My film ... my way!

[arthurking83]

Well I finally got all the gear I needed ... wanted to get my roll of film developed properly.

About 2 years ago, I found myself with a spare $20 on a weird pre paid credit card, so I purchased and exposed a roll of this Kodak Ektar 100 on my lil Rollei 35 ....

here's the camera:

88416
D300, Tamron 28-75/2.8 @ 28mm, f/3.5 and 1/6s

Here's the 'equivalent' film version(s)

88417
this is the jpg I received from the film developing mob on CD
Rollei 35. 40/3.5 Zeiss Tessar version @ f/3.5 and 1/8s.

(I tried to use similar settings to see if any differences and what they were)

and
88418
this one is my version of the neg, slide copied via the D300 on the PB-4 bellows.

It must be noted too that:

1. the processing folks, would have scanned the negs to jpg immediately before any damage was done to the negs by dust and contact with the outside world.
2. the negs have been sitting in their sleeves for the past two years(apart from one particular two image slice of the negs I used for sampling purposes) inside the envelope that the negs and prints came in, in a drawer with close to zero handling. Dust has all but ruined them for any further use now .. with close to zero handling.
3. my version of the copied neg wasn't as successful as their copy in jpg format, but most of the negs I copied camer out better than their versions. A small percentage came out worse and I'm going to work on how to improve those that did.

[martycon]

I need to think more about what you have done & said. In the meantime I "dips me lid". regards marty.

[arthurking83]

Thanks for the lids dipping Marty!

:D

what I've done probably sounds confusing, but is in fact quite simple and would cost the average punter about $200ish .. give or take $50.

Nikon PB-4 plus the PS-4 slide copy attachment.

I should post a photo of the contraption, but images are already readily available on the net:

http://www.nicovandijk.net/NikkormatPB4.jpg

not my image4 just one from Google images(I think).

Contraption is very simple:

Camera at the camera end, a 190mm bellows is available from the lens mount up to the lens, the lens connects to the front of the bellows, and then(where my setup falls down).. from the lens filter threads, I want to be able to connect the other bellows to the lens which is fixed to the film holder.. the square looking device way out the front.
This second bellows is simply to black out the distance between the front of the lens, to the film(adapter).
Any light between the lens and the film causes loss of contrast(as seen in my third image).

Basically the PB-4 + film attachment is just a macro setup, as you can do with most lenses connected to the end of a set of extension tubes.

The beauty of the bellows is that it's variable with the twist of a simple twisting thing! :p

A set of extension tubes can only provide a specific set of distances, whereas the bellows is infinitely variable between its min and max distances.

makes setup of the contraption a breeze compared to using ext tubes.

Take the photo and you have a digitized copy of your films.

Even tho the digital files of the negatives I had were done for free(as part of the package of processing and the single set of prints), I'd rather have had a set of tiffs, not jogs at the least .. but with this PB-4 device I now have a copy of the film in raw format.

I costed a new set of scans done professionally, and to get a good set of tiffs was going to cost about $60 odd bucks.

That $60 went into the cost of the bellows device instead.
I recently got myself a very cheap lens to do a better job of the actual copying work, but with an annoying limitation.. I can't fit the front bellows (forward of the lens) to the slide copy attachment) as the thread size is a total oddball one.

Everything else works ok tho .. the bellows and cheapie lens provide a dedicated macro setup for 1/4 of the price of a Nikon 105VR but with about 95% of the quality the 105VR lens can achieve.
This cheapie 75mm lens I referred too can also be used quite well if I reverse the lens onto the front of the camera bellows device too, but I can't because of this oddball front thread size again.

Had I known that the threads of this lens was such an weird and impossible to obtain size(in terms of adapters to suit the 34.5mm threads) I wouldn't have purchased it.

I can get filters for it, and they each cost more than the lens cost me, but I don't want or need filters.. just a thread adapter to get the lens front threads to 52mm(or even 49mm will do).

.... Have I assisted in clarifying anything, or have I added to the initial confusion? :D

[Terri]

I know this is just not even slightly relevant, but what a cute little camera that Rollei is! :D

[arthurking83]

I know this is just not even slightly relevant, but what a cute little camera that Rollei is! :D

:lol:

Yeah!
(It's been with me since 1976)

funny that you popped up at this particular moment!! I have a photo I'm close to uploading that will be of particular interest to you Terri!
(stay tuned)

yeah if you remember (and here's the tip ;)) the meet we did a few years back in St Kilda, you may have seen it way back then.

It's getting late for me tonight as I have an early start tomorrow, but I'll try to upload the pics tonight. If not then tomorrow.

[yisiyue000]

rollei 35 looks adorable. I love it and I also love Rollei. Now I have a rolleiflex 3.5F

[arthurking83]

I've always wanted a TLR .. over it a bit now, but one day, I'll find a good one and get it.

Lens on the little 35 is a bit worn, and I'm assuming the shutter is a bit slow too.

I don't know exactly how old it is, but it was given to me Jan '76, which was winter in Europe .. we were in Athens at the time.