Author: Eddy Young

These trees reminded me of the hooves of some giant beasts.

P and I hiked about 30 km on Saturday and Sunday. It was quite the work-out, especially since it had been a few weeks since our last long walk and it was sunny and hot.

I took a picture of this tree for no reason other than I liked the colours.

Yesterday I loaded a roll of Fomapan 200 film in the Nikon FM2 before setting out for a long hike. The FM2 mostly remained in the bag, and the D850 was put to use instead. I’ve had it back from Nikon for about a week now. No free lens wrap gift this time, but the re-repair by Nikon is perfect—the camera is like new.

In hindsight, it was silly to plan for black-and-white photos when spring is bringing out such nice colours in nature.

What do you know, it turns out that C41 chemicals last a very very long time. Except for the developer component. But even then, my solution of Bellini Foto developer was two years old and had been used with 16 rolls before it was discarded. I suspected it went bad only when the plastic bottle cracked and let in air, which probably caused the chemical to oxidise.

Yesterday I made a fresh solution of the same developer from a bottle of concentrate that I’ve had in storage for over a year. I didn’t have new bleach and fixer, so I took the chance with two-year-old solutions on a roll of Kodak Ultramax 400. Before starting the development, I transferred the chemicals to new bottles that I bought to replace the cracked ones and warmed them to 41 degrees Celcius in a water bath. I soaked the film in water at 38 degrees for three minutes, poured in the fresh developer when it reached 41 degrees, agitated regularly in a figure-eight motion, poured in the bleach, agitated continuously for 45 seconds, poured in the fixer, agitated for 120 seconds, and finally rinsed three times with fresh stabiliser, which I then discarded. I hanged the negative to dry and stowed the chemicals in the usual storage place that gives them a long shelf life—the dark spot under the stairs.

What came out are probably the best negatives I’ve produced since starting C41 development.

I scanned the tab showing the exposure guide for Kodak Ultramax 400 colour film, also realising that the reciprocal to be applied in the Sunny 16 rule is 1/250 s for ISO 400 film, and not 1/500 s as I did.

Last year, I found a Kenko KFM-2100 on eBay for incredibly cheap—if you know how ridiculously expensive spotmeters are—and immediately bought it. It works very well, except that it seemed to drain batteries in much less time than the expected 100 hours of continuous use. Today was my day off, so I sat down to tackle the problem.

The battery contacts were blackened, possibly a remnant of battery leak corrosion that had not been successfully cleaned. Luckily, this could easily be solved by re-tinning them. After my attempt to take apart the meter was blocked by too many too tiny ribbon cables, I decided to tin the contacts without removing the battery compartment. I had to proceed carefully to avoid burning the plastic case with the hot tip of the soldering iron, but the repair appeared to be good, confirmed by the absence of the ‘bc’ battery check symbol when the meter is switched on.

For a more thorough test, I set up some LED lights and took pictures of various household items, using the Kenko for metering. The same battery that was previously reported as low was still working after the few hours of the session. I could now say that the repair was a success.

I then developed the film in the bathroom, P needing the kitchen to prepare dinner, and I agitated the tank in a figure-eight motion, which I had just read about—two changes to my process. The new agitation method is now my favourite, as it saves me from fiddling with the tank lid and from dealing with leaks. Developing in the bathroom was also more convenient, because I had the entire bathtub as a work area and did not have to worry about spillages.

Anyway, here are the pictures that I like from today’s development.

This weekend we are staying indoors as P continues to recover from the pain in her lower back, which had her immobilised for most of the week. She was well enough to help me fix spikes on our garden fence, which we hope will deter pigeons and neighbourhood cats—and the occasional foxes—from climbing over and making a mess.

Earlier this morning, I was of a mind to pop out to Mytchett Lake for a couple of pictures, but I lost the drive after that bit of DIY. This mood is reflective of how I have been feeling despite recent improvements in the weather.

Instead, I sat in my alcove office, dismantled the Nikon Coolscan V ED, and gave it some much needed TLC. After I put it back together, I fitted new rubber feet to the bottom, as the original feet had worn out thin.

I picked a set of negatives from 2009 to test the scanner and found these pictures reminding me of when Woolworths stores were closing across the UK.

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Nikon UK got in touch with me and offered a re-repair of the Nikon D850. This is after I remarked in their customer satisfaction survey about the washers/shims intruding onto the viewfinder area. I was reluctant to accept, explaining to them that I wasn’t prepared to have the camera sent to Europe for another month. But they promised that I would benefit from a priority repair in their UK workshop, which would take at most 10 days. I took the offer and will be posting the camera to them in the coming week. I have to say that so far Nikon’s customer service has been very good.

From a ten-year-old negative newly scanned on a Nikon Coolscan V ED, a picture of a fruit vendor at the now-defunct Farnborough Sunday Car Boot.

Yesterday and today, P and I finally hiked a new trail in Minley. It’s less than a ten-minute drive away from home, yet we put off going there for more than a year. It’s also now my favourite of all the trails near us. The terrain is quite diverse, changing from pine woodland to heathland to open fields.

Minley Manor can be seen from the trail. It has quite an interesting history: built by former colonist bankers, acquired by MoD, then presently owned by Chinese investors who operate it as a hotel, wedding venue, and Chinese cultural centre.

Hello, Spring. It looks like the good weather will persist throughout the weekend and into next week.

Today, P and I climbed up Caesar’s Camp. We were lucky to see the resident cows at the top. But I did not take any pictures because I had to stay quiet so as not to spoil the videos that P was making of them. By the time she finished, they were on their way down the hill through a bushy gully. As usual, the view from the summit made the climb worth it.

I took some test pictures with the D850 and made the same pictures with my Nikon FM2. I reckon the dappled sunlight will come out better on the black-and-white film.