16mm adventures

[Flighter]

So as not to pollute the 'Show us yer film shots then!' thread with cell phone pics I've started this thread:

The film - slightly past its best by date but still gave a good showing

I did take another picture of the can with the Mamiya but due to a technical error (I missed focus) it wasn't usable.


Loading the 'Mamiya 16 Automatic'

Like a Leica, it's a bottom loader!


Developing - the Paterson Universal 3 has a reel that can be adjusted for 16mm, 35mm, 127 and 120/620.

It only needs 160ml for a 16mm film but to make the arithmetic for mixing up the Caffenol easier I splashed out and used 200ml.

 

[auntiemaryscanary]

I'll keep an eye out for one of those tanks! Ooh, off to search an auction site for one of these cameras too...

 

[Flighter]

The Paterson spiral - the top half can slide up and down the central stem which has 4 click stops to select the required film size. It does mean that you are limited to only one 16mm film at a time in the tank unless more than one film is loaded in the same spiral. As a 35mm 36 exposure film is around 5ft and the Mamiya 16 film is 1.5ft it should. e possible to fit 3 films into the spiral.


The throat for pouring in liquid is quite narrow, not a problem for 16mm but I wonder how it goes for 120 film?

 

[Flighter]

Johnsons of Hendon also made a universal tank which could take 16mm:


Paterson on the left, Johnsons on the right.


The Johnsons reel, the black retainer at the top screws off and the white spacers can be placed in different sequences to get the required spacing for the chosen film size.


Throat for pouring in chemicals is again quite narrow.

 

[Flighter]

The camera, a Mamiya 16 Automatic.

It's an Automatic, Jim, but not as we know it! Automatic here simply means that the lightmeter dial that you turn to match the selected shutter speed with the light meter needle is mechanically linked to the aperture blades, so that as you match the shutter speed to the light meter needle, the aperture is 'automatically' adjusted.

Per Wikipedia, it was launched in August 1959.


Lens is a 25mm Mamiya-Sekor f2.8, stopping down to f16. Closest focus is 1 foot. Per the instruction manual, wide open at closest focus the depth of field is +/- 1/4 inch.
Image size on film is 10mm x 14mm. There is a PC socket on camera base plate with accessory shoe on the side for flash. Size is 104×32×48mm and weight 270g.

 

[Flighter]

A couple more shots from my first roll put through the camera.
Ilford Pan F Cine Film metered at ASA 10
Caffenol C-L semi-stand development for 70mins at 20°C

View from the front door:


And again, with the yellow filter slid across in front of the lens


One of the chimney pots from the cottage, now no longer on the chimney


Bearing the name of Perceton Fire Clay Works near Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. Perceton was taken over by J & M Craig in 1862 so it probably dates from before then.

 

[zx9]

I'll keep an eye out for one of those tanks! Ooh, off to search an auction site for one of these cameras too...

I was sure I had seen one of the old Paterson universal tanks in my inherited darkroom kit, having looked it is a Paterson Major 3 and not reservable like the Universal 3 above which is a shame because you could have had it for the cost of postage.

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

Having had a play with 110 last year ( first time ever in my 54 years) I have to say I really love it and was really impressed with just how good it was from a none adjustable cheap consumer camera. Thank you Lomography for bringing it back ! Keep up the good work James.

 

[Craig1912]

Here’s my 16mm Minolta- not used for a long time. I’ll see if I can scan some prints. Not sure if film is still available but I might sell it anyway as it’s a waste just stuck in a cupboard

 

[Flighter]

Here’s my 16mm Minolta- not used for a long time. I’ll see if I can scan some prints. Not sure if film is still available but I might sell it anyway as it’s a waste just stuck in a cupboard

It would be great if you could scan some photos, I'd like to see them.

As to film, other than for 110 cameras where Lomography still sell it, for both the Minolta and Mamiya 16mm cameras it's a matter of either using 16mm cine film, or using a film splitter to cut down 35mm film, and then loading into the cassettes. Finding cassettes has always been an issue (amplified by the fact that Minolta and Mamiya used different cassettes) but 3D printed ones are now available off Ebay.

 

[lindsay]

As James said for film. FYI Analogue Wonderland sell the Lomography 110 film and also have some expired stock for sale by the look of it. Plus movie 16mm

 

[Craig1912]

As James said for film. FYI Analogue Wonderland sell the Lomography 110 film and also have some expired stock for sale by the look of it. Plus movie 16mm

Thanks I’ve just seen this and they sell the cartridges too.

50D Colour - Minolta 16 Film

16mm Unperforated Film 25 feet on daylight spool / Daylight Balanced / 50 iso / Process: ECN-2 This is BULK FILM ONLY for re-loading your Minolta Film Cartridge (or 110 cartridge). Cartridges are not included. Film Handling Notification (to avoid leaks and fogging): All of our Minolta 16 film...

analoguewonderland.co.uk

 

[Flighter]

I've now shot a third test roll, using a different cassette and I am still getting scratches. I'm now thinking that it is the pressure plate that is causing it so I will see if I can get the plate out to polish it.

