Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Just a quick post with some images shot on PX100UV+ TestFilm with a SX-70 Sonar OneStep.

  

  

This is really nice stuff! It develops very quickly compared to all the other Impossible films. The tones are a much truer black and white with a nice amount of detail/sharpness and handles gradation and skin tones wonderfully. Although it does seem to be a little fast speed wise. Depending on your cam you'll need to darken the exposure wheel slightly. It is noticeably more stable, temperature wise, or at least a greater range it seems. Still shifts to a warm tone if warm enough out and it does shift slightly over a few days or so to a more brown tone. Nice thing is since it develops so quickly you can scan it much sooner then later to preserve that initial black and white tone. Quite pleased with where Impossible has gotten this film. Great job guys. This test batch of film was released only a few weeks before the first public release went on sale, but it seems to be pretty close to the same. You can find it here.

Boba Fett and Flowers

My first few shots with Impossible's PZ600 film and a Polaroid Macro 5 SLR camera. I really like the quality of this film. It has nice subtle tones with pretty good darks and its really sharp as well (despite the out of focus Boba). I didn't use a light shield with any of these, but its indoors and with the built in flash. Pretty much flipped them over and left them alone for 5 minutes. The tone does seem to take a day or two to really set.

PX70 FF

A mini review with some of the shots I've done with my first two packs of Impossible's new PX70 Color Shade First Flush edition. They did something different this time around when they announced the film. You could buy it in 3 packs, but at the price of two since its new and still some what of a beta flavor as far as color/exposure and all that goes. I think that was a really smart thing for them to do. Especially since its so new and unpredictable in some ways. Plus, its almost like a thank you to the customers for helping to test this out early on. The temp issue seems to be fine, light exposure is still an issue though. Had to accept that for the time being and make regular use of a light shield. I have to admit, I feel like I got a better handle on this film, much quicker, then I did with the PX100 FF. My first pack of PX70 was mostly about what to expect (and not a lot of great shots either), so by the time I got to the second pack I felt like I was finally getting shots that I really liked and was able to replicate somewhat. I found that with my SX-70 Sonar OneStep, I needed to either over or underexpose by half a wheel turn on the exposure dial. It seemed to be the only way to get more color to come thru or something with some darks to it. Like the PX100, it is on the lower contrast side and in general has a blue-green hue. You can coax it out though in other ways. Some are using warming filters on the camera to boost color and contrast. However, Impossible states that this film can take several days to finish developing. Most of mine I've waited 2-5 days before scanning. I do notice a gradual change in the overall color and density. It does tend to improve over time. Plus some of the darker areas take awhile and can look a little splotchy, some refer to it as lizard skin. Impossible has already announced the new version of PX70 at Photokina and should be on the market sometime in October. The samples looked nice, more color and contrast, but still with that nice old vintage quality to it. I'm looking forward to trying the new batch when its out. I do like the quality though of this edition. I think thats one of things I enjoy about the Impossible films in general is the variety of quality/experience with each edition.

Light shield flipped up, but I still like how it turned it out.

Check out the ever growing and complete set of my PX70 shots on Flickr.

Attack of the Killer Crystals!

Just a quick post, I know its been awhile, more to come soon I promise.



Wanted to post a comparison and show the killer crystals at work that TIP talked about a few months back. Originally I thought this was a PX600 issue, but alas, PX100 as well. After just a few months, this is what has happened to this image. A lot of my other PX shots are doing the same, but no where nearly as severe as this one. On a side note, the detail with the crystals themselves is quite striking, to bad it has to destroy the image in the process. According to Impossible, its a matter of drying them out. I guess its a humidity thing. Here in southern California, the temps are usually pleasant, not to hot not to cool, perfect for not drying out the film. They recommend slicing a few small slits in the back upper white area and also storing your films with silica packs. Glad I didn't wait to scan, not sure how long it took to do this. I know I was pretty shocked. Such is life and adventures with new instant films. This only applies to the PX/PZ Silver Shade films though.

Polaroid SX-70 Sonar, PX100 FF film.

Impossible PX100 FF 2nd Pack

Just a quick post. Got thru my second pack of PX100 film and had much better and consistent results then my first pack, however the weather did cool off slightly and I think that may have something to do with it. That 65-70 degree range really does make a difference. So far I tend to prefer this film with the lighter, slightly washed out qualities. Haven't quite gotten a handle on the warmer scale of things yet. Also, haven't done to much experimenting yet to determine how to best push this film. Figuring out how to get a good exposure has been its own challenge already. That will be coming next I think. I also want to try out some filtration on the front to see how that will effect things and see how different combos of maybe overexposing when its warm out vs underexposing when its cold or freezing it then warming it. I definitely had a bit more fun playing with focus and tonality on this pack. I'm impressed with how much subtle information is retained especially with throwing things out of focus. The more comfortable I get with how this film works the more I like it and appreciate it. Trying to decide if I should try some PX600 in my SX-70 as well. Some examples I've seen have looked pretty good. I'm keeping my eye out for a SLR 680, but apparently so are plenty of other people. The spike in pricing is amazing.


Overcast day, slightly underexposed on the dial, placed into cold clip quickly.


Overcast day, covered with my hand quickly then into a cold clip.


Indoors, indirect light, didn't cover on eject, placed face down then into a cold clip. Also, this shot combines two of my favorite interests, film and food. Check out my food blog Grumble Grumble.


Open shade, but not covered up quickly enough, then put into a cold clip that wasn't all that warm.


Indoors, very low light, probably a 10-15 second exposure and hand held. Left face down to develop.

Fresh Polaroid Film

Fresh Polaroid Film, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Happy day, got me some new fresh Polaroid in the mail from Impossible USA (formerly PolaPremium).

SX-70 Fade to Black

Finally tried out the Fade to Black film from ImpossibleUSA Shop. 1st shot is below. This is some pretty interestingly cool film. Love the tone shift and gradual loss of detail as it darkens, like it's melting almost, but with this beautiful warm chocolately coffee bleed thru. It definitely shifted quickest in the first 6 hours or so, then it seemed to just get more gradually dark. Planning ahead, I just setup my scanner and left it on the glass and just kept scanning it every hour or so for the first 10+ hours, then it sat overnight and I scanned a few more, but with 2 hour gaps. Definitely a greater commitment of my time in order to get all the scans vs waiting and trying one of the wet/dry techniques. I really do like all the versions though and I'm glad I have the option to choose. Either way, doing these in the field might prove to be tricky, unless you're prepared.


SX70 Fade to Black Mosaic, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Polaroid SX-70 classic camera, Polaroid Fade to Black film. Approximately 24 hours development.



Polaroid SX-70 classic camera, Polaroid/Polapremium Fade to Black film. Approximately 5-1/2 hours development.