Kickstarter: Lomo'Instant Square Wraps Up

The Lomo'Instant Square Camera Kickstarter is wrapping up within hours.  The campaign includes a number of goodies as add-on extras.  A set of colour gels will be included as a stretch goal.  One of the more useful add-ons is the Instax Mini back, that allows the camera to accept the smaller format instant film.  This somewhat future-proofs the camera should Fujifilm discontinue the Square format film for any reason.
The Fujifilm SQ10 digital camera was introduced earlier this year and offers the capability of in-camera printing onto the new square format Instax film.  The SQ10 has a few editing controls, such as brightness and some filters, similar to Instagram, such as sepia tone.
In contrast, Lomography is introducing their square camera as the first analogue square format Instax camera.
Also in the analog field, are the Polaroid Originals (formerly Impossible) cameras, including the recently released OneStep2, an updated version of the 1977 classic that takes Type 600 and I-type Polaroid film.
So, whatever you choose, there is a lot of choice out there, so start shooting instant film.  You will like it!

Disclaimer:  This blogger has backed the Lomo'Instant Square camera.

xkcd: Technology Moves On

As some may know, xkcd is a web comic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.  More to the point, it is sometimes a pithy commentary on the present.  Click, then hold your mouse over the image for more:

xckd on Obsolete Technology

#FilmIsNotDead

Hello, Polaroid Originals, Goodbye IMꟼOSSIBLE

With a public announcement on September 12th, The IMꟼOSSIBLE Project wraps up and Polaroid Originals is announced, along with a new Polaroid camera, the OneStep2. Back in May, the CEO of IMꟼOSSIBLE, Oskar Smolokowski, arranged for the purchase of the remaining parts of the Polaroid business by TIP. Once merged, all of the TIP film and camera business will continue under the Polaroid Originals brand name. A quick perusal of your favourite online photo store will now turn up Polaroid Originals instant film.
The familiar films from IMꟼOSSIBLE, the new i-Type, SX-70, 600 Type, Spectra and 8x10 instant films will all be available under the new name. Also introduced is the new OneStep2 camera, based on the original OneStep camera of 1977 with a few improvements, such as an aspherical lens. The new camera takes either i-Type or 600 Type film, has an internal rechargeable battery (unlike the Kickstarter Lomo'Instant Square Disclaimer: your editor is backing this Kickstarter), and maintains the ease of use of the original camera all for the low price of $99. Really, instant film is this easy to get into.  It is always a conversation starter and people love to pass around the photos, as your editor can attest. Polaroid Originals film is available readily online already, and for the retail slowpokes, the remaining Impossible film can still be used.
The launch of the Polaroid Originals brand comes with a new generation of colour film, sharper and brighter than the Impossible film that came before it. And with development time down to 10-15 minutes, it’s a big step forward for their instant colour chemistry. That is still not all that is new....
They have also unveiled a new magazine, Polaroid Originals Magazine, that covers instant film photographers and photography. Check it out!
Note that while the re-branding is going on, customer details, such as past purchases, new purchases from Polaroid Originals, email notifications and social media contacts are being merged, so that past customers of TIP should have a seamless transition to the new name.
This announcement is fantastic to hear given that this is the 80th anniversary of Edwin Land's Polaroid dream - to give a child a photo she can share in minutes. The choices today in instant film are greater than ever before. Good luck, to the new Polaroid!

Kickstarter: The Lomo'Instant Square Camera

Yet another Kickstarter for film photography? Yes, it is for the Lomo'Instant Square. A folding camera that shoots Fuji's new square format Instax instant film. Fuji introduced the iconic format film earlier this year along with a camera to expose it. The Fuji camera is really a digital camera that can print on Instax square film. The Fuji edition camera allows changing the brightness of the image and applying various filters before optionally printing the shot.

Before anything else, there is one thing to know about the Lomo'Instant at time of printing this article, and that is the Kickstarter offer has a special 35% discount available for backers in the first 24 hours of the offer. If you can get your pledge in before 0959 UTC (5:59am EDT), August 30th, you can choose one of the Early Bird discounted rewards that includes the phrase "Save 35%...". And yes, the Kickstarter is fully funded as of writing.

The Lomography offer includes a camera with a glass lens for sharp pictures, a folding design with a bellows, full flash control, a IR remote shutter control, automatic exposure, shutter times from 1/250 to 30 seconds and an optional portrait lens with a range of 0.5m to 0.8m (about 20" to 31") and many other goodies.

Lomography bills itself as the Lomographic Society International, "a globally-active organization dedicated to experimental, creative and analogue photography." They have had 7 Kickstarters to date. As with any Kickstarter, there is risk and product may not be delivered. That said, they offer delivery to just about anywhere in the world, with multiple delivery hubs, so that there will be no customs fees for the lucky backers in areas covered by a hub.