There is also a wad of something causing an unsightly black splodge at the top (circled in white not as I posted wrong picture but on top towards left!) which was also on the second test roll. I had originally thought it was some fibres of the velvet light trap poking out from the old cassette but I think that it's actually fibres which have detached themselves from the velvet light seals of the old cassette; running a post it note down the film plane produced this:



A couple more shots from the third test roll:



Mamiya 16 Automatic with Mamiya Sekor 25mm f2.8 lens
Time expired Ilford Pan F Cine Film (develop before May 1968 - 55 years ago!!)
Semi-stand developed in Caffenol C-L for 70 mins at 20°C

 

[Flighter]

I put a fourth test roll of my time expired 55 + year old Ilford Pan F cine film through the Mamiya yesterday. Polishing the pressure plate may have got rid of the scratches. I can't be sure until I put another roll through as I used my other new 3D printed cassette which has no velvet light seals in it yet so there is still the possibility that the scratches come from the velvet. At least the bulk roll is not scratched. Picture is of a geum flower.
Memo #1 to self: Keep fingers away from the lens opening
Memo #2 to self: If you want to take bird pictures a subminiature with a 25mm lens is not the best choice! Picture is of mama blackbird feeding one of her chicks.
An indoor shot to see if the flash synch works. A small Rollei E 15B flash was mounted in the cold shoe on the side of the Mamiya and connected with a PC cord.
Of course, some new problem has reared its head, a number of the images have a darker band along the bottom (or side where portrait orientation used). Such is life!

 

[Flighter]

Finally got around to developing my fifth test roll, the aim was to confirm that it was the pressure plate and not the velvet light traps in the cassettes that were causing the scratching; the last test roll had no scratches but it had used a cassette without light traps so I didn't know if it was the pressure plate or the light traps that had previously caused the scratching.

Whilst this roll had no scratching I still don't know the answer for sure as the light traps on one chamber of the cassette were pulled off during loading film into the cassette. As the other chamber retained its velvet light traps though it does look like it was the pressure plate that was the culpruit.

When loading this test roll I struggled to find the start of the bulk roll and that, along with the self adhesive velvet light trap being pulled off one chamber marked the film in places so some of the images were pretty degraded.

Here are a couple of the better ones, showing work beginning to convert Fairlie Castle (which dates from the 15th century) into a house with a new roof being put in place.


Mamiya 16 Automatic with Mamiya Sekor 25mm f2.8 lens
Time expired Ilford Pan F Cine Film (develop before May 1968 - 55 years ago!!)
Semi-stand developed in Caffenol C-L for 70 mins at 20°C

 

[auntiemaryscanary]

Mamiya 16 Automatic with Mamiya Sekor 25mm f2.8 lens

Looking good @Flighter . Of course no felt light traps, no risk of scratches from them but a changing bag/darkroom is then essential.

I keep hanging my nose over a Mamiya 16 something but find excuses not to commit... mainly that 4 versions of Minolta 16's is more than enough in the 16mm world.

 

[lindsay]

This is great to follow as a thread, but also frustrating - I know that my dad bought a Minolta 16 when we were in Hong Kong early 70's, I think it was intended for my mum to keep in her handbag, but I've not seen it since then - I wonder if he traded it in for the Olly XA2 that was amongst his camera collection when I inherited. I was tempted to have a go at 16mm but I have too many other photographic GAS acquisitions to play with already - currently a Pentax Auto 110 for which thankfully film is relatively available.

 

[Flighter]

Of course no felt light traps, no risk of scratches from them but a changing bag/darkroom is then essential.

True, but i have the (silly) idea of being able to set off with the Mamiya and a couple of loaded cassettes and reloading on the fly! Will probably never happen though.

... mainly that 4 versions of Minolta 16's is more than enough in the 16mm world.

That's what I keep telling myself about 35mm and MF - you can only use so many cameras and I don't want them just sitting on a shelf.

 

[Flighter]

This is great to follow as a thread, but also frustrating - I know that my dad bought a Minolta 16 when we were in Hong Kong early 70's, I think it was intended for my mum to keep in her handbag, but I've not seen it since then - I wonder if he traded it in for the Olly XA2 that was amongst his camera collection when I inherited. I was tempted to have a go at 16mm but I have too many other photographic GAS acquisitions to play with already - currently a Pentax Auto 110 for which thankfully film is relatively available.

The Mamiya 16 was my dad's but I can never remember it being used (probably due to the issues with getting film) so I'm happy it's now getting some use after all these years. The first camera I remember from my childhood days was a No. 1 Pocket Kodak and that was the first camera I ever used.