Sunday, April 23, 2023

Kentmere 100 at two angles of view.

For just a little over a decade, Harmon Technologies has offered Kentmere films which are, according to Wikipedia, "particularly aimed at the student market and those new to black and white photography, due to their lower cost and 'forgiving' exposure latitude."  I never seem to outgrow being a student of photography, frugality is a common virtue for pinhole, and another way of saying "forgiving" latitude is the ability to maintain detail in shadow and sunlight. Until last winter, they were only available in 35mm, and since the introduction of 120 have been in strong demand and a little hard to get. Finally found some of the 100 at Midwest Photo.

Next week on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, other people will be using my cameras. Two of them had exhibited slightly stubborn winding and I wanted to make sure they were up for the workshop. The new film went into the Diversity 30 made just last month, and the Fantasy Factory Cube, my first attempt with dual sided adhesives, in this case, carpet tape.

Although I just did a ride with different films in a rectangular 35mm and a 120 square camera, I haven't been out with two cameras of different angles of view with the same format and film for a bit. For some people having the choice between the two cameras is a source of stress. The different angles of view,  53° with the 6cm cube, and 90° at 3cm, should be recognizably different.  I must have thought so when deciding which camera to select for each scene. These are presented more or less in the order they were taken and I'm not going to tell you which is which.

On an unusually warm day in early April, a boat with three fishers was drifting along the shore competing with the pelicans. They were going a little faster than I anticipated and the tripod had to be repeatedly moved to keep them framed under the tree. When everything was finally ready, the composition ended up a little random.



The sun shining on the diamond plate connectors on the docks with the weathered wood in Menomonee Park has gotten to be a bit of an obsession.



A picnic table among the shadows with Monkey Island in the background.



Rockin' the shoreline.



A sunbeam coming over the corner of the entrance to the zoo.



The southern side of The Waters, with it's giant flag, just in case you were out on Lake Winnebago and didn't know which country you were approaching.



It's a good thing to see winter go, but I am going to kind of miss these bare trees casting shadows on everything,



Another at the rear corner of the Wisconsin National Life Building.



More stone and shadows on the front corner of the Beach Building.



Again, at the Courthouse.



Another new luxury apartment building overlooking the river, here portrayed in it's actual colors. This is the fourth building within sight of this with the monochrome color scheme.



Moving on to stucco behind the Mediterranean Revival Pollock House on campus.



A very weary looking steel box near the Heating Plant.



Distracted by the sunshine while making salads.



This structure of white PVC pipes by itself next to the road has a sculptural vibe.



All the wooden benches from the soccer fields under a shelter at the County Park.



The steel tables can handle the elements. Check out the interference pattern where you can see the latticed seat through the latticed tabletop,



A table tennis table, with it's durable net, reflected in a puddle.






The ditch that connects the south lagoon with the wetlands further north in the County Park.



Built by a local foundation, The Tiny House Village will provide "short term, affordable housing for families paired with life, home management and financial skills."



The warm weather forced the magnolia into blossom. Then it rained and kept the flowers rather wet. The temperature has returned to the lower end of seasonal and the cooler conditions let the display go on longer.




Out again for some more stone and shadow on the courthouse walls.



The doors to the courthouse are surrounded by Art Deco faces labeled with some classification such as Farmer, Worker, Native, and lastly in the lower right, Vacationist.



The Kentmere film was fine. I'm not the best person to do a serious review of a film stock. I like the pictures I got with it. I wasn't shy about choosing very high contrast scenes and the film seemed to handle it. The scans took the usual compliment of levels adjustment and burning and dodging, but no more than usual. No matter what guitar you gave Eddie Van Halen, he would still sound like Eddie Van Halen.  These look like my pictures.

The Diversity 30 has .23mm hand-drilled pinholes 30mm from a 6x6cm frame, on the axis and 11mm above it. The Fantasy Factory Cube has .30mm hand-drilled pinholes, 60mm from a 6x6cm frame, on the axis and 15mm above it.  The Kentmere 100 was semistand developed in Cafennol.


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