I picked up a used Contax T2 yesterday.  I thought I knew how to use it pretty much without reading the manual.  Half way thru the roll I thought that the exposures were all messed up.  Finished the roll and to my absolute amazement the developed film came out pretty good.  Turns out that reading the manual can give you insight!!  Here is one of the shots from the back yard that I really love

This was a pleasant surprise

After the disaster of trying to home develop ECN-2 I thought I would see if I could develop C41 film at home - have in the past but my faith in my abilities were shaken.  I went to Cars and Coffee in Lafayette, CO shooting Santa 100 film from Ukraine by way of Finland.

Just a Rabbit

A little Kelvin correction and the pictures came out fine.  Faith restored!

I’m amazed at how many new places have sprung up willing to develop your film.  This is by no means exhaustive but just the ones I see on Instagram or that I have personally used.

https://www.jfdigitalphoto.net/

https://www.treehousefilmlab.com.    I have used

https://thefindlab.ecwid.com

https://www.indiefilmlab.com

https://oldschoolphotolab.com

https://northcoastphoto.com/film-processing/

https://www.bestfilmdeveloping.com/index.php

https://www.photocitylabs.com/price-list/

https://gelatinlabs.com

https://photo60studio.com//film-processing/

https://atxfilmlab.com

https://bluemooncamera.com/photo-lab/send-us-your-film

https://www.theslideprinter.com/services/c-41-and-black-and-white-film-processing/

https://www.voidfilmlabs.com

https://thedarkroom.com. I have used 

The Darkroom is my go to place - they have it down to a science.  Prepaid mailers, images back thru the web.  They have been around a very long time.  I trust them.

Treehouse Lab I just started using for developing ECN-2 film because most labs won’t deal with remjet removal.  I thought they did a good job and very attentive to the end product.  Just sent in my 2nd roll of film.

I continue to add to my portfolio of the Prairie.

I wanted to try my hand at developing ECN-2 at home.  ECN is Kodak cinema film and can be shot in still cameras.  You can even buy it from Kodak in 400 ft rolls and cut it down to 4 x 100 ft rolls for bulk loading.  The reason to do this is that it is inexpensive compared to buying standard C41 film which has become quite expensive as of late.  Usually over $10 a roll.  Whereas ECN is about $8 a roll.  There is also the fact that when properly developed the film is amazing - think of it - it’s film for movies so it has to be good.  

The problem is developing it.  One side of the film has what’s called a Remjet layer which is black and basically allows the film to move thru movie cameras quickly and without resistance.  It also serves as an anti-halation layer so points of light don’t have halos. Once this layer is off you can develop the film in either C41 chemicals or ECN-2 specific chemistry.  So for example the Cinestill line of 35 mm color film has 400D which is basically  Kodak ECN-2 250D.  When the remjet layer is removed you get a more sensitive emulsion making it ISO 400.  You also get a major bump in cost to $16 per roll.  Kodak 500T which is tungsten balance film becomes Cinestill 800 with similar cost.

I’ve watched all the YouTube about removing remjet but my one attempt failed, plus the film takes a longer to dry as compared to C41 stock.  I think this is because the emulsion sits on a thicker plastic.  So this leads to more dust on the negatives in my back bathroom.

As readers of my blog know I am not shy about sharing my disasters.  I only got one poorly color corrected image on the roll of 24 that was usable

So what to do?  I had a 2nd roll of 250D - Do I try my hand again or do I send it to the professionals.  This roll was shot in Kansas and has images that I really want to turn out.  In the final analysis I decided to bite the bullet and pay the professionals.  I may not continue my ECN experiment.  I am going to continue doing my own C41 development as that I have had some success.

I feel bad for neglecting my own blog - I’ve been over at substack.     Take a look.  I’ve started a new photo project - Roadside Memorials which has been interesting.

It’s the kind of thing you see when driving and you don’t pay much attention.  And you see a lot when you are not looking for them.  I’ve been looking for them and suddenly they are nowhere to be found.  With all my rural travels I’ve found some in and around Colby, Kansas.  There are at least two on I-70 between Denver and Burlington, CO.  On a recent trip to Texas in February we found two.

Another amazing performance by Charley Crockett and his band.  The venue was good and it was easy to get to.  It occurred while the National Western Stock Show was in town so I think this was fortunate timing.  I think he’s coming out with a new album but we will all have to wait and see.

These images are from my last swing thru Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas for 2023.  Had really good weather.  Color shots were done on the iPhone and the BW pictures are from the Olympus Zoom 115 which is a very capable point and shoot.

