1 four 1 challenge!
1 film through 4 cameras in one day! Not a new or novel idea and I am
sure quite a few of you have swapped out films mid roll, I haven't. I read
about it a while back in a Contaflex instruction manual and mentioned to
Russell one day I might give it a go. In true Russell fashion he ran with it,
and grew it to a 4 camera challenge…how could I refuse!
Pentax was chosen as the grouping, they are most familiar to me, a
mid-60s Spotmatic SP. A mid-70s K1000, a late 70s Me Super and a mid-80s P30.
All had 50mm lenses except the P30 which we fitted with a Sigma super wide 24mm
for fun! This will in no way be any sort of camera review, it is just me
testing myself once more. The bonus of course is Russell gets 4 cameras film
tested… sneaky!
Conditions and process – A 24 exposure Ilford FP4+ as my favourite film
choice, all shots would be through a K2 yellow filter metered externally with
my spot meter. I set shadows in Zone 4 and let highlights fall wherever. I
developed in Ilford ID-11 1:1 mix with approx 10% reduction development time to
be on the safe side as it was a very bright sunny day. I would load and start
all cameras on frame 0, shoot 5 and rewind till the tab just fell of the
roller. Load the next then fire through used frames with shutter at fastest,
aperture at smallest and lens cap on and hand over it. I added a blank frame in
between each set… I also used a mini changing bag but this isn't supposed to be
needed.
How did it go? Pretty well! Well I think so, I enjoyed all the cameras,
I had never shot a K1000 so that was fun, I dreaded the P30 as it looked a bit
plastic fantastic but it actually was rather nice to use. I forgot the Me Super
wasn't mine and found it had no batteries but shot it easily at its standard 1/125th
. I think the Sigma wide showed
more contrast and is different to what I am used too, see what you think. I
expected lots of scratches but none so all was well. I got all the frames in,
missed one spacer but hey ho and still ended will 23 frames! I now have the
confidence to swap film out in the field which is nice to know and handy… enjoy
the pics!
