Or short guide how to get lost in Photographic jungle and refuse to find a way out
Chinese film? Anyone?
All things need to tried at least once. When surfing in Temu I discovered some 35mm b&w film. Most of them, (Propably all are same stuff) are labelled as Le Kai or Lucky. According Google search this is used as air-surveillance/mapping purposes. (Like Finnish Santa brand) and many people complained that earlier version have discusting smell when developed.
At good discount (Only for me, just right now, special offer…) Roll costed around 3 Euros and was labelled as 12 frames, 400 ISO so I thought what the heck. Let’s try. I ordered 4 rolls.
Package came on time, no complaints.This is what I got:
-No DX coding so you need to set ISO malually
-Labaled as 100 – 400
-No brand
Film itself feels cheap, very thin plastic. When got it out from my own development stdio it felt even more thin and plastic. No any weird smell however. After first attempt with ISO 400 I got only 8 shots with Minolta SRT 303b. Thought that I just got bad piece. Images were blurry and dark.
Second try was recently when I needed just some film shots to one project. So I told my EOS 3 that this ISO 200 to get a bit more light when developed as ISO 400. Chance was not radical. Again only 8 shots from film that should contain 12 frames. Images were again dark, with almost completely no grey areas. Range is very very thin.
I Still have two rolls left. I do not intend to take these ANY serious shooting, but for testing purposes on flea market findings to test does camera and sealings work at all, this is ok. But seriously: If you get 4pcs of this with price tag of 12 euros you can find western film (Fomapan, Kentmere…) with price less than that. So…..I don’t say this something to avoid. But be careful. You have been warned. Once again you get what you pay for. Propably Chinese film will beat up western stuff in a few years once they got process tuned up, but I wait that next generation.
Discovery from flea market…
Some time ago I found interesting looking box from flea market. It was labeled like ”Camera stuff” and prize tag was around 20 euros. Ok. I bought it, opened to discover old flash bulbs, drained cleaning stuff….and old dust covered Camera. I forgot box’s existence for a while.
Then some time ago I started to look that camera again. I founded out that it was Yashica 35 Electro from 1970’s (=As old as I am) I studiet it a bit more and rolled it in my hands. It seemed to be ok. Sealings looked ok, shutter operated but I had no battery. Luckily battery storage was empty,so there was no leaking inside. Original battery is 5.6V mercury battery that has been discontinued because of environmental issues. I assumed that standard super market 1,5V LR44 was close enough with 4 x 1,5V = 6V so I gave it a try. I was able to stuck all four inside, even without duct tape. (In Finnish language it is commonly known as ”Jeesus-teippi” (=Jesus tape) because it saves you always, in every situation you can imagine. ) Anyhow, connect was a bit loose butwhen I turned camera on it woke up alive!!!!
So in theory I was not able to go any further. I get rid off leather case, attached Temu strap and tested.
I picked up cheapest film from fridge and it happened to be Fomapan ISO 400. Personally I do not like Fomapan films; my results are usually muddy and dark and contrast is too heavy. Also my battery was a bit more powerful that original so I think that caused under exposure as well. Still there was a few shots that made me to believe that biggest problem was, once again, behind a camera.
Sooooo…..I got about 5 shots out of 36, but it looked promising. Next idea was test opposite: Agfa APX 400 is often blamed to be a kind of dull film without any character. I was thinking that was exactly what I needed. Results were pretty with 35 out of 36 box:
Result was pretty nice. Hämeenlinna railway station as ann example, I was pretty pleased to get roof tiles visible instead of plain black.
Saga cuntiues. Next I loaded a thing with Kodak Ultramax 400, but ISO 200 settings. Lets see what happens….
