Kodak HIE Exposure

[mysteryscribe]

Wish i could help but I never shot any of the freaky stuff... LOL that was for terri

 

[JamesD]

<-- idiot.

There should be an emoticon for that.

There was no film in the camera, and hasn't been for weeks. Yes, I've been taking pictures with it.

See, it doesn't have a window in the back that lets you see the roll. And when you wind it, film in it or not, the counter goes up.

So, the only indication is the end of the film box in the holder in the back. Which I left in when I took the film out.

So, for three weeks or so, I've been thinking I was shooting TMax 100. In reality, I was shooting... pressureplate.

Good job, James.

Where's the HIE?

 

[mysteryscribe]

The worst story is to shoot a complete horse show for a couple of hundreds bucks back in the day and find that none of the film went through the camera. It is a quick lesson in watching the rewind button to see if it moves. Now they dont even have those on film cameras. Some new things might not be so great after all.

By the way I can top any stupid photographer story you have im sure. More practice you see....

 

[terri]

Well, I had HIE "loaded" and ready for the weekend's shoot at the abandoned gas station......I let hubby load it for me since he was also loading the last of the 120 HIE he had into his Rollei, the night before. Only he didn't really check the Pentax ME, just handed it over to me figuring I'd check it. Which I didn't. :mrgreen:

Bottom line: I took a lot of great shots with that pressure plate, too! Which we realized when I went to "rewind" the film.

The job itself is covered, since Brad got some great external shots of the place with the Rollei. It's no big deal on that regard. But he was ready to run himself through when he realized what he'd done (I've never liked the so-called "magic fingers" when loading that ME, so I have to be accountable for being lazy).

I got some external shots of the place with the slide film, so there may be some Polaroid stuff in the future. And with the 645, I took several interior shots, which the contact sheet tells me have some promise. Dang, but I love those Mamiya lenses. Being able to get inside that abandoned building was a gift.

Take heart, James! Screw ups happen.

As long as you know you have the film in the camera, I'm convinced great things will happen.

 

[JamesD]

Well, I just got back, and yeah, I figured out to watch for the crank winding. I bracketed five shots of each subject, but it was late afternoon, early evening. So, we'll see how it develops.

It's good to know I'm not a complete idjit. I mean, if the pros do it, then I shouldn't feel too bad. :mrgreen:

To the darkroom!

 

[mysteryscribe]

This has been shot in the foot weekend for everyone lol. Well in terri case just a graze.

 

[JamesD]

Wait, it gets better....

So, I go into the darkroom, and pop the canister.

Have you ever cursed gravity? I did. I lost my grip on the spool and it dropped to the floor. Fortunately, I keep the floor in my closet pretty clean. So figure, I'll get it started on the spool; as long as I don't drag it all over the place, it'll last til I can get it started, then I can carefully follow the film down by the edges, pick up the quantity that's on the floor, stand up and let it dangle while I spool it up.

Okay, no problemmo. About 3/4 the way up, I realize it's not spooling. I gently feel to make sure that it's alligned correctly; it is. Then, I realize that it's wet--there are droplets of water on it.

Oh crapp! Yes, it's fallen into the bucket of water I use as a holding tank for prints. I do several prints in succession, drop them in the tub, and when the last one is done, I run them out to the sink and wash.

So, now it doesn't want to spool. I get it a few more inches in, and the slack doesn't seem to be touching anywhere. I know that it's not going in any further, so I figure, what the hey, it should be allright. I close up the tank, and after double and triple checking (since I know I'm accident-prone today), I open the door and head for the counter.

Then it hits me: the prints I put in the tub have been soaking in fixer. So there are at least trace amounts of fixer in that water, which is now on the film.

Well, they're RC prints (God Bless RC Paper! Re: our brief discussion of RC vs. FB papers the other day, Charlie), so there shouldn't be too much fix, and if it affects the negatives, then it was only the end of the roll, when the sun was going down, and the IR was probably pretty low anyway.

