I thought the colour combination of the incandescently-lit alcove and its icon and blue sky were rather spiffing.  Sadly the religious aspect leaves me azure-cold and not orangey-warm. 

Baños, Ecaudor.  Canon G7.

During a burst of semi-constructive surfing on an Internet shop, I came across this old photographic reference book from the fifties: Ilford Manual of Photography, edited by Alan Horder.

The copy I have in front of me is the second reprint of the 5th edition. Whilst the dated style of language may be of curiosity, the clear descriptions of photographic lenses and black and white photography are necessary knowledge for anyone interested in the science of chemical light capture. For that matter, a lens is a lens whether it’s in front of a slice of silver salt embedded in gelatin or a slice of semi-conductor.

The book kicks off with the broadest discussion of photography and other methods of capturing a pictorial image. It then moves on the the nature of light. You can hopefully get a sense of how comprehensive this manual is.

It is amusing to read about 35mm film being described as “microfilm”. No doubt a photographer from the period would be very pleasantly surprised at the resolution and colour rendition of today’s film (….and tomorrow’s, what of them?). Wonder what they would have thought about digital photography?

No matter how well presented in-depth information is on the web, I find that printed documents are far more easy to comprehend when trying to take in “new” ideas. Clear diagrams on a page are always more easily ingested.

Descriptions of old products and chemical composition of developers, fixers and toners are illuminative, almost entertaining at times….a veritable fifties cookbook no less. There appear to be quite a few available cheaply on auction sites; why not see for yourself?

Previously the Goldfrapp duo have used electronica extensively but their latest album has shifted their tunes to an almost folk song like acoustic nature. Though some tracks have still got a definite electric component, the electro-disco tracks of Supernature and Black Cherry aren’t re-visited.
I was lucky enough to get tickets for the gig at the Union Chapel in North London where Ms Goldfrapp and the newly-enlarged band ran through some of their new stuff, plus some older tracks - though nothing of Black Cherry. Fantastic venue, and a fantastic gig! The Chapel is supported largely by a band of volunteers.

Is stop bath necessary when developing 35mm film? Yes. And no.

Yes if you’re using some homebrew concoction of a developer and intend to re-use the fixer bath over and over.
No, if you’re using mainstream (i.e. all of Ilford’s) products on a one-shot basis.

I hope that clarifies matters! The acidic nature of fixer will stop development of the mainstream developers dead their tracks, as well as doing its main job of fixing. Obviously the fixer will become contaminated with a any residual developer that is left in the tub. Hence the logic of using the fixer as one-shot.

What about the cost of doing this the one-shot way? From my sums, it costs about 55 pence to develop a single 35mm film to do it this way. In relation to the total cost of cameras, lenses, scanners, endless lists of accessories and the film itself, this really isn’t very much….is it? Add to that the time and faff saved from not having to measure out stop bath and store the working solutions of fixer and stop. Why worry about if the fixer or stop is depleted?

Now perhaps if I were running tens of films per day it might be wasteful but on the smaller number I’m actually doing there’s no problem, IMHO.

Wouldn’t it be handy if the the film companies printed Depth of Field or Hyperfocal tables or charts on the cardboard boxes and cartons used for films?

Few zoom lenses have DoF info on them and hyperfocal tables don’t get seen much either, but both are useful.

There’s a good Wikipedia entry on hyperfocal calculations, and in an idle moment, I made the table below in Excel with the formula:

H = f^2 / Nc

H is hyperfocal distance
f is focal length
N is f-number
c is the circle of confusion limit; I used 0.033 for 35mm film

There’s a very good online tool to create the tables at johnhendry.com. Anyone out there think it’s a missed opportunity by manufacturers…?  Pay a tiny bit more for some more information?  Altruistic reasons for educating the masses…?

Always wondered but never found out?….what’s with the squares? Wonder no more! Thanks to www.Laiblin.de.

If, like me, you frequently rate HP5+ at ISO800 you can scrape off the square “2″ on the coding so the camera automatically rates it 800 and not 400. This will work for any native ISO400 film of course. It gives you some extra freedom with cameras that don’t have a manual film speed setting.

Maybe you can start wondering why it stops at ISO5000: wouldn’t a jump to 6400 have been more useful?

Barnsley v Brentford,
originally uploaded by Greenwich Photography.

It’s just like watching Brazil, apparently.  I’m not sure if that’s the country, their football team or brazil nut.

Picasso’s creative force drives through art like a juggernaut but despite being frequently quoted on the power of photography, his work in this field has received little attention….more of a tricycle than a juggernaut.

However there’s a site throwing some light on this particular artistic vehicle: Picasso’s Camera. Take a peak to see how he used a broken camera to visualise the ground-breaking cubist perspective - his photographs, and photography.

Picasso’s quote:
“I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing else to learn.”

(did he plan to kill himself under a juggernaut?)

Some more of his quotes at the Quote Database.

Twenty five years ago, a tin-pot dictator confronted an Iron Lady and they came to blows over islands in the South Atlantic. I leave it to the reader to make his or her own mind on the matter (if it hasn’t already been been made), but June 2007 marks the anniversary of the successful prosecution of Operation Corporate and the defeat of Argentine forces in the Falklands.

Not surprisingly, there is an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London focusing on the conflict. One of the exhibits is the camera that took surely the definitive image of the conflict; a Royal Marine yomping towards Sapper Hill and a final clash with Argentine Forces on the outskirts of Port Stanley. The marine’s green lid is also on display. The card in the display case reads, “Beret worn by Royal Marine Peter Robinson during the Falklands war. The Union Jack was attached to Robinson’s radio aerial. Lent by Peter Robinson. Peter Holdgate’s camera and iconic British photographic image of the Falklands. Lent by Peter Holdgate.”

The offical MoD version of this shot can be seen. You may notice that it’s slightly cropped compared to the print in the Imperial War Museum. I think Holdgate’s camera is a Nikon F2 with metered prism and 50mm lens attached.

For stacks more photos and information go to this thread at militaryphotos.net. An interesting fact quoted there is that some of the Argie officers were surprised that the inhabitants of Port Stanley didn’t welcome them as liberators

Flickr has a group for the Falklands and South Atlantic; there are several scans of photos of events from 1982 and also some more recent ones. Several photos also demonstrate the stark beauty of the islands and its flora and fauna.

There isn’t much information on the web about using HIE infrared film with the Ilford one-shot developers like LC29 and Ilfosol.

I’ve successfully developed HIE in Ilfosol 1:9 for 8 mins at 20 deg C.

This was with the camera TTL meter set at ISO400 and a dark red filter on the lens - I’ve used the R25 B+W and Nikon “deep red” equivalent, not the dedicated IR filter that Hoya does. I’ve also used Ilford LC29 developer 1:19, same conditions at 5 minutes dev time.

I always found it was best to underexpose in overcast or indoor conditions by at least one stop with this camera set up - infra-red film doesn’t really come into its own until there’s clear sunlight on the scene.

Example: Cutty Sark in Greenwich - compare with these taken at Tikal that don’t really “work”.

I’ve used the Ricoh GR1 successfully with HIE; there’s some fogging at the bottom of the frame from the LED frame counter in the camera…say about 1-2mm on the film itself. The Contax G1 also works well with HIE with no fogging.