116 Day June 2021

Zeiss Ikon Cocarette 519/15 with Kodak Verichrome Pan

Having not taken many photographs recently and having posted even less, last Friday, 11th June, was my prompt to shoot a roll of film in my Zeiss Ikon Cocarette 519/15 for '116 Day'. I had intentions of shooting more, but I'd been working all day on the day itself, so only went out in the early evening, which had become overcast, and took a walk, following a route familiar from earlier in the year, my allowed daily exercise during lockdown and recovery. I shot a roll of Verichrome Pan, usually quite reliable for a fairly out-of-date film, and with no new film in the 116 format for decades, expired film is the only alternative to some form of conversion to use 120 medium format film or rolling film (120 or 65mm) with 116 backing paper; using an expired roll of 116 provides a spool and backing paper in order to be able to do this.

The Verichrome Pan had a 'develop before' date of June 1972, and I rated it at 24 against its original speed of 125 ISO. As a result, I took all the photographs using a tripod, with speeds varying from 1/5th through to 6 seconds; although I could have used smaller apertures and longer exposures, the camera did not feel especially sturdy on the tripod I was using and there was a bit of wind when I was taking the photographs to contend with too.

Kodak Verichrome Pan, process before date of June 1972

I stand developed the film in Ars-Imago #9, diluted 1+100, a developer replicating the original Agfa Rodinal formula (earlier in the year, when I bought this developer, it seemed very hard to find Rodinal in the UK, and I did wonder whether this might have been due to the UK leaving the EU, given that all the versions of Rodinal I've used come from manufacturers in the EU: Adox Rodinal/Adonal, Compard R09 One Shot, Fomadon R09). In terms of exposure, the results were acceptable enough in the main: with only eight frames on the roll, I didn't want to bracket any shots; I had one accidental light leak due to not properly aligning the shutter to the T setting and the shutter didn't close properly. There were some scratches on most frames, more prominent in some than others. On a couple, the focus was off, a problem I've realised that the Cocarette suffers from. I've ascertained that infinity is closer to the 30ft mark on the focus lever than the infinity stop, and I've assumed that each focus mark was offset the same, although I haven't properly checked this with measuring each focus mark. Focus issues besides, six frames felt worth posting; perhaps the best shot from the roll is the one at the top of this post, the last frame on the roll, just as the clouds began to lift.

126 Day June 2020

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Kodak Verichrome Pan

Two days ago, on the 12th, I shot some film with a Kodak Instamatic 277X to mark June's '126 Day'. Unlike 127 Day, or some of the other calendrical photography days, I'm not aware that anyone really observes a 126 Day. Reasons for this doubtless include the fact that no new 126 format film has been produced for years, although rumours of its resurrection do occasionally surface. I would not have predicted that the 110 format would reappear after the major manufacturers stopped production, so 126 film's re-emergence is not an impossibility; new 127 format rollfilm did disappear for a time, but is now more available, and the demand must in part be due to the fact that there were a number of well-designed cameras produced for the format, particularly during the popularity of the 4x4 twin lens reflex in 1950s. There were a small handful of relatively higher-specification 126 cameras, but most were simple point-and-shoot models, plastic equivalents of the box cameras of a generation before. I shot with the Instamatic 277X on 126 Day, as, although basic, it does have a relatively wide range of aperture settings and it is also better at handling perforated 35mm film loaded into original 126 cartridges than other 126 cameras I've used. I shot a couple of cartridges loaded with Ilford FP4 on the day, and wasn't quite as careful as I might have been in advancing the film, with the result of several overlapping exposures.

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Ilford FP4 Plus

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Ilford FP4 Plus

In developing the film, conversely, I was too cautious. Using Ilfotec LC29 which had been mixed from stock at a dilution of 1+9 three months earlier, I extended developing time by another minute on top of the extra time, factored for pushing it one stop, as I wasn't sure how well the developer was going to work, as the developer was looking quite discoloured. The resulting negatives were quite dense as a result, and should clearly have been developed as if rated at box speed for the correct time. As a result the midtones to highlights were compressed, and meant careful scanning was needed to recover as much range as possible, as well as some digital dodging and burning to help separate tones.

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Ilford FP4 Plus

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Ilford FP4 Plus

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Ilford FP4 Plus

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Ilford FP4 Plus

In addition to the cartridges loaded with 35mm FP4 Plus, I also shot a cartridge of Kodak Verichrome Pan. I (nominally) rated this at box speed, originally 125 ISO: with the Kodak Instamatic 277X, this meant simply following the pictograms for the lighting conditions. The cartridge had a develop before date of 06/1986; often with film this old, I would increase exposure to compensate for the loss of sensitivity due to age, but my previous experiences with Verichrome Pan suggested that I could risk not doing this with thirty-odd year old film. It might have been wise to bracket the exposures, but with only 12 frames in the cartridge, I didn't do this. I also shot the film with a yellow filter (as I had done with the FP4 Plus), which I might not have adequately accounted for in exposure; however, I stand developed the Verichrome Pan, which is generally very forgiving in terms of variations in exposure, and, although the resulting negatives had a moderate level of base fog due to age, the results were pretty good for a 34-year-old black and white film.

