More expired color film developed in black & white chemistry, the experiment continues

As I wrote in my initial post about developing expired color film in black & white chemistry the negatives were a bit dark and in hindsight felt underdeveloped. They were usable (in fact I rather liked them) but very grainy when scanned. 

The film

I tried a new batch from the same Etos Kleurenfilm 100/24 color negative film that expired in 05/2003, essentially rebranded Ferrania Imation Color HP100 film. The fact that this film only has 24 exposures is beneficial for these kinds of experiments where I don't need a 36 exposures roll.

The shoot

This time I brought two cameras along. I went for Pentaxes again, my MZ-S fitted with a Helios 44-2 58mm f/2 and my K1000 fitted with a Helios 44M 58mm f/2. As these lenses have the M42 mount I used Pentax-built M42 - K mount adapters. The MZ-S is a solid performer, I really like the design of this camera and love to use it. In fact, I wish Pentax would have continued this style when they designed their production digital cameras. It was also a joy to use my K1000 again, a completely different beast but I like the Spotmatic design that this camera has. I wanted similar results from both cameras hence the Helios lenses. I know that the 44-2 and the 44M are different from each other but for my purposes this was good enough. It was overcast for most of the day so I used both lenses wide open most of the time. I shot the film at box speed and finished both rolls.

Developing

This time, I used Adonal developer diluted 1:50 but extended the developing time to 15:30 minutes at 20 degrees Celsius. Much like my first attempt the negatives came out quite dark. I now wonder if I should have shot this as ISO 50 rather than ISO 100 film given that this film expired 18 years ago. One to try when shooting the next batch.

The results

Well, the grain is still there...

Very dark, yet you can still see some faint traces of the red of the traffic sign in the shot.

Again rather dark.

These images were only resized, no further post-processing was done. My first reaction is that they are rather dark, but those scenes were not very bright to begin with. Certainly the grain is still there. I need to scan a few more examples but for now I'm not as thrilled with the results as last time... I gather Adonal is a very weak color developer as these images are no monochromes, that gives these shots an interesting look. 

So what are your thoughts on developing old C41 film in B&W chemistry? Drop me a line below.

Lens review: The Porst Color Reflex MC Auto 55mm f/1.2 F

This review is about the Porst Color Reflex MC Auto 55mm f/1.2 F lens. This lens was made in Japan for the German Photo Porst chain of camera stores. Two versions of this lens were made, an early version with f/22 as the smallest f-stop and a later version with f/16 as the smallest f-stop. 

This lens review is about the later f/16 lens. The two versions look pretty much the same, but apart from the f/22 f-stop there are a few differences. The f/22 closest focal distance is 0.5 meters, with the f/16 this is 0.6 meter. Cosmetically there are a few differences too, For instance, the f/22 version has the lens serial number on the front, whilst the f/16 variant has the serial number on the aperture ring. The f/16 version also has the Pentax style raised alignment dot, something the f/22 version does not have. The upper barrel of both lenses is slightly different too, although they both share the 55mm filter thread. These lenses look very much like contemporary Cosina lenses so they could have been made by Cosina. I however haven't found any confirmation of this.

I bought this lens about 5 years ago as sort of a backup for my Pentax 50mm f/1.2 lens. The price of the Porst that time was € 156, pretty cheap for an f/1.2 lens. I paid quite a bit more, € 429, for my Pentax version. As it was intended as a backup lens it never saw much use until recently, when I decided to give this lens some much-needed attention.

Specifications (f/16 model lens):

Focal length:                        55mm

Minimal focus distance:        0.6 meters

Aperture:                             f/1.2- f/16

Aperture blades:                  8

Lens elements:                    6

Diameter:                            55mm

Mount:                                Pentax K

Built:                                  1970s-1980s

Use

This is one of the bigger standard lenses in the 50mm - 55mm range. Its focus ring turns to the left towards infinity. This may seem a bit unnatural at first for Pentax users as the Pentax lenses turn to the right. Focusing is smooth and in general, the lens has a nice feel to it. I've used this lens with Pentax film cameras and with digital Canon EOS cameras via an adapter. Due to the design of the K mount these lenses do not fit APS-H and full frame EOS cameras much like the EF-S series of lenses. K mount lenses will only work on EOS cameras with an APS-C sensor (crop factor 1.6). 

Images

The images you see below were shot with a Pentax MZ-S loaded with Fomapan Profi Line Classic 100 black and white film and a Canon EOS 90D set at ISO 200.

f/1.2

f/2.8

f/5.6

f/11

As you can see at f/1.2 subject isolation is excellent! Wide open it also shows chromatic aberration (CA) which dissapears when the lens is stopped down. At f/2.8 it is almost gone and at f/5.6 there is no sign of it. The further you stop down, more pieces get in focus until at f/11 all pieces are in full focus. At f/1.2 there is also a bit of vignetting, although the APS-C sensor crops out some of it. 

full photo, f/1.2

crop of the center of the first photo 

In these shots you can clearly see the paper thin focus area when the lens is wide open. Again wide open it shows CA which is clearly visible at the edges of the coins in the second cropped image. In this shot the vignetting at f/1.2 is quite strong.

f/11

There appears to be some very slight barrel distortion, although the chess board itself is a bit crooked in that sense so it might not be the best subject to judge distortion with.

