Happy New Year!

Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

There are many challenges over the new year and the burgeoning adventure for film will unfold over the coming months. As the invention of film photography did not eliminate painting and drawing, so will the media of silver gelatin and other processes endure for the future. The big players have to rescale and new ones arise. These are interesting times for film!

Introduction to Astro-Photography - Easy Project

Jerry Lodriguss has a beginners book on astro-photography, taking pictures of the night sky! Try out his easy project, a barn door tracker. This device is an easy to make and easy to use device to follow the motion of the stars. It allows you to take clear shots of stars with no tails or streaks.

Taking only two pieces of wood, two tee nuts, a round nut, two bolts (all 1/4" by 20tpi) and a hinge, this project is inexpensive and easy for anyone handy. The key is to place the winding bolt at 290mm from the center of the hinge.

Winter is a great time to explore the sky in the North, as the air is dry from the cold and the sky often clear.

Fine Art Printing Paper by Micheal and Paula

In an effort to duplicate long discontinued photographic papers for printing, the team of Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee created not only a silver chloride paper with the look that is no longer available, but also a developer for the papers. The developer is based on Amidol, and the paper is Lodima. That is, Amidol spelled backwards. This paper has deep blacks, bright highlights and a long scale of midtones.

Michael spent many iterations developing the formulation for the paper, using as a guide a print he made on Kodak Azo paper chosen for its broad range of grays. This newly developed paper is intended to reproduce the look and tonal range of Azo papers, which Kodak discontinued. He feels to have succeeded and exceeded expectations with Lodima. He then contracted with a company in Germany to manufacture the paper. After two runs in 2008 and 2012, he is ready to start looking at another manufacturing run.

While the Michael and Paula's online store still lists a number of sizes of Lodima, photographers who would like a particular size that is not in stock are recommended to contact them to place an order. In the past, Michael did not charge for orders until the paper was manufactured and ready to ship.

The paper is suitable for contact prints, particularly from large format view cameras, but any large negative will work. Being a slow paper (not very sensitive to light), exposures take a long time with enlargers.

Those who have used it have made claims about its tonal range and beauty. Here are some testimonials:

• “The paper has marvelous tones...maybe the deepest blacks I have EVER seen in a silver print.”
• "Is the paper Azo? No, I think it is much nicer. It has a lovely scale, tone and paper surface which I find much more appealing."

About Michael and Paula

Michael and Paula are fine art photographers with decades of experience. They hold exhibitions of their prints and feature some of their photographs online. They run a successful photo book press, Lodima Press, after which the Lodima paper is named. Michael also offers custom lab services and archival gallery materials (custom cut matts, etc.) at the same online store.

Bob Carnie Printmaking

Custom lab services for many film formats, from 35mm to 16x20 inches, are available from Bob Carnie Printmaking , a lab in Toronto, Canada. The lab can not only process B&W and colour film, but also offer scans on various machines, including a drum scanner. If you have a project to transfer many film photographs to digital, they offers plans for archiving your or your estate's works over a period of time.

What separates this lab from others, is that they can wet print onto silver gelatin paper from film in 35mm format to 11x14 inch negatives. This offer also includes toning using various techniques to get the look that you want.

Bob Carnie offers workshops on photography and printmaking, from wet plate to alternative processes such as platinum. Looking for a place to process your fine art photography? Here is one lab that offers a broad range of custom services.

Disclaimer: I have not used this lab, yet.

The Kodak Shirley Card

After Kodak was forced to unbundle colour film processing in the 1950s, allowing independent film processors to handle film processing, Kodak developed the Shirley card to aid in controlling image quality. Named after Kodak employee, Shirley Page, the card lived on for decades, assisting in photographic quality control. Ms. Page was the first among many models featured for the card.

One issue with the Shirley card was that the model used was Caucasian. Over time, as more countries adopted colour film, the need for models with different skin tone came up. NPR features an article on how Kodak's Shirley cards set photography's skin tone standard .

The New, Leica M-A (Typ 127) Rangefinder

Leica is supporting film for the next 50 years, with the well built Leica M-A (Typ 127) film camera. Expect this beauty to outlast you, and only for an exceptional $4,750. Simplicity is the hallmark of this camera, without even metering, just choose your focal length and focus, set the shutter and aperture, then shoot.

It is the essence of photography only as the iconic Leica brand can express it. The camera comes with a roll of Tri-X film, a film that was released in the same year as the first Leica M-series.

Available at B&H, though still listed as on pre-order at time of writing.

