Out with the new, in with the old

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As many know, I love shooting film. In fact, about 80% or more of what I currently shoot is film. In this regard, the film day (which ended up just being Cameron and me) last Thursday was ideal. For the day, I packed the F3 with some colour film and Neopan 1600 (courtesy of Matt). I also decided to fire up Alicia's Rolleiflex with some 15-20 year old Tri-X (400 but shot at 200), again courtesy of Matt. The Tri-X was developed in D76 soup of questionable age. Either due to age or my handling, the film was a little fogged.

I shot the Rollei relying on the bolt on meter to see if it was accurate. I think the meter worked relatively well with enough light.

The camera has a fixed 75mm (50mm equivalent) 3.5 lens.

Anyhoo, these are shots from last Thursday from around Manly/Shelley Beach. The scans have had minimal work apart from contrast and some cropping (but retaining the square perspective). I haven't bothered with dust removal due to laziness.

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Cameron - did you take this first one?

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[Matt. K]

Patrick
I'm very impressed with the results you were able to obtain with very very out of date film. Shows just how robust that old medium is. Given a little tender care in processing of course. As an old 'film n chemical' man I find it comforting to know that there are still photographers like yourself who have a passion for keeping the old skills alive.

[aim54x]

Looking great! I am most impressed by that old stock!

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Thanks guys. Matt, perhaps you have noticed the crescent marks - I had a lot of difficulty with loading some of the films on the reels.

[Matt. K]

Patrick
I noticed the 'oysters'. It is very important that the reels be scrupulously clean and dry before trying to load the film. Dirty or damp reels are almost impossible to load properly. Also, try and avoid loading reels when the weather is very humid. This can make the film emulsion sticky. A tip that may help....if the film gets stuck whilst loading it try placing the reels and film under running water and load them wet. (Don't turn the lights on when doing this!) Also, make sure you cut a little 45 degree snip off the corners of the starting edge of the film. Sharp jaggies will catch and seize up the works. And of course...practice profusely with a scrap roll of film with the lights on until you have mastered the skill. I regularly loaded 2 rolls of 36 exp Tri-X back to back on the 1 reel Just to save developer and keep costs down.
(I'm presuming you are using the white plastic Pattersons reels?)
Another tip....it's perfectly OK to leave the film in a tank of water for extended periods of time so don't feel the need to rush things once the reels are loaded. I often gave a 5 minute pre-soak whilst I prepared the dev and stop chems. In fact a good pre-soak will prevent the formation of air bells on the film.
One final tip...after you have finished developing scrub the film reels with a toothbrush and strong detergent to get any scum off them.

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Matt

Thanks for the tips.

I have only had problems with about half a dozen of the 120 rolls out of a hundred or so, 2 of which were with these Tri-X rolls. That said, your comment about humidity is spot on. I did all of this on Saturday evening in the dark bag, which gets very, very hot and humid inside. I could feel the emulsion getting 'sticky'.

I often cut the corners off, but sometimes dispense with this out of laziness

I predominantly use the plastic Paterson tanks (have 3 of these holding 1, 2 and 5 35mm films) and 1 AP tank holding 2 35mm rolls.

I always give a 1+ minute presoak.

What I don't do is scrub the reels - perhaps a practice I should start.