Valentine's Day Weekend 2024

Just a bunch of news from the past few days.  Thanks for reading!

cinestillfilm.com is advertising a bunch of stuff on its front page.  Harman RedScale ISO 125 pre-order, Adox film and chemistry, the Pentax 17 with a $50 gift card, Kodak chemistry, CS 400D in 4x5 and more.

Looking for some motivation with your film photography?  Here is a visual blog by photographer, John Wolf, with is Leica M2. 

johnwolfblog.net/m2-selected/

The TOP Film Friday has some advice for film photographers in 2025.  Maybe things that were goals for photographers in the past have been overtaken by digital.  Mike has a few words on that. 

https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2025/02/the-optimizing-impulse-film-friday.html

The Photographic Eye ponders whether one is a photographer if no one looks at your photos.  Vivian Maier accumulated thousands of negatives that no one saw in her time, but she reflected the art of the time.  Is social media necessary for the modern photographer?  

 

Instax without Fujifilm Cameras

So, Tony (Mastadon) responded to a micro-blog post on the new Fujifilm Instax Wide Evo (review on PetaPixel), mentioning that the Fujifilm Instax cameras produce a slightly soft look.  Well, there are alternatives to Fujifilm cameras.  Leaving aside Polaroid, the original instant film company, there are a number of options for Instax instant film.

First is Lomography's Lomo’Instant Wide Glass.  Lomo themselves claim that its "brilliant 90 mm multi-coated glass lens delivers beautifully crisp images, superb depth of field, and smooth skin tones that make portraits shine."  At under $300 including lens cap that also works as a remote, splitzer attachment and flash gels, it is not breaking the bank.  If it lives up to the hype, this sounds like a nice option.

Lomography also has the LomoGraflok back that can attach to any 4x5 large format camera with Graflok attachments.  This gives one the choice of many cameras and lenses to choose from.  There is some inconvience that an adaptor has to be placed under the ground glass to focus.

The Chroma.Camera SnapShot InstantWide V2 is built for the LomoGraflok, but is a bit pricey once factoring in the cost of the back (not included).  The price for custom-built convenience.  Made to order, so one can configure the camera when ordering.  The camera focuses with an all-metal helicoid and uses the same nose cones as the Chroma Six9 cameras.  If you already have Chroma-brand cameras or are thinking of going medium format with their line of cameras, that might be a plus.

Last, but not least, is the MiNT Camera InstantKon RF70 Instant Camera.  A complete camera in one package with full manual to full automatic control.  A bit pricey, but MiNT does offer free film for life (see site for details).  VIPs (previous customers of MiNT) qualify for discounts on their next purchase.

Back to the Fujifilm Wide Evo, it is a hybrid camera.  It has a digital sensor and builtin Instax printer that prints the image.  Whether that leads to sharper images or not, no one has said.  There is magic in instant film even today, as there are still those whom have not seen a print pop out of a camera yet.  The novelty has not worn off for Your Blogger yet, either.

Thanks for reading Ag+ Process!

2024 Camera Wrap

Well, 2024 is over.  For the film photographer, there was lots of news about cameras.  New cameras, improved cameras and more.  Lets just list the cornucopia of cameras that will keep on giving into 2025.

• Intrepid Camera introduced a new electronic shutter and lens for large format cameras in a Kickstarter.
• Chroma Camera released the 2024 CubePan Advanced 35mm camera and a technical lens cone, with rise, fall and shift for the Chroma Six17 series camera. 
• MiNT introduced the Rollei 35AF 35mm camera, PetaPixel reviews this camera.
• Ricoh Imaging released the Pentax 17 half-frame camera, which Kosmo Foto reviews.
• Lomography introduced the Lomomatic 110 camera, in the subminiature 110 format.  Kosmo Foto has a review for this camera as well.  

With everything from subminiature to large format covered last year, there must be something for the film photographer to be happy about.  While the reviews may not be as glowing as one would hope, the fact is that usable cameras are being produced and if companies see a positive reaction from the market, revised and improved versions may follow.

Thank you for reading Ag+ Process.  Have a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2025!

A prosperous and happy new year to all!

The year 2024 was good to film photographers more than it was not, lets hope that trend continues!

Seasons Greetings 2024

Happy holidays to readers of Ag+ Process blog, friends and acquaintances!  

Thank you all for reading this blog and Your Blogger's postings on social media.

Have a prosperous New Year and many more!

Black Friday 2024

Ok, this post contains things other than Black Friday deals, perhaps not even discounted.  The purpose of this blog is to share resources for film photography, not to promote sales.  That said, MiNT Camera is offering a 10% reduction on a select set of camera packages, offer expires November 29th.  This vendor does not usually offer discounts at all, except to VIPs - those whom have already purchased a MiNT camera or product.

Another camera maker, Chroma.Camera, is offering 15% off all cameras until Sunday night this weekend, the 24th at 23:30 GMT.  The discount will appear in your checkout.  Double check that it is there before buying and beware of shipping costs outside the UK.

COOPH is offering 25% off their Holiday Gift Guide items until Novermber 27th.  The discount will be applied at checkout, double check that too, to avoid disappointment.  Items include rope straps, clothing, notebooks and more.

Not a sale, but for those who want to use 126 format film, the Film Photography Project is producing single roll bulk film with 126 perforations.  Unlike film with the usual 35mm perforations, this film should not jam most 126 cameras, in theory.  A 126 cartridge or adapter is required and must be loaded by the photographer.  FPP lists the following cameras that should now work using this film:  Rollei SL26, Kodak Instamatic 100 series, Keystone and others that may have jammed with regular 35mm perforated film.

FPP has also restocked 110 format film and for the that 90's vibe, they have some expired APS film and random APS point&shoot cameras.  APS was a short-lived format that was intended to be better than 35mm film for consumers, but maybe it was not.  The best feature might have been that the cartridge served as the storage for the processed film.  The cameras were fairly compact as well. 

CineStill Film is also in the game, putting out a 2024 Holiday Gift Guide of their products.  A careful read of the Guide might show some slight discounts on some products.

Have fun and make photos!

Ilford: Split Grade Printing

Rachel from Little Vintage Photography demos split grade printing, sponsored by Ilford.  The technique is discussed and results in actual prints are shown.   Ilford offers a version in text on the web, with a rundown on split grade printing the Ilford way with the full details.  

The 35mmc blog offers an alternative method of split grade printing, by Sroyon Mukhergee, with tips on dialing in the exposure.  To quote from the article:

This means we can, for example, selectively burn certain highlights (by burning during the soft exposure) or dodge the shadows (by dodging during the hard exposure), in each case leaving the other tones relatively unaffected. 

Enjoy this video by Rachel with Ilford's take: