During a recent wildlife sanctuary photoshoot, I had the chance to try out ADOX SCALA 160 Black and White Slide film. I was impressed with the quality of the images it produced, even though the development process was a bit challenging. Overall, the final results made it all worth it.
NOTE: I’ll begin this experience report with a brief disclaimer. It’s been less than three years since I returned to shooting 35mm film after switching to digital photography over 20 years ago. I’ve inundated myself with as much film education as possible between web articles and advice from experienced film shooters. But, since my prior experience with film is decades old, this review is from a rather novice point of view.
In January, I put a 24-exposure roll of ADOX SCALA 160 Black and White Slide film in my Pentax P3n and took it on a trip to the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Brigantine. I purchased the ADOX SCALA last year when I started putting more effort into re-learning 35mm film photography. I had never used ADOX SCALA before and wanted to experiment a little. Once I completed the roll, I sent it off to the Dark Room for development, along with an enrollment of Rollei RPX 25 and RPX 100. Unfortunately, the Dark Room does not develop black and white slide films. The undeveloped ADOX was returned to me, and I set about finding where I could get this film developed.
I discovered that very few places develop black-and-white slide films. All my Google-foo me to dr5 Chrome. dr5 Chrome works well, but their business process is still circa 1990s internet. Instead of an online form, I had to download a PDF, print it out, fill it in, and then email the form and film back to dr5 Chrome. Once they receive it, they develop the film and invoice you via email. You pay the invoice via PayPal and then wait some more for the scanned images to arrive on a compact disk. I got the compact disk over the weekend and reviewed the images during lunch.
The following five frames are taken over the last week of January and the first week of February. My favourite is the family room image. I think it has a full spectrum of black, whites and greys.
Would I reshoot this film? NO! The images look better than I expected, but developing these is a PITA.
NOTE: I don't normally submit two entries for Lens Artists Challenge, but I had forgotten about the compact disk until I saw it on my desk this morning.
Tech Specs
Development: Black and White Colour Reversal Processing
Film Type: Reversal
ISO: 160
Exposures: 24
Pack Size: 1
Metered | January 2021 | Pentax P3n | SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/2 | Adox SCALA 160 Black and White Slide FilmWinter garden | Friday 22 January, 2021 | Pentax P3n | SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/2 | ISO 160Family Room | January 2021 | Pentax P3n | SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/2 | Adox SCALA 160 Black and White Slide FilmForsythe National Wildlife Refuge | January 2021 | Pentax P3n | SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/2 | Adox SCALA 160 Black and White Slide FilmAlphie | January 2021 | Pentax P3n | SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/2 | Adox SCALA 160 Black and White Slide Film
NOTE: I’ll begin this experience report with a brief disclaimer. It’s been less than three years since I returned to shooting 35mm film after switching to digital photography over 20 years ago. I’ve inundated myself with as much film education as possible between web articles and advice from experienced film shooters. But, since my prior experience with film is decades old, this review is from a rather novice point of view.
I started drinking ales from Flounder Brewing about five years ago. Back then, founder Jeremy Lees and his friends brewed up a batch of beer when they could, sometimes once a month, sometimes more. Whenever they had a batch of beer for sale, they emailed a mailing list with dates and times. One release day was not unusual to see a line of beer geeks, growlers in hand, standing outside their "brewery", a small space inside an industrial building in Hillsborough. Eventually, word spread, the lines got longer, the beer got better and more varied, and the team were able to expand. Flounder Brewing retained its small-town micro-brewery feel, but Jeremey had a vision for growing into a space that reflected the historic farm town character of Hillsborough. This year he had the green light to start renovating a barn on the historic farm property at Clerico Lane.
To continue the sense of the community that Flounder Brewing Co. has created over the year, Jeremy hosted a monthly socially-distanced and fully-masked outdoor beer garden at the new property with stringent rules. Throughout the summer and fall, Bhavna and I attended each of these outdoor beer gardens. We brought portable chairs and tables and found a spot under the trees. It was a joy to be with people (from eight feet away) enjoying the same beer, food and local musician.
On one of these occasions in October, I attached an MD Rokkor-X 45mm F2 lens to my Minolta X-700 and loaded a roll of Kodak Pro Image 100 35mm Colour Negative Film for the first time. I had read that the look of Pro Image was somewhere between Kodak Portra and Kodak Ektachrome E100. It took me a few weeks to expose the entire cartridge. I somehow got 38 exposures from a 36-exposure roll.
These are the best of them. You can tell where I struggled with focusing the lens. Many of the photos are slightly out of focus. I struggled to get proper exposure. I think the results are better than my first try with FPP RetroChrome film, but my technique still needs work. This is the first year I have been using a film camera since 1999.
