black and white – tim dobbs photography

Lomography Babylon 13 Kino film .. Overcast day and no tripod .. let’s go for it ….

Everytime there is a new film released onto the market I always try to get a roll or two to try.

So when Lomography announced the Babylon 13 and Fantome 8 kino films I immediately purchased some.

As they are 8 & 13 iso respectively and as I have a slight aversion to using tripods I have been waiting for the brighter weather to return here in Wales.

Last weekend the weather was looking pretty nice for a change so I dug out a camera that I have not used in ages .. my Ricoh X-RX and the Pentax 50mm f1.7 & 35mm f3.5 and proceeded out to my usual haunts here in the Garw valley.

By the time I was ready to leave it began clouding over but I had loaded the film so I went up the mountain anyway hoping that I would have enough light to be able to had hold at reasonable apertures.

As it turned out I only got to f5.6 once with most of the shots either wide open or f4 at best.

On my return I checked the massive dev app to see what I could develop it with and decided on ilfotecHC 1+31 dilution for 9 minutes.

The negatives looked fine out of the tank if slightly underexposed at first glance.

When dry and I cut them into strips for scanning it was apparent that this is a very curly film stock so I was imagining problems with my Epson v500 but apart from a few frames that I had to manually locate rather than the thumbnail scan method it went well.

Once into Lightroom the film was a revelation .. I was expecting soft, dark images due to not being able to stop down and hand holding at 1/30 sec but no .. the images had bags of detail and plenty of tone in both highlight and shadow areas.

The grain was pretty much non existent which is expected from such a low iso film but still it was nice to see.

Would I recommend this film stock? … definitely I would but with the caveat that you need good light or a tripod to get the best results even though I seemed to get lucky on this occasion I think as the Pentax 28mm f3.5 is a really sharp lens even wide open and the metering on the Ricoh did an excellent job too.

Well here is almost the whole roll as I bracketed a few frames so had multiples of certain images.

Click on an image to view larger

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

I also have some zines over on my Etsy store if anyone wants a look .. or message me to buy direct ..

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Rollei Retro 400s … almost the whole roll

Over the last few months I have shot a few rolls of Rollei’s RPX range which I really liked the look of.

So a few weeks back I was trying to decide what film to shoot that day and came across a roll of Retro 400S which I have shot once before and was not really that happy with how the roll came out developed in Rodinal.

I checked the Massive dev chart app and saw that I could also develop it in ilfotecHC so I thought I would give it a go and compare it to the RPX 400 and the previous roll.

I have been trying to post complete rolls of film recently and this was my plan for this one but whilst out on my walk my Pentax Super A sort of developed a problem.

Nearly every time that I half pressed the shutter to activate the meter nothing happened so I was trying to press the shutter button at different angles with my finger until it worked.

The problem was that on a few occasions I fired the damn shutter giving either totally blurred/black or over exposed frames so this roll only had 31 keeper which you can see here.

I have since used the Super A again and have found that I need to rest my finger towards the front of the shutter button for a second or two and the meter activates every time now.

By using ilfotecHC rather than Rodinal the images were far more like what I have seen on the interwebs … Great Blacks, contrasty and sharp with highlights that didn’t blow out and a really nice grain.

My 1st roll seemed muddy and excessively grainy so if I buy anymore of this stock it will be getting souped in ilfotecHC for sure.

So here are the images … comments most welcome

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

Expired film day 2020 …… ilford XP1 … the whole roll

Back in March this year just before all this Covid 19 lockdown stuff I entered the Expired film day competition like I have done on previous years.

The whole point is to get out and shoot as much old expired film over a 3 day weekend then submit 3 of you best images with the chance to win some lovely film prizes.

I was luck to win a prize last year so I was very surprised to win again this year considering the really high standard of the other entries.

I have loads of expired film but I came across some old ilford XP1 on eBay so I was excited to give it a go and with fingers crossed manage to capture something worthwhile.

Somehow I messed up and shot 1st frame on my Mamiya 645 while getting it out of my bag with the lens cap on so only ended up with 14 final images.

I rated the roll at 100 iso and it was developed/Scanned by filmdev

I asked them to push it one stop in development as well if poss and explained what I was trying to do with the images.

Here is a link to the Expired film day website … Click here

And here is the image that I was lucky to have selected for a prize … Click here

So here is the complete roll ….

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

Eventually trying my 1st roll of Silberra Ultima 200 …….

It must be a year or two back that I supported a Indiegogo campaign for Silberra where I received 2 rolls of film … Pan 200 & Ultima 200.

You can see my Pan 200 results here .. Silberra Pan 200 …

So here is the 2nd roll Ultima 200 … I shot it using my Nikon F100 and processed it using Rodinal at 1+25 dilution for 8 minutes.

The film was a a bugger to load onto the reel in the darkroom and was also a pain to scan due to how very thin it was .. that said once scanned I was pretty happy with how it looked.

The contrast and sharpness was nice, not bad tonal range either and to my eye the grain didn’t seen as pronounced as the Pan 200 I had shot before.

I doubt I will be shooting any more as it doesn’t really bring anything new to what I shoot that HP5 or plenty of other stocks that I regularly use, also I won’t miss the loading/scanning problems.

So here are a selection of images ….

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

First time shooting Kentmere 400 ..the whole roll ….

I have been meaning to try Kentmere film for absolutely ages.

I have read blogs and reviews where people have sung it’s praises comparing it to my beloved ilford HP5 at a bargain price.

