Lawrence Photographic

Film is still very much around and in demand, especially for those photographers who have become fed up with digital photography and have a hankering to build and use their own darkrooms to develop, enlarge and produce their own prints for gallery exhibitions. Invariably digital scans are taken from the print or the film negative for web display promotion.

Building a very 'basic development' darkroom set-up is no more complicated than transferring your film from it's cassette into a developer tank reel using a black changing bag and then working at the kitchen sink with chemicals to produce the negatives. If you have a bathroom without a window, no light under the door and a shower bay, you are laughing as it is the perfect dust free environment to transfer the film to the development tank (then put on the light) develop it and hang up the developed negatives to dry off. The printing of the negatives requires more thought as you require a larger room for an enlarger, print developing trays and lit by a special darkroom light.

My preferences are for developing Black + White and Colour Reversal 'Slide' Film which are relatively easy to manage, although if you are using a water heater to keep a large open plastic container full of water with all your chemical bottles at an even temperature, then Colour Negative Film should not prove a problem. The development kit below costs around £210.00 inclusive of vat and the 35mm B+W films vary in price with ILFORD 100 Delta costing (cheaper the more rolls you purchase) around £5.29 and Kodak T-MAX costing £4.78 per 36 shot roll.

ILFORD 100 DELTA Professional   and  Kodak T-MAX 100 Black + White Negative 35mm Film

Development Kits + Alternative 'Professional' Jobo CPP3 Film + Print Processor
I have listed all the necessary development kits and film below which are relatively inexpensive (around £210.00 per kit) and you can use the main kit parts (Nova Protonic Water Heater, Paterson Development Kit) for each type of film but there is a professional alternative to using a basic water heater to keep your water tank at an even temperature, a JOBO CPP3 Film + Print Processor (costs around £1,989.00) which has automatic agitation, automatic temperature control, freshness of chemical solution, built-in timer and suitable for all available colour and B/W films: Roll films s 135, 120 max 5/6 respectively, Sheet films 4 x 5 or 8 x 10 inches (max. 10/12 respectively) and Prints up to 20 x 24 inches.

Jobo stopped production of its rotary processors in 2010. In doing so it became the last manufacturer to market a range of film processing machines to photographers. With the resurgence in demand for film usage, reduced mini-lab sites and film processing in multiple retailers, they have decided to retool to make a new film processor that will be available in the last quarter of 2012. Based on the original design for the Jobo CPP2, the new CPP3 model has the capability to process all types of film and paper. It has accurate temperature control, timer and takes all JOBO tanks up to the 3000 Expert (sheet film tank system). The original CPP2 concept is also maintained in that it has both cog and magnet lid connection for use with a lift and normal rotary agitation.

The processor comes complete with the following accessories:
1x 2520 Developing Tank
1x 2502 Developing Tank Reel
1x 1504 Magnet

The internet offers links to darkroom chemicals, 'film' processors, water heaters, enlargers, accessories, scanners, many of which are second hand and inexpensive. In the UK, please visit FirstCall Photographic Ltd for darkroom and film supplies and DS Colour Labs Ltd for film development, digital scanning and printing.

FirstCall Photographic Ltd - http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/
DS Colour Labs Ltd - http://www.dscolour.co.uk/


 E6 Colour Reversal Film - Slide Development Kit

For more information on E6 development - Read More


 C41 Colour Negative Film Development Kit

 Black + White Negative Film Development Kit

 Digital Scanner


I use a Canon FS4000US film scanner to scan my negatives and slides and it works very well  but there are modern variants which offer greater resolution and image quality in the scan. This image was shot using a Zenit-E SLR camera with a Helios 44-2 58mm Lens (Zeiss Biotar f2 Clone) which I purchased back in the late 1960s. Click to open up a 1650 Pixel variant.

