help with yashica 4x4

[mysteryscribe]

Okay I bought it. I got it working and it just isn't very sharp. It is soft not blurry. So is it my version (which has been dropped obviously) or the camera itself.

I ask this because I think I have bought 200 feet of film for it. Ah aint life just grand.

 

[Jeff Canes]

Are you sure it not a soft film? Some films are softer that other and even more when pulled. Did you try the film in other cameras?

 

[mysteryscribe]

Funny you should mention that I have been rethinking it. I didn't care for that film in my 35mm camera either although it was dead sharp or seemed to be one time the next it seemed soft. I'm developing in a custom developer too so that might be the problem as well. It tends to grain 35mm.

Also it is thirty five mm.. and it could be sagging a little i suppose. If I get the 46mm I'll check it out before I buy something else. I would really like to use the 46mm as a medium format for some portraits. Why not if I'm going to scan anyway.

 

[Philip Weir]

Oh dear Mysteryscribe, I enjoy your posts though sometimes somewhat ethereal. What's a Yashica 4x4 [never heard of it] When you say you bought 200 foot of film, is that bulk 35mm. I know I have purchased bulk 120 film in the past, but now you've confused me.[which isn't difficult]
Philip

 

[mysteryscribe]

easy to answer....

the 4x4 was the size of the 127 negative yashica made a 4x4 and so did rollie and a few others. Good ones I mean not just the brownie..

the negative is about 1 5/8 inch square... The film that goes inside the paper is 46mm. wide. It can be had in 100 foot rolls. I have bid on two such rolls on ebay. they aren't making it any more.

We used to use it in a mug shot camera in the local jail. it's how I knew about it. Anyway I have been rolling up 35mm long roll film in the papers to see if the camera is sharp and it isn't.

Before I pass final judgment, I'm going to await the 46mm film and then have it done at the local one hour lab. Nothing like standard chemicals to be sure whats going on here.

I used the last of my custom developer mix so I think I'll run up a real batch of d76 and do it again to eliminate that possibility just for kicks. But that developer works fine on my big neg cameras. there could be some kind of problem with smaller ones though. Or it could be that the 35mm negative material isnt being held flat enough by just the end tension. Or the camera might not be focusing right. When i got it I could tell it had been dropped.

 

[ksmattfish]

Also it is thirty five mm.. and it could be sagging a little i suppose.

All it takes is a fraction of a mm of sag to affect sharpness. Does the film advance click into place, or can you keep applying pressure to keep the tension?

 

[mysteryscribe]

All it takes is a fraction of a mm of sag to affect sharpness. Does the film advance click into place, or can you keep applying pressure to keep the tension?

Well I tape both ends f the film. So theoretically its tight but there is no side support so it could curl inside the opening. Which maybe why they have kits to shoot 35mm in those things. I never considered side curl. Well I should know something soon. If I get the film I'll post a scan of a shot.

If 127 spools weren't such a bear to get in the camera I would consider shooting more of it.

 

[ksmattfish]

Which maybe why they have kits to shoot 35mm in those things.

 

[mysteryscribe]

Well today my first roll of 46mm film arrived and wouldn't you know it they are calling for snow and freezing rain tomorrow. I'll stick a shot or two here when I can get out with it.

 

[mysteryscribe]

Of all things I just won 200 more feet of 46mm film. Now i'm thinking I need to convert one of my home made 6x7 cameras to 4x7 I never had a real panoramic for landscapes. I have a lot more home made cameras than i'm ever going to use. I know for sure I'm going to check out that revere as well as the yashica.

 

[mysteryscribe]

this is what the 46mm color film looks like shot as a 127...

 

[Jeff Canes]

looks good to me

 

[mysteryscribe]

I haven't had a piece of 46mm in my hand for about forty years. I found out that it is very thick and stiff like cut film. I think I can roll it into 120 paper and use it as a 4x6 or 4x7 negative without any trouble. You can buy this stuff right now for about 15 bucks a roll of a hundred feet. Might be a good thing to pick up some and drop in the freezer in case they stop making 120 in the near future. Also I have just got through developing some black and white and it did very well once I got the time down. Well I haven't gotten the time exact yet but im close.

Thanks again for the spools and paper by the way.

I think I might just build me a 4x6 portrait camera based in a 6x6 film back on a polaroid 80b with a good 105 mm lens from a folder. Actually I have a lens but it doesn't have a flash terminal I want a flash this time.

This is the image shot on the color 46mm and developed with black and white chemicals.

this one was over developed so it wasn't as good as it will be later.

 

[mysteryscribe]

I thought you guys might be interested I just got in 400 feet of 46mm film. I can now make somewhere around two hundred to three hundred rolls of 127 film. Now if I can find a better camera than the yashica to shoot it in I'll be cool.

I would really like the rollie but it's just a little too pricey to just play with. I guess the yashica will do okay for what I shoot these days.