Film photo project.

[photog4life]

How's it going? I have a couple of questions for the film users here.
TO start I feel like it would help if you knew the project I am wanting to work on. My grandpa gave me a camera that his mother gave to him ( Regula Werk King KG) and I want to do a portrait of my mom and aunt with it. I want it to look like it would have in the 40's-50's (that's when I assume it is from I don't actually know when they made these.) Which leads me into the first question. Are there any manuals for it? It looks way more complicated than a DSLR. What would be a good black and white film that would give me that sort of look? This camera hasn't been used in years, so how would i check to make sure there are no leaks in the body or anything(light leaks are common in older cameras? Any information you can give me about this camera would helpful and awesome. Cheers!

 

[480sparky]

Have you searched online for a manual?

Run a roll of the cheapest film you can buy through it. Have it developed only.... no prints. Study the negs and look for fogging along the edges.

 

[photog4life]

nope... I havent done much with it. I just got my laptop back yesterday so I havent had much of a chance too.


And the fogging means there is light leaking?

 

[limr]

The way to check for light leaks or operating issues would be to run a roll through. Fogging on the edges would indicate a leak, yes. But I think you should get prints as well. Unless you're practiced at reading negatives, you might not be sure what you're seeing, so I'd suggest the prints and you can compare them to the negatives and learn how to read them.

A good cheap B&W film is Kentmere 100. If the camera is still in good working order, I'd suggest Kodak Tri-X for your portraits. Play with a roll or two before taking the portraits so you can get used to the film (it's ISO 400).

As for the manual, I did a quick google search. I didn't see anything on Mike Butkus's site, and he usually has everything. Here's a little bit of info: Regula King KG

It mentions: "The second "viewfinder" in the right is a extinction exposure meter. There are digits from 1 to 4(5). the brighter the more digits can be seen." The extinction meter was to help gauge exposure, but it's kind of useless unless you have the chart to interpret the numbers, so I wouldn't really worry about that.

 

[snowbear]

And with an old camera like that, you won't see "ISO" . . . look for "ASA" - the numbers will be the same.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I have a King Regula but a different model, and haven't even run film thru it yet. I wouldn't expect light leaks unless either the seal/foam around the door (where you open the camera to load film) has deteriorated or if there's something on the camera loose or damaged so that it might let light in.

I think a lot of what is found online that's supposed to look like film looks more like old photos that have been in a shoebox in somebody's basement for years! lol Color photos may not have been stored in anything acid free so may have shifted. B&W seems to be stable over time so if anything maybe the paper could have warped depending on how photos were stored.

Cameras from that era may somewhat replicate photos of that era because many viewfinder cameras didn't necessarily have the best quality lenses or a lot of aperture or shutter speed settings. So you may get photos that have a similar look to what would have been taken with the camera when it was made, but if you put some reasonably fresh film in it you should get decent quality photos.

I suppose if you used some really old expired film you might be able to get pictures that look old but it would be iffy that anything would turn out especially old color film.

 

[photog4life]

Ok so wait ASA is ISO? I kinda figured that it was shutter. I thought ISO was controlled by the film and the tightness of the grains.... Do i just match the ASA to the speed of the film?


I cant find a manual and I also can't find my specific model. Mine does not have a second hole or anything it has a normal viewfinder. I'll post pictures when I get home around 3.

 

[timor]

Ok so wait ASA is ISO? I kinda figured that it was shutter. I thought ISO was controlled by the film and the tightness of the grains.... Do i just match the ASA to the speed of the film?.

You are kidding, right ?
here:
Sensitivity (ISO/ASA/DIN) - Beginners' Photography
ASA is I think American Standard Association.
ISO International Standard Organization
DIN is Deutche Institute fuer Normung (Germen Norm Institute)
ASA and ISO are the same, they progress in full stops and have weird numbers for 1/3 and 1/2 stops, DIN progresses at 1/3 stops with no numbers for 1/2 stops.
DIN and ASA are not used any more however you can see a legacy of DIN system in ISO rating (ISO 400/27). There was also GOST system, Russian, not used any more. Read all about it here:
Film speed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[photog4life]

I guess I never explained I have no experience with anything but digital.
I get how ISO works. I have never used film before so I have never come into contact with anything but ISO. The one thing I do understand is that the ISO or ASA is determined by the film though and not by a setting on a camera. You did not answer the question.

 

[limr]

I guess I never explained I have no experience with anything but digital.
I get how ISO works. I have never used film before so I have never come into contact with anything but ISO. The one thing I do understand is that the ISO or ASA is determined by the film though and not by a setting on a camera. You did not answer the question.

You're correct - the light sensitivity is determined by the film. Film has a constant sensitivity - Tri-X 400 is always ISO 400. Portra will come in ISO 160, 400, or 800...etc. So you put the film in the camera and your ISO is set for the duration of that roll. There's no changing it without affecting the images.

If you have a camera with a light meter, you'll set the dial to reflect the ISO of the film you are using, so the camera knows what film speed to expose for. On old cameras - possibly your King Regula, for example - you may not see the letters, "ISO" however. The older standard was ASA (as timor said above, ASA stands for American Standard Association, which is the organization that set these light sensitivity standards for film.) Eventually, we all moved over to ISO (International Standard Organization) and used those designations instead. It happens that the numbers they use are pretty much the same, so that's why you'll often see ISO/ASA together.

