Impossible Project PX100 Test Film - Photos with Bridget

As promised in my previous post I am back to share some more photos of Bridget. This time on Impossible Project's PX100 test film. Being the first shoot that I've had in a while where I was able to work outside due to an unseasonably warm spring, these were shot in a couple different locations around the Cleveland area. The first two from the lower beach/breakers around Edgewater park, and, the second two from a random little alleyway downtown behind the Halle building.

These were both shot using an original model SX-70. Temperature outside was somewhere near 55-60 degrees f - and just to be safe I did keep these in a pocket to be sure it was warm enough for development. The alleyway that I took the next two in was a little darker, so, without a tripod the slightly longer exposure time did give me a bit of motion blur and a softer image.

And finally, just for good measure, I like to remind people sometimes that I do in fact still shoot digitally on a semi regular basis. This is especially true when I am shooting fashion and portrait work for mine or someone else's portfolio. So, below are two of the images that I recently finished from the above alley set. Enjoy.

Impossible Project Old Generation PX70 PUSH & Website Re-design launched

I had a great shoot this past weekend with a model named Bridget whom I had not shot with before. I ended up with a ton of great selects, and, got the chance to work with some of the Old Generation PX70 PUSH that I purchased a few months back. The results were surprising.

Despite having recently read about this film (and despite the fact that I've shot more frames of this film than any other film) I forgot how long the development process can really be - somewhere around 12 hours or so for the final results. Immediately out of camera (and by immediately I mean about an hour later) the film was almost entirely magenta/pink in color. The image was there, but, hard to make out in some cases and really had no color other than the magenta PUSH is known for.

I scanned each about two hours after shooting, somewhat disappointed with my results, but then came in to my office this morning (about a day and a half later) to find them looking completely different. So, I scanned them again, and figured I would share the results side by side. This might help anyone who purchased the 10 pack of Old Gen PUSH from Impossible a while back and have been discouraged with their results early on - remember, don't judge the photo immediately and throw it out. Hang on to it for a day or two and see what really develops.


Here are some samples (click for full view):

As you can see, the images are quite different two days later. More color, more contrast, better tones. Of course, you still have to shoot PUSH properly to get this far. Use bright light (possibly even a flashbar), make sure the image doesn't get exposed to any light at all when it comes out of the camera and keep the image warm. It was about 60 degrees at the time I shot these images and I still kept them up against my body for quite a while to help with development. Hopefully this little review helps some people out who purchased this film and are having trouble with it or who have never shot it before.


Now, on to one other bit of news. After quite a bit of neglect, my personal site has finally been rethought, redesigned and recently updated for anyone who might be interested in taking a look. 

Where it used to remain solely dedicated to my digital portfolio I have decided to now include some of my favorite work using instant and traditional films as well. I've become so involved in analog photography over the past couple years that it seems only right to expand my website to include this work. So, if you get the chance, please do visit the site and let me know what you think, or, if anything isn't working for you.


Thanks, and keep an eye out for my next post which will have some really great PX100 images that I also shot this weekend.

Impossible Project PX100 Test Film - Lunch and a Pack of Impossible

After yesterday's lunch time outing with my camera and a few shots of PX 680 Gold Frame, I thought it would be fun to spend today's lunch break walking the city with an entire pack of Impossible's PX 100 test film. The idea was to shoot the entire pack in (approximately) the hour that I have for lunch and then return to the office to scan, crop and post all 8 images. It's kind of like my own little 8 Exposures, except, the 8 images in this post are from a single outing and single pack of film. 

I was of course aware when I went out that not all 8 of my photos would be perfect, but, they would be an honest 8 exposures - which is why I have decided to post all of them here whether I like them or not. Either way, it was a fun little exercise and something I think I will likely do again. Perhaps the next time Impossible releases a new film.

Without further ado, here are my 8 photos presented in the order they were taken. Enjoy!

1. Key Tower

2. The Osborn

3. Building Lines

4. Crossing Reflection

5. Saxaphone Player w/ Leg

6. Restaurant Window

7. W St Clair

8. Downtown RTA

Impossible Project PX 680 Gold Frame - Lunchtime walks

I'm not sure why it's taken me five years of working downtown to figure it out, but, I am easily able to walk down to the waterfront during my lunch break. So, this week, that's just what I've done... pick up lunch down the road, walk down to the waterfront, find a nice place to sit and spend my lunch hour there. It's pretty quiet and peaceful compared to the Warehouse district where my office is located. It doesn't appear that there are a lot of people who go down there during lunch either, so it's been pretty relaxing too.

Today I took my SX70 sonar and the last of the pack of PX 680 Goldframe that I had loaded in it. These two are my favorite images of the day. This PX 680 really impresses me more and more every time I shoot it. It has such great accurate colors, contrast and sharpness. The development time for these still took quite awhile despite it being 70 or so degrees today (probably averaging about 30-40 mins for final development), but, when you see the final results with this film you really can't complain too much.


I think I might take a walk in another direction tomorrow and shoot some of my remaining PX 100 test film along the way...

Impossible Project PX 680 Gold Frame & Fuji FP-3000B45 - Tyler

My sister and her family were in town for a visit this weekend and to help celebrate my getting old. This little guy is Tyler - my nephew. He is only still enough to take photos of when he is dead asleep (especially when you are trying to shoot with a big 4x5), so, while he was knocked out on Sunday I grabbed these two shots of him. Above, Fuji FP-3000B45 in a Crown Graphic, and below, Impossible Project's PX 680 Gold Frame in an SX70 sonar.

This is only my fourth photo out of my first pack of this Gold Frame film, but each one has looked pretty good so far. The colors and contrast of this film are pretty awesome. The development time seems to go on for quite a while though... this particular photo probably took