Mars from his garden!

[martin-w 3,234]

Stunning that its possible to capture such superb images of Mars with simple equipment.

 

BBC News - Student ‘blown away’ after capturing Mars from garden
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-54798539

Edited November 8, 2020 by martin-w

[out 769]

Awesome, indeed! 😍

[CW46 101]

I have been a hobby astronomer for many years and the single biggest break through in imaging for amateurs was the development of relatively inexpensive CCD and more recently CMOS based cameras which can produce images like the one posted. I spent many evenings using black and white Tech Pan film back in the day having no idea how even a single negative frame turned out until the film strip was developed. These days many short exposures are stacked and processed in software while discarding any bad frames. The technology provides almost instant gratification.

[martin-w 3,234]

Yep. I was a proffesional photographer in the days when we sloshed stuff around in developer. 

So diferent these days.

[HighBypass 2,339]

I was a kid with a Kodak camera which used 110 film (Tele Ektra 32 I think) in the days when Truprint sloshed stuff around in the developer after I'd posted off my film cartridges 

"Look! I captured that British Airways 727 on approach"... "Where? All I can see is sky and clouds.."... "THERE! That dark, pointy shape!" 

[W2DR 1,859]

3 hours ago, martin-w said:

Yep. I was a proffesional photographer in the days when we sloshed stuff around in developer. 

So diferent these days.

Wow, the memories. Way back in the olden days when I was a young lad of 14 I was lucky enough to get a job making prints for the local portrait photographer. Chemicals, chemicals, chemicals.....yeeeeech. But I did learn how to make great enlargements of the really good looking women 🙂

[martin-w 3,234]

17 hours ago, W2DR said:

Chemicals, chemicals, chemicals.....yeeeeech. But I did learn how to make great enlargements of the really good looking women 🙂

 

Chemicals indeed. Developer, stop bath, fixer... a foreign language these days. 

[HighBypass 2,339]

12 minutes ago, martin-w said:

a foreign language these days. 

..and yet still very much available I believe... even in 110 cartridge...

https://shop.lomography.com/en/films/110-film

 

[martin-w 3,234]

3 hours ago, HighBypass said:

..and yet still very much available I believe... even in 110 cartridge...

https://shop.lomography.com/en/films/110-film

 

 

I'm wondering if you can still get 120 roll film. And the 5x4 film for dark slides that we used with the Sinar  studio cameras.

I remember the Paterson dev tanks well. Not sure if you had them in US. You loaded the 120 film into a spiral and popped it into the tank. Once the lid was on you could develop in daylight.

[HighBypass 2,339]

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

Not sure if you had them in US

I presume you're not asking me.. 

120 roll film - yes and loads more..

https://shop.lomography.com/en/films

I'm not on commission from them, just found them when reminiscing about 110 cartridges 

[martin-w 3,234]

It was the Paterson developer tanks I meant. Wondered if you had them in the US. You must have used something like it.

 

Ha, you can still get them. 😆 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000BZMIH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabt1_cSgRFbY7MY2YH

Edited November 11, 2020 by martin-w

[CW46 101]

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

It was the Paterson developer tanks I meant. Wondered if you had them in the US. You must have used something like it.

 

Ha, you can still get them. 😆 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000BZMIH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabt1_cSgRFbY7MY2YH

I used some very similar here in the USA, I forget whatever brand it was but the trick one had to learn was getting the film loaded into the of the plastic wheel sprockets that held the strip. I used a light proof changing bag to practice with a roll of unexposed film. Open the film canister using a bottle opener, load the film strip on to the wheel sprockets (easier said than done when you can not actually see what you are doing), put the lid on, remove from the changing bag, pour in the developer and agitate for what ever time the developer required then remove from the tank in a dark room. When you think about it was a lot of effort but unless you had a local source to develop film it required a two week turn around to use a professional source. Most local photo shops sent the B&W film out for development as the demand was not enough to do in house.

Edited November 12, 2020 by CW46

[n4gix 4,947]

5 hours ago, martin-w said:

It was the Paterson developer tanks I meant. Wondered if you had them in the US. You must have used something like it.

I had them and used them a lot for roll film. They were very easy to use! There were many places in Tehran, Iran that sold photographic supplies, so it was a neat (if sometimes expensive) hobby.

[martin-w 3,234]

Tell you what was tricky... when we used them proffesionally and were processing a lot of film, there was little time for the spirals to dry. Slight blob of moisture as you were trying to feed the film in was a disaster. We used to have to dry them in a cabinet.

For 5x4 film it was a lot easier. Unload the slide in the dark, clip onto the hanger and dunk in the big tank. Occasional rattle to agitate and remove bubbles. Agitation also moved the developer away from the surface so it could be replaced with fresh.

Kids these days have no idea how easy they have it. 🙂

[HighBypass 2,339]

4 minutes ago, martin-w said:

Kids these days have no idea how easy they have it. 🙂

Indeed. They just use their telephones!  🍻