c/analog-camera-club

I ruined a whole roll of Tri-X 400 because I forgot one step in developing

I processed a roll yesterday and every single frame came out with these weird blotchy streaks all over them. Turns out I skipped the pre-soak step before pouring in the developer, which I've done for years without thinking. Over 6 months of developing at home I got lazy and this was the result - 36 shots of a family reunion in Portland completely wasted. Has anyone else messed up a batch by skipping something basic like this?

I was dead wrong about using expired film

I always thought expired film was just a gimmick for hipsters to get weird colors. Then my buddy gave me a roll of 2004 Fuji Superia that had been sitting in his hot car for years. Loaded it into my Canon AE-1 last weekend and shot some photos at the park near my house. Those grainy, shifted greens actually gave the pictures a mood I can't get with fresh stock. Anyone else tried old film and been surprised by the results?

Was rewinding a roll of film when the crank broke off in my hand

Last Saturday I was out shooting with my old Pentax K1000 at a park near my house in Nashville. Got through a whole roll of Portra 400, hit the rewind button, and started cranking away like I've done a thousand times. About halfway through, the little metal rewind knob just snapped right off in my fingers. I stood there holding a broken piece of plastic and metal while the film was still stuck inside the camera. Had to drive straight home and spend 45 minutes in a dark closet carefully prying the film canister out with tweezers. Now I'm looking into getting a replacement part but I can't believe how fragile these old cameras are compared to my digital setup. Has anyone else had a random piece of their film camera just give out on them during a shoot?

Had to decide between a Pentax K1000 and a Canon AE-1 for my first film camera last month

I went with the K1000 for $85 at a garage sale because it felt simpler to learn on, but now I'm wondering if the AE-1's auto mode would've saved me from three totally blown rolls, what do you think?

I spent 2 years mixing my developer wrong and didn't know it

I always thought my black and white negatives looked a bit flat, but figured it was just my cheap camera. Then I borrowed a buddy's developed roll from his Nikon F2 and compared it to mine. His had way more contrast and sharper grain. Turns out I was pouring the developer concentrate into the water instead of water into the concentrate. That little detail from the massive dev chart I ignored the whole time? Yeah, that changes the dilution ratio. Did anyone else learn basic chemistry the hard way like this?

Shoutout to the old guy at the Portland swap meet who saved my roll of Tri-X

Was at the monthly film swap meet at the Portland Expo Center last month and some guy named Gary saw me loading film on a bench. He stopped and told me I was running the leader too far into the take-up spool. Sure enough, I would have wasted 3 frames on that roll. Has anyone else had a random stranger fix a bad habit you didn't even know you had?

Switched to Kodak Gold 200 after years of hating it

I always thought Gold 200 looked too warm and washed out, but I shot a roll on a cloudy day near the lake last weekend and the colors actually popped in a way I didn't expect. Now I'm wondering if I just had bad scans before... anyone else changed their mind about a film stock they used to avoid?

TIL I was loading film wrong for 4 years

I always thought you had to pull the film leader all the way out so it was flat against the take-up spool. Last month at a camera swap in Austin, an old timer saw me doing it and laughed. He showed me to just tuck the tip under a spring and let the spool grab it naturally. I used to waste half a roll every time getting it to sit right. Anybody else have a basic technique they messed up for way too long?

TIL pushing film can save a disaster shot

I was always a stickler for shooting at box speed. I thought pushing film was just a way to get grainy photos on purpose. Then last month I was shooting a friends wedding at a park in Austin and the light dropped way faster than I expected. By 6pm I was stuck at 1/15th of a second with my 50mm lens and couldn't flash because of the ceremony rules. So I just cranked my HP5 to 1600 and shot the rest of the roll anyway. When I developed it in HC-110 for an extra 3 minutes the negatives came out thin but totally printable. Now I keep a roll of Tri-X in my bag just for low light and push it two stops all the time. Has anyone else found a favorite film for pushing or do you stick with one speed no matter what?

Ditched my darkroom thermometer for a cheap instant read food thermometer last month

My old lab thermometer broke so I grabbed a $12 Taylor from the grocery store and my negatives came out cleaner than they have in 2 years, has anyone else tried cooking gear for film processing?

My last roll of Portra got mangled in the Pentax 67 at Point Reyes

Was shooting a foggy sunrise at the lighthouse, advance lever jammed and I force-rolled the film right off the spool. Had to total black bag unspool it in my car and rewind by feel, lost half the frame spacing. Anyone else had a camera eat their roll mid-shoot?

Started scanning my old negatives with a flatbed instead of my lab's Noritsu and the grain is completely different.

I compared a roll of Portra 400 I shot last spring, same strip of negatives scanned at the lab and then on my Epson V600 at home, and the lab scans looked smooth and clean while mine showed way more texture in the sky - has anyone else noticed that level of difference between scanner types?