I have had some 100 iso in the fridge for ages but recently I picked up some of the 400 so for the first roll I decided to rate it at box speed just to get a feel of the film.

My goto camera for testing 35mm is my Nikon F100 which meters very consistently so I can sort of compare film stocks, well at least to my eye anyway.

I processed it in ilfotecHC 1+15 dilution for 4 minutes 30 seconds as per massive dev app times and scanned with my old Epson v500.

The results were great I was very happy with how the film performed.

There was plenty of detail with pretty nice grain and the tonal range was very pleasing.

Considering it only costs £3.80 per roll from the most excellent Analogue Wonderland (link here : kentmere-400-film-35mm-b-w-iso-400)

Its extremely good value especially if it pushes well like I nearly always do with HP5.

I will try my next roll at 1600 to see it it holds up …

So here are all the frames … comments most welcome

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

Trying out a new lens on the Mamiya RB67 with some ilford SFX 200…

I picked up my RB67 a few months back complete with the 65mm f4.5 & 150mm f4 SF C from a fellow twitter film shooter and have only shot 2 rolls just playing around getting used to the beast and I realised that I needed a lens that would work as a standard/portrait lens and managed to get the 127mm f3.8 at a good price so I went out for one of my usual walks a few weeks back and gave it a runout with some ilford SFX.

The lens performed great giving really sharp results at various apertures and the focal length suited how I like to shoot, the only thing I didn’t shoot was a portrait which will be the next roll I hope.

I think I am getting used to the 6×7 format slowly and it’s great being able to rotate the back rather than the camera 🙂

I didn’t use any filters and developed it in ilfotecHC 1+15 dilution for 5 minutes … scanned on the Epson v500

Anyway this 3rd roll had 10 keepers so here they all are …

Comments welcome, click on an image to view larger …

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

My #FP4Party 2020 images all together .. plus those that didn’t make the cut ….

I suspect that most of the people who choose to view my blog probably know what #FP4Party 2020 is all about but for those who don’t … well … it’s a twitter thing where like minded film photographers participate in a sort of competition (no prizes just for fun) where we shoot some ilford FP4 during shoot week then the following week process and scan the film and then post the images over the next week.

I have taken part in this on previous occasions and enjoy the whole process.

As the posting week is over I am now blogging all the images shot over the said week all together here on my blog.

I didn’t enter all of these in the Party so if you have been following me on twitter then there are some new ones here.

I shot 2 rolls … 1 – 35mm in my Pentax Super A and 1 – 120 in my Fuji GW690iii

So here they are ….

Click on an image to view larger ….

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

I forgot I shot this roll … My 1st roll of Tri-X for years

I have been trying to tidy up my lightroom catalog of my film scans.

I seem to have at least 15 rolls of film that I have shot over the last year that I have not blogged yet.

Most of the rolls I remember but this one completely slipped my mind which is strange as it was a roll of Kodak Tri-X I shot with my Leica M2 which is a film I have not bothered with for years as I never seemed to get very good results with.

To be honest this roll didn’t really blow me away either, I am not sure what I don’t like as it has plenty of contrast and is sharp which is what I like in my B&W … maybe it’s the grain which makes me feel Meh!.

My favourite image was the one where I managed to slip and fall over ( Tree’s)

I doubt if I will be rushing to shoot it again for a while unless I try pushing it just to see if that gives me something that I will like.

Here is the best of an ordinary bunch ….

Please click on an image to view larger …..

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

Testing my 2nd Pentax Super A with Kodak TMax P3200 ….

About 6 months ago I picked up an SLR that I have wanted for ages a Pentax Super A.

I already have a few other Pentax’s including a Program A which is very similar but the Super has a top shutter speed of 1/2000 sec compared to 1/1000 which also shows on an LCD panel on the top.

To cut a long story short I somehow managed to lose that camera on a night out (Don’t ask) so I really wanted to get another one.

Super A’s are not that easy to get hold of especially in good condition but I managed to get one that was almost perfect but I needed to test it just to confirm I had a good one (as it was not cheap).

I had a few rolls of TMax P3200 that had just expired from Analogue Wonderland, I had already shot some before and were fine so I loaded up and went out for a local walk.

As you can see from a selection of images the camera worked great and I felt happy paying slightly over the odds for my 2nd copy.

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek 🙂

Taking the Leica M2 for a walk in the fog …….

I waited years to eventually get to own a Leica and when I did I seemed to use it every week but during the last year my poor M2 stayed in one of my bags while I tried and tested loads of new cameras that I have been adding to my ever growing collection.

The other weekend the weather was it’s usual pants this time of year but I do like shooting B&W then conditions are bad so I was going to shoot my newly acquired Mamiya RB67 with some Foma that I received for Christmas but whilst sorting out which bag I was going to put my stuff in ( the RB67 is a monster) I came across my lovely M2 and immediately changed my mind and went back to the fridge and got a roll of Agfa APX400 which I wanted to try and loaded up the little Leica.

The camera was a joy to use and I quickly sped through the roll wishing that I had brought along another.

The M2 and my Voigtlander Ultron 35mm f1.7 are a perfect match.

I developed the roll using Eco Film developer from Bellini Foto 1+1 dilution for 12 minutes which gave me really punchy negs that scanned really well.

Considering the weather I loved how the images came out with plenty of contrast and sharp.

I need to get back to using the M2 on a more regular basis as this camera makes me happy every time it’s in my hands.

Here is a selection of images from the roll, I shot 2 frames of most of the compositions at different apertures so I have not posted any of the duplicates.

Click on an image to view larger ….