Tuesday 16 June 2015

126 Day 2015

Agfaphoto APX 400 126 cartridge reload
Having recently shot a reloaded 126 cartridge with the Kodak Instamatic 300 that I had found in the Hötorget flea market in Stockholm, I had found the 300 to be fairly unsympathetic to being used with 35mm film; results last year with a different model camera, an Instamatic 25, were much better, which I wrote about my post 'My first camera'. It was difficult to advance the reloaded film in the 300 model, resulting in overlapping frames and torn sprocket holes from the pin designed to locate the single perforation on 126 film. The Instamatic 25 is kinder on 35mm film: the negatives show stress on some of the perforations, and some scratching, but none of the tearing that the Instamatic 300 had, and film advancement was easier.

Last Friday, 12th June, the Kodak Instamatic 25 was the camera I chose to shoot for a '126 Day', not a camera or film format related day I usually observe, though I did shoot a roll of expired Perutz transparency film with an Instamatic camera two years ago. In the post 'My First Camera', I detailed how I reloaded the plastic 126 cartridge with 35mm film; last Friday I shot a cartridge reloaded with Agfaphoto APX 400 and one with Ilford Mark V. The Instamatic 25 has a single aperture, f11 and two shutter speeds, full sun at 1/90th, or half-sun/flash, 1/40th. Although a 400 ISO film might be too fast not to be overexposed for sunny conditions in the camera, the latitude of the film meant that the exposures, both interiors and exteriors came out well.

Agfaphoto APX 400 126 cartridge reload
Agfaphoto APX 400 126 cartridge reload
Agfaphoto APX 400 126 cartridge reload
As well as a cartridge with Agfaphoto APX 400, I also used some Ilford Mark V Motion Picture film, as I had done last year. Originally 250-500 ISO, after forty years this film has lost quite a bit of sensitivity and I shot this during the evening while the light was going, so the results were not as good. It also seemed to have a greater tendency for overlapping frames, possibly due to having different perforations to standard 35mm still camera film. Occasionally, the overlapping multiple exposures were worth scanning as a whole composition.

Ilford Mark V 126 cartridge reload
Ilford Mark V 126 cartridge reload

No comments:

Post a Comment