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Kodak Verichrome Pan

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Kodak Verichrome Pan

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Kodak Verichrome Pan

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Kodak Verichrome Pan

Kodak Instamatic 277X with Kodak Verichrome Pan

127 Day - Winter 2014

Studio window, Baby Ikonta with Ilford Selochrome

One aspect of taking photographs on certain annual recurring days, such as the '127 Days', is that repetition can become an archive when photographing the same scenes as time (and the seasons) passes, such as the shot of Dagenham Brook below, which I had shot in July; in December last year, I took a walk along the same route I'd taken the year before. For yesterday's 127 Day I had one roll of Ilford Selochrome with a develop before date of January 1970 which I hadn't shot on this year's 127 Day in July. I also shot two rolls of Kodak Verichrome Pan in 828 format with a develop before date of August 1974 which I'd rolled with 127 backing paper, and similarly, a roll of 35mm Rollei ATO 2.1 Supergraphic. All films were shot with my Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520/18 - otherwise known as the 'Baby Ikonta'. I shot half the roll of Selochrome around the house, which allowed me to make a couple of diptychs shooting through windows, and, although the skies briefly cleared, by the time I went out to take some more photographs, it was a typically grey December afternoon (the weather being one reason I tend not to shoot on 27th January, the other 1/27 in the calendar when written in the form used commonly in the US).

Dagenham Brook, Kodak Verichrome Pan

Both rolls of Verichrome Pan exhibited very pronounced texturing from the backing paper. The Ilford Selochrome also showed a trace of this effect, but having retained more sensitivity, with a denser negative this was much less apparent and only really showed up in shots which were underexposed. The lighting conditions weren't sympathetic to shooting the Verichrome Pan film with a slower rating than 50 EI which may have helped. The film also had a very strong curl which caused problems with film flatness: it seems this was enough to force back the camera's pressure plate in a number of shots.

Kodak Verichrome Pan, showing a lack of film flatness

The poor lighting conditions were less than ideal for using Rollei ATO 2.1, which has a nominal rating of 25 ISO, but performs better at lower exposure indexes, and, unlike July this year, I did not have a tripod with me for longer exposures (most of the shots illustrating this post were at fairly wide apertures and at shutter speeds of either 1/50th or 1/25th). The image below was the best shot from the roll of ATO; I attempted some shots at 1/10th, but the Baby Ikonta's shutter was beginning to stick at that speed.

Leyton Sign, Rollei ATO 2.1

All films were stand developed in Ilfotec LC29 for one hour, at 1:100, except for the ATO 2.1, for which I used a dilution of 1:200. As I was developing the first couple of rolls of film, the clouds began to break up again in time for the sun to set and I shot the second roll of Verichrome Pan.

Winter Afternoon, Kodak Verichrome Pan

Sunset, Kodak Verichrome Pan

127 Day - Winter 2013

Canalside Properties, Baby Ikonta, Ilford FP4

For last Saturday's 127 Day, I retraced my steps from last year, walking around the perimeter of the London 2012 Olympic Park. On this year's July 127 Day, I had used the last of my 'new' 127 format films, and also shot 35mm film cut and rolled to 127 backing paper. Since then, I'd bought a couple of expired films, one roll of Macophot UP 100 with a "develop before" date of 1/2004, and a roll of Ilford FP4 from December 1976. I had previously used 127 FP4 with a similar date with good results two years ago. I also had a roll of 828 Verichrome Pan (with a develop before date of August 1977) which I had removed from its backing paper and backed with 127 paper. 828 was one of Kodak's numerous film formats from the early 20th century, and was made well into the 1980s; the format uses unperforated 35mm film. I'd used old Verichrome Pan on a few occasions before, with mixed results. All three films were shot with the Baby Ikonta. The FP4 and Verichrome Pan films were stand developed, while the Macophot UP 100 film was developed according to the Massive Dev Chart recommendations. Of the three films, the FP4 was clearly the best, despite being the oldest film. Other than some pinholing, the film probably could have been shot at box speed, rather than at 50, which was what I rated all three films at to compensate for age.

Car Park, Baby Ikonta, Macophot UP 100

Drapers Field, Baby Ikonta, Macophot UP 100

The Macophot UP 100 had noticeably more fog, and a patterning which appears to have come from the backing paper: while hanging up after developing, I could also see the numbering from the backing paper, but this cleared on drying (this has been a manufacturing problem with a number of films in recent years). Additionally, both the Macophot UP 100 and Verichrome Pan films both had a very pronounced curl, while the FP4 was no worse than 120 film would be.