I hurry into the bathroom and dump in the dev. I carefully follow your advice, Terri: three inversions at the start, then one each minute for six minutes total. Dump out the the fix, and in that yellow vinegar-smellin' stuff known as stop bath. Agitate for 30 seconds, dump out.

Oh Crapp! Yes, Crapp with two "p's" at the end. I've never seen exhausted indicator stop before. I now know that it looks a lot like grape kool-aid. Actually, more like grape gatorade. I remember that lots of people don't use stop, just a water rinse (the Kodak datasheets even suggest you can do that), so I quickly turn on the tap and stick the tank under it, let it fil, and soak for a good 25 seconds or so. Then, I dump it out.

Note to self: never return stop to the bottle. I keep prepared chemicals in 1-qt gatorade bottles. I'm also fond of grape Gatorade and Kool-aid. I reuse the Gatorade bottles for Kool-aid, too (different bottles than the chemical ones!). The idea is scary.

Anyway, out goes the water, in goes the fix. Now, I'm paranoid, so I mix up some fresh fixer between agitations, pour out the old and in the new. I fix an extra minute; six instead of the usual five. Just in case.

When the time comes, I dump the fix and open the can. Turn on the tap and start washing. After the tank fills, I swish the film a couple times, then take it out for a quick look. The last few frames are overexposed, I believe, but there appear to be some good ones in further. Back into the tank and under the faucet.

-sigh-

So, we shall see. I forgot to mention: the shutter in my AE-1P (oh, yeah, I accidentally poked it while fighting with the camera to get the damned cassette out in the first place; it was being stubborn. Hopefully I didn't damage it) is cloth. Hopefully it's IR-opaque cloth; since there appears to be stuff on the roll, it probably is.

Shutter appears to be okay.

-sigh-

Ten minutes 'til wash is done.

:banghead: <--this barely describes it.

 

[mysteryscribe]

So many stories that top those let me see... I bought a brand new pentax one of the first motorized ones with the auto focus pz10. Very first job I went on I was changing film while driving to the reception. Put my finger right though the shutter. camera 675 new shutter 150 fifth of jack daniels black 15 ...

dropped film. I was shooting a wedding with 220 film in a kowa 6 (leaf shutter you know) and when I removed the film I fumbled it. Tried to catch it and got the end. 24 pre wedding shots of the bridal party down the tubes. I never bought another roll of 220. Oh god I got a million of them. Hey this is fun we can start a game show... who is more stupid me or any other living photographer.

 

[JamesD]

WHOO! Thanks to my liberal (metered +/- 2 stops) bracketing, I've got useful shots!

Did I mention that I forgot to follow your exposure advice, Terri? I metered at ISO 200 instead of 360. Blegh. That's less than a stop of difference, though, so with the liberal bracketing, it should be allright. Trees are noticibly denser than the sky in the negative, so I'll take that as a good sign. We shall see.

By the way, the film still smells like the canister does, slightly vinegary, in a wierd, not really vinegary sort of way. Is it normal for the negatives to continue to smell like that? And this is the first film I've seen with a completely transparent film base. The edge printing looks a little thin; is that normal? And it seems so flimsy.

 

[mysteryscribe]

stuff sounds like the old panatomic x. now that stuff was thin...

 

[JamesD]

We should start a "photogaphers' mishaps" thread somewhere, if there ain't one already....

 

[mysteryscribe]

Are you kidding? How many photographers here do you think are secure enough to admit that they EVER made a mistake lol. God I love this little place on the forum. Nobody ever sees my rambling.

So far as I know, Im the only person who ever posted a picture, said it was crap, and that I couldn't make it any better, but posted it simply because I had worked so hard to make it less crappy. LOL

 

[JamesD]

Well, there's at least three here.

Side note... I'm in the chat, and there's five people (including me) but nobody talking. What's up with that?!

Film is still drying.

 

[mysteryscribe]

I had no idea there was a chat...must be a fun place though....

Did you see the re enactor family shot I posted. Im curious to see what you think of that. It was sharp as a mutha for some reason known only to the photo gods.

 

[JamesD]

Photo gods? Or photog odds? Heheheh...