Just walking around the east coast of Norfolk Uk. Seaside places are usually a hive of activity during the summer months and then winter hits and everything then shuts down.
There is an eeriness of silence everywhere and I think black and white photos highlight that feeling just perfectly.
Have fun guys. Stay warm.
Just got in from work, followed this bank of fog home. Grabbed a quick picture.
Just got in from work. Chased this fog all the way home and just had to get a photo.
Have a safe and happy day.
What TV shows did you watch as a kid?
I was a product of the 60s and the only choice we had back in my childhood was 405 or 625 lines B/W Tv. Once turned on you had to give all the valves good time to warm up until a picture appeared, in truth you could probably go into the kitchen and make a snack before the ghosting even started to appear on the screen.
Back then we only had two channels, BBC and ATV, that was the forerunner of ITV.
No Adverts and only a few hours scheduling a day meant that you were more likely to see the test card transmission than any real TV program.
To be honest I probably listened more to my little transistor radio, or tranny as it was known then, nowadays I’d probably be pulled up by the PC brigade for even saying that.
We spent most of our days outside playing and exploring so TV never really factored into my formative years, I can’t really pinpoint specific programs I did watch however one really stuck in my mind as a funny moment. That used to be when we would watch a program called “Pot Black” it was a snooker program. However it was hard to determine colours of the balls on a black and white screen. It was funny when the commentators mentioned a coloured ball that they would refer to as “the grey looking one in the top corner” In fact they all had this colour as they were all just shades.
Aye, what with all your 1080, ultra HD 4K super duper vision you have now, you’ve never had it so good. But back in the day when it was a new technology it was truly ground breaking. I remember my old man saying “it’ll never take off”, how wrong was he?
Have a great day all. Peace.
At work last evening I had to attend the old signal box at Mantle lane, a signalling location on the old Leicester to Burton line ELR ref KSL.
I was walking across the official walkway and I stopped at the halfway point and took these two pictures on my Phone. The lines are sparsely used at the moment and only by stone trains taking their loads from Stud farm or Bardon hill.
There are public enquiries taking place to reopen this line as a passenger thoroughfare, after being closed many years ago. Personally I can’t see it happening as it would involve massive investment and I can’t see our current government dipping there hands in their pockets for this project.
Just thought I’d put this up to show the two pictures, enjoy.
Following on from yesterdays post regarding fogging on negatives. If you remember I’ve lost the mask for my scanner so I’m currently unable to utilise this service.
However I had some time and took to the internet to find out if there was a way to view in the short term until I found the mask for the scanner. It appears the phone you have in your hand can more than likely do the deed without having to down load any apps.
Now I have an iPhone, however the same is also available on Android but I’ll stick to the iPhone route. It’s all about inverting colours
Firstly venture to settings, Accessibility, Accessibility shortcut and then choose classic invert. A tick will appear by your choice and then just come back out to the Home Screen. Now every time you triple click on the side home button the screen colours will invert.
Now if off you triple click again the colours go back to standard. Well I’ve tried this on the same negatives above from yesterday and it gives you a good idea of what you are going to get. These pictures are direct inverts of the negatives at the top of this post with no cropping or adjustments, I just wanted you to see the possibilities you have available to you in your hand. If you use a light box and some glass I’m sure you’d get quite acceptable results.
Great little tool for those old negatives you have laying around that you were thinking of getting printed but weren’t quite sure.
Have a lovely day, thanks for passing by.
Hey hey, I’m back. Well, after my previous rant I thought it best to get back to normal or as normal as can be achieved so here we go.
If you remember a few posts back I took on an old Halina A1 Reflex cheapo camera from the 60s. It was in a bit of a state and had seen better days. It had a full refurbishment with lens fungus removed, shutter mechanism repaired and a new leatherette finish put in place to tart it up. It looked quite nice and I was quite pleased with the outcome.
However that is all well if you want to use it as display piece or a bookend, but I wanted to see it work.
Over the last few weeks I’ve had a roll of 120 B/W film (Rollei 100 RPX) sitting in it using it once in a while whenever the weather was right, and light conditions sufficed. Seeing that I’d replaced the light seals I wanted to check whether there were any issues there and as a result of todays development of the roll this could be an issue.
When exposing I’ve forgotten to wind on a couple of times, but in general i seem to have got it right. The wind on is ok and the displays in the window are visible. Barring some double exposures the settings on the lens seem to have done their job, I seem to have set both lenses up correctly so I’m happy with that.
The film has an over all visible darkness that points to fogging. I think I might be responsible for this to be honest, I was a bit too impatient to get the roll loaded into the Paterson tank, I had a duvet over my head but the strong summer light was evident for the first time in ages in the East Midlands, and I shouldn’t be able to see the developer spiral….but I did briefly. Not good.
That being a problem I really do need to run another film through the camera to 100% check the light seals and then develop in the appropriate conditions.
I was silly here but another lesson learned. Be patient, don’t rush things and just do things properly.
I’m pleased the camera works, I’ll be able to get some pictures off the negatives and what I can see through a Lupe looks promising.
My 120 mask on my scanner has gone missing, so the pictures might be a little while before they make an appearance. I have another roll of film though so I’ll get that in the camera this week and get busy, and when it’s dark I’ll develop the film….properly
Have a wonderful day everyone thank you for passing by, stay safe and smile it uses less muscles than a frown 😂
I have processed the roll of Kentmere 100 at home today, it’s currently drying in the shower and I’m really pleased with what I’ve seen so far. The carriage of the camera is working well with even spacing, exposures look promising and no sign of fogging proving the new light seals are good.
I’m yet to run the negatives through the scanner, still waiting for them to dry but when they do I will post a gallery here. Gallery – Olympus 35 ECR trial roll
The camera in my eyes is now in good working condition, all that I did with it has proven beneficial and I’m adding this into my personal collection.
I’ve now packed it in a bag with all the air extracted and a couple of silica bags to stop any potential moisture. I do this to all the cameras I store for their protection and to save me having to go through the whole process of maintaining them again.
I’ve enjoyed this little project and am now happy to say….
Job done 👍
The little Olympus I’ve been working on is now ready to be tested. It’s all working as well as I can see and has new battery adaptors and a new light seal around the camera. Has been cleaned as best as I can however now is the time to give it a proper run out. I have a roll of Kentmere 100asa B/W film that expired about 3-4 years ago so hopefully I’ll get something from this barring disaster.
Going to be in Sunbury on Thames for a few days so I’m hoping I can get some nice pictures of the Thames and surrounding areas.
When I get back I’ll develop the film at home and scan it myself for results. Fingers crossed 🤞 it all performs ok, if not then it’s back to the drawing board.
Here we go…. Wish me luck 🍀
Foxes Den 
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