't all that cold.  It was an "interesting" effect on the negatives. So, another reason to wind slowly.  While I doubt that most of us would find ourselves in the Antarctic, under those conditions, film has simply shredded as it was wound.  So, under ultra-cold conditions, digital may be the better choice!

I tend to shoot mostly nature scenes in winter, but street shooting has it rewards, too.  However, a pocket camera works well in winter, and something like an Olympus RC or Trip 35 is easy to use with gloves.  Holgas are great for winter, too.  Nothing much to adjust, and with some b&w film, those snow scenes could be even more interesting shot with a Holga.

Keep your hands, feet, and head protected in winter. The rest will be fine if you do that.  The clothing available now for winter wear is amazing, and dressing in layers is still the best way to go about it.

One last bit of advice -- experienced photographers already know this-- but remember to adjust your exposures for snow.  Generally, 1 to 2 stops more exposure than your meter is telling you.  Sunny-16 in winter is a wonderful thing.

To close up, here are a few recent images that I shot on the FPP- Mr. Brown ISO 6 film.  It was snowing heavily, and I used a Canon EOS Rebel 2000 (all-plastic) at ISO 8.  The film was developed in XTOL 1:1 for 10 minutes.  I think the results are pretty good.

The gray smudge at lower center is a walker in the woods.
Long exposures!

I turned 60 last Monday, so I better be getting my senior discount now, but unfortunately it does not apply to film purchases!  Stay warm, stay positive, and keep shooting film. I know that I will.

Winter's Glory

Although we have been having one of the snowiest and coldest winters on record in Michigan, it seems silly to complain about it, even though we do.  I think winter is one of those things that defines those of us that descended from Europeans.  We survived the Ice Age.  We will survive winter in the Great Lakes. Of course, our lives are far more complex than those of our ancestors huddled in caves and hide tents during the glacial period, but I suspect that any of them could cope with today's life better than we would if we were suddenly plunked down at the edge of the glaciers. However, they did get to share their back yards with cool megafauna...

So, winter offers us opportunities to explore a world that is quite different from what we see the rest of the year.  One can go to the micro world, and explore an individual snowflake.  Shown here is a photomicrograph of a snowflake by Wilson A. Bentley, a Vermont photographer who found that he could attach a camera to his microscope to obtain photos of his favorite subject.

1885 Snowflake photo from the Smithsonian Archives.

"In 1885 he successfully photographed the flakes. This photomicrograph and more than five thousand others supported the belief that no two snowflakes are alike, leading scientists to study his work and publish it in numerous scientific articles and magazines. In 1903 Bentley sent prints of his snowflakes to the Smithsonian, hoping they might be of interest to Secretary Samuel P. Langley." (quoted from the Smithsonian archive record for Bentley's images).

So, in essence, Bentley not only embraced winter, it was the only time that he could do those images. Going back to the old saying "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade."   So, while I may not enjoy the limitations that winter weather gives me - as in bad driving conditions, salt and crud from the streets and roads, and that my heating bill this winter will be a doozy, the snow and ice afford me an opportunity (many, it seems) to do different things than the rest of the year.  I could stay inside, and hang out in my cave, doing studio shots, and still-lifes, or I can go out onto the glacier and see what I can find.

Ice Cave in Big Four Glacier, Washington, ca. 1920. Courtesy of
Univ. of Washington

Although winter photography is often challenging because of the cold... and cameras and fingers do not always work so well cold, imagine how much harder it was back in the day when people were using view cameras, glass plates, and did not have Gore-tex, Thinsulate, and other modern fabrics to keep warm.

While I enjoy shooting black and white in the winter, largely because it is such a monochromatic landscape, color allows for the nuances on the snow that don't show up in monochrome.  I will admit that shooting digital is often easier in cold weather than shooting film, so long as your batteries hold out.  The Li-on batteries in today's DSLRs do quite well in the cold, and keeping a few extras in a warm pocket make shooting pretty easy.  However, if using a film camera, I go for simplicity and easy control - which means the Nikon F2 and FM2N.
Winter is also a good time to experiment with high contrast black and white films such as Kodalith, Techpan, and all the other oddball films that are still out there designed for high contrast work.  I know I have posted here previously on using such films, so take a look through my archives.   About the only thing I have not tried in winter is shooting models in the snow.  That seems like a way to torture someone. I know I would not get naked in the snow, so why should I expect someone else to?  However, take a look at Craig Blacklock's "Lake Superior Nudes" - some people are just tougher, I guess.  His and her ancestors must have been from the edge of the glacier.