WHAT! RBB Monday 20:15

MirkoBoeddecker · 2010-11-10T23:28:33+00:00

Der RBB hat einen kleinen Beitrag über analoge Fotografie ausgestrahlt. Zur Zeit kann man den noch in der Mediathek bewundern - ich weiß aber nicht, wie lan...

MirkoBoeddecker

RBB has broadcast a short feature on analogue photography. You can currently watch it in the media library – though I’m not sure how long the link will remain active. Monday’s episode of WAS! Enjoy.

dagobert

Really cool, wasn't it? We're in ;) B) :) Best wishes, uz lovis

rmrts

Hello, Great, now we know what things are like over there ;-) Is the post (or the photos) already up? The film you mentioned is already available, after all. By the way, I’m really impressed with the ADOX Pan 400. Best regards, Reinhold

Zeze

I’ve just seen the post – really enjoyed it. The concise, pithy comments from the chap at the Lette Club on the subject were interesting too. And Mirko: I initially thought you were one of those stuck-up, arrogant types – but you’re not at all – very likeable ;) My biggest worry, though, is really whether at some point all the big brand names will throw in the towel on analogue photography and then only niche players will remain: a roll film will then cost 20 euros, or more. Best wishes, Dieter

MirkoBoeddecker

Dieter, Why on earth should roll film cost €20 if the big players are pulling out? We’re already producing roll film independently of the major players at comparable prices. The more we produce, the cheaper we can make it. Best regards, Mirko

Zeze

We’re already producing roll film independently of the big players at comparable prices. The more we produce, the cheaper we can make it.

That’s true, of course; I hadn’t thought of it that way before, Mirko. Well then, I’m already a customer of yours anyway :) I should mention that I’m ‘still’ a Kodak user. I ordered a few Adox CHS roll films from you a while back and have already performed exposure on one or two of them. What struck me was that the base had a light leak at the edges, always most severe on the first frame; though, to be fair, this didn’t extend to the actual area of the film that was exposed. I could rule out a faulty light seal on my camera, as everything was fine again afterwards with the Kodak Trix. The hardware remained the same throughout the entire workflow – the same camera body, etc. Could this have happened during the casting process? Or is the composition slightly different, for example, is the base thicker than with a flat-crystal film, etc.? The light leak was present throughout the entire roll, slightly more pronounced on one side than the other. I noticed something else too: with ADOX, the exposed frames are always slightly out of focus – why is that? It doesn’t matter much, but I’ve never noticed that with Kodak films. I’ve heard of it from a friend, though, with Efke films as well. But apart from that: ADOX is a really fine film; I’m very impressed with the value for money, and the 25 and 50 ASA settings work a treat! By the way, I develop in D76 (stock) and think the results are good. Best regards, Dieter

MirkoBoeddecker

Hello Dieter, The light leak is due to the manual processing at Efke. Kodak, Ilford and Fuji use machines for their processing, which are more precise. This has nothing to do with the coating. Since PET backing has been used for roll films and the light-piping effect comes into play, the situation can become quite serious with roll films that are wound too loosely, affecting the image area. The solution here would be to stop winding the film too loosely. The problem has been known for many years, which is why we at ADOX invented the black light-protective containers for roll films in which every roll is delivered. If the film is unrolled and laid out in partial shade and immediately placed in the supplied container, you can prevent peripheral light from entering. In future, we intend to carry out the packaging for ADOX CHS films ourselves on our roll film machine. At the moment, however, we are still missing construction phases in which the preliminary products for this are to be manufactured (the conveyor belt is taking its time, but I’ve heard that’s often the case) and only one of the two machines is currently running, which still affects cost-effectiveness. Therefore, we cannot yet finish-process these very affordable films in Bad Saarow, because if they were 70 cents more expensive than efke, nobody would buy them anymore.... At the moment we’re making the PAN 25 as a roll film, and next up is the CMS 20. That’s still causing problems, though, as it’s so thin that the IR sensors don’t trigger and fail to recognise the film. We now have to solder potentiometers to the IR receivers to be able to adjust the ‘speed’. This is not entirely straightforward, as there are no documentation for the components (only circuit diagrams) and we first have to ‘guess’ the control voltages. In principle, film production is always quite simple, but the devil is always in the detail ;-) Edge exposure at Kodak and others is carried out using fibre-optic matrices. This is a clever solution but technically very complex and requires a separate circuit. Efke still uses the traditional method where a small lith film is stuck over a window and, inside the drum (where the windows are located), a small lamp comes on for half a second. As the film is always guided slightly above all the mechanical parts (to prevent scratches), it does not lie completely flat against the lith film, and the few 1/10 mm of air in between give the single exposure its ‘traditional aura’. Until the mid-1980s, everyone did it this way. This does not affect the image quality. We also use lith film, though the result is slightly more sharp as the machine is set more precisely and there is less of a 1/10 mm gap. Best regards, Mirko

Zeze

Lots of useful information

Mirko, Thank you so much for this detailed information :) It’s quite ‘crazy’ what you have to bear in mind when it comes to ‘film production’ – the whole process certainly sounds exciting. I was aware of the light sensitivity issue, or rather, I’d already guessed as much about the containers, and I’ve read about it too – I think it’s even mentioned in the product description in the catalogue. As far as I can remember, I loaded the film indoors during the summer. When I developed this film with a light leak a few weeks later, I panicked so much that I immediately bought a light seal for my film magazine, as it was clear to me: ‘OK, it’s over 20 years old, it was bound to happen’. It wasn’t until much later that I had the idea of conducting the exposure on another roll of film first (but I did conduct the exposure with the old light seal – I was that sensible, after all). On the other hand, I’ve finally got round to changing the light seal now; it can’t do any harm ;) I’ll finally develop the ADOX today; I’m already really excited to see what’s on the negative – it’s looking very promising. Thanks again for your info, Mirko, and sorry for the late reply – I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment. Have a lovely Sunday Dieter p.s.: How can I set up a direct debit with you, or pay by credit card (as an alternative)? Bank transfers always take too long for me; it can sometimes take a week for you to receive the payment, and then, understandably, you only send the goods off afterwards

cfb_de

P.S.: How can I set up a direct debit with you, or pay by credit card (as an alternative)? It always takes too long with the bank transfers; it can sometimes take a week for you to receive the payment, and then, understandably, you only dispatch the goods after that

Simply select “Direct debit” or “Credit card” under “Payment via...”. The rest is self-explanatory. Best regards, Franz

Zeze

Ah, it's that simple. Thank you, Franz Dieter

cfb_de

*Reading* can be a bit of a struggle sometimes when you’re used to *clicking*. No hard feelings, Franz