I started with 35mm film way back in the 1960s with a Zenit SLR and later an Olympus and then a Pentax. I gave up film in 2000 for digital but in 2009, I diversified and purchased a second hand Nikon FM3a SLR and some Nikon AI-S lenses. The price of second hand Nikon FM3a 'Film' SLR cameras is rising - who said film was dead? I bought mine in 'mint' condition for just over £400.00.

 Nikon FM3A SLR Camera Body


THE ULTIMATE! - Nikon's final manual camera. Built incorporating Nikon's 50 years of manual camera manufacture and thus the ultimate all-manual reflex camera. The Nikon FM3A is an interchangeable lens, focal plane shutter, 35 mm film, single-lens reflex (SLR) camera.

It was manufactured by Nikon Corporation in Japan, on small-volume assembly lines, from 2001 to 2006. The camera was available in two colours: all black, and satin chrome. The FM3A was the successor to the renowned Nikon FM2N camera of 1984 and was the last member of the successful, semi-professional line of Nikon compact 35 mm SLRs. The other members were the Nikon FM (released 1977), FE (1978), FM2 (1982) and FE2 (1983). They (and the Nikon FA) all used the superficially similar (but not identical) rugged copper aluminium alloy chassis and high-quality Nikon vertical bearing-mounted metal shutter and ball-bearing mounted film advance, but with improved feature levels, minor external controls and cosmetic differences.

The major improvements in the FM3A compared to the FM2N are the hybrid electro-mechanically controlled aluminium-bladed focal plane shutter, the aperture priority auto-exposure mode, the match-needle exposure control system and provision for through-the-lens (TTL) off-the-film (OTF) electronic flash automation. In other words, the FM3a merged the robust mechanical systems of the FM2N with the proven, reliable electronic exposure controls of the FE2. The FM3a is built to a high level of workmanship and material quality.



 Nikon F6 SLR Camera Body


The Nikon F6 Film SLR camera has refined performance: coming from a legendary series of Nikon F-mount cameras, the F6 provides film enthusiasts with an SLR of amazing precision and remarkable durability.

Efficient mechanics: the camera’s mechanical design offers maximum reliability and is optimized to minimize power consumption, operational noise and vibration.

Durable: built to withstand severe conditions, the F6 offers enhanced resistance to moisture, dust and extreme temperatures. It boasts an aluminum alloy die-cast chassis and a lightweight magnesium alloy front body.

11-area Multi-CAM2000 AF: the Multi-CAM 2000 Autofocus (AF) Sensor Module enables the camera’s high-speed, high-precision 11-area AF system with nine cross-type AF sensors. Offers four AF Area Modes: Single Area AF, Dynamic AF with Focus Tracking and Lock-On™, Closest Subject Priority Dynamic AF and Group Dynamic AF.

Precise exposure metering: 3D Color Matrix Metering with 1005-pixel RGB sensor offers outstanding precision. Flexible Center-Weighted metering provides the option to select the size of the sensing area from Custom Settings. Spot metering adapts to correspond with the focus area you’ve selected.

High-precision shutter unit: the highly durable self-diagnostic shutter unit with Kevlar/aluminum alloy shutter blades offers exceptional reliability and precision even at shutter speeds of up to 1/8,000 second.

High-speed mirror balancing: a sophisticated mirror balance mechanism helps to reduce camera shake that can result from mirror movement. The mirror completes its motion and reaches a full stop without any mirror bounce.

NIKKOR lenses: compatible NIKKOR lenses include all AF-D, AF-G and AF-S type lenses, AF NIKKORS, AF-S and AF-I Teleconverters, Non-D-type AF lenses, AI-P-type and AI-type lenses, Reflex-NIKKORS, PC-NIKKORS, D-type PC-NIKKORS, and AI-type Teleconverters*.

Nikon Creative Lighting System: the F6 is compatible with Nikon's Creative Lighting System that includes i-TTL Balanced Fill-Flash, Wireless Advance Lighting capability and AUTO FP High-Speed Sync capability up to 1/8000 second.

Classic design: carefully sculpted exterior design by GIUGIARO™.