Today’s Post by Joe Farace
In my post about National Photo Month I challenged my readers—and myself —to load a favorite 35mm camera with a roll of film and Snap a Frame a Day in May. Since there are 31 days in the month and 36 frames on that roll of film, the thrifty amongst might use those extra five frames to make “mystery” shots on certain days, like my birthday!
Next I asked that we all have the film processed and scanned and suggested that photographers might want to post one of the images each day during June, 2022 on their favorite social media. Since June is National Great Outdoors Month that could be a unifying theme. My own theme turned out to be My Boring-A*s Life and I decided to show all of the images in one of my Joe Farace Live podcasts. Look for it on YouTube real soon now. I’ll post something about when it’s available on Instagram (@joefarace.)
The film I used in May was a 36 exposure roll Adox CHS 100 II ISO 100 that was purchased from Freestyle Photo Imaging & Supplies for $8.49 as part of Joe’s Film Box series. The original Adox CHS 100 was a popular film originally produced by Fotoimpex in Germany but was discontinued in 2012 because of the unavailability of its spectral sensitizer. ADOX CHS 100 is an orthopanchromatically sensitized B/W film that has classical grain and a sensitization the New Adox says is “optimized for greyscale separation.”
The film is made from two separate emulsions that are combined into a single layer and supposedly has wide exposure latitude, something I put to the test during my month-long shoot. To enhance sharpness, it has an anti-halation layer between the emulsion and the base. Because of the film’s classic sensitization, it features “harmonic tonal separation.” In addition to 35mm, it’s also available in 120, 4×5 & 8×10 sizes. More details about the film will appear in an upcoming Film Review.
The camera I used for National Photo Month was a Canon AE-1 because it was a popular camera from the heyday of the 35mm SLR. I ended up using two lenses during May: The FD 50mm f/1.8 and the FD 50mm f/3.5 macro lens, not that I did much macro photography. It’s just how it worked out when I borrowed the 50mm f/1.8 for my Canon A-1 when shooting Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 film as part of a two part Film Review and Field Test at a Cars & Coffee event. I ended up shooting the AE-1 and the FD 50mm f/3.5 macro lens for my “shot of the day” of a two-door Subaru WRX at that event.
Using a 44-year old camera during the month was not without a little drama and it was first relegated to having to replace the AE-1’s battery. The Duracell 28L (lithium) battery only lasted six months not a year as recommended in the Magic Lantern Guide. I stole the lithium battery from my A-1 but replaced that battery with the less expensive alkaline version, which will my plan going forward with my other A-series cameras, except the AL-1, which uses AAA’s. and the AE-1 Program which specifies the use of a Lithium battery. Then the A winder attached to the AE-1 died. Winder problems have been a thing with all of my Canon A-series cameras but where A and A2 winders were once cheap and plentiful, they are neither at this time. I have/had three winders and one MA motor drive and I’m going to leave it that way for a while.
This post is a preview to the forthcoming video might will answer any questions question you might have after watching it.
If you would like to send me another kind of film to review or any other stuff that could be used for these posts and my videos you can mail it to: Joe Farace, PO BOX 2081, PARKER, CO 80134