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I'm finally making real progress with the "difficult" Ferrania expired negative film. Early results were dreadfully grainy, but with the latest result - video link below - grain is not an issue at all.
The film was the first test of my 'new' Pathe Baby camera with Camo motor drive, as recommended by Simon here ;-) It's a beauty, and a bargain I think, in such good condition, with charger, for £45 + £15 postage. And it comes with the Zeiss lens too.
Here's the workflow I've settled on so far:
1) 13 feet up to 30 feet of film needs 2 litres of developer at least to bucket develop without squeezing the film too much to keep it covered in the chemicals
2) Use the fine grained developer Perceptol, stock solution, not 1+3. Stock gives better contrast and less grain
3) Over-expose when filming by a stop or more, as stock solution Perceptol reduces film speed by a stop
4) Expose even more than 1 stop, as overexposure reduces grain further
5) When doing the telecine, overexpose the digital image. This produces deeper dark tones and less grain when inverted.
Here's a couple of example frames. These are dark negatives in reality, but overexposed when being digitised.
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And here's the final result. Around 550 frames on a 13 foot length of film. I've probably gone too far with the dark tones and the contrast, but it's good to know it can be done this way if necessary in future. Filmed along Sawbridgeworth canal, UK
https://youtu.be/8Z1DmOacdq4
The film was the first test of my 'new' Pathe Baby camera with Camo motor drive, as recommended by Simon here ;-) It's a beauty, and a bargain I think, in such good condition, with charger, for £45 + £15 postage. And it comes with the Zeiss lens too.
Here's the workflow I've settled on so far:
1) 13 feet up to 30 feet of film needs 2 litres of developer at least to bucket develop without squeezing the film too much to keep it covered in the chemicals
2) Use the fine grained developer Perceptol, stock solution, not 1+3. Stock gives better contrast and less grain
3) Over-expose when filming by a stop or more, as stock solution Perceptol reduces film speed by a stop
4) Expose even more than 1 stop, as overexposure reduces grain further
5) When doing the telecine, overexpose the digital image. This produces deeper dark tones and less grain when inverted.
Here's a couple of example frames. These are dark negatives in reality, but overexposed when being digitised.
And here's the final result. Around 550 frames on a 13 foot length of film. I've probably gone too far with the dark tones and the contrast, but it's good to know it can be done this way if necessary in future. Filmed along Sawbridgeworth canal, UK
https://youtu.be/8Z1DmOacdq4
Attached Files
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