Playing around with film

Hello all,

I'd been thinking about getting a fully manual camera for some time but wasn't sure I'd actually get into photography so I was looking at old film cameras as a cheap way to have a play around. Film also has a cool "black magic" quality to even though it's just chemistry. I shelved the idea but recently started think about it again and ended up buying a Pentax SPII and 50mm lens with a suspect meter from a second hand camera shop after buying and returning an SP1000 on ebay. I've gone through two colour rolls so far and am enjoying myself and exposures have come out pretty well using sunny16/exposure table. I'm still not sure how long I'll stick with it or if/when the cost will persuade me to perhaps go digital, but being not a strictly inferior medium, the fact that it's different and new to me is keeping it interesting.

Recently I've pulled out all Dad's old (1980s) equipment that he still has so I have a paterson tank, developing trays, and LPL 3300 enlarger and some other bits and pieces so I'm going to give developing and hopefully printing a go in black and white. Currently I'm working on ideas on how to best lightproof the bathroom without any permanent changes and on a budget. At this stage, I'm probably going to give mdf sheet with fabric edging a go.

I look forward to learning more and hopefully contributing here.

Thanks

If you go the self-process route the cost of operating will be right in line. And it really is so fun. You will also have something ELSE in common with your father. If even for only a short while. But it is catchy.

Welcome to APUG

The thing that I'm unsure about at the moment is working out how I will work out how the exposures went. Do I just hold them up to some light? Loupe and lightbox? Digital contact sheet? Real contact sheet?

Not sure how ease/quality/cost factor in.

Welcome to APUG

You get a sense from looking at a perfectly exposed negative, what a perfectly exposed negative looks like. In other words, it's just experience...printing your own work will really help build that experience, as well. Improve your odds by investing in a decent light meter, and (most importantly) learning how it works. Do that and you'll be so much more ahead of the game.

I've found APUG an invaluable resource for film work. You'll find out a lot here, too.

If you have window(s) then you need to block them out somehow in a way that can be set up and removed easily. The door, just hang a blanket or some such over the inside of it and throw a towel on the floor in front of the crack at the bottom. Depending on how big your bathroom is will depend on how easy it will be. But be inventive. Stack your trays instead of laying them out if you lack the room. For negative proof sheets, you could always use a low wattage light bulb and contact print. Lay the negs on a piece of paper and sandwich them with a clean piece of glass and turn on the light, doing a test strip to see the best exposure to get you a proof sheet where you can view your images best.

The most you will need to put out for will be chemistry and paper. And perhaps some odds and ends. But you sound like you are well on your way.

Yep, Welcome to Apug! Where reading, is almost habit forming.

Well, you have the essentials for B&W. A camera, some developing tanks/trays and an enlarger. Best bit of advice for an absolute beginner - use one film - HP5 is a good start, one developer (it doesn't really matter which one, IMO liquid developers are easier to handle in small quantities than powder) one paper (proabably Ilford MGIV RC). Read Ilfords sheets on how to process. Negs exposed sunny 16 will almost certainly come out OK if developed to time/temp. Printing, without gadgets to help, is just experience. Work out how to make test strips. Remember it's a 2 stage process. First find exposure, second find contrast. If your LPL enlarger has a colour head, you can use that for contrast filtration, otherwise you will need a set of filters - the under-lens type are quite easy to find on fleabay usually.

We all have our own reasons for analogue photography. For me, apart from the fun/challenge, it is the fact that I know I am creating something that is tangible and will probably last 100 years. Digital history is so easily lost - imagine if you found a 5 1/4 floppy disk or an 8mm video tape in your attic with recorded family memories. What would you play it on! - and that's only 30 years ago.