Another photographic question...

When I took some seriusly long exposures pitctuers at might, I thought I had detyected colour atrts, until I got te same strats against a hill with a fox on iy.

CCDs are not perfect - sounds like one of te coulums is sub par

Sensors have improved enormously in sensitivity since 2009. Even a budget smartphone will probably out-perform this camera now.

I agree with TNP, you've probably got a dodgy column. If it's your only available camera you can probably do a reasonable digital fix (but don't expect results like a modern camera).

Thanks. That's useful to know.

Nick

It's not the only digital camera I have over here: the other one is five years older, has half the megapixels but twice the CCD surface area and a very nice lens and takes good, sharp pictures but the Fujifilm is more versatile.

I've also got a ton-and-a-half of analogue cameras ranging from a clockwork, wind-up Canon half-frame, through a couple of full frame 35mm jobbies up to a medium format Bronica. I've got enough film to keep me out of mischief too. :)

Many thanks - and Happy New Year, one and all.

Nick

Do you have a good supplier?

Since Poundland stopped selling Agfa Vista Plus, I've been gloomily watching my personal stash decline.

If they have it in again (there have always been interruptions in their supply, but this time there are noises that it may be permanent) I'm going to buy a couple of hundred rolls and keep them in the freezer.

Daniele

Amazon has tonnes of the stuff

The guy who runs the austerityphoto.co.uk blog has published an email reply he received from Poundland confirming that they will not be stocking Agfa Vista Plus any more, unfortunately. I still have some in my fridge at home but my stocks are also running low.

Recently I've been buying film close to expiry or slightly beyond expiry on eBay and been having reasonable results. It's no worse than keeping groceries beyond BB date: if they've been kept properly they are usable for ages and if you are disciplined about bidding for film and are prepared to let overpriced items go, sometimes you get lucky. I've also bought some quite old film at ridiculously cheap prices. The only things I feel it helps to remember are that very fine grain film will tend to lose its definition over the years and high speed film will need de-rating faster than low speed film. My rule of thumb is to halve the ASA after 5 or 6 years for ASA 800 and above, then halve it again every ten or so years after that. ASA 400 and below, just halve it every 10-15 years. Works for me.

Nick

I saw that too, but I still hope that eventually they'll get hold of more.

My needs are strictly fun-based, so I am sure I can get away with it.

Fo Christmas my son gave me a packet of soda crystals, cheap decaffeinated coffee and vitamin C powder; we're going to try a home-made developing solution.

Daniele

Excellent! I've had a lot of fun playing with cafenol:) I'm sure you've discovered already but, typing the film brand and speed plus the word cafenol into google will offer little tweaks to the basic recipe that may improve the results. There are usually samples to compare. You can develop C41 colour film such as the Agfa Vista in cafenol but of course it only comes out B&W and I don't think the results are as good as using a bona fide B&W film.

A lot of people skip the stop bath these days but if it was good enough for the old-timers.... I use dilute spirit vinegar.

And to keep everything to kitchen-cabinet chemicals, I use common salt as a fixer. You must use a fully-saturated solution (that's just under

Nick

That's really useful to know. Hope they are still doing it when I get back in May.

Thanks

Nick

Since no one is doing Kodachrome any longer what's the point.