monochrom
Hello everyone,
Yesterday I shot a roll of Maco PO 100c 135-36 for the first time with my Contax RX (with fresh batteries!) and encountered the following problems:
The motorised film advance struggled to feed the film properly – in fact, it was extremely difficult – which I could tell from the strained sound of the motor and the feed slowing down steadily. After frame 30, my camera finally gave up and reeled the film of its own accord. I then shot two rolls of Ilford Delta 400 Professional 135-36 without any problems. As I have never had problems of this kind with my camera before and it also has powerful motors, the problem must have been with the film.
My question: Have any of you ever had similar problems with this or other films? What could be the cause? Like any other photographer, I want to be able to rely on my equipment when it really matters. For that reason, the Maco is not an option for me for the time being.
I will also be contacting the manufacturer and will post any response here.
Thanks for all your replies!
Matthias
Wolf_XL
Hello,
I had the same problem with the Fuji Across 100 whilst on holiday. As I was travelling by motorbike, I only had a Voigtländer Vito C with me (a Minox 35 clone). By the 10th photo at the latest, it was so difficult to pull out of the cassette that the film transport sprocket wheel ended up tearing the perforations and it stopped working altogether. I suspect that the film spool unwound so far due to the vibrations of the motorbike (quite vigorous, as is typical of a Harley :) ) that it more or less stuck to the inside of the film cartridge. I then tried inserting a 24-exposure colour negative film – the film transport worked without any problems with that.
Regards
Wolf
MirkoBoeddecker
Hello Matthias,
Without wanting to take the wind out of the competition’s sails – but we too could theoretically face these problems: you can’t always compare apples with pears!
A Delta 400 is a standard film through and through. It’s produced in huge quantities and manufactured fully automatically.
The PO100c is a rarity. It is produced in very small quantities and assembled entirely by hand. Furthermore, it features a CLEAR BACKING, made possible by the use of a PET backing (a clear triacetate backing would cost a fortune).
Consequently, the MACO PO100C is inherently more temperamental. Mainly because of the tear-resistant PET base and, secondly, because it is assembled by hand into Spanish-style cassettes.
In cameras with motorised film transport, a film like this can, under certain circumstances, cause the issue you observed if several unfortunate factors coincide. The phenomenon mentioned by Wolf probably plays a role here. The PET base is rather ‘stubborn’, which is also why the roll films sometimes ‘spring open’. It may have unrolled due to vibrations in the cassette and been pressed against the wall. With a manual camera, you simply turn the rewind crank a few times and that’s that...
All these are reasons why, in future – provided we can source triacetate base at a reasonable price – we want to have the ADOX roll films cast on the old base again.
Unfortunately, this means, on the flip side, that the films can no longer be reversed for slides as easily.
That’s what the PO100c offers you, unlike the Delta.......
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Mirko,
Have you had a look at Svema? They have a triacetate base that’s a bit clearer than Ilford’s; it might be worth a try, and it’s probably good value too.
They also have a very good protective paper for their roll films.
I don’t think the films themselves are bad either; they’re the only ones that really capture that 1940s look.
Roland
cfb_de
Hello Mirko,
> These are all reasons why, in future – provided we have the opportunity
> to purchase triacetate base at a reasonable price – we want to have the ADOX roll films
> cast on the old base again.
*Please* (!) do that! Also, for the roll films, a more light-tight and perhaps slightly thicker backing paper would be rather nice.
I’d be willing to pay for that too.
The current Kroat films don’t really work in my K-60, which is adjusted for HP5. And they don’t really work in my old Rolleicord either; the rolls are simply too thin and stubborn when loading them. And that’s on top of those rubbish PET backing sheets... Grrr. Edge exposure should really be dealt with during production, not left to the end customer.
Oh yes. Proper backing sheets like in the old days, light-tight backing paper... A dream. Especially because then I could finally take decent photos with the right ‘look’ using my old folding cameras again.
And then some baryta paper off the roll ;-) Mirko, you’d have made me perfectly happy in paradise on earth. It should be worth it to you.
Best regards,
Franz
Dennis
Hi Matthias!
That’s just how the PO100c is.
When I first used it in my mechanical
Canon Ftb, I was worried too that something might be wrong.
But as almost all of them are difficult to load and so far
nothing bad has happened because of it, I’ve just got used to it.
I quite like the PO100 as a slide film and, now that I’ve
got the hang of it, I hope this film will be available until
the end of my life ;-)
Best wishes and happy shooting
Dennis from Berlin
Gast
Roland!
Nah, nothing at all, mate – just some Russian acetate and paper, then I can fiddle my Kiev and Franz’s Kiev back to Russian standard.
Gast
Hello!
Can anyone tell me if these images are from the Russian film?
http://www.trypillya.kiev.ua/gospodari.htm
If so, I’ll adjust the KieV again – that’s what I call a rich tonal range.
Gast
Hi Rudi,
Have I not calibrated my monitor properly?
