16mm b/w negative film

Gast · 2004-10-31T21:31:22+00:00

Hallo zusammen, weißt jemand, ob es einen 16mm s/w Negativfilm gibt? Ich habe hier eine alte Kiew "Wega 2", in die 16mm Meterware eingespult wird. Von ORWO...

Gast

Hello everyone, Does anyone know if 16mm black-and-white negative film is available? I have an old Kiew "Wega 2" here, which is designed to be loaded with 16mm roll film. It seems ORWO used to produce something like that. Is the Foma film from FOTOIMPEX strictly a slide film, or can it also be developed as a negative film? Bernd

RomanJRohleder

Hello everyone, Does anyone know if there is such a thing as 16mm black-and-white negative film? I have an old Kiew "Wega 2" here that takes 16mm roll film. It seems ORWO used to produce something like that. Is the Foma from FOTOIMPEX strictly a slide film, or can it also be developed as a negative film? Bernd

Bernd, Have a look in the Impex catalogue – what it says there is correct. The R100 cannot be used as a negative film, unless you’re shooting those ‘popular’ ‘Vienna/Berlin/London by night’ postcards. Of course, I didn’t just take their word for it either, so I tortured a clip – the film has a mask beneath the emulsion layer, presumably made of metallic silver. The mask acts as an anti-halation layer (due to the absolutely clear base above it) and is dissolved in the Bleach bath. If you develop a Fomapan R100 using standard negative processes, you’ll end up with a negative on a brown, almost opaque base. Grab a cheap plastic point-and-shoot camera and a craft knife, a bit of spit and some hot glue, and build yourself a film cutter. If necessary, you can even use a paper cutter (for paper), though that’s extremely fiddly and risky in the dark. I’ve actually cut a few Minox films this way, though. With looooots of determination and a high frustration threshold. You’ll find a few ideas at http://subclub.org/... have fun with the Vega. Roman

MirkoBoeddecker

Roman, Are you sure you can use 35mm film split in half in the Wega?? 16mm film has a completely different perforation! I don’t know the Wega well enough to say for certain how it feeds the film, but I’m assuming there’s a gear doing the job here too... You can of course get 16mm negative material, but it’s always on professional reels for film-to-film applications, i.e. in lengths of 300 metres or more. Mirko

RomanJRohleder

Mirko, Yep, I reckon so. I haven’t held a Vega in my hands for ages, but today I’ve borrowed an empty Ukrainian-made cassette – it works just like a scaled-down Minox cassette. The film is stuck to a core, which has a cross-shaped tab on the inside that apparently engages with the transport mechanism and moves the film by rotating. The perforation doesn’t matter, in my humble opinion. But I could be wrong. :-) There is a way to check this. FRAAAAANZ? Could you please have a look in my Maizenberg? There’s a repair manual for the Vegas in there; the diagrams should provide some information on this as well. Thanks. :-) Roman

RomanJRohleder

Mirko, Here’s a quick explanation: The Vega takes both unperforated _and_ perforated film, whereas the Kiev 30/303 only takes unperforated film. So both are ideal for cutting your own film. This is what the 30 looks like inside: http://www.geocities.com/markhahn2000/repair.html And two pages on both models: http://www.fotoua2.com/Vega.html http://www.fotoua2.com/Kiev30.html Franz, save yourself the trip to the bookcase. Roman

ChristianKolinski

Well, apart from making your own film, there are of course other options. You can still get 16mm cine film stock (e.g. from Kodak), including black-and-white negative film. As the Vega accepts perforated 16mm film, you can use that as well. However, it’s not exactly easy to get hold of, because firstly, the smallest rolls are 30m if I remember correctly, which is a bit much for the occasional snapshot, and secondly, very few shops stock the film. Alternatively, you might want to check Epay, where unused film remnants are occasionally offered for sale (a slight over-exposure usually doesn’t affect black-and-white films). Be careful with colour film, though! It requires a specialised process and can therefore only be processed yourself (keyword: Remjet; this anti-halation layer must be removed before development, otherwise it will ruin the development process...). Another option is to use microfilm stock (such as Kodak Imagelink or Agfa Copex) with suitable chemicals, such as those from Spur. Microfilms have a very high resolution, which is ideal given the small negative area, but a rather modest speed of approx. ISO 25/15° to ISO 100/21°, depending on the developer. Microfilms are usually available in perforated or unperforated versions.

Gast

Thanks a lot for the tips. I’ve built myself a little ‘machine’ for cutting the film. It’s much simpler than some people think. It took about 20 minutes and works a treat. One roll of KB film yields about two streaks with a total of 45 frames for the Vega, which is just right and is probably the cheapest option. Bernd

Gast

Hello! Why not give "kahlfilm" a go?! Best wishes, andrü

Gast

...why are links posted here being deleted? tsk tsk tsk