So the ISO is not set by the camera but you have to tell the camera which film speed you are using so it exposes correctly. If there is no light meter in the camera, however, then you don't have to worry about it because you'll have to manually expose the pictures or use an external light meter.

 

[timor]

I guess I never explained I have no experience with anything but digital.
I get how ISO works. I have never used film before so I have never come into contact with anything but ISO. The one thing I do understand is that the ISO or ASA is determined by the film though and not by a setting on a camera. You did not answer the question.

It is not that simple. Film emulsion is made to certain standards of sensitivity, but those standards are kind of fluid. Let see: Tmax 100 has theoretical base sensitivity of ISO 100/21, but that only if you use certain developers. If you gonna use fine grain developer you will not achieve ISO 100 values on that film if you expose for 100 as this developers dissolve silver from emulsion. You can extend development time but at the cost of rougher grain and sharpness. Now if you expose this film for ISO 80 let say, so theoretically over expose the material, you will have more grains of silver halide active and with normal development in fine grain developer you might achieve proper densities for ISO 100 as the excess of silver will be dissolved in the process.

What I am trying to picture here is the fact, that effective speed of film is a combination of film and developer. Every film photographer has to establish this for himself. Other factors come into play like accuracy of the shutter, accuracy of the iris of the aperture, real light transmision of the lens etc.
Taking, that you have camera with no known record of performance, you should first run few rolls of film to establish bases of performance. But for that you will need a good light meter and ability to develop film and at least to scan it for evaluation.

To get the look you are talking about you will need a combination of right emulsion and developer. Point me to some samples of pictures, style of which you plan to emulate. Will be easier.
Out of the bat I can say Ilford HP5 and full strength D76 might be as close as you can get. It will be better to use glycin based developer, but I don't think you can get even close to such a thing. Thick emulsions and D76 were norm of that period of time for popular photography.

Now, if the camera has built in light meter and you are going to use it, you have to let it know, what ISO / ASA / DIN film you are using by turning proper knob on the camera. This setting will decide on what ISO / sensitivity the film will be exposed, but it will not change the base sensitivity of the film of course.

BTW digital sensors have also just one base sensitivity, dialling in different ISO doesn't change that, it changes the amplification of the electrical signal from the sensor. Similar to pulling / pushing the film.

 

[photog4life]

That definitely answered my question. I was trying to figure out why my camera would have a dial for the speed of the film.... AS for pictures :

Really just basic portraits. Im more worried about using newer film and it being too "clean". My grandpa actually has portraits like these of him and his brother and want something that can match that style for pictures of my mom and aunt. I want as close to this image quality for it. But at the same time I am not developing these photos. it seems like I will have to play around with different rolls of film for this.


Or I might just shoot with b/w film and mess with it in photoshop to get this effect.

 

[timor]

You may shoot it digital and play in PS. But if comes to film shoot it on FOMA or Arista EDU (same thing) 100 or 200 (respective real ISO 50 and 160) and develop in Rodinal. Examples of look where you will find a multitude of combinations, however very seldom is said what size of negative was used. FOMA comes in 35mm, 120 format, 4x5 and bigger.
FilmDev | Recipes & dev times using Film Foma Fomapan 100
You may also use soft filter often used for portraits in the past.
Rodinal, Adonal, R-09, Blazinal are the same thing.

 

[Ridgeway]

There's a lot of discussion here about what film to use which may be making you think that you only need to get the right film and, magically, you'll get the look you are after - you won't. There's far more to it than that and it would be unfair for anyone here to make you think otherwise.

Let's look at the pictures you want to emulate. They were taken in a studio with a studio lighting setup. Look at the shadows, the highlights in the hair. All add to the 'look' you are after. They were taken on a 'studio' camera which means they probably would have been taken on sheet film or maybe even glass plates. The shallow depth of field, which is obvious in the pictures, would have been contributed to by the large format of the film or plates. Again, this all adds to the 'look' of the pictures.

Now let's look at your camera. All the Regula cameras were aimed at the amateur photographer. They are about as far away from a studio camera as you can get. The lens will not have a particularly large maximum aperture and the film format is likely to be 35mm (but note that some Regular cameras were made for other formats like SL or 126 which you can't get film for anymore) which means depth of field will be all but uncontrollable.

So, basically, what I'm saying is you won't get the same look using the camera you have, no matter what film you use. You would actually be better to shoot digital with a modern wide aperture lens to control the dof. But you still need some studio lights to get the lighting the same.

 

[compur]

How's it going? I have a couple of questions for the film users here.
TO start I feel like it would help if you knew the project I am wanting to work on. My grandpa gave me a camera that his mother gave to him ( Regula Werk King KG) and I want to do a portrait of my mom and aunt with it. I want it to look like it would have in the 40's-50's (that's when I assume it is from I don't actually know when they made these.) Which leads me into the first question. Are there any manuals for it? It looks way more complicated than a DSLR. What would be a good black and white film that would give me that sort of look? This camera hasn't been used in years, so how would i check to make sure there are no leaks in the body or anything(light leaks are common in older cameras? Any information you can give me about this camera would helpful and awesome. Cheers!

There may be a camera manual online. It depends on which model Regula it is. Just search for Regula (model) camera manual.

As with most older German cameras the Regula cameras didn't use the foam light seals often found on Japanese cameras so there should be no problem with that.

As for a film with that "older look," today's films are much sharper and finer grained than those of the 1940s-50s so you won't be able to match that older look exactly with modern films. But, most any B&W film will get you in the ballpark.