Many of you know that I own a Koni-Omega 6×7 rangefinder. This is a big beast of a camera, which takes great pictures (especially with the super-sharp 60mm and 90mm lenses I have for it). I love the pictures it takes, but I don’t love using it. It’s big, it’s hard to carry, and it…
All posts in Photographica
A fast and simple XTOL clone?
The developer known as MYTOL is described elsewhere on this site. It’s a homebrew formula that has been around for quite some time (it is in the first edition of the Film Developing Cookbook) and is meant to be used like XTOL. In my experience, it does indeed work just like XTOL — including the…
Roll your own!
I came across a great set of photos illustrating how to load bulk 35mm film into discarded cassettes from a roller-transport minilab machine. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimoconnell/sets/1093862/ I kick myself whenever I think of how much I’ve spent (and how much film I’ve scratched) using reloadable plastic or metal canisters.
D-76H
D-76H is a hydroquinone-free variant of D-76 (the most commonly used film developer out there). Leaving out the hydroquinone is a good thing, as it isn’t the healthiest stuff around (it is a suspected carcinogen). Re-usability is said to be inferior to D-76, but it keeps longer without pH increases, and is easy to mix.…
Treasure Trove
I recently stumbled on a link to a treasure trove of B&W photography articles from the New York Institute of Photography. I’ve only had a cursory look through them so far, but they seem great. One of the authors is Bernhard Suess, who’s the author of a couple of excellent books on B&W photography. Definitely…
Pyrocat-MC Experiences
I mixed up 100 ml of Pyrocat-MC (1/10th of the normal recipe) following Pat Gainer’s instructions, as described in my Pyrocat-MC article. My results so far are best described as mixed. I’ve developed a couple of rolls of 35mm FP4 Plus and two rolls of 120-format Arista.EDU Ultra 200 (Fomapan 200), and while I was…
Kiron 28mm f/2.0
Yesterday I spent some time at the “Toronto International Camera Show” at the Thornhill Community Centre, just north of Toronto. This show is basically a used camera fair that takes place several times per year. Dealers and hobbyists with too many cameras on their hands buy tables at this event and hawk their wares; other…
Playing with the Nikon D70s
I’ve been thinking about buying a digital SLR for a very, very long time, and I finally did it a few weeks ago: I am the proud owner used Nikkor 18-70mm lens (the standard kit lens from the D70s) from someone on the Fred Miranda buy and sell forum and a used Nikon D70s body…