the way of the dodo

the way of the dodo

Kodachrome. I only was able to try a bit of KR64 on its last days and heard great of K25. OTOH I have to recognise it is a lot about its look and nostalgia, with the guarantee of 75 years of color archival quality. Thankful that E100 is out there but haven't shot it yet. Partly due to doing much more BW and not knowing what to do with slides (hybrid I know!)

C'mon Kodak, E100 and TMZ in 120. If/when they put it out it will be a nice move, bearing in mind TMZ was never available in 120.

Following are Dodos I always heard abiut but are in legendary status:
Panatomic X and Verichrome Pan, it is way prior my time and perhaps TMX does a fine replacement.

Yes, the special use: I was able to try Aerochrome and that IR color is quite peculiar and fun for specific frames, supplies are old and few. Saw and heard a bit about HIE and Efke IR820. And well, another I didn't try is Tech Pan.
The E6 tomb. Fuji 64T, 400X

Edit: Forgot instant... Peel apart in its many formats and the original lanipulable Time Zero Polaroid.
 
Hmmm. I miss: Kodak Medalist, Kodabromide, Agfa Portriga Rapid, Brovira--the look thereof. I miss Tri-X the way it looked in the 1970s. I miss original Agfa Rodinal (yeah, I know) and sodium sulfite concoctions. I miss Kodachrome II and X as well as 25 and 64 even though they were never accurate (but they were beautiful). I miss Ektachrome 64 sheet film and the filtration needed to "fix" it in shadows. I miss being able to get a Nikon F drowned in rain at a college football game, stripping it down and drying it out in a film dryer and then using it to shoot a bowl game in ankle deep mud the same day. I miss working 60 hour weeks.

I miss my youth.

But what the hell. I'm fine with pixels and sensors and what I still have. There's no going back and, except for a few instances of regrets, I really wouldn't want to.
 
In order-

Agfapan APX 400
Agfapan APX 400
Agfapan APX 400

Neopan 1600
Neopan 400

Agfa Optima for color film.

Some of the old papers before they took out the Cadmium and other constituents. Forte Polywarmtone was one.

I still have some of these materials around, but I keep them more for souvenirs than anything else these days.
 
Another one longing for Plus-X.
Also the original Agfapan APX-100 and Agfachrome (favorite slide film).


But I really, really miss Kodak HIE. Man, if they could bring that back, I'd be jumping for joy!
 
Verichrome Pan. I have around 30 rolls in the freezer ranging from the early 1960’s to the early 1980’s. It does not seem to have an end of useful life. This is THE film for that classic medium format look.
 
I'm with Bingley on Plus-X. But also Acros 100 which I just got hooked on right before they pulled the plug on it. Hope they start shipping the Acros II soon.


PF
 
I miss Reala. The color profile was very neutral instead of warm like Kodak films or cool like most Fuji films. It was my favorite 120 or 35mm color film.

I started shooting right as Neopan 400 was discontinued and missed out on Plus-X also. I wish both were still available.

I am grateful for what still exists!
 
Plus-X tops my list. HIE is not far behind it.
There are others: Tech Pan, Panatomic-X, Ilford P4 Surveillance film, Pre 1997 Tri-X, Efke 100, Agfachrome, Acros, Konica 750IR...

I miss them all, but I miss Plus-X the most. It’s what I learned on.

All that said, I have a fair amount of dodo meat in the fridge; enough to enable me to revisit my old favorites for some years to come. When my stocks run out I’ll be sad, but I do have to admit there are still quite a lot of very good choices available for B&W, many of which I like a lot. I won’t lose too much sleep before moving on.
 
Rob-F said:
I like how the grain of this rather grainy film melts away into this image without calling attention to itself.

yum to neopan 1600, Yum to You Rob !
very kind indeed , love your choice of words, Thank You °
 
Fuji Provia 400X slide film, all the way! Fujifilm, please bring it back. You could shoot it all day in bright sunshine yet cheerfully push it +2 to EI 1600 and keep shooting all night with a fast 35mm lens, unrivaled dim light color film performance. I'm still reeling from it being discontinued back in 2012.

Back when I was living in Hong King, one glorious day in 2017 I stumbled on a carton of it - somehow still in date - in a old film lab around mongkok. A place where you rang the doorbell and a head would emerge from a window a few stories up, they would throw the key down to you on street level in a plush toy, so you could let yourself in and up the stairs.

I bought their last ~50 rolls of in-date Provia 400X - unrefrigerated, and just two months away from expiry - and the same afternoon picked up a brand new (NOS) Leica M6 TTL 0.58x to replace one I'd left in a taxi back in the 2000s. Ah, what a day.


Hong Kong, late one night in 2017.
M6 ttl 0.58 / 35 summilux asph fle / provia 400X +2 stops / small incandescent flashlight.
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The ferry to Jumbo. HK, 2017.
M6 ttl 0.58 / 35 summilux asph fle / provia 400X +2 stops / small incandescent flashlight.
49031978622_793efeb474_b.jpg


Shenzhen, China, 2017. Wandering the narrow lanes of Hubei urban village, a 500 year old throwback surrounded by a 30 year old highrise megapolis.
M6 ttl 0.58 / 35 summilux asph fle / provia 400X +2 stops
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Our anniversary, Macau, 2017
M6 ttl 0.58 / 35 summilux asph fle / provia 400X +2 stops
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Side note: Cinestill 800T is real nice in bright artificial lighting around EI 800 but with neg's tendency to wash out on underexposure, still not a real substitute as a dim-light, late-night film.
 
Another fan of Plus-X here. Smooth and creamy, very fine grain, and, in my experience, good shadow detail.
 
There's a lot of Plus-X love in this thread, and I'm throwing my hat in too. I really enjoyed shooting that film in 35mm format; it had grain but not too much, and it had "lovely tones", whatever that means. I just miss it.
 
I miss the 4x5 Polaroid film/prints for my large format camera...not interested in the replacement stuff...
 
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