Saturday, March 03, 2018

mf + tri-x + pmk

I haven't shot my medium format cameras much for a while.  When I do, I always end up questioning why I bother to use any of the smaller film formats.  Of course, there are good reasons for 35mm and smaller sizes, but the question still always lurks in the background.


I shot a roll of tri-x in my Mamiya C330 over a couple days.  I used the Porroflex eye-level finder which is a bit dim compared to the waist-level finder, but it does make shooting the big camera a little less awkward.


This was the first roll of film I've developed in PMK Pyro in which the negatives have shown a distinct sepia tonality which contributes to good contrast and better detail in both shadows and highlights.  The thing I did differently this time was to wash the film for a full 30 minutes as the Photographers' Formulary instructions recommend.  They say that "The image stain intensifies during the wash cycle."  Why that would be I have no idea, but I can't dispute the results. The negatives looked a bit over exposed, so I may try shooting the tri-x at box speed for the next round.






7 comments:

JR Smith said...

Deep, deep black and brilliant whites! Nice!

Mike said...

I am pleased with seeing some perceptible progress with the PMK. I spent a couple more hours today wrestling with the C330 and all the accessories including two viewfinders, the paramender and a big tripod. It was exhausting.

J. M. Golding said...

Beautiful and inspiring portraits!

Mike said...

Thanks. It is nice to have such photogenic subjects close at hand. If it weren't for our animals I'd likely be showing a lot of pictures of soup cans.

jon campo said...

Shockingly nice pictures Mike! Really impressive work. Also, that is a very cute dog.

Lurcher1 said...

Wonderful detail and great contrast. Inspired by your "Outside the Box," I have been getting nice results with a Brownie Twin 20 and Portra close-up attachment.

Adam

Mike said...

Good to know people are making the effort to use some of those great old boxes. I need to get back to mine.

I just became aware of the availability of Holgamods film spool adapters which make it a lot easier to use many of the cameras that were made for now-discontinued film formats. I have made several of my own adaptations for that purpose, but it seems like the fifteen bucks they charge is well worth the expense.