The party’s over.

 

March 2020 FP4 Party: A few final observations.

It was quite the experience.

I enjoyed every aspect.

It got me out with film cameras, new and old.

I tried a film new to me.

My skill at loading 35mm and 120 film on the Paterson reels continues to improve.

Developing with D76 yielded excellent results.

I found a groove every week.

Looking through Twitter at the #fp4party hashtag for the past 7 days to see what other party-goers posted was a treat.

Followed some new folks, gained a few followers on Twitter, IG, and Flickr.

Thanks to the FP4 Party hosts.

Here are my 7 submissions, last-to-first…

The gate
Georgetown, TX
Saturday, March 7, 2020
ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 7

Sprinkles
Georgetown, TX
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 6

Used cars
Thorndale, TX
Friday, March 6, 2020
Hasselblad 500c/m, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 5

Bridge to nowhere
Georgetown, TX
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 4

The bucket
Round Rock, TX
Monday, March 2, 2020
Hasselblad 500c/m, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 3

9 right
Georgetown, TX
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 2

Mid-century modern emptiness
Taylor, TX
Friday March 6, 2020
ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 1

Necessity…

… is the mother of invention.

I got out with my new-ish ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole camera a coupla’ weeks back for FP4 Plus Party.

Multiformat means it’ll shoot 6×6, 6×9, or 6×12.

I have a really cool 8Banners Mc pinhole that’s set to shoot square, a shiny Zero Image 6×9, so the ONDU will be dedicated to 6×12.

As previously noted, I shot 6 images with the ONDU. Of the 6, 3 had my fat fingers showing in the right side of the frame. Those shots were roughly 1 second exposures. Super-sunny days. There are lines in the top of the camera that tell you what’ll be in view for each, and my fingers fell into that space.

I’ve come up with a nifty way to get my digits out of the picture.

I used Illustrator to draw up a simple extender. Then I used a low-tack spray adhesive to affix the drawing to a piece of repurposed plastic from my 2019 Office Max calendar cover. I keep everything. The perfect-sized hole was made using simple hole punch. I sanded the edges and tied a piece of ribbon in the hole at the other end.

The rubber band was already in place – it keeps the shutter from opening while the box is in my camera case. Now it can hold the extender in place and serve as tension when using the extender. Easy to put on, take off.

Simple. Used stuff I had. Great solution. Free.

I started posting shots for the FP4 Plus Party on Twitter today.

Fingers.

Always learning.

Photography is a continual learning experience. Every camera I use – and especially if it’s a first time use – reaps lessons learned.

I got a nifty pinhole camera last year. It’s an ONDU 6×12 Multiformat. What that boils down to is it can shoot 3 ways… 1×1, 6×9, or 6×12.

6×12 is what I’ll be shooting with this cool walnut wood box.

So, if you’ve been following along, you’re aware that I’m participating in the FP4 Plus Party this month. I loaded the 6×12 with a roll of 120 film.

It made sense to get out to parts of Central Texas that I’ve yet to experience. I drove east of Georgetown past Jonah to CR366, down to Taylor, and then out to Thorndale.

All those miles traveled, I was able to make 6 images using that one roll.

Of those 6, half managed to capture my fingers closing the shutter. Those images were made with roughly 1 second exposures.

I really like my Zero Image 6×9 pinhole. The shutter assembly makes it possible to use a release cable.

I am digging the 6×12 format though, so I’m gonna have to rig up something to keep my fingers out of the frame of the ONDU 6×12.

Stay tuned.

FP4 Plus Party, Dev Week part one.

Smena 8M + 35mm.

This was my first time out with the Smena. It’s a quirky little Russian camera. Plastic. Toy-like, if not for the fact that it has apertures and shutter speeds and a cocking shutter.

I put gaffer tape over the seams on the lid to the film compartment just in case of light leaks. The viewfinder is pretty close to useless.

Results…
– 27 shots out of a 24 shot roll. Cool.
– 1 accidental double exposure.
– A few underexposed, a few overexposed.
– A handful of not perfectly exposed.
– Bunches not quite framed up the way I’d intended.

Can’t really tell about focus, but there are probably a few keepers, and I’ll know which to submit next week once I run them through the scanner.

Tomorrow.

This is an iPhone shot of the negs, cut and slipped into a negative preserver, placed on an LED light pad, inverted in Photoshop.

Today I’ll tackle the 120 film development.

In the wild.

Out and about.

Thorndale, Texas with my ONDU 6×12 Multiformat, 11 a.m. sun, FP4 Plus.

I’ll start developing all the FP4 Plus shots next week.

Loaded.

Ready to party.

Three cameras, loaded and ready for FP4 Plus Party. Starting tomorrow.

I may add one more, the tiny Olympus Stylus Epic.

I have a few shots in mind, but mostly I’ll just try to get out as many days as I can and shoot up all these frames… 6 in the Ondu pinhole, 12 in the Hassy, 24 in the Smena 8M.

42 frames over 7 days. Averages out to 6 shots per day.

Should be interesting.

Out of the blue.

Now that’s service.

I received a envelope in the mail last week. It was totally unexpected.

After looking at the return address, I had to think back to an eBay win I had back in November 2019. It was the Minolta Spotmeter F w/Case, through a seller known as Classic Camera Authority.

… this is the first time something like this has happened.

The envelope contain the original manual. They sent it gratis. Amazing.

In all the years I’ve been buying photography stuff on eBay, this is the first time something like this has happened.

Ahem… save this seller!