Thanks for the suggestions, Drew. Finger cots - good idea. It still concerns me that Ilford sheets stick to themselves in high humidity, both before and after exposure. When loading the holders I have to fan the stack of film, to break it up and make sure that two do not get inserted instead of one. Same procedure in loading the JOBO reel. None of this has been a concern in 20 years of T-Max 100. My other option of course is just to migrate back and pay the extra $$$.
The original FP4 was actually interleafed with thin paper between the film sheets. FP4-plus is a little tougher, so they don't bother with that. Usually I
pre-load holders if I'm taking a view camera to the Islands. I did use a film tent on Kauai once; but that was TMax film and the evenings were relatively comfortable rather than humid. I've heard of people having roll film swell and jam in cameras in the Islands; but I've never personally had any kind of problem with roll film there. Perhaps they left film in the camera way too long before shooting it.
I might give FP4+ a go if it is a bit tougher, as you say. I can still buy it here in Honolulu at Treehouse Photo. Perhaps the interaction with high humidity will be different - wonʻt know until I try. I shoot often in Kona, where the major problem these days is the vog. After 11 on many days (depending on wind) the haze from Kilauea blows in and plays havoc with the tonal range. Or not, depending on the effect you want. Forget those fluffy white clouds for sureOriginally Posted by Drew Wiley
Hmmm. We've been experiencing Godfather Movie light the last few days due to forest fire smoke above a layer of fog - really a lovely amber colored light. But I'm not going to photograph in it because I don't want all the fine white ashfall on my gear. Just rinsed a bunch of it off the cars and patio. The wind is due to shift over the next couple of days and then I'll go shoot again. The only time I photographed Kilauea crater it wasn't doing anything, but made an interesting shot anyway. There was a lava flow near the shore then, and some German tourist walked onto too thin a skin of lava and fell through - instantly
incinerated. We mainly visit Maui. Every time something seems to happen there too. Last trip it was someone peering into a blowhole and getting sucked in by a wave to disappear forever, and then the time before that some drunken businessman was out on a kayak with his buddies and wanted to get a close-up cellphone shot of a big shark by sitting on the front of the kayak with his legs dangling in the water - got pulled in and fatally bitten. Then the last time we were in Kauai someone tried crossing a stream during a flashflood and disappeared over the cliff; but it was nowhere as big a storm as this past winter there. Can't recall ever having film issues in the Islands, with either b&w or color film. But we're there only 8 or 10 days at
a time.
Oh, thatʻs right. Forest fires - probably the functional equivalent of vog. I photograph in Kona and Kohala, but am leaving all the lava shots to others. Thatʻs become such a cliché. And yes, this can be a dangerous place below the pretty surface. I remember a surfer commenting after some fatal shark attack that when you enter the ocean, you enter the food chain.
Cycling back to this thread, does anyone know of a good source of information about Pyrocat HD reduced agitation development? Is that the same as stand development? I'm interested in doing some tests, although that sounds like I would have to give the JOBO (ATL 1500) a rest. If I am testing HP4+ anyway, might as well test a new development workflow at the same time.
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