As we know, I get all gouty about being asked technical details, but here is a historical curiosity that prompts me to talk technical all unbidden.
Last week I was away staying with friends, and at their invitation cleared out the remains of their grandfather's darkroom. The contents had been shifted lock and stock from Surrey to West Wales in about 1983, where it had lain almost untouched since.
I can't begin to describe the stuff I found. Some is just for the skip, but I filled the boot with all sorts of things, including a couple of dozen rolls of 120 film, plus the loan of a prewar Voigtlander Bessa 6x9 to play with. The film may be as old as the camera.
(When I say prewar, I mean that little trouble we had in Yurop between 1939 and 1945)
I shot a couple of these old rolls while I was there, in the Bessa, and that's waiting to be developed, but in the meantime I shot a test roll in my backyard (also in the Bessa) so as to estimate a sensible EI for the rest of the rolls.
So here's the best shot from the test roll. Tweaked a bit in LR for show redface but it would probably print close to this. Remember, this was shot with a camera 70 to 80 years old on film perhaps 60-70 years old that has been in the bottom of a cardboard box in an uninsulated shed for nearly 35 years, in case you want to criticise the "IQ" ... I'll be slightly surprised if any digital camera is working so well after the same elapsed time
Last week I was away staying with friends, and at their invitation cleared out the remains of their grandfather's darkroom. The contents had been shifted lock and stock from Surrey to West Wales in about 1983, where it had lain almost untouched since.
I can't begin to describe the stuff I found. Some is just for the skip, but I filled the boot with all sorts of things, including a couple of dozen rolls of 120 film, plus the loan of a prewar Voigtlander Bessa 6x9 to play with. The film may be as old as the camera.
(When I say prewar, I mean that little trouble we had in Yurop between 1939 and 1945)
I shot a couple of these old rolls while I was there, in the Bessa, and that's waiting to be developed, but in the meantime I shot a test roll in my backyard (also in the Bessa) so as to estimate a sensible EI for the rest of the rolls.
So here's the best shot from the test roll. Tweaked a bit in LR for show redface but it would probably print close to this. Remember, this was shot with a camera 70 to 80 years old on film perhaps 60-70 years old that has been in the bottom of a cardboard box in an uninsulated shed for nearly 35 years, in case you want to criticise the "IQ" ... I'll be slightly surprised if any digital camera is working so well after the same elapsed time