127 Day January 2026

Ikonta 520/18 with Kentmere Pan 400

For a many years on this blog, I've followed the 127 Days faithfully, until January 2024, which was the last time I observed one of these calendrical oddities. There are a number of reasons as to why I'd not taken photos on any of the three 127 Days since then, with perhaps a little regret, which applies in general to the Photo-Analogue blog itself. I resolved to shoot at least one roll on Janauary 27th this year, two weeks ago today. This turned out to be a working day, and in addition heavily overcast: I had anticipated needing a fast film for the day, and cut-down a couple of rolls of Kentmere Pan 400 to cover the possibility of less-than-ideal lighting conditions. I also chose the Baby Ikonta camera, with a full range of shutter speeds and a relatively fast lens in comparison to some of my other 127 cameras, more limited in that respect. With the cloud cover at the time of day I left the house in the morning, it wasn't fully light; at the other end of the working day it was after dark. The lens and shutter were sufficient to accommodate the former conditions; for the latter, on my way home, I found a few places to prop the camera and use the shutter's T setting for a few long exposures to use the roll of film. In between, I managed a handful of frames around the working day; if nothing else, it served as a reminder of the appeal of using the Baby Ikonta.

127 Day January 2023

Baby Ikonta with Kentmere Pan 400

Last Friday was the first of the year's calendrical 127 Days, and I had time during the early afternoon to expose a roll of cut-down Kentmere Pan 400 in the Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520/18–the 'Baby Ikonta'–a favourite for its small size, relatively good Novar lens and Compur shutter. I used cut-down medium format Kentmere Pan 400. The weather was mostly overcast, and having a 400 ISO film certainly fitted the lighting conditions typical this time of year in the Northern hemisphere. Even then, in a few situations, such as under the dense branches of bare trees, the light levels were pretty low, and I didn't accurately guess-focus as accurately as I might in a few frames, with the aperture wider than I might have liked to provide little assistance in careless focussing. Developing the film in Kodak HC-110 (at dilution E, 1+47 from concentrate) provided low contrast negatives, no doubt compounded by the uncoated Novar lens of the Baby Ikonta, some flare in a few frames (such as in the second image below), on top of the lighting conditions. In retrospect, a one-stop push might have benefitted both the contrast, as well as being able to use a smaller aperture in some situations. However, regardless of the results of this one roll, having an inexpensive 400-speed film newly available in medium format is ideal for the purposes of being cut down to 127 size–a rather cheaper alternative to the few films currently available in the niche 127 rollfilm format, which, somehow, still survives in 2023.

127 Day July 2022

Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520/18 with Rollei Superpan

Although I've not devoted much time to this blog of late, I didn't want to miss 127 Day earlier this week. This occurred towards the end of a spell of hot humid weather, with a dip to slightly more comfortable temperatures and humidity, a lull before the forecasted extreme heat in a few days' time. Taking some photographs on a walk in the early evening, it was still very warm, and the lighting had a peculiar heavy overcast quality (I was also recovering from a second Covid-19 infection, which, with the weather, gave a slightly soporific feel to the evening, and possibly as a result I wasn't really giving that much sufficient attention to subject matter and composition). I used the reliable Baby Ikonta, and a roll of cut-down Rollei Superpan 200, a film I've used a few times before, and had tested a fair bit in Rodinal to get a workable time/dilution; however, the roll of film I shot on 127 Day I developed with Kodak HC-110, a new developer for me, and so I went with the Massive Dev Chart's recommended time/dilution. Somehow, to me at least (and it may just be my own associated memory), the resulting negatives convey the airless quality of the day, with glimpses of the grass looking bleached by the sun, the foliage of the trees beginning to get the dusty dark tonality of high summer, possibly in part thanks to the extended red sensitivity of Rollei Superpan. Possibly most of the images might also have benefited from a yellow filter too, although I don't have any filters which fit the Baby Ikonta's lens: the constraints and conditions of exposing just a single roll on the day didn't really allow for any of these considerations.

 

127 Day January 2022

Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520/18 with Ilford HP5 Plus

As I wrote in my entry for December's 127 Day, I rarely miss the opportunity of shooting 127 format cameras on the calendrical 127 days, and last Thursday's January iteration was no exception. It was however a working day, and in addition, the day began very dull and overcast, with very low light levels on the way to work shortly after sunrise–not dissimilar to the weather in December. I used the Baby Ikonta again, which has a moderately wide aperture lens at f3.5, compared to other 127 format cameras which I might have chosen had the weather been better. Partly as a result of the low light levels I took very few pictures on the way to work; then, with a busy day at work, I took fewer photographs than I might have done, just one roll of cut-down Ilford HP5 Plus, but the light did improve later in the day as the clouds cleared, and I made use of this, taking a few frames around windows before the light went. Had the day remained overcast, I might have been tempted to develop the film to compensate by adding a stop to increase contrast (I'd estimated exposure with reference to the 'Sunny 16' rule) but I went with box speed after the light improved, using Adox Adonal diluted 1+25 for 6 minutes at 20ºC.

127 Day December 2021

Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520/18 with Ilford HP5 Plus

I haven't posted very much on this blog for the last few months, for various reasons, but I didn't want to miss observing 127 Day yesterday, and I did also have the time to develop and scan the negatives, not wanting to add to a backlog of half-written blog posts or unresolved tests of films and cameras. I shot one whole roll of cut-down Ilford HP5 Plus, and a couple of short rolls of off-cuts from having previously cut down medium format HP5 to 127. I chose the Baby Ikonta in order to get as many shots from the film as possible, with the nominal 3x4.5cm negative format (and, with a little care, on a whole roll of 127 film with the Baby Ikonta one can get 17 pictures rather than the 16 numbered frames). I revisited a number of the shots that I'd taken in this summer's 127 Day in July (although not using the Vest Pocket Kodak due to its light leaks); the weather condition were less conducive than the overcast July day then, with very flat and dull light and increasing rain. I did consider pushing the film one stop in development to increase contrast, but went with the standard time for box speed as I'd taken quite a few shots with the sky featuring rather prominently, and I thought that this might make any definition in the sky even more difficult to pull out. The results were very much as I would have expected given the lighting conditions, and even with a 400-speed film I did shoot with wider apertures than I might have liked for the Baby Ikonta's Novar lens, but for a ninety-year-old triplet lens, it performs well enough.

127 Day January 2017

Zeiss Ikon Ikonta 520/18 with Agfapan Agfa APX 100

For last Friday's 127 Day, I shot just the one roll of film, cut down medium format Agfapan APX 100 with a 'develop before' date of January 2009. I used the Baby Ikonta again; given the weather conditions and short daylight hours, a number of the shots were long exposures on the 'T' setting. With smaller apertures, generally around f16, the Novar lens performs well, against the hand held shots three or four stops wider; I rated the APX 100 at box speed, being less than ten years past its 'develop before' date, although ideally a faster film would have been more appropriate for the day.