My first roll of Harman’s new color film, Phoenix 200 was interesting.  I knew it was a contrasty , big grain emulsion but I was not expecting this.  I had it professionally developed at Bay Photo.  The scans were supper contrasty and saturation out the roof.  The samples above all had these features dialed down.  I don’t have the negatives in hand to do my own scanning - need to see if this is the fault of their scanning or just the emulsion.  To me this film has to be shot as if it were E-6 meaning that it doesn’t handle high contrast scenes well.  The large grain is neither good or bad - it’s just something you have to resign yourself to.  There’s no mistaking that the images were shot on film.

About a month ago I discovered Substack which is a place where people can write.  It is for me a blogging tool. It allowed me to put in the emails from my mail chimp. I’ve gotten a decent amount of engagement.  More than I’ve ever had from this platform.  This is why this blog has been rather quiet. 

These images were shot on a 69 year old Leica IIIf with JCH 400 film.  I messed up the developing by pouring in the hypo clearing liquid first instead of the developer.  So I think that the lines in the photos are from that.

Somehow I got started recently with Substack.  I’m using it like a blog.  I don’t get much social engagement with this blog ( which is ok by me) I thought I’d try Substack.  I have one paid subscriber which is nice.  I try to be attentive to posting there for all subscribers but certainly for those that are paying for the feed.

Besides paid subscribers they also generate these little adds that you can use on your other social media platforms.

As much as I was disappointed in the Alfie Half Frame is how much I am impressed with this plastic digital camera.  It is even upgradeable - didn’t like the audio quest so you now have the choice of silencing them with an upgrade.

Our neighbors have had their girls involved in the Westernaires for some time now.  They came around to sell us tickets to their annual Horsecapades show at the Western Stock Complex.  I bought them just to help them out never thinking that I would actually go.  Vicki wanted to go so we bundled up on a cold pre-snow Saturday and went.  It was very exciting and clearly these kids have learned a lot of skills, not the least of which is how to be part of a group with defined goals.

I’ve had more time with the Alfie, Half Frame camera and even with the aperture of f/125 the pictures are not very sharp.  I can whine about this OR change how I think and use this camera.  If you think of it as a crappy plastic camera in half frame you will do better.  The much cheaper Kodak H35 does a much better job getting you sharp pictures.  There is even an upgraded version now , the H35N.  So in the final analysis I would NOT recommend the Alfie Half Frame unless you want a crappy camera photo platform , for which I am sure there are plenty of cheaper alternatives.

I don’t think we look up enough.  The Fall sky with its blues as the backdrop to the color changes in the trees are really awe inspiring.  Just a few shots from the backyard.

I recently received via Kickstarter my Alfie Half Frame camera.  It has a rechargeable battery ( via USB), several different lenses mounted on a rotating lens turret: 33/8, 30/8, 25/56 and finally a pinhole 25/125.  It has a mechanical winding mechanism with rewind without having to set a rewind button. My first trial was a disaster because of the film I was using : Arista EDU 400 which appears to be best shot at ISO 250.  I also didn’t understand which lens I was using - it was easy to miss this detail in the manual.  The images presented here were done with the 33 f/8 lens - as they say not the sharpest tool in the shed.  I will of course try the f/125 pinhole which should help.  I got stuck in one of the menus and couldn’t figure out how to get out of it - Dave at Alfie Cameras was quick to get me straightened out - what he sent me should be in the manual and maybe it will end up there in the next iteration.  The build quality of the plastic body feels really robust.

The images below are clearly soft in their focus.  This is why I will be interested in the f/125.  That being said with the f/8 setting you get the ‘artistic’ crappy plastic camera mode in a half frame.

Mr. James Hand is a favorite of Charley Crockett which is where I found this YouTube

Here is Charley Crockett’s version

I’ve had for a number of years a love hate relationship with Adobe.  When they went to a monthly subscription model I was not happy.  So I switched to Capture One which is a great program.  According to August Dering who teaches on the web - it has one of the best RAW developers out there.  BUT then Capture One went to a subscribe model as well.  GAME OVER>. Then I was tasked with teaching a BW photography course at CPAC and because most folks seem to use ADOBE products I started my subscription to their products.

The benefit of the subscription model is it keeps money flowing into the company hopefully for them to continue to innovate.  This certainly has happened with Photoshop and Lightroom - their latest effort is ” Lens Blur” which is amazing.  One press of a button the program figures out what is the central subject and then blurs the background.

Now this is just a sample - I wouldn’t want to blur this background typically but it gives you a sense of what this new feature offers.

I went out today to test a new half frame camera and I screwed up the exposures big time and the focus was way off.

Bur then I realized that I’ve been looking at some photos of Josef Sudden - famous photographer of Prague and his early stuff looks like mine.

So maybe there’s hope for me after all.  Here’s a video about the photographer