Stocking Up as Kodak Reorganizes

A couple of weeks ago I placed an order from Freestyle Photo for 25 rolls of Kodak's Tri-X in 120 size, and 2 bulk rolls of 35mm. That's 200 feet of Tri-X. With all of the news coming out about Kodak's impending Chapter 11 filing, I felt that I should stock up, not because I thought Tri-X was going away, but the prices might go up due to uncertainty in the supply chain, as well as people cashing in on the fear of Kodak disappearing entirely. As has been widely reported, Kodak claims that "Film remains profitable." It has to be, as Kodak can easily swamp suppliers if it wanted to, and charge even less for its product. It could also raise the price. I think Kodak's film business has probably subsidized its attempts to be a player in the printer market, among other things. So, perhaps a "film-only" spinoff like Eastman Chemicals (also profitable) would be a good thing. However, with Ilford (a dedicated b&w manufacturer), Fuji, Efke, Forte, and other film suppliers, black & white film isn't going away. I don't know how the Chapter 11 reorganization will pan out, but I have enough Tri-X to last me a year or two. Maybe by the time I run out of my current supply, the "Eastman Film Company" will materialize and continue selling silver-halide products in a little yellow box like it always has.

A new website -- Darkroom Resources

Thanks to the ease of putting up a web site under Google, I have built one that is intended to be a resource for users of expired films, papers, and discontinued products. It's also a source of documentation and techniques that have largely been lost in the transition to digital workflow. Darkroom Resources is still under development, and I will be adding new material to it over the next few months. Some of the documents are those that I inherited from Bill Brudon, and are not easily found in any archives, as they date well before the Internet!

If you have suggestions for material to include, or want to contribute printed items to be scanned (and returned) and included on the site, just e-mail me.

Yashica TL Electro X SLR

For some time, I have wanted to get another M-42 screw mount body, but one that takes modern batteries, has a working meter, and a metal shutter. I have been through way too many aged Pentax Spotmatics, Prrakticas, etc. I had a manual for a Yashica TL Electro X in my collection of printed materials, so I decided to look for one on Ebay. After some failed bidding attempts, I found a nice all-black model -- the latter version of the TL Electro with the atomic symbol on the front and the "ITS" designation. It was $29.99 (buy it now) with free shipping so I purchased it. The camera was even better-looking in front of me than it was on-line (which is not often the case). It was advertised as "100% working" and it does, but it might be a while until I have fully trusted the meter reading. However, the TL Electro X features:

• Stop-down metering
• Uses a currently available 6v battery
• Mirror-lockup
• ISO hot shoe + PC sync terminals
• Vertical traveling metal focal-plane shutter
• B - 1/1000 sec shutter speeds
• DOF preview
• battery-check button

Now, those are fairly standard features, but not always the case for M42-mount cameras. I shot a roll of Kodak Gold 100 the day I got the camera -- and it was an overcast afternoon by then. However, I ventured out to Chelsea, MI to do some shooting to try out the camera. One thing that took some getting used to is the exposure system. Exposure adjustment is indicated by --> <-- arrows at the bottom of the viewfinder. When you have correct exposure, both arrows disappear. The metering is activated by holding down the lever on the front right of the camera, next to the lens. It also works as a depth of field preview button.

A few shots from the day...

A bunch of creepy doll parts -- probably f/2 at 1/15 or 1/30 sec.

An REO Speedwagon with "rustic" art bolted or welded on. Not sure what to make of it, but the truck did run, and was quite a spectacle. Thankfully, it had a "chase car" as I am sure it wasn't going too fast.

Milling about. There are not many small towns anymore that have an industry still in town, next to other businesses and residential areas. The Chelsea Milling Co., home of Jiffy Mix is right in downtown Chelsea, making for a scene that is nostalgic and yet contemporary.

I thought the lens I used -- from an earlier Yashica purchase, the Yashica J-P -- is rather soft and not contrasty, so the next roll was shot with a Cosina 55mm f/1.7 lens, and I'll see how that performed after I develop the b&w film. Overall, this camera is a beauty, and works well. The price was a steal, and I look forward to using it with other M-42 lenses.

Pentax 6x7 on the street

I have owned a Pentax 6x7 since about 2001. It was given to me by my now-deceased mentor, Bill Brudon. It is not a camera that I use frequently, but I go through periods when I use it a lot for a short period. Mostly I use it on a tripod, as it's a pretty heavy beast, and that's one reason I don't use it for much than landscapes or portraits. The last year saw me trying something different. I figured that it deserved a try as a "street camera." Now, it's way too big to be a discreet camera, but I did re-attach the strap so that it could easily be carried over a shoulder and used hand-held. That means a film ISO of 400, so that I can shoot at higher shutter speeds. The mirror flip is loud, so this is not, I repeat, not a discreet camera!

Back in November, Marc Akemann and I went on a day-trip to Fenton and Holly, MI. The day was quite sunny, though the sun was getting low in the sky, causing long shadows. I used a roll of 220 Kodak Portra 400 VC that expired in 2007. Frankly, I was a little disappointed in the results. The shadows were really blocked up, so I probably won't use any more that film. The one thing that I had to be careful of is that the camera is easily banged into things, since it was hanging down from my shoulder, and the lens hood really sticks out. I quickly got used to the heft of the camera, and it's like shooting a Pentax Spotmatic on steroids.

