Picture(s) of the day....

[mickthemaverick]

You need to get yourself a SWMBO Gibbo, all her work out there, I just look after the house and the cars!!

[mickthemaverick]

Some quickies from my last minute drive to Spain :

Mtmo

Mtmo

Mtmo

[CitroJim]

Something different for POTD today...

I think we can all agree this is a rubbish picture:

It is the result of a first experiment. A few days ago, Mick gave me a number of long-expired colour films... The latest, we believe, had a 'process before' date of 2006. Thanks Mick for giving me something fun to play with

It's not really worthwhile to process such film using commercial processing services or even going to the expense or difficulty of home-processing it as C41 colour film. I'm not set up for it - yet. Long-expired colour films can give some bizarre and unpredictable results due to colour-shifts and so on. Some people allegedly like what can happen. I've seen some of it and I'm not really a fan...

So, I did a bit of trial and error and shot a few frames on the roughest looking of the films - its canister was a little corroded - and then processed it in black and white chemistry.

Everything from exposure to the time in the tank was a best, slightly educated guess... I pulled the film one stop and developed it as per fast BW film. It came out horribly under-exposed. At least I now have a starting point for future experiments Looking at the film rebate printing, the actual development was not too far off as the frame numbers and film data are easily visible with fair contrast.

Happily, my high quality negative scanner could see through the dark orange film base and make a reasonable job of scanning the under-exposed image.

I really need to pull the film another stop at least and leave it in the developer for a little longer. General recommendation is one stop per decade of expiration...

Another problem is how curly and inflexible the film remains, even after processing... It makes it hard to scan. I suppose after being happily curled up in its canister it's not happy to be unwound. Fresh film sits flat once processed...

And who knew Costco once sold their own brand (Kirkland) of film

Watch this space for further developments

[Peter.N.]

This one is from about 1960


I remember those Jim, the same thing happened to the 35mm transparencies, I have boxes of them that I took in the 1950s and 60s, some now have hardly any colour at all, others have some colours missing or distorted - others are still fine, seems to depend on the make of film.

Processing your own colour film is quite ambitious, so well done. I use to do it with black and white but never with colour, it was expensive back in the day.

Peter

[CitroJim]

I remember those Jim, the same thing happened to the 35mm transparencies, I have boxes of them that I took in the 1950s and 60s, some now have hardly any colour at all, others have some colours missing or distorted - others are still fine, seems to depend on the make of film.

Yes, very much dependant on the film and how it was stored and processed. Especially the bleach/fix stage.

These days, with a scanner and suitable software, a lot of restoration can easily be carried out... This was the end result of a restoration I did on a very faded and colour-shifted print of my racing kart taken in Cyprus in the early 80s...

The original hung framed on a sunny wall for many years...

[Peter.N.]

Can you recommend a reasonably priced scanner Jim? That is if I have any transparencies left after the fire!

Peter

[CitroJim]

Can you recommend a reasonably priced scanner Jim? That is if I have any transparencies left after the fire!

Peter

I will have a look Peter... Specialist transparency scanners that do a good job start at around £300. There are ones at around the £70-100 mark but the difference in performance is immense. Very cheap ones are available but are a waste of time and money.

James HellRazor got a reasonably competent one from the middle aisle of a German discounter a while back. I tried it out and it and found it better than what the cheap end of Amazon can provide.

If not a huge number, for any that are significant I'd be happy to put them through my scanner and do a bit of restoration for you

Meanwhile, I did a second expired colour film experiment yesterday. I exposed the remaining length of the old Costco film at 50ASA (pulled two stops) and developed for two minutes longer than last time...

It's an improvement

[Peter.N.]

OK Jim thanks. I see you latest car is continuing the Westcountry theme, FX is Dorset and G1EFX was my 'B' class callsign.

Peter

[CitroJim]

OK Jim thanks. I see you latest car is continuing the Westcountry theme, FX is Dorset and G1EFX was my 'B' class callsign.

Ahh, all the best things come from the West Country Peter Almost all my best cars certainly have

Strawberry started life in Bournemouth as far as I know and her last custodian lived in Calne...

[xantia_v6]

On our car today: Argosarchus horridus (up to 20cm), A giant New Zealand stick insect https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/386057 ... s-horridus .

I have lived in NZ most of my life, but this is the first time that I noticed one. It clung onto the mirror for a 10 km drive and was still there an hour later.

[CitroJim]

Wow! That's quite some tenacious insect Mike!

[myglaren]

Wow! That's quite some tenacious insect Mike!

Sticks on well!

Daughter is off to Kiwiland in a couple of weeks, don't know whether to show her that or not.

[mickthemaverick]

Wow! That's quite some tenacious insect Mike!

Sticks on well!

Daughter is off to Kiwiland in a couple of weeks, don't know whether to show her that or not.

On balance Steve I'd say it's better to tell her about them rather than her to come across one unknowingly in the hinterland!!

[myglaren]

She has excluded Oz due to the wildlife there. Has been to NZ previously though.

[myglaren]