Yoda and ET caught on film
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2025 5:21 am
Some time ago I snagged an almost mint Minox III with and equally mint separate meter, both in cases, for a pretty good price. I didn't buy it so much as to shoot with, more of a curiosity. I previously had a Minox EC when living in Europe, shooting some colour and B&W with it. Film and processing was readily available back then. Nowadays, not so much, and the cost of landing Minox film here isn't worth it.
Of course, not shooting it became less and less of a reality, seeing it sitting there.... So, time for a bit of self-loading.
I got a couple of 3D printed cassettes & had a slitter 3D printed to slit my own B&W. I sacrificed a short roll or two of 35mm film to practice slitting and loading. The slitter required a bit of fettling so as not to scratch the film. It's still not perfect, but I seem to have reduced the scratches. I also had a 8x11 reel 3D printed at the local library that fits my Jobo tank.
I wasn't really expecting I'd get any usable images from this test roll, but there must have been some alignment in the force. There were still some horizontal scratches, but I managed to clone them out semi-successfully. Given I had some success here, that now means I'll have to try a little more seriously next time.
I meet these two chaps on my lunchtime walks, the work of a local artist who makes some interesting sculptures out of bits of scrap metal.
The film was Ilford Pan F+ developed in HR-DEV 1+49 (IIRC, I forgot to make a note). Scanned using my Panasonic G9 with 45mm macro and a home-made black card mask in a Kaiser FilmCopy camera scanning kit I picked up for a good price not so long ago. It came with a full set of masks from 35mm up to 6x9. A beautifully made bit of kit, just like the little Minox.
Of course, not shooting it became less and less of a reality, seeing it sitting there.... So, time for a bit of self-loading.
I got a couple of 3D printed cassettes & had a slitter 3D printed to slit my own B&W. I sacrificed a short roll or two of 35mm film to practice slitting and loading. The slitter required a bit of fettling so as not to scratch the film. It's still not perfect, but I seem to have reduced the scratches. I also had a 8x11 reel 3D printed at the local library that fits my Jobo tank.
I wasn't really expecting I'd get any usable images from this test roll, but there must have been some alignment in the force. There were still some horizontal scratches, but I managed to clone them out semi-successfully. Given I had some success here, that now means I'll have to try a little more seriously next time.
I meet these two chaps on my lunchtime walks, the work of a local artist who makes some interesting sculptures out of bits of scrap metal.