I *think* Spotmatic, years ago...

[scott]

Hi, all -

I'm itching to shoot the Spotmatic again after, like, 5 or 6 years. I have a well-documented aversion to 135, though. And I no longer have a dedicated film scanner. So before I committed to buying film, I figured I'd try scanning an old negative with the Epson 4990. Grabbed a random piece of film out of a box and scanned it.

img479a by Scott, on Flickr

Funny thing is, I *clearly* remember that day, that trip, and taking that picture. I'm guessing it was in the 2005-2006 time frame, most likely the Spotmatic. Might could have been a Super Memar. The scanner works fine for my purposes, scans will require a little more work than I'm used to with 4x5, so a little learning curve there. But I'm tickled to have found this image. I have boxes of old 135 film to go through now...

Scott

[PFMcFarland]

Neat story, Scott. I sometimes go through my old photos, and try to remember just what I was shooting back then. It's easier to do when the selection was limited. But my, how those two have grown.

PF

[Julio1fer]

Nothing wrong with 35mm, or with that portrait. Your 4990 should be more than adequate for web scans.

[scott]

Julio, my complaint with 135 is two-fold: The image quality *can be* unacceptable depending on grain and contrast (a subjective determination exaggerated by years of large format shooting), and the post-developing work involved for a hybrid workflow (such that I use) is excessive. Tons of scanning and tweaking involved. I generally end up losing patience for it. I combated this latter issue previously by shooting color and having dev/scan done by CVS or Costco. That's no longer available around here, and mail-off developing is no longer a very cheap option.

All that said, I *did* load up the Spotmatic with Kentmere 100 last week, and shot a roll using a new-to-me Super Tak 50/1.4 (yep - the radioactive ilk, mostly cleared under a bright LED). I finished the roll last night, developed the film, and under a loop the negatives looks impressive. The proof will be in the scanning, but truth be told, I had a complete and utter blast shooting the roll. If I can tolerate the digitizing and CS5 adjusting, this may be a fun diversion for a while. Have a trip to wine country planned this year; would like to bring this rig along.

Stay tuned...

[Julio1fer]

Scott, I had to turn to B&W only, developing myself, years ago. Maybe I got used to the tweaking and scanner work, but honestly I do not find it worse than when I did wet printing many years ago. Especially since I got the Epson V600.

Your point on grain (and dust!) being a pain in 35mm is of course true. But that Spottie will do good work in wine country, I'd bet. At least as a backup for your LF.