In my ongoing attempt to get a "look" down for my photography I thought I'd try some very sloooooow Efke 25 film with the smallest sheet film camera known to man. The camera isn't as important as the film in this case but I absolutely LOVE using this camera so it's a win anyway you look at it.
The film is known for wonderful flesh tones as well as that "look" of older times. It can be a bit contrasty as you can see below, but with some tweaking on development times I should be able to tame it.
The camera is a generic plate camera made in the 1920's by ICA. The sheet film goes in a metal plate with one side that slides up to allow for exposure once it's put in place on the back of the camera. I have about 10 of these plates so I can shoot a fair bit of film before reloading. The camera has a bellows that slides out on a track about 10" or more. When you're done shooting it folds up into a hard box. Pretty handy actually. The lens is an uncoated 105mm schneider that can be sharp and buttery. The size of the sheet film is 6.5cm x 9cm and can be purchased at www.jandcphoto.com. I buy most of my film (120 roll film up to 5x7 sheets) from them and am always happy with what I get.
So I did about a half dozen test shots with this new film and here are my three favorites:
My freaking adorable daughter reading a Miss Spyder book. A bit blown out in the highlights but I can adjust on the next round. These were developed in Rollo Pyro using a Jobo expert drum and contact printed onto Ilford warmtome multigrade RC paper and developed in Dektol. I print in a half bathroom under a 7 watt bare bulb. Just like old Edward Weston only his photos tend to be better.
Found a light leak in this one. Now if I had kept better notes I could take it out of circulation or maybe just use some gaffers tape. Yeah, I really like that gaffers tape.
Candace rarely lets me take her picture so maybe this one will help me to convince her more often :)
I have a bunch of eager models in the several kids that live by us. They all want thier picture taken and when I'm testing film this is a perfect combination. If the neg turns out I take them a print. I found that it's a lot easier to get good negs of children using my little sheet camera with its actual adjustable shutter than with the 5x7 and packard. The kids all take turns looking through the ground glass and parents dig the old cameras and always ask lots of questions about them. My favorite question was if I can I still get film for that camera? Duh, I'm using some right now... :)
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