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Trip 35 / Delta 100

The title sounds like the name of a bad movie where Army commandos have to take a bus load of kids to a summer camp, when...the kids stumble onto a plot by bumbling crooks to steal a nuclear missile that's in a hidden missile silo under Camp Wannagohome.  Starring Chuck Norris and Steven Segal.

Actually, it's just a few pictures from a test roll I shot yesterday at Camp Nelson.  I was testing Ilford's Ilfosol-3 developer.  My previous batch was bust - thin negatives.  I traced it down to user error.  I've bought Ilfosol several times before, but I erroneously bought a "one-shot" concentrate.  I had mixed up a jug about a month ago and had no problems.  Then last week a roll I ran through (using developer from that batch I made up) came out very thin.  The only answer was underdevelopment.  I went through Ilford's website thoroughly, then found the answer buried inside the instructions for the developer: "use within 24 hours."  Aha!  It's just like Kodak's HC-110 developer.  Mix what you need for today's batch and toss the rest.  I can do this, since I'm used to HC-110 (in fact, that's why I like it.  I'm not in the darkroom every day, only in spurts). 

The correct developer for two-month storage is the regular Ilfosol-S.  Use Ilfosol-3 as a one-shot.  Check the developing times carefully though, they are a little different with some films.  I use this handy iphone app from Digital Truth.  But you can always just go to the web site and download a chart for your film/developer combo.

For the film, Ilford Delta 100, it's my new favorite black-and-white.  It's a fine-grained film much like Kodak T-Max 100.  I'm really a Plus-X man, but since Kodak killed it (I still have some in my freezer), I've been looking for a slow speed, fine grained B&W that will scan well.  I've always been curious with Ilford products as well.  Going back to my newspaper days in the 1970's, a lot of my photographer friends shot Ilford for their personal projects.  The newspaper was a dedicated Kodak Tri-X/Plus-X lab, so you knew what to expect.  But Ilford's stuff usually had a little bit more tone or a smoother texture.  Even their papers had a different look.  I've read somewhere that the film base is thinner than Kodak, but not as thin as some Chinese and Eastern European films.  It does feel lighter to me.  This may attract more scratches, but I've not noticed more than usual.    I've not seen any more curl than Kodak.  In fact, I think there's less curl, but it could just be luck.  When I scan it, it does very well.  The 120 medium format is awesomely sharp.  For 35mm, I load my own reels from a 100' roll.  That way I can load a few short 12-exposure rolls to test cameras or techniques with.

As far as the camera/film combo, this little Olympus Trip 35 has a great lens.  I've yet to shoot color in it, though.  I'm not exactly pleased with the light meter in it.  I've had some expected over/under exposures, meaning the sky sometimes tricks the CDS cell and underexposes.  Or a dark object nearby will suck up light and make it overexpose.  I can't really complain about a camera with no battery that exposes for you, though.  I've also had some focus issues, as it's a viewfinder / zone focus camera.  That means you guess the focus range using 4 symbols on the lens barrel: single person, duo, group, or landscape.  Don't forget to change it before each shot or you'll have some wonderfully out-of-focus blobs of whatever you were aiming at.  I'm not a street shooter, so this is something I will have to get used to.  However, I like the freedom this camera gives me.  It weighs nothing.  Yesterday, I was switching between a Nikon F4s (a tank) and the Trip 35.  I felt like the light breeze was going to blow away my trip.