Tag Archives: Fuji

Incoming

Self portrait with a new lens (Fujinon 210/5.6) picked out of a junk bargain bin – it works. Has a few scratches in front and a bit cloudy inside, nothing serious; also no retaining ring for mounting. Press shutters are so nice to work with! Taken with seriously outdated Fuji Instant FP100B45. Slightly curved up in PS. The old version of this lens covered 8×10 just about, this one’s image circle is supposed to be slightly too small (at least at infinity), although I have not tried it yet.

 

Street portrait

Fujifilm Acros 8×10, Rodinal 1+25 9m drum processed, Globe portrait lens (1880s), Fuji TONE Gaslight Contact Printing Paper

I was shooting from the footbridge when this lady got curious. I let her look on the GG and eventually asked to have her picture taken. Her mother is ill and she wanted to send this to her. Print on its way (hope I can find the address again). Something that appears like fogging on the leg area…

Richard

Fujifilm Acros 8×10, Rodinal 1+25 9m drum processed, Globe portrait lens (1880s), Fuji TONE Gaslight Contact Printing Paper

Unfortunately the negative has a flaw, you will see it looking at the nose area: a vertical stripe. Not sure what caused it, but suspect processing. Focus is not on the eyes, but just about works. Lens to subject distance about 0.5m, made for nice bellows extension (which I forgot to compensate for)… ho hum.

Fujifilm 利根 WP/Gaslight Paper

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Finally I found the Fuji TONE WP printing paper for contact printing. I have to add that I have not wet printed for a long time and especially never with the Fuji materials (paper developer today was Fuji Super-Korectol-L). 

First things first: it is an RC paper, medium weight and it is glossy. That probably violates several commandments of the fine art photography world. This is probably a disappointment for some people, but not for me. Here’s why:

Like meeting a rude person, what first strikes you is the lack of sensitivity of this paper. My other stock (Fuji Bromide, RC, graded) had exposures between 1-2s with my setup, which is why I have a darkroom timer hooked up to the bulb. With this paper I exposed for 100-150 seconds! Yes, that is very long but I found it gives me amazing precision for exposure (no fractions of seconds to worry about) and even a kitchen timer will do. The lack of sensitivity should also be beneficial for people with makeshift darkrooms that are not totally light tight (within reason).

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So for me this paper will become my new standard stock at least for work prints and proofing. It helped me already making better prints because of the longer exposures. You can dodge as much as you want in that time period and really look at the negative in the contact printer while thinking what to do with it.

The prints themselves show a very pleasant tonality as far as I am concerned. Contrast just right for me at grade 3 (a matter of taste and how your negatives look like; I have seen last stocks of grade 2 version, but going forward it will only be made in 3). The image is crisp and blacks are rich and deep where you want them. Overall the grey is nice and neutral. This is a very user-friendly paper for contact printing and I am very pleased with it. Unfortunately I was told earlier this week that Fuji paper prices will go up by 10-20% in summer so I will stock up a bit.

As always, this Japan-only product is on sale in the Japan Exposures Webshop.

Velvia 50, MS-MAG, Fuji bulk rolls, holidays

Hello again to all you faithful readers of the Megaperls Webshop news and many apologies for a lack of updates. We have been running the site at full steam over the last months and thank everybody for their continued support and recommendations on the web.

The biggest news and most recent significant addition are the re-released Velvia 50 films. Early tests show that it lives up to the heritage of the previous Velvia and well worth going back to if you enjoyed shooting classic Velvia in the past.

Another fantastic addition is the Provia 400X. While it is not a cheap film many photographers state that the film’s quality in terms of grain and colour fidelity of that of a 100 speed film and people are very impressed.

MS-MAG rangefinder viewfinder magnifiers made by MS Optical R&D have been a hit and continue to see a lot of demand. The manufacturer have told us that 1.35 magnifiers will need to be manufactured soon which may lead to a brief interruption in supplies between production runs. Less so for the 1.3N, which fits Bessa R, Epson RD-1 and Zeiss Ikon series rangefinders – due to lack of domestic demand they will no longer be made once current supplies run out, so it is recommended to secure yours as soon as possible.

As previously announced, Neopan black and white film in 30.5m/100ft bulk rolls were no longer manufactured since March 2007 and supply is virtually exhausted for Neopan 1600 Super Presto and Neopan 100 Acros in this format. We still have good stocks of Neopan 100 SS and Neopan 400 Presto, but as always it is recommended to act sooner than later if you like those films and wish to continue to rolling your own.

Please note that Megaperls Web Shop will be on holiday from July 14th until July 21st. Orders placed after July 13th will be fulfilled on our return later in July. We apologise for any inconvenience caused, but like everyone else we need a little break from it all sometimes.