Kodak Pro Image 100 is a professional-grade colour-negative film designed for 35mm cameras. It is known for its fine grain, vibrant colours, and sharpness, making it a popular choice among professional and amateur photographers. It’s also a lot cheaper than most of Kodak’s other professional 35mm films, such as Kodak Portra.
Kodak Pro Image 100 is relatively light-sensitive, making it suitable for various lighting conditions. Its colour reproduction is well-balanced, with accurate skin tones and a natural colour rendition, making it ideal for portrait photography.
Kodak Pro Image 100 is also known for its wide exposure latitude, meaning that it can handle overexposure and underexposure well, providing more flexibility in challenging lighting situations. Additionally, it has a broad tonal range, which enables it to capture subtle variations in highlights and shadows.
Overall, Kodak Pro Image 100 is a versatile film well-suited for various photographic applications, including portraits, landscapes, and street photography.
Bhavna and I have had dinner at the Brick Farm Tavern each week since just after the "stay in your home order" were lifted, and Governor Murphy permitted outdoor dining. It's us once a week "socially distanced" outing. The tables are spaced 8-10 feet apart. The food at the tavern is delicious farm to table, and we are surprised by something new every week.
I discovered Cousins Maine Lobster Truck too late in the summer to fully take advantage, but now I have developed a weekly habit of dropping in wherever they are for a lobster roll or lobster grilled cheese sandwich.
NOTE: I'll begin this experience report with a brief disclaimer. It's been less than two years since I returned to shooting 35mm film after switching to digital photography over 20 years ago. I've inundated myself with as much 35mm film education as possible between web articles and advice from experienced film shooters. But, with my former experience way in the past and limited recent experience, this review is coming from a relative novice point of view.
A few weeks ago, I shot 35 frames of Film Photography Project RetroChrome 400 35mm Colour Reversal Film with my Asahi Optical Co. Pentax Spotmatic II and SMC Takumar 55mm f/2 lens. I was anxious to see how the film performed and impatiently captured all the frames on a single day.
I focused my efforts on the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park Trail near the Kingston Lock and Kingston Grist Mill. I have photographed this area many times. I wanted someplace familiar to test my 35mm film photography skills.
RetroChrome is government surplus High Speed Eastman Ektachrome color positive film. Made for industrial and governmental applications, Kodak adds “it is color reversal camera film that is intended for photography under daylight illumination. Among its many applications are news photography, sporting events and industrial photography.” The film is cold-stored 2004 expired. The film performs excellent at it’s intended box speed of 400 iso which leads us to believe that this film has been stored in the “deep freeze” for the past decade. Please read all about RetroChrome history in our RetroChrome blog!
I received an email from the Darkroom and mistakenly thought I had developed a blank roll. But today, I received notification from Darkroom that the FPP RetroChrome 400 Colour Slide Film cartridge was successfully developed using the E-6 process and the negatives were scanned and ready for download. I had chosen the Super Scans, which produces JPEG images at 4492×6774 pixels. Darkroom scanned the negatives on a NORITSU KOKI EZ Controller.
I added EXIF data to the images using Exif Editor.
From the samples on the Film Photography Project website and Flickr, I had some idea of how the scanned negatives would look. However, I knew I struggled to get proper exposure to the Spotmatic II. I was challenged to find the appropriate shutter speed and aperture that centred the metering needle. This is one reason I purchased a Pentax ES II.
Most of the frames were captured on the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park near the Kingston Mill House, which I have frequently photographed. I uploaded the ten best images as is.
I think the grain and colour cast is what one can expect from FPP RetroChrome 400. Many of these frames are slightly overexposed. Tweaking them in Adobe Lightroom improved contrast, but the grain is noticeable. I’m not too fond of the quality of the grain, and I could have picked better subject matter. I love the look of the photographs of the Kingston Mill House and Lochtender’s house, but I think the images of the greenery are boring. I believe that scenes of old diners and 1970’s cars parked in front of downtown scenes would make good subject matter.
Would I shoot another roll of FPP RetroChrome 400? Yes, but I will either use my Pentax ES II or Pentax P3 so that I can use automatic metering and aperture priority.
Have you used PP RetroChrome 400 Colour Slide Film? What do you think of the grain and colours produced by this film?
8 May 2020 * Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II * SMC Takumar 55mm f/28 May 2020 * Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II * SMC Takumar 55mm f/28 May 2020 * Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II * SMC Takumar 55mm f/28 May 2020 * Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II * SMC Takumar 55mm f/28 May 2020 * Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II * SMC Takumar 55mm f/28 May 2020 * Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II * SMC Takumar 55mm f/28 May 2020 * Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II * SMC Takumar 55mm f/2
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