Collecting Dust

I got a new Holga but the lens is way too loose and so I have not done anything. That and my scanner still does not work.

Got A New Holga

I bought myself a new Holga and I am really disappointed with it. It has two problems. The screws won't come out so I can take off the lens/shutter and the lens itself is way to easy to turn (it's very loose).

It's going back to Freestyle.

New Scanner

Epson replaced my entire scanner. Imagine that. I haven't tried it yet though. Check back soon.

Back To Freestyle It Goes

The Jobo reel is going back for a store credit and in place of it I have ordered a Paterson reel which should fit the tanks I already have. I also ordered a Holga 120N and I will turn my WOCA into a pinhole camera. I am also building a pinhole camera out of black foamcore which is really cheap at Wal-Mart for a 20x30 piece compared to the same size at HobbyLobby. HobbyLobby wanted $5.99 and Wal-Mart was less than half. I'm going to use my box of 4x5 Ilford FP4 with the bigger pinhole camera.

Today I Got My Stuff, Man

That's right. I got my stuff and I can hardly wait to get down with the WOCA and do something. What stuff am I speaking of? A story is in order.

Back in the late 70's I got into black and white photography while attending Ricks College in Idaho (It's now BYU Idaho). Mostly I shot in 35mm and used Ilford HP5 developed in HC110 dilution B (I think) but I did have my grandfathers Rollieflex and I did shoot some 120.

Later in those same late 70's I joined the Army and continued to shoot black and white but mostly 35mm and HP5. When I was in Germany Ilford introduced a revolutionary film called XP1 and I was among the first to get my hands on it from a local German camera store in Schweinfurt. I bought it as a kit which included film and chemicals. It was the first c41 based black and white film and it was amazing stuff. I still have the negatives and they look just as good today as they did then. Maybe 1980 or 81? Not sure exactly. Maybe 1982.

Anyway I had gotten away from darkroom stuff in the late 90's and until now have been lugging around developing tanks and reels. So here I am with a HOLGA and I got to thinking this is the perfect opportunity for me to get back into a darkroom. Not a traditional darkroom because I don't have room for one but a more up to date digital darkroom where you shoot real film, develop and scan the images into the computer to be manipulated and printed in Black and White. So I went to a local camera store here in Tulsa looking for supplies and boy was I shocked at what I found. Nearly nothing. Digital has become so big that less and less people are developing film these days.

What I found was a small selection of chemicals and plenty of paper but not much else. The choices were limited so I turned to my trusty computer and got on the Internet and went to Freestyle and got myself and expandable Jobo reel for my Durst tank plus 10 rolls of ISO 400 120 Arista.Edu film and chemicals. Now all I need are some containers to store my mixed chemicals in. I had forgotten to get a thermometer but found a similar $16 thermometer at Wal-Mart for under $4 in the kitchen utensil section. It's a little harder to read but it will work just fine.

The bad thing? My Jobo 120 reel is just too big for my Durst tank! Dang! Now I'm depressed.

I Hate My Scanner

They tell me four weeks on the logic board for my scanner. Seems a little extreme to me and Epson refuses to replace the whole scanner.

My Scanner Is Strange

Epson and my repair guy are scratching their heads trying to figure out what is wrong with my scanner. The repair guy sticks a clear plastic sheet with black writing on the scanner bed and it scans ok but when he inserts my color negative it scans really dark and has those lines running through it. All of this using Epson Scan 2.76A which is the latest and greatest. So now he's going to replace the logic board and we'll see.