film

My new darkroom

Last year I wrote about the darkroom I had set up in my loft. Since then I’ve moved house, so I need to build the darkroom again. This time I have a windowless utility room on the ground floor, with running water and a worktop, so it’s already better than what I had before. Here’sContinue reading “My new darkroom”

I decided to have a quick count of the film I have in stock. It seems I have 37 rolls of 120-format film, and 10 rolls of 135 (35mm) format. That’s a total of 730 pictures, assuming I shoot the 120 film as 6×7 negatives with 10 frames per roll, and the 135 film withContinue reading “Film”

Processing colour C-41 films at home

Processing black & white film at home is easy. You just need a changing bag to load the film into a tank in darkness, and the rest can be done in the bathroom with the light turned on. The chemicals for black & white are normally used at 20°C but can be used at roomContinue reading “Processing colour C-41 films at home”

Focal lengths on different formats

Consumer photographic lenses are almost always sold by their focal length when used on a 35mm camera (or full-frame professional DSLR). It’s already confusing enough to work out what their effective focal length is when used on an APS-C sensor (most consumer DSLRs), but since I’ve been getting into medium-format photography it’s even more confusingContinue reading “Focal lengths on different formats”

How many megapixels do you get from film?

Well that’s a question. There’s no easy answer, but I’ll discuss it a little here. If you just want the figures, scroll down to the table! The number of film “pixels” (grains) does not equal to the resolution of the film – unlike pixels on a digital sensor. For now let’s ignore this fact andContinue reading “How many megapixels do you get from film?”

Building a home darkroom

I have worked with film for some time now. From day one I developed my own black & white film at home. This doesn’t take up too much room, so I was able to do it in the bathroom (which is completely internal, with no window). More recently, I got into printing my negatives ratherContinue reading “Building a home darkroom”

To other darkroom beginners

This is a quick post to share a useful resource I discovered online. I’m a relative beginner in the darkroom, and occasionally I find that my negatives don’t come out perfectly. It can be hard to know why, what you did wrong, and how you can avoid the same mistake in future. Fortunately, Olympus haveContinue reading “To other darkroom beginners”

Success with infrared photography

A while back I took an interest in infrared photography, and I bought a couple of rolls of Maco 820c infrared film. Using infrared film involves a huge amount of trial and error, and unlike digital cameras, you can’t take one or two pictures and check after each one. You have to shoot a wholeContinue reading “Success with infrared photography”

A face from the past

Hana’s dad picked me up a folding Voigtländer Bessa camera at a car boot sale in Exeter. To my surprise, it had some film in it – although unfortunately I didn’t find out until I’d opened the back. I developed the film in my darkroom, and found that, as expected, half the film was totallyContinue reading “A face from the past”

How things change

Recently, I would say that photography is my favourite hobby. But it wasn’t always that way. Throughout my childhood, I’ve taken pictures of important occasions on single-use cameras. My parents would always buy me a single-use camera before a family holiday, for example. I wasn’t interested in the camera, though. A few years ago (2005,Continue reading “How things change”