Oh yes finally I got out and about away from the desk. The plan for the weekend was a gorge, a canyon to photograph. It was certainly time to take the Yashica out once again. I wished to test it’s ability for the work I loved doing on digital.
Would it perform as good ?
I didn’t necessarily want and cared to compare with full frame digital. My goal was nature and photography nothing else. The pure enjoyment of this combination on it’s own is enough for peace of mind and letting go from the daily grind.
Where I live is in southern Austria in Graz. Around Graz there are a few slot canyons or gorges as I can call them. My journey on this day would entail gathering some cameras and some film. Actually I ended up carrying around my newly wooden Polaroid pinhole camera (blog post coming soon on this too), the Fuji XT-2 and of course the Yashica Mat 124. The battery wasn’t charged full on the XT-2. I guess I’ve being doing too much analog. Not a bad thing I reckon.
Along with the Yashica I had the presences of mind to route out a cable release and grab a tripod suitable for standing in a river.
On this occasion I had choose to make a journey to the Lassnitzklamm. Probably my first proper Klamm visit of 2017.
Developing the Film
I often use stand development because of my busy life and I do like grain. However I wanted less grain due to the subject matter so I’m happy to say this recipe worked really well for the images of the Lassnitzklamm.
Recipe for Ilford Pan F with Rodinal
- 500ml 1:100 Rodinal at 20ºC (actually a cap full of Rodinal)
- Set the time to 11 minutes, first 30 seconds with gentle agitation then every 10 seconds.
Notes on Rodinal Film Development
Rodinal developer is known to produce grain. I would say to use this developer on mainly less sensitive film nothing over 200 ASA as a general rule. The concentration in the recipe should increase the higher the ASA is. So for example 50 ISO/ASA like the Ilford Pan F film should work well at 1:100 ratio. While anything over 100 ISO/ASA then a ratio of 1:50 or 1:25 would be more preferable to keep the grain under control. For 400/800/1600/3200 avoid using Rodinal if you have too. Better to develop with HC-110.