Shelf Life

I'm a master of all trades, and a jack of none.

I have noticed, all my interests have a shelf life. Last week it was cameras, and accessories, this week week it is motorcycles. I am saving up for one, and I plan to get rid of my pickup bed and build my own flatbed, so I'll be learning welding in a couple months.

Yesterday, I finally got around to trying my hand at film processing. I mixed up all the chemicals I had and processed 3 roles of ISO 200 negative film (C-41).

While doing so, my mom happened by (as I was in my Grandma's kitchen) and read a little from the E-6 chemical instruction page I had sitting on the table. Apparently the chemicals only last a few days. This was a surprise to me, so I that evening, I looked it up with the aid of google.com, and, as much as I could find, sure enough, the chemicals don't last a week once opened, let alone mixed.

So, I finished up my role of Velvia 100 and processed it today. It was just a test role, as were the negatives I processed yesterday.

By looking at the image above, you may think it was under developed, but in fact, as a test role, I took several night shots. In fact, the pictures of the moon do appear to be over exposed. All the daylight stuff, look perfect. I can't wait to scan them in to make sure.

Yesterdays negatives came out flawless too. Although, yesterday I had a problem with scum spots on the dried film. I washed them off last light with isopropyl alcohol, which is recommended by Kodak, and they came out great, though I think I scratched the film in a couple places before moving to a lens cleaning cloth.

Anyway, chalk that up to another lesson and skill-set learned.