Disclosure: your blogger is a backer of this project at time of writing. Nothing like an offer with a deadline to loosen up the wallet - a well-known marketing tool.

Sample Graph of Reciprocity Failure for Ilford Films

As previously posted on Ag+ Process, the paper on reciprocity failure for Ilford films contains formulas for computing exposure times for long exposures. The longer the exposure, the less likely a given film will perform according to its box speed. For those with a hand calculator or calculator on a phone that has a y^x key, the computation is easy and just requires looking up a constant.

However, for those who prefer graphs, Ag+ Process has prepared a sample graph from the Ilford data for the first 30 seconds of measured (e.g. with a light meter) exposure time. It is possible to see that for a graph with longer times, reading the computed (Tc) times for shorter exposures becomes harder. Other factors can come into play as well for longer exposures.

To use the graph, find the curve for your film (they are colour coded and all but two films are labelled), then find the time along the horizontal axis (labelled Tm) from your exposure meter. Trace up vertically to the point on the curve for your film exactly above that time, then trace horizontally to the vertical axis (Tc). That is the time for the corrected exposure.

Here is the graph, click for full size:

Random News From August 2017

Film Ferrania

Film Ferrania has announced final shipping fo P30, their first attempt at commercial silver halide film. The black and white film inspired by Ferrania B&W movie film is high in silver content and gives a rich tonality. They plan to start selling P30 in their shop soon. With much more work to do at the factory, hopefully they can get to producing E6 colour slide film eventually.

Intrepid Camera 8x10 Kickstarter

Inptrepid Cameras has declared that their first 8x10 camera has just been assembled. At a svelte 295x295x75mm and 2.15kg, the camera is even lighter and smaller than announced on Kickstarter.

Kodak teams with Girl Skateboards

Kodak has teamed up with Girl Skateboards to produce skateboard decks and clothing with classic film branding from Kodak. “Girl videos have always been partially shot on film. The 20 plus years of our archived photos are all shot on film,” said Sam Smyth, Girl Skateboards. Check it out, lots of great shots featuring these boards and clothing.

Ilford Publishes Reciprocity Failure Table

Ilford published a document on reciprocity failure for Ilford films. The short, one page document gives instructions for calculating exposure times where the metered exposure is over one second. With a scientific handheld calculator, calculator app on your computer (in scientific mode) or a calculator app on your phone (when held horizontally), the y^x key can be used with the time factor in the document to calculate a compensated time. Due to contrast in the scene, development time may need to be reduced (pulled) due to different light levels present. Other factors may come into play affecting the exposure, so some experimentation may still be needed.
To see how Ilford's table works, consider Ilford Delta 3200 in a scene which requires 8 seconds of exposure time. The compensation factor at time of writing for this film is 1.33. So, on the calculator enter 8 (the time), press y^x, then enter 1.33 (the factor for Delta 32000) and finally press =. The result in this case is 15.889 seconds. Round this to 16 seconds and use for the exposure time.
Substitute the time from your exposure meter and the appropriate factor for the film you are using for your situation.

Minolta Maxxum Film Cameras and Lenses

One j.d. katz created a timeline of Minolta A-mount film cameras, from the original Maxxum 7000 produced in 1985 through to the Maxxum 50 and 70 produced up to 2006. The same A-mount is used on modern Sony Alpha series dSLRs. An adapter, the LA-EA4 may be used to adapt A-mount lenses to Sony's mirrorless cameras, which use the E-mount.

The Maxxum 7 and Maxxum 9 were flagship cameras in the Minolta stable. The Maxxum 7 had the most features of any of the series, and all features were accessible by dials or a single button push. The back on the camera has an LCD panel that displays exposure information. The display will rotate 90 degrees with the orientation of the camera, keeping the text horizontal.

The Maxxum line of cameras were marketed as Dynax cameras in Europe and as Alphas in Asia. The modern Sony Alpha name is inherited from Minolta; Sony acquired Minolta in mid-2006. Originally, the Maxxum mark had a crossed-XX much like Exxon's logo. Exxon won in a lawsuit against Minolta, so Minolta had to stop using the crossed-XX mark. Lenses so marked are rare and desired by collectors. There is no difference in quality between a given lens with the crossed-XX the equivalent one without.

Another eBay writer has a short article on Minolta lens bargains. These are overperforming lenses for the price. The list also includes some of the top performing lenses, with top prices to match, such as the Minolta 35mm f/1.4, a $1400 lens in its day. Recommended, of course, is the 50mm f/1.4, which still goes for a pretty penny today.

Wikipedia has much information on the A-mount system and this humble blog has more resources for the A-mount enthusiast.