Rose Experiment - KodaLith Ortho

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Ian-Barber

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Recently, I was given a box of darkroom ruminants. The box smells quite fusty so I am guessing its not been stored very well. Inside was a box of KodaLith Ortho Film expiry 1986. The first few sheets showed tell tale signs of mould on the emulsion but as I got further into the pack, they were not quite as bad.

I loaded a sheet into the 4x5 holder and made a 6 second exposure of these roses. The film was then tray developed under safelight and I snatched it out after 90 seconds keeping an eye on the highlights as they came up in the developer.

This is a straight scan using VueScan.

Rose_KodaLith.jpg
Rose_KodaLith.jpg
 
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Well done.
I realise this is a technical test but if I may make an aesthetic comment, the pattern on the vase is very intrusive. Has its contrast been increased by the orthochromatic film?
 
David M said:
Well done.
I realise this is a technical test but if I may make an aesthetic comment, the pattern on the vase is very intrusive. Has its contrast been increased by the orthochromatic film?
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I know very little about this film apart from it was designed for graphic arts, stencil drawings etc so I am guessing that by default, its going to be pretty contrasty.
 
Also, regarding the contrast, ortho film can display various levels of contrast depending on the available light at the time of shooting. I faced this often when playing around with x-ray film.
 
That has a fine, alternative process look to it. Will you be be doing more in the same style?
There seems to be a shadow around the edge, following the shape of the holder, that I don't understand. Reflection from the edge would create a lighter area. It was on the first one, too.
 
David M said:
There seems to be a shadow around the edge, following the shape of the holder, that I don't understand. Reflection from the edge would create a lighter area. It was on the first one, too.
Click to expand...

Yea I noticed on the other one also, not sure where its coming from, the only thing I can think of is that its happening during the tray process, maybe my agitation is not correct.
 
It's hard to see how processing would produce a mark that follows the contours of the film holder. It looks like a shadow cast from each side. Is it possible that there's a very small light leak caused by the film holder not sitting perfectly in the back of the camera, or the back itself not sitting perfectly on the camera? Both seem unlikely, but the only thing I can think of. Everything else seems fine and very pleasant.
 
I looked more closely at this last night. Not sure if you are familiar with this type of film but its thickness is probably 50% less than conventional film so I am thinking is the gap between the film and the holder.
 
Ian-Barber said:
I tried another sheet of this film, this time with weaker developer

View attachment 1223
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Ian, I am very taken with this second photograph. I think it's one of the best things you have put on here. Can you give us some details? How did you achieve the very nice colour? What lens did you use to take it? Talk us through it!

Alan
 
Alan Clark said:
Ian, I am very taken with this second photograph. I think it's one of the best things you have put on here. Can you give us some details? How did you achieve the very nice colour? What lens did you use to take it? Talk us through it!

Alan
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For the lens I used a Zeiss Anastigmat lens using both front at Rear cells which from memory gave me a focal length of around 220mm and I set the aperture around f/11. I say around because the closest marking on the lens was f/12.5.

Ross-lens-1.jpg

The subject was in the conservatory with very even lighting so I just took an incident reading which gave me 8 seconds based on an ISO value for the film of ISO 3. I never bothered about any reciprocity but did add a little more exposure for the bellows extension about 4 seconds more.

The film was then developed under red safelight in Ilford MG developer diluted to 1+20 for 2 minutes.
After it had dried, it was scanned on the Epson V800, imported into Photoshop where I added the colour. No other adjustments were made.
 
Interesting looking lens. I've got a couple of brass barrel lenses, focal length 8 inches. One is a Beck symmetrical, the other nameless. They cost next to nothing. I think I paid £12 for them and the price included a beat-up old half-frame field camera. No name, beautiful mahogany, and brass. Bellows hanging off. I made a new bellows, fixed the camera up, and altered the back to take modern 5 x 7 filmholders.
I found the lenses prone to flare when used outside in sunny conditions. But your photo has got me thinking about doing some still-life work. Less flare in soft indoor light, maybe.

Alan
 
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