I reckon the photographer has tested his film properly and
has a good handle on the exposure... (or was he just lucky?) :-)
Best wishes, Stephan
skahde
I reckon the photographer has tested his film properly and has the exposure under control... (or was he just lucky?) :-)
There’s also some lovely ‘old-fashioned’ vignetting and edge blur, the sky and snow are essentially featureless, and the shadows are washed out. To balance this out, the mid-tones have plenty of contrast and appear ‘rich in tonal range’. To me, it all looks like overdevelopment, and this would probably have been easiest to achieve with a TMAX. :)
Best regards,
Stefan
MirkoBoeddecker
Franz,
I’ve already mentioned this in another thread: you can no longer buy protective paper for roll films.
It’s not a question of price. It’s simply no longer available. What’s more, we’d have to carry out years of testing to check for any potential incompatibility or chemical reactions with the material.
It’s not that we wouldn’t like to change this, but it’s simply not possible. That’s why we’re going to all this expense with the plastic containers.
And by the way: due to the slump in sales, we’re not even earning enough from roll films to pay a temporary worker’s wages at the moment. It’s impossible to hop on a plane and fly to Kiev to negotiate with the Ukrainian mafia and pay protection money...
I’m currently negotiating with a German paper mill, but that doesn’t look promising either...
Best regards,
Mirko
monochrom
Hello again,
Back to the Maco: now that I’m aware of this issue, I can deal with it and make a decision for or against this film. However, I think it’s a shame that HANS O. MAHN & CO. doesn’t mention a word about it in their advertising leaflet for this film (the same goes for the FOTOIMPEX catalogue). After all, judging by the replies here, it seems quite likely that such issues will arise. I think a brief warning would be fair. The frustration caused by a lack of information about the film stock can easily outweigh the hesitation about using such a film for experimental purposes, despite the warnings.
So thank you very much for the informative replies!
Matthias
Gast
Rudi,
That’s probably Svema – you can tell from some of the photos – but the others are right: it’s a bit over-exposed.
I think it’s 35mm film; as far as I can tell, apart from the grey base, it doesn’t have any antihalation coating, unlike roll films, which don’t suffer from overexposure as much.
Roland
Gast
Mirko,
How on earth does Efke get hold of that protective paper? Do they have a Croatian factory on the side, or are these just residues, which are practically all gone now?
You must surely be familiar with that black-and-red paper that one of your competitors uses to wrap their photographic paper in – the one that comes with the Classic Color.
Couldn’t that be used to wrap the roll films?
I remember seeing that sort of black-and-red paper with roll films.
By ‘chemical reactions’, do you mean when someone freezes the film and lets it thaw? Otherwise, I can hardly imagine that happening with the paper you mentioned.
Roland
cfb_de
Hi Roland,
By ‘chemical reaction’, Mirko means that the light-proof coating and the printing on the back must not release any gases that could then end up on the film. The numbers on the backing paper, for example, really shouldn’t be visible on the negatives :-)
I don’t know anything about the supply issues with the backing paper. However, Mirko did mention something like that a while ago. I simply collect my old ones; if necessary, we’ll switch to a “reusable system” :-)
Mirko, seriously. Even if it doesn’t work out with different backing paper: could you please, please change the base material anyway?
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
I just wanted to quickly post Maco’s reply. The offer to exchange my films has put me in a very positive frame of mind:
Dear Mr Simon,
thank you for your email.
As you can imagine, we are already aware of this issue.
Unfortunately, you did not mention when and where you purchased this film, nor its batch number.
All retailers were made aware of the issues well over a year ago,
which arose from the use of a specific batch of METAL CASES.
This was a problem that did not come to light during routine quality control, but unfortunately only became apparent when the product was in use.
Should you still have any stock remaining, we would be happy to exchange it for you.
I very much regret that a few (very few) films were affected by this problem, caused by a supplier of packaging materials. I will leave no stone unturned to help you.
Kind regards / Bien à vous / Groetjes / With kind regards Hartmuth Schroeder Director of the
MACO PHOTO PRODUCTS
Hans O. Mahn & Co. KG
Brookstieg 4
D-22145 Stapelfeld/Hamburg GERMANY
MirkoBoeddecker
Well, now I’m actually interested in the batch number.
As it happens, we never keep more than 20 of the PO 100c in stock.
The stock that Maco delivered over a year ago has already been sold for over a year now.
No, really, I’m not going to take the blame for that!
Best regards,
Mirko
monochrom
The film had the batch number 310003. I bought it from the photography shop 1000 Tücher in Hamburg about three weeks ago. After I told them about the problem, they gave me a new one for free. However, they also said that this was the first time they’d heard of this issue.
Best regards,
Matthias
MirkoBoeddecker
Ah, I thought you’d bought it from us.
The letter sort of implied that Maco is doing everything right, but the dealer is ripping off customers. I didn’t want to let that stick to us.
Best regards,
Mirko
Dennis
Hello!
Yesterday, the first PO100c from a new batch
(310494) went through my camera, and it feeds through
very smoothly. Perhaps it was just a temporary issue after all.
Happy shooting!
Dennis
