If you have read my previous post you would understand now why I said that the long journey to film world started there. I so loved the first test of the film that I have decided to continue with such film reviews. This time I decided to test some expired film. eBay had one of the Primera films for £2 (exp. date: 2005) so I decided to go ahead and try it. I did not know much about expired film except that I would need to slow down on ISO by at least 1 stop (general rule: 1 stop per decade). This became my main challenge. Taking pictures at ISO 50 is not very simple task in cloudy and rainy Autumn. I had problems finding good weather and friends at the same time (I have a full time job as well). The only benefit I had - only 24 Exposures. So I invited a friend of mine for small photoshoot and this has helped me to get rid of the first 10 shots. The rest was done here and there. I am sharing only the ones that I feel comfortable with. This time I borrowed Zenit 122 and Helios 85 F1.5. I knew I needed more light so I chose this lens and camera for Primera Perutz film. That was a real pain to use but more about technical stuff can be found on the bottom of this page. Again, the shots are unedited, straight scans from my local lab. I kept the same goal - see how this film captures skin tones of people.
Enjoy!
Perutz Primera Color 100
Camera: Zenit 122
Lens: Helios 40-2-C 85mm f/1.5
Location: outised and inside a building
Challenges:
The expired film needed a lot of light - it was raining most of the time here.
I did not know if that old film will capture any image at all, the reviews on the internet were mixed.
Zenit 122 - really hard-to-use camera. The Exposure meter led is very poor. It did not work sometimes so we had to stop photoshoot several times (new battery was inserted in the beginning of the test review).
Helios 85mm is a very crazy lens to use because of the aperture rings which are two and should be learned how to use prior to photoshoot :)
Personal opinion: I did not like the film that much. It gave me pale colours, little contrast. I am sure the lab had to do something here too, but the plain scan looks too plain for me. This is not the film that I would ever use again. I do not say it is not worth its money and you may still like the colours. I did not. Skin tone is not preserved even though some images look OK.
Edited in Lightroom shots look a bit better but still lacks the sharpness and contrast:
RAW: Edited:
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