Shoot for the Moon!

Capture your own unique interpretation of the moon with this handy exposure calculator for the Moon. The calculator shows the phase of the moon, and a suggested exposure for various conditions for that phase of the moon. There are many variables depending on what you aim for in your final image.

Some of the variations that the calculator supports are location of the moon from the horizon, moon phase, weather and, of course, your exposure ISO and aperture. Look for different effects with clouds, the scenery in the foreground and whatever it takes to be just your own unique Moon shot!

Find out the Moon rise and set times with this calendar. The calendar shows you where to look in the sky and when the moon will be visible. The calendar can be customized to your location, giving precise information you can use.

Take advantage of the broad latitude of print film to capture some of the foreground, here on Earth, while keeping the bright highlights of the moon under control. There are almost 7 stops or more of latitude available to the film photographer.

FILM Ferrania - Film for the Next 100 Years

The FILM Ferrania project has successfully completed its Kickstarter campaign and will soon be producing film in Italy once again. The project hopes to reclaim and rebuild the Ferrania film plant to produce colour reversal film into the next century.

When the big film producers can no longer profitably manufacture film, the Ferrania project hopes to be there to fill in the gap. There are currently only 4 plants in the world that are capable of producing film, the Italian plant is one of them. The film produced will be a modified version of the ScotchChrome film as produced by 3M at the Ferrania plant in the past. Both 35mm and 120 format slide films will be produced, in addition to cine film.

The FILM Ferrania project will produce movie film in Super 8 format and in 16mm format. Super 8 film still has a following today, producing a sought after look.

Safe Sync - How to Connect Old Flash Units to Newer Cameras

As mentioned earlier, attaching an older flash unit with more than single digit voltage at the contacts can and will damage your newer electronic camera. These flashes can be used with any older camera that has a mechanical shutter mechanism (i.e. no battery is required to use the shutter on the camera), but newer cameras, not.

However, there is a solution, if you have a collection of older flash units that you would like to use. That is, with a Safe Sync. A simple device that attaches to the hotshoe of your camera and that regulates the voltage from your flash unit to your camera. Beware, eBay and others have units that look like a Safe Sync, but they are not Safe Sync units. Using such a device with a flash that has a 100V trigger could spell the end for your camera.

Look carefully before you buy and connect your older flash unit to your new age camera.

StackExchange has a short article on Safe Sync units.

The Impossible Project

The Impossible Project is the only company in the world producing instant film for classic Polaroid™ cameras. They not only sell instant film, but also the cameras to expose the film in.

If you do not want to lug around a Polaroid™ camera, there is an iPhone app that you can use with the Impossible Instant Lab and your iPhone to make instant photos from your phone at your convenience. Get the look of analog with the convenience of your phone. Note: ask if it is compatible with the iPhone 6 before buying.

Check out the Film Photography Project for all things film. From 110 to 8x10, they have it all. Check out the Double-X cine film in 35mm cassettes.

New Cameras, Old Flashes

Beware that modern cameras usually operate with low voltages. Older flash units can put out high trigger voltages, well over 100 volts. This list from Steve's Digicams lists a number of popular flash units with their corresponding trigger voltage. Look for values under 12 volts, if you are considering mating an older flash unit with a newer, electronic shutter camera.

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/flash-external/127120-trigger-voltage.html

Here is the listing as it appears on the page for Sunpak flashes:

Sunpak flash synch voltage 
1400M DISC. 190
1600A DISC. 190
144D 6
144PC 6

266D for Canon DISC. 6
2000DZ DISC. 6
333 DISC. 6
344D DISC. 
355AF 6
433D 6
433AF 6
321 DISC. 190
322 DISC. 190
383 Super 6
411 DISC. 190 
422D DISC. 6 
444D DISC. 6 
120J Auto 12 
120J TTL 12 
DX-8R DISC. 6 
DX-12R 6 
D-Macro 6 
511 DISC. 190 
522 DISC. Early 190 Later 6 Determined only by testing
544 6 
555 6 
611 DISC. 190 
622 Auto Pro 6 
622 Super 6 
PZ4000AF 6 
PZ5000AF 6
MZ440AF 6
018ST 2
DG-60 2
DS-20 2
FP-38 3 or 6
PZ40X DISC. 6
PZ40X-II 6
MS2000 DISC. 6
MS2400 DISC. 6
MS4000 DISC. 6
MCF300 11
MCF200 11
MP150 8
MP300 8
MPP500 11
MCF300 11
MDF500 11
MDF1000 11