In the field

lens stopped down

Lens stopped down

Lens wide open

Lens wide open

Conclusions

Overall I really like this lens. It produces dreamy images when shot wide open and when stopped down this lens performs excellent with crisp sharp images. Of couse, this is a 1970s-1980s lens so focusing and setting the aperture have to be done manually. Focusing is tricky wide open due to its very narrow depth of field, I find that I prefer using it with classic cameras that have a split-screen focusing screen. The fact that is suffers from vignetting and CA wide open is unfortunate but can be fixed in post quite easy. When stopped down these are no longer issues. And then there is the price. This is a really  affordable f/1.2 lens. All in all, I find this to be a fine standard lens and I find myself wishing that I had started working with this lens sooner. I'm interested what you think and what your experiences with this lens are. Drop me a line in the comment section below.

Bussum Bridgehead I

Dag 1:

Locatie: Bussum Bridgehead
Camera: Pentax MZ-S
Objectief: SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2
Film: Kodak Professional BW400CN 
Scanner: Nikon LS-8000ED

Ook altijd spannend

is zo'n eerste rol film geschoten met een nieuwe camera. Al eerder schreef ik dat ik een aantal nieuwe camera's op de kop had weten te tikken voor mijn Pentax project maar van het testen van deze camera's was het nog niet gekomen. Begin februari was het weer echter goed voor fotografie, dus ging ik er met twee camera's op uit.

Film

Mijn keuze viel op de MZ-S en de P30T. Beide camera's heb ik sinds januari 2014 in bezit maar het was er, met name door het kwakkelweer van de afgelopen tijd, nog niet van gekomen deze daadwerkelijk in te zetten. Ik heb het geluk niet zo ver van het Naardermeer te wonen, altijd een prima locatie voor wat testwerk. De testfilm was, zoals inmiddels gebruikelijk, Schlecker-Fotoland AS Color 200-24 (Fujicolor 200 onder een andere naam). Gebruikte objectieven tijdens deze test zijn de SMC Pentax-M 28mm f/2.8, de SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 en de SMC Pentax-M Macro 100mm f/4.

Pentax MZ-S

Er was enige spanning tijdens het openen van de enveloppe waarin de foto's van de MZ-S zaten. Dit is zo'n fijne camera om te gebruiken dat het enorm zonde zou zijn als de foto's hiervan zouden zijn mislukt. Die spanning ebde gelijk weg toen ik de indexprint zag, alle opnames prima belicht. Ik gebruik de MZ-S exclusief met non-autofocus objectieven en dan is het toch even afwachten hoe de resultaten zullen zijn. Het gebruikersgemak van deze camera is super en de K-bajonet objectieven gedragen zich net als bij elke andere Pentax. Leuk detail is dat de MZ-S een signaaltje geeft als het scherpstelpunt is bereikt, ook bij mijn non-autofocus objectieven. Er zitten meer slimme opties op deze camera. Erg leuk vind ik dat de sluitertijd, het diafragma en de belichtingsoptie op de rand van het negatief worden geprint. De enige andere camera die dit bij mijn weten doet is de Pentax 645NII - een camera die ik helaas nog niet in mijn kleine collectie heb. Ook inventief zijn de signaaltjes bij het bereiken van opname nummer 30 als waarschuwing dat het einde van de rol nadert en een lichtje op de bajonetvatting van de camera, een handig hulpmiddel tijdens het verwisselen van objectieven in het donker. Over belichting heb ik met deze camera ook niets te klagen getuige deze eerste opnames. Hieronder een impressie van wat de Pentax MZ-S allemaal kan.

Locatie: Naardermeer
Camera: Pentax MZ-S
Objectief: SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2
Film: Schlecker-Fotoland Color AS 200-24
Scanner: Nikon LS-8000ED

Pentax P30T

De tweede camera die ik heb getest was de P30T. De P30 serie is door Pentax in de jaren 1985-1990 door Pentax geïntroduceerd als een alternatief voor de eerste generatie autofocuscamera's (in het geval van Pentax de S serie). Met de P serie werd de traditie van de M serie uit de jaren 70/80 voortgezet en dat is ook aan de camera te zien. Het handmatige transporteren en handmatig terugspoelen doen direct terugdenken aan bijvoorbeeld de Pentax ME, maar daarnaast zijn moderne snufjes als automatische filminleg en automatische ISO instelling ook met de P serie geïntroduceerd. Mijn P30T is het laatste model uit de P serie, dit model werd in 1990 geïntroduceerd. Wat mij betreft een prima no-nonsense camera die, getuige de plaatjes van deze testserie, prima foto's maakt.

Locatie: Naardermeer
Camera: Pentax P30T
Objectieven: SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 en SMC Pentax-M Macro 100mm f/4
Film: Schlecker-Fotoland Color AS 200-24
Scanner: Nikon LS-8000ED