Verichrome Pan

The Verichrome Pan film had a patterning from the backing paper showing rather more than on the Macophot film and also suffered a little from light leaks. As 828 film is fairly short, this provided 12 images on the film rather than the 16 or 17 frames from conventional 127 film; the image above is from the very end of the roll with holes from the film clip for hanging.

At the end of the day, to finish the Ilford FP4 film, I returned to shoot a couple of the night photographs from two years ago, although I couldn't exactly match the second image below due to continuing work around London's Olympic site.

London 2012 Olympic Park, Baby Ikonta, Ilford FP4

A106 Eastway, Baby Ikonta, Ilford FP4

127 Day - 12th July 2012

Flooded Underpass, Baby Ikonta, Agfa Retro 80S

Having had a couple of months away from the darkroom, yesterday's 127 Day was the perfect excuse to shoot and develop some film. Unlike previous 127 Days, I wasn't at work in one form or another, so I wasn't constrained by that (in some respects constraints like this can help give shape to the day); with all the recent rain, the morning was bright and sunny, so I went out to shoot some film.

I took my Baby Ikonta, already loaded with out of date Efke R21 (now branded R100, the '21' relates to the film's DIN number, 100 being the equivalent ISO). I had a roll of Agfa Retro 80S, and a roll of Kodak Verichrome Pan, with an expiry date of 12/81. I also shot a second roll of Verichrome Pan with an expiry date of 1968 in the Foth Derby. All films were developed with Rodinal, the expired films were stand developed for 1 hour, at a dilution of 1:100 (the expired films were also rated at half their nominal speed).

Previously, I've had mixed results with expired Verichrome Pan. The roll of Verichrome Pan with the more recent expiry date wasn't stuck to the backing paper, unlike the older roll, a problem I've encountered before. The more recent film was packaged differently, with a sealed foil-backed wrapper: the older films were simply packaged in twisted foil paper, which may have let the film get damp at some point, although I have no knowledge of how either of the films had been stored through the years. The expired R21 had a similar problem, with a mottled texture on the negatives, possibly transferred from the backing paper.

Lea Bridge Road Station, Baby Ikonta, expired Efke R21

Argall Road Industrial Estate, Foth Derby, expired Verichrome Pan

Graffiti, Shadows, Baby Ikonta, expired Verichrome Pan

Forest Road, Baby Ikonta, Agfa Retro 80S

See more photographs from 127 Day in the Flickr 127 Format Group Pool

Verichrome Pan

Kodak Verichrome Pan 120 film, expiry date July 1964

Verichrome Pan was a black and white panchromatic film produced by Kodak from 1956 to c.2002. The film had a speed rating of 125 ISO, which would have been considered fast at the time it was introduced and replaced Verichrome, which was its orthochromatic predecessor. This advert for the original Verichrome lists its various unique qualities, including the fact that it was double coated, with two layers of photographic emulsion, both fast and slow, and also that it had enormous latitude, claiming an exposure range of 1 to 2,400. I haven't found any information as to whether Verichrome Pan kept these characteristics, but I doubt manufacturers would now claim such latitude for modern film emulsions (although I have used HP5 from 64 to 3200 ISO).

Verichrome Pan in 127 format, showing instructions for use on the paper backing

I shot a couple of rolls of out-of-date Verichrome Pan on the Summer 127 day in July. One of these had come from the box of a Kodak Brownie Starmite, with an expiry date of September 1975; the other was one of three films I bought from a certain auction site. The results from both sets of films were disappointing: the rolls bought online had evidently got damp at some point and the backing paper was stuck to the film: soaked and removed, the paper took some of the emulsion with it; the roll from the Starmite box came away cleanly from the backing paper, but nonetheless this seems to have left behind a textured pattern on the emulsion.

Sceaux Gardens, Bethnal Green: the black areas on the image are where the emulsion stuck to the backing paper

After the results with the 127 format film, I hadn't expected much from a roll in 120 format that had been inside the case of a Kinax folding camera that I bought. This roll of Verichrome Pan had an expiry date of July 1964. The box also contained a leaflet on Kodak films. I shot the roll in my Zodel Baldalux camera in Berlin during the summer, then stand processed it. Unlike the recent out-of-date FP4, I didn't take into account the loss of sensitivity with age, and exposed it at the box speed of 125 ISO. The resulting negatives are very thin, and while they have held the highlights well, the rendering of shadow detail is patchy, although the results are much better than the 127 format films. (All films were stand-developed in Rodinal, diluted 1:100, for 1 hour).

Pergamon Museum, Berlin, shot on Verichrome Pan, expiry date July 1964

Oranienburger Straße, Berlin, shot on Verichrome Pan, expiry date July 1964