I learned photography using DSLR’s, never shot film in my life growing up and so I’m still pretty new to it. However, I’m getting introduced pretty quickly and shot about 30 – 50 rolls in the last 5 months of 2009. I’m still a complete novice when it comes developing though and my few attempts with developing B&W film have ended with unsatisfactory results with lots of white specs on the negative, etc.

That bad run ended today when I tried developing medium format (120) film for the first time, this time using some instructions from an excellent photographer (and new Lost in Focus member) Kaden Kratzer (thank you Kaden). Things started rocky… I spent 10 minutes trying to load the film onto the spool only to discover it was the paper I was trying to load (did I mention I’m a complete novice at developing :). After that hiccup, things went smoothly and I was left with 12 beautifully developed negatives without the slightest hint of dust or scratches. I scanned them on my budget Canoscan 8800F (the only MF compatible scanner I have currently – Epson v700 or 750 will be not far behind) and the results look great. Here’s a sample shot and my first image share of 2010.

Hasselblad 500CM + 80mm f/2.8, Fujifilm Neopan 100 Acros

Anyway, a minor victory and somewhat ironic… Despite all my photographic prowess, it’s only now that I’ve finally managed to catch with every student on the planet whose studied photography by developing my own negatives. Funny.

On an unrelated note, I nearly bought a huge (and beautiful) Pentax 6×7 with a couple of lenses today. The kit was available for under $1000 here in Seattle but I decided against it due to information online that suggests the massive mirror slap (kick) causes vibration at 1/30s ish and slower. As I’ve not yet given into carrying a tripod everywhere with me, I decided to punt (for now). I’m still looking for a great wide to go with my Hassy though.

Oh finally, I’ve finished shooting for two upcoming reviews – the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder and the Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 ZE lens which mounts on Canon EOS cameras… Will try to get these written up and posted within the next week.