#video: Brian Wright shows Linus how to clean up the negative transparency from the peel-apart instant film.
Brian is one half of the Brothers Wright ensemble (the other, Brandon), who founded the CineStill film company. In this video, Brian shows Linus a technique that the Wrights developed for freeing up the negative from the black goo that covers it:
Peel-apart film is a virtually extinct format that still has legions of fans admiring the fidelity of the images and the experience of revealing the photographs. Once peeled, you get a grainless positive and a negative. The negative is often discarded as it barely contains a picture — but the technique Brian shows here turns it into a scannable transparency using a bleach washing method.
Once scanned peel-apart negative transparency is a lot sharper and noticeably grainer than the print. One could argue it’s the most important/archival part of the package that is peel-apart film.
I am now curious if a version of this technique could work for the modern integrated Polaroid film frames, which are descendants of the original Polaroid peel-apart film (see this passage about the modern Polaroid film’s technical origins: analog.cafe/r/a-brief-hist…).
Because I started out shooting film, I have never been able to form a preference for digital! I just feel like shooting things that “matter” on film is important for me.
Every day it seems like computers get worse and worse to use, and avoiding screens (except for reading your excellent work of course) is something I strive for.
Film Washi “E” is a new emulsion for photographers made from a film stock designed for PCB manufacturing.
This film is akin to orthochromatic emulsions (analog.cafe/r/ilford-ortho…), but instead of lacking sensitivity to red colours, Film Washi “E” isn’t sensitive to greens.
Washi “E” has an ISO sensitivity of just 3, and it has a similar sensitivity to printing paper with a similar process for development.
The first rolls and sheets of this film will be sold at the Bievres International Photo Fair on June 1st and 2nd — presumably, more will be available at the Film Washi website (filmwashi.com) and other retailers.
Hello Dmitri, I am shooting on film because for me the results and all the preparations everytime are giving me something special that I cannot get from digital shooting.
As a nerd, how could I avoid entering this giveaway? I prefer shooting on film because of its physicality; and because its limitations (number of frames, expense, exposure triangle) demand a meditative aspect that is missing from the digital process.
#TIL: Autochrome is a colour photography process patented in 1903 that uses multicoloured microscopic potato starch granules to make some of the first colour photographs.
Developing Autochrome glass plates is akin to making black and white positives (a process that’s still in relatively wide use today) — but with a twist. Unfortunately, constructing them is a laborious and expensive process. As noted on Peta Pixel, there’s just one person who’s actively working on it today: petapixel.com/2024/05/06/m…
Autochrome plates are created by methodically and evenly spreading a random mosaic of mixed microscopic starch beads, which are individually painted orange, cobalt, and green. When the light passes through that mosaic, it exposes black and white emulsion behind it while each bead acts as a tiny colour filter — effectively making a localized trichrome.
Once a matching light wavelength freely passes through the bead “lens filter,” ex. green light through a green bead, it registers on the emulsion. The emulsion, when developed as a positive, appears transparent — but the green bead makes it look green again.
Now repeat that for millions of other coloured beads, and you will get a full-colour photograph.
Last week, Lomography released two new designs of their Lomo’Instant Automat Camera featuring artwork by renowned Austrian artist, Gustav Klimt.
The artist-branded Automat cameras, including collaborations with William Klein, Vivian Ho, Suntur, Jarb, Opbeni, el Nil, Park Song Lee, Gongkan, and others, sell for $199, but base model of the same camera is available on sale for $169 on their website: shop.lomography.com/us/ins…
These cameras use the popular Fujifilm Instax Mini film with a 60mm f/8-22 lens that can be zone-focused between 0.6m, 1-2m, and infinity. (You can learn about zone-focusing here: analog.cafe/r/how-to-zone-…). These cameras have a shutter that fires automatically between 8s and 1/250s. The cameras use 2 x CR2 batteries plus CR1632 for the remote.
Analog Sparks, a film photography competition with a $1K first-place cash price award (and multiple others) is accepting submissions.
I’ve briefly covered Analog Sparks’ last year competition and its winners here: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr… — there’s some serious competition, if you’re thinking of entering — and a very talented group of artists to be a part of as well. Best works will be shown at the House of Lucie Athens exhibition space (houseoflucie.org/athens/).
As you can tell, this contest is open specifically for film photographers, and it’s available to anyone in the world, as long as you’re over 18.
There is an affordable entry fee ($10-25) and multiple deadlines with the final date for submission being July 25, 2024.
