On November 10th, shortly after returning from my trip to Utah, I set about processing a small batch of 4" x 5" sheet film. I was rather anxious to see a few of the Utah images. I have to admit that I still haven't even unloaded most of my film holders from the trip. There were a few that I changed out, using a changing tent, while we were staying at the rental house in Kanab. Since I've returned home I have been so busy that I haven't had time to unload any holders. In fact I have holders from five day trips dating back to late August, most of the stuff from the Utah trip, and bunch of holders from a recent trip to the mountains, and a few from a shoot this past weekend, that are all waiting to be unloaded and reloaded with fresh film. It's a good thing I have over 200 film holders otherwise I would be running out.
For this recent batch I got together the nine sheets of 100 T-Max 4" x 5" that I shot with readyload film packets. I added to these three sheets that I pulled from a couple holders that I had laying around from the fall day trips. These dozen sheets were processed in 510 Pyro. This formula was created by Seattle based photographer Jay DeFehr. I really like this developer and film combination and it has become one of my standards. The developer is based on Pyrogallol and Phenidone in a base of Triethanolamine. It is highly diluted for use and has a long shelf life. It is a staining developer that imparts a proportionate stain on the negative. I find that if exposed adequately and developed properly it yields good shadow values, nice midtones, and retains highlight detail. I had all but given up on TMX 100 as I found the negatives to always be somewhat muddy and flat looking. This new combination has given the film new life. I dilute the developer 1:100, and process with reduced agitation for 7:45 minutes at 24C. I use film hangers in open tanks, processing in total darkness, with agitation for 5 seconds per minute.
These first three scans are of negatives taken earlier this fall. This includes two shots of Johns Snooker Room in Holden, Alberta, taken in early October. The third is of a very old abandoned truck on the shores of a prairie lake, taken in mid September...
The remaining nine images were all from the recent trip down to Utah. All of these were taken on Kodak 100 T-Max in Readyload Film packets. This format has now been discontinued. These consisted of individual sheets of film packed in dust free, light tight paper sleeves. They are inserted into a film holder prior to exposure. They are very light and compact to carry as only one holder is needed. If they were still manufactured I would use them for my longer back country hiking. I guess they lost popularity because of the general decline in film use, as well as the fact that they were considerably more costly than standard cut sheets of the same film. Fortunately the film itself is still made, but I will ration my remaining stock of these readyload packets and save them for times when I am undertaking longer and more strenuous hikes and need to keep my pack lighter. This particular batch that I was shooting expired in 2009 but as you can see the film has suffered no ill effects and the negatives still look good...
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