Atlanta on business

I agonized a bit over which camera(s) to bring along on this business trip, but realized that 1) I’m unlikely to have much time to shoot, and 2) if I take camera(s) out of the equation, I could fit everything I need for 2.5 days in the camera bag, this removing the need for an overhead spot or checked baggage, and 3) what better time to put Hipstamatic 301 through its paces?
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Harmon films – Kentmere 400 (1)

I had a bit of a problem with the LC-A… it wouldn’t wind for some reason, so I stuck it in the dark bag, opened the back, unstuck the film, wound it back into the canister a bit, shot through to where I figured I was on the roll, and only then did I research a bit and find that there was an easy-ish way to fix it: just manually crank the screw bit on the bottom till it clicks.

Also, if you notice the narrative above, I skipped something important: I didn’t check to see where I was on the roll before I rewound it, and so I ended up with some nice double exposures… Happy accidents? Eh, I guess.

So there’s a slight issue with this test of the Kentmere 400.

Alhamdulillah, I still learned some things…
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Harmon Films: Ilford FP4 Plus (1)

Results from the Kentmere 100 were a bit disappointing, with blown highlights and clumpy grain. Both, of course, possibly the result of the 24℃ temperature or some other development issue. I followed times and temperatures included on the box for the FP4 Plus, though, so let’s take a look and see how it held up. Continue reading “Harmon Films: Ilford FP4 Plus (1)”

Harmon films: Kentmere 100 (1)

As mentioned previously, I’ve embarked down the dangerous road* of home processing Black & White film and am checking out some of the (less expensive) Harmon films.

First up, the Kentmere 100.

And apologies for the delay! Eid al Adha came again, Alhamdulillah (and may Allah azza wa jall accept our fasts, sacrifices, and duas), and Hipstamatic 300 appeared, so this got delayed a bit. Continue reading “Harmon films: Kentmere 100 (1)”

Hipstamatic 301!

Just two days after Hipstamatic 300’s long awaited debut, Hipstamatic is back with an update.

The most noticeable change, for me: volume button shutter works again!

  • In classic mode, volume down expands and contracts the embiggened viewfinder and volume up trips the shutter. 
  • In new pro camera mode, both volume up and volume down both trips the shutter. 

The update text only mentions something cryptic, like the usual “bug fixes and other improvements,” or some such, and there might be some other things that I didn’t notice. 

One small and very annoying issue: if you take a screenshot while Hipstamatic 301 is in edit mode, the app crashes. I think the change to the camera roll is what causes the crash, as there’s a very slight delay between capturing the screenshot and the crash, probably  while the phone writes the picture to the gallery. 

I expect a 302 in rather short order, but only Allah knows. We’ll all have to wait and see. 

Harmon films: the boxes

A couple of months ago, I picked up two rolls each of four Harmon films: Kentmere 100, Ilford FP4 Plus, Kentmere 400, and Ilford HP5 Plus. At the time, I had recently acquired two rolls of long-expired Ansco Versapan and gotten some interesting results with it and the R3 Monobath. I wanted to get started playing with black & white photography, but first I needed two things: more film, and a developer that was more suitable for roll film.*

So I hemmed and hawed and looked at my limited toy fund and hemmed and hawed some more and somehow managed to justify buying 8 rolls of film.

Alhamdulillah and I couldn’t much justify buying chemicals too, though, so the film just sat for much of June and July. But then Eid al Fitr rolled around again, and I received a gang of D76, some Ilford RapidFix, and some Ilfostop, plus some jugs and accordion bottles—thanks Mom!—and the test was in business, sorta.

I still let it sit for awhile.

But now it’s time, more or less.

It’ll be a non-scientific test:just whatever I notice and decide to comment on. And if it’s not obvious by now either you haven’t been paying attention or you vastly overestimate my technical knowledge. This isn’t my first time shooting black & white: I shot some Tri-X at the lake a bit ago, and there’s the Ansco a couple of months back, and some Chromogenic something or other a long time ago.

But developing it is something new to play with, and that’s always fun: Alhamdulillah. I’ll just be shooting the film in my usual lackadaisical manner, processing it, and commenting on the results in whatever way I see fit.

Tonight: the boxes… boring, probably, but interesting to me. Continue reading “Harmon films: the boxes”