Why does nobody talk about how easy it is to scratch a lens with a cheap microfiber cloth?

Last week I was cleaning my old Pentax 50mm f/1.4 and used a generic microfiber cloth from the gas station. I didn't think much of it until I held it up to the light and saw tiny hairline scratches all over the front element. Turns out those cheap cloths can trap grit and dust particles that grind right into the coating. Has anyone else ruined a lens this way or is it just me being careless?

Spent 2 years developing at the wrong temperature before a lab tech caught it

Tried Rodinal at 1:100 instead of 1:50 and the grain difference is huge

Been shooting Tri-X at 400 for years with Rodinal at 1:50. Last week I shot a roll of HP5+ and did the stand development thing at 1:100 for an hour. Sharper edges and way less grain than I expected. The shadows opened up too. Has anyone else played with extreme dilutions on classic films?

I stopped using the zone system for street photography and my shots got way better

For like 3 years I was obsessed with Ansel Adams zone system. Metered every scene, plotted where every tone fell. Took forever. Last spring I was shooting in Golden Gate Park and just said forget it. Set my Pentax to box speed and started firing. The shots from that day had way more life in them. I think the math was getting in the way of seeing the moment. Has anyone else dropped some old school technique because it was slowing you down too much?

Realized I've been loading my 35mm canisters wrong for 6 months

The lab guy pointed out the sprocket holes weren't catching right and showed me the little curve on the take-up spool I'd been ignoring, has anyone else had a dumb simple habit mess up a whole roll?

Old timer at the camera swap showed me how to load a Hasselblad

I was at the Portland camera swap last spring and this guy in his 70s saw me struggling with a 500C I'd just bought. He walked over and showed me this trick where you hold the film back at a 45 degree angle while sliding the insert in so the paper doesn't snag. Totally saved me from wasting a roll of Portra 400. Has anyone else run into random mentors like that at these events?

Met an old timer at the darkroom who taught me about film flatness

Last Tuesday at the community darkroom in Portland, this guy named Dave saw me struggling with fuzzy edges on my 4x5 prints. He showed me how he uses a piece of ANR glass inside the film holder to keep the negative perfectly flat against the pressure plate. I had been blaming my lens for soft corners for 6 months and it was just uneven film tension. Anyone else had a random stranger fix a problem you thought was gear related?

TIL spending $30 on a light seal kit for my old Minolta was totally worth it

Vent: Spent 3 years metering wrong until I saw the difference in my shadows

I was out shooting a roll of Portra 400 in Golden Gate Park last Sunday, and my buddy mentioned how my negatives looked thin. I always aimed my spot meter at the brightest part of the scene because I thought that's how you get proper exposure. Turns out I should have been metering for the shadows and letting the highlights fall where they may. He pulled up a side by side on his phone from a roll we both shot, and his shots had way more detail in the dark areas. I felt pretty dumb standing there with my 20 year old Canon A-1. Has anyone else had their metering method flipped on them like this?

Got a roll back from the lab in Portland that finally clicked for me

I've been shooting a beat up old Canon AE-1 for about a year now. Took it to the Saturday market in Portland last month and just snapped whatever caught my eye. When I got the roll back there was this one frame of a fruit stand where the light hit the oranges just right. I finally understood what people mean about stopping down for more depth of field because that background blur made the whole thing pop. Has anyone else had that one photo that made something just make sense all of a sudden?

Just spent 45 minutes trying to fix a light leak I caused myself

I was messing with my Pentax K1000 and thought I'd re-foamed the back correctly, but after three rolls of hazy photos I finally realized I'd left a tiny gap near the hinge. Anyone else spend way too long chasing a problem that was totally my own fault?

Found out I was loading my film backwards for two years

I've been shooting medium format for a while now, mostly with my old Yashica Mat. Last week I was at a camera shop in Portland getting a roll developed, and the guy behind the counter asked if I knew the film was going in backwards. I laughed it off at first, but then he showed me the backing paper marks on my negatives. Turns out I had been loading the spool so the emulsion faced the wrong way for like 50 rolls. All those muddy, soft shots I thought were just 'character' or bad lens haze were actually me shooting through the paper backing. My portraits always had this weird foggy look, and I blamed the old lens. The guy said he sees it all the time, but I felt like a total clown. Has anyone else had a long running dumb habit like this they only caught because a stranger called them out?

Overheard a photo teacher say something about 'exposing for shadows'

I was at a coffee shop in Austin last Thursday and this old guy was giving a lesson to a young kid with a Nikon FM. He said 'you expose for the shadows and let the highlights fall where they may' and it just clicked for me. All this time I was trying to meter for the bright spots and my shadows were always muddy. I tried it out on a roll of HP5 this weekend and my indoor shots actually have detail in the dark corners. Has anyone else had a 'duh' moment like that with a simple phrase?