I made a bold resolution at the turn of the new year. You can check out the original post here: [ https://warrenworks.com/hello-2025-a-year-on-film/ ] In it I said I’d select one film camera from my collection each month and use it to make images. Little did I realize what a tall order that was.
For my January camera I selected the legendary Nikon FM2n Black along with the Noct-NIKKOR 58mm f1.2 and dressed it up in its black leather Luigi Half Case. I loaded a roll of long-expired Kodak Portra 400 and then proceeded to take over two months to shoot 36 exposures. Yup, I need to get out more. And although I fell short of my resolution goals, I just enjoy carrying around a classic camera, whether it’s every day, once week, once a month, or whenever the mood strikes me.
Finally, towards the end of February, I finished the roll. Time to develop film. I figured I’d also develop a roll of film I’d stored in a lead-lined bag for almost 10 years, but when I put the two rolls of film on the desk, I realized they were different processes. The Portra is C-41 while the FujiChrome Velvia 100 is E-6. OK, time for two development runs. Double the pleasure!
Not only was the film ten years old, so were the Rapid E-6 chemicals. This became clearly apparent when I started to mix them. The developer had started to crystalize and precipitate, which made thoroughly mixing it challenging. Eventually, I reached a point where it looked ready to go.
Color film processing is a unique pain-in-the-ass. You must keep the chemicals at a constant temperature, usually around 100 degrees or so. Black and White film processing is much more forgiving and can be done at room temperature. Another annoying thing that happens when I develop color film is the chemicals leak out from around the tank lid. This does not happen with the black and white chemicals. (I have a few fixes up my sleeve I’ll write more about in another post.)
To keep the color chemicals at the proper temperature I use an aquarium tank heater. One could also use a Sous Vide cooker, a device I’m looking forward to trying out soon.
I made the FujiChrome Velvia images with my trusty Yashica Mat 124 G twin lens reflex (TLR) camera. [https://warrenworks.com/project/yashica-mat-124-g/] Processing these images and opening the tank at the end felt like opening a time machine. I love to slowly unroll the film from the development reel during the final wash process and inspect each image. [ See my post: https://warrenworks.com/for-the-love-of-film/ ]
While most of the 12 images turned out OK, the only real interesting picture of the lot was of my dear aunt and her friend taken at Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm after Easter dinner. Why I waited ten years to develop this film is beyond me. I think I was waiting until I had four rolls of film so I wouldn’t waste the chemicals, but because the chemicals were not ten years old, I did a one-shot run.
I cleaned up the darkroom and washed and dried the development gear, and prepped for the C-41 process run. Again, while these chemicals were not ten years old, they were not fresh, and the Portra film was expired. I also slowed down the development process by lowering the development temperature to 85 degrees. I did notice some color shifts in the negatives, but I’ll have to experiment to see if it’s the chemicals, temperature, or the expired film.
If several of the images below look black and white it’s because the color shift on those images was particularly challenging and I desaturated the image or added a Black and While layer in Photoshop.
I think I’ll throw out my One-Camera-a-Month new year’s resolution and continue to use the January Camera until the wind shifts and I’m moved by the mysterious, invisible spirit to switch.
Rick Miller
9 March 2025
Falls Church, Virginia