Very excited: my Ilford Obscura pinhole camera comes today but in the mean time...

Ces1um said:

I've never used direct positive paper before. Can it be used in a standard film holder? what's needed for chemistry to develop/fix it after it's exposed? I'm really intrigued with the entire idea of this. Would you mind pm'ing me with some info on it if you get a second and don't mind doing so? It'd be much appreciated.

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All of this information is on Ilfords site

Ces1um said:

I've never used direct positive paper before. Can it be used in a standard film holder? what's needed for chemistry to develop/fix it after it's exposed? I'm really intrigued with the entire idea of this. Would you mind pm'ing me with some info on it if you get a second and don't mind doing so? It'd be much appreciated.

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I've never used it. That's why was hoping to find some in the Obscura kit. So far I've only been using film in the camera. For some reason I'm not overly interested in making paper negatives. However, I'm interested in very long exposures over a week or two, were the image prints out generating some colour hues.

Am I right in assuming that if one does that with direct positive paper it will still result in a negative?

BTW, Harman direct positive FB paper, and Imageo direct positive RC paper are in stock at Foto Impex. Unfortunately they don't offer 4x5. Once the supplies through the new Harman distributor have fully resumed there shouldn't be any more bottlenecks in the US supply.

lantau said:

I've never used it. That's why was hoping to find some in the Obscura kit. So far I've only been using film in the camera. For some reason I'm not overly interested in making paper negatives. However, I'm interested in very long exposures over a week or two, were the image prints out generating some colour hues.

Am I right in assuming that if one does that with direct positive paper it will still result in a negative?

BTW, Harman direct positive FB paper, and Imageo direct positive RC paper are in stock at Foto Impex. Unfortunately they don't offer 4x5. Once the supplies through the new Harman distributor have fully resumed there shouldn't be any more bottlenecks in the US supply.

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Why would a direct positive paper result in a negative? Should it by definition result in a positive? Also, couldn't you just order from the UK?

Ces1um said:

Why would a direct positive paper result in a negative? Should it by definition result in a positive? Also, couldn't you just order from the UK?

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When developing the paper there is some mechanism that will result in a positive image. I have no idea how this paper works. But when exposing it to the point of printing out my assumption is that exactly that will happen. There will be some form of Silverhalide and prolonged exposure to light will reduce that to silver. There is no development when printing out. However, I'd be delighted to be proven wrong.

Since I just realised that I'm nearly out of glassine pages for 35mm I had to order more and added a box of direct positive fb paper; 13x18(cm)^2. I can cut those in half, trim a bit and then it should fit my camera obscura. I also want to see what happens when I enlarge b/w slides onto it. I guess I will have to pre flash as described in the datasheet.

So...user report: it came nicely packaged, and it’s pretty well constructed.
I took it out on a grey day that was very cold and took 3 images, two using the Ilford MG paper and one using the D100 film. The images were all nice with no issues. The actual operation of the camera was easy and enjoyable.

All in all, it was a nice experience. My main issue was the single shot aspect of it. I brought a changing tent but even that was more hassle than im willing to put up with, it really sucked the fun out of it for me...id rather use a camera that takes holders so they can be pre loaded. Thats no fault of the camera, just my preference.

The exposure calculator that comes with it was pretty worthless, i ended up using my light meter.

Knowing what I know now, id not buy it again, but thats my personal choice, others may like it.

rpavich said:

So...user report: it came nicely packaged, and it’s pretty well constructed.
I took it out on a grey day that was very cold and took 3 images, two using the Ilford MG paper and one using the D100 film. The images were all nice with no issues. The actual operation of the camera was easy and enjoyable.
All in all, it was a nice experience. My main issue was the single shot aspect of it. I brought a changing tent but even that was more hassle than im willing to put up with, it really sucked the fun out of it for me...id rather use a camera that takes holders so they can be pre loaded. Thats no fault of the camera, just my preference.
The exposure calculator that comes with it was pretty worthless, i ended up using my light meter.
Knowing what I know now, id not buy it again, but thats my personal choice, others may like it.

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That was my concern with the design too. I'm sorry to hear it's fallen short of what you wanted it to be. I debated either the zero image or ilford 4x5 for many months. If the zero image website was easier to navigate I might have gone that route but the titan 4x5 is on it's way. Unfortunately I also just found out that I can't get colour sheet film developed around here, and the companies they used to send it away to have all gotten rid of their dip and dunk processors. I've been told there may only be two labs left in Canada that will develop colour sheet film now. the lab in Vancouver and another one in Toronto. Anybody have any recommendations for colour developing of sheet film in Canada? How difficult is it to home process c-41 sheet film?

I used my recently ordered Harman Direct Positive (FB) Paper in my Ilford Obscura today. Because I bought 5x7 (in)^2 Paper I cut a sheet in half to get two 5x3.5 (in)^2 sheets. As you can see from the borders it placed itself at the top of the camera back. I didn't notice because I loaded in the dark at home. After exposing the sheet on my way to my darkroom I placed the other sheet in the camera under safe light. The next image should have black borders at two sides only.

For my first attempts I simply exposed the paper without preflashing, which Harman recommends for reducing contrast. Of course it requires some tests to find out the right dose. I might try that one day.

Because there was still a little snow out there I drove up to a vantage point above the village, in which my darkroom is located. That is a high contrast scene, which is probably not ideal for the high contrast paper. But I think it did quite well. There is overexposure in the centre. You can see houses on the right, a third down. They'd go to the left just beyond the middle, but the overexposure leaves only faint outlines.

Harman rates the Paper at ISO1-3. My Sixtomat goes down to 3, so I took an incident reading at that and doubled the exposure, thinging EI1.5 should be a good start. In this scene I think leaving it at Three would have been spot on. The bottom corners are perfectly exposed. Had I used 1:15min instead of 2:30min the centre may have been just right and the corners a stop darker. IMHO that would have been OK for a pinhole image.

I developed in Adox Neutol Eco for 3min at roughly 15°C, stopped in Adostop for 20s, water rinse, fixed for 30s in Superfix, which I mixed the first time for the occasion, and then washed for 15 min in a Bucket with a submersed pump. Treatment in Adostab (Sistan) for 90s, then hung it from a corner to dry.

The paper base remained fairly rigid through out. The whole process was quick enough not to have the paper deep soaked, apparently.

The image is a quick handheld shot with my digital camera. I was too lazy to get the copy stand out for this, and I don't own a scanner.

You did much better than me, so far ive overexposed every shot I tried. I have been rating it at ISO 8 and still am overexposing.

rpavich said:

You did much better than me, so far ive overexposed every shot I tried. I have been rating it at ISO 8 and still am overexposing.

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Have you had any more luck with your photos this year? I'd love to see more of your results with the direct positive paper. At some point I'm going to give it a try and I'm sort of hoping you'll have all the kinks worked out for me! Are you still enjoying the obscura? I like the design of that camera. It is very basic but it's brilliantly engineered for what it's tasked to do.