I recommend sending your work at least a day early to accomodate for time zone differences and possible technical issues. Your files must be JPEGs with at least 1000px on the long side and a maximum of 4MB in size. The organizers are asking the files to be stored in 72DPI resolution (you can learn more about DPIs here: analog.cafe/r/the-best-res…).
An Australian film lab, Film Never Die, has just launched a Kickstarter project for their film camera design, Nana.
The camera was on presale on their website since October last year (I briefly wrote about it here: analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…). It then listed a 31mm 𝒇9 fixed-aperture lens, motorized film advance, and a metal body.
The Kickstarter version now offers a 31mm 𝒇11 single-element fixed-aperture lens with a top shutter speed of 1/125s. It’s a “focus-free” camera (similar to Kodak Ektar H35N analog.cafe/r/kodak-ektar-…). FND says they’re working on a side-in lens element (presumably for sharper close-ups), but it’s unclear whether that’s going to be done in time for the product launch.
The camera is designed to be light and compact (110mm x 62mm x 38mm) and 300g with film. The company has also shared photos demonstrating the Nana lens outperforming their previous “reusable” (presumably plastic lens) film camera — though it’s the same image they shared last year, attributed to a 𝒇9 lens design.
Kickstarter pledges that include the camera are between AU$225 to AU$275 (or $150-$180 in USD).
The generative “AI” hype cyclone is sweeping across the internet as companies like Google, Microsoft, and Adobe pour billions into the technology.
It’s a net negative for small blogs like this one. Years poured into creating content are slurped up within minutes to be later regurgitated by chatbots. This week, I’ve learned that the world’s most popular search engine will push links to websites even further below their endless ad boxes to make space for their ML-generated stew.
Nilay Patel noted on The Verge yesterday that Google provided terrible advice to the “why is the lever not moving all the way” question by a film photographer in their joyous Gemini video ad. Their highlighted advice was to *just open the camera back* (which would destroy the film), quickly followed by a clip of a guy happily taking pictures after the fact.
Apologists will claim that film jams require opening the camera back. But as someone who’s been shooting film for over 13 years with very old cameras, I tell you this never happens. It’s a made-up scenario (with even worse “AI” responses) that a trillion-dollar company didn’t bother to think through before adding to their public ad.
Two major photography manufacturers released new* film this month.
Foma Bohemia, a Czech manufacturer founded in 1921, made their fast orthochromatic Orho 400 film available in 35mm. It’ll come in beautiful vintage-inspired boxes.
Foma says: “It is characterised by good resolving power and contour sharpness, fine grain and high maximum density of the silver image… Its high optical sensitivity enables to take photographs even in adverse light conditions and using shorter exposure times. The nominal optical sensitivity of the film is ISO 400/27°, but its wide exposure latitude provides very good results even when overexposed by 1.5 EV (ISO 160/23°) and underexposed by 2 EV (ISO 1600/33°).”
Shanghai Jiancheng Film (Shanghai Shenbei) has been manufacturing film in China since 1958, most notably their Shanghai GP3 black and white series. But their latest release is an apparent rebrand (source: reddit.com/r/AnalogCommuni…) of ORWO Wolfen NC 500 (NC 500 film review: analog.cafe/r/orwo-wolfen-…). It’ll come in a metal canister with a DX code, which is a huge plus (here’s why: analog.cafe/comments/d0ur).
“The Big Film Photowalk” to be THE BIGGEST concurrent UK film photography walk ever!
This summer, on June 29th (midday), Analogue Wonderland and Kodak will host an enormous photography event all over the UK — along with shops, labs, darkrooms, galleries, and workshops around the country.
More than 40 photowalks are planned, from Fraserburgh in the north to Brighton in the south — and more are in the works.
Here’s more about the event from Analogue Wonderland:
“Attendees will get a guided tour from a local film expert, a Kodak colour 35mm film, and free development of that roll with Analogue Wonderland. The photos taken on the walk will be automatically included in a photo competition, judged by experts at Kodak Film and Analogue Wonderland, with several prizes up for grabs! The tours will all be led by AW staff, Ambassadors, analogue organisations, or trusted community members. Those already involved include: the Royal Photographic Society, Sunny 16 Podcast, LondonCameraProject, Little Vintage Photography, Solarcan, 35mmc, Shrewsbury Film Photography Club, Film Production Academy, Stills Gallery, LondonAltPhoto, Leicester Lo-Fi Darkroom, Folk House Darkroom, 6 Towns Darkroom Club, Lux Darkroom, Dark Art Sessions, 6 Towns Darkroom Club, CameraGoCamera, Hazlehurst Studios, Intrepid Cameras, and more.”
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