Marc shooting with his trusty F100. His brother bought it for $25 at a yard sale.

Coffeehouse in Holly. It's a beautiful small town that has a nice antique mall district, small restaurants, and other shops.

Mural in Holly. This was taken in open shade, and the negative is lacking in contrast and seems underexposed.

Mailboxes, Holly. The 90mm lens is the "normal" lens for this camera, and vertical shots are fairly easy, as the camera has lots of "grippable area."

The plus side of the 6x7 format is that it is a big negative. Using 220, I can get 20 shots on a roll, which is a fair amount of shooting with a camera of this heft. However,220 is getting hard to come by, so in the future, I'll stick to 120 rolls. Some Kodak Tri-X will go for the next outing.

The Kodak Brownie Reflex

I have divested myself of most of my 127 film cameras, but the Kodak Brownie Reflex I have recently shot with is one that sat on a shelf for a number of years before I finally put some film in it. I had a roll of 40+ year old Kodak Verichrome Pan in 127 size,(the best film ever for box cameras), so I figured that I may as well finally try out the Brownie. While it looks much like a TLR, it's really just a box camera with a reflex (mirror) viewfinder. My camera is a bit grungy on the viewfinder part, but the taking lens (a simple meniscus lens) is clear. Note that the camera has I and B settings - for "Instant" and "Bulb". The frames are square 4x4 cm, with 12 exposures on a roll. The model I have is the "synchro" version, made from 1941-1952, meaning that it accepts a clip-on flash unit. The body is mostly made of black bakelite, and it really is a stylish box camera, complete with neck strap. I started the roll of VP127 back in June, when my daughter Jorie and I went on a photo safari to Indiana, and finally finished the roll yesterday by taking some shots in Ann Arbor. I developed the film in Kodak DK-50 1:1 for 6 minutes. That particular developer seems to work really well with old Verichrome Pan. I like the square format, and considering the age of the film AND the age of the camera, the results are pretty decent.

The theater in Angola, Indiana. June 2011.

Decatur, IN., June 2011.

The railroad trestle near Argo dam, Ann Arbor. 12/26/2011. Note that this, the last image on the roll, is quite free from the markings found on the beginning of the roll.

I might shoot 127 more often if it were not for the fact that the only b&w film is Efke, and that 127 film is a pain to scan, as there are no film holders for it. However, I certainly have enough 120 and 35mm cameras to use, and 127 remains a rarely-used format. At one time, it was quite popular, and pretty much died out as a consumer film once Kodak brought out the Instamatic cartridge in 1963. There are still some beautifully-made 127 cameras that are worth trying -- the Sawyers 127 TLR, the mini Rollei, and the Ricoh Super-44. Such compact TLR cameras are fun to use, and produce excellent results.

Retina IIa Review

If you are a collector of cameras, or a user of vintage cameras, there is one model that you should own -- the Kodak Retina IIa. You really would be hard-pressed to find another camera that fits in a pocket, has an all-metal construction, completely manual, and has a 50mm 2.0 Xenar lens.

First, a little bit about the Retinas. With the exception of the Kodak Ektra, The Bantam Special, Medalist, Chevron, and the Super Kodak Six-20, Kodak's premier metal-bodied cameras came out of the Nagel factory in Stuttgart, Germany. Eastman Kodak purchased the Nagel Kamerawerk in 1932, which became Kodak A.G. The first camera from the factory to use 35mm film was the Retina I, which appeared in 1934. A long series of cameras with the Retina (and lower-priced Retinette)designation appeared, ending with the Retina Reflex Instamatic camera in the 1974.

While other Retina models followed the IIa with advances such as meters, better rangefinders, and interchangeable lens elements, I think the IIa best embodies what makes a pocketable 35mm camera of its combination of quality and features. The strut-mounted lens allows the cover to collapse over it, protected from just about anything. The Schnieder Xenon f/2.0 lens in a Compur shutter with speeds from B to 1/500 sec., with X flash synch is excellent. The Retina IIa was sold from 1951-1954, meaning my two examples are both nearing 60 years old. Yet, the smooth operation of the camera and near-silent shutter is far better than many cameras of more recent vintage. The Retina IIa also features a "cold shoe" for use with an external flash (using a PC synch connector near the edge of the lens), or one could possibly use an external albada viewfinder for easier framing. Like many of its contemporaries, the Retina IIa viewfinder is rather squinty. Glasses-wearers are always at a disadvantage with the small viewfinders. The RF focusing patch works pretty well, except in low light situations, such as when I took these flash shots at a recent Ann Arbor Crappy Camera Club meetup at the Wolverine tap room. I used a small flash bracket and a modern Sunpak flash with a diffuser. The flash was set on Auto, and the camera was set at f4 and 1/50 sec to catch ambient light in the background. The beauty of a Compur leaf shutter is that the flash syncs at every speed.

This shot by Ross Orr with his Fuji 6x9 (Texas Leica) and Tupperware flash shows me with my Retina IIa setup:

(photo courtesy of Ross Orr)

This camera has the name "Edgerton" inscribed front and back. I bought this camera at an estate sale of a long-time collector in the Detroit area. I often wonder if Harold Edgerton had previously owned the camera. That would be pretty darn cool. My other Retina IIa was given to me by Bill Brudon in 2001, and that one is in even better shape, but the rangefinder needs to be adjusted.

Finally, a few samples of the shots taken with the setup described above, using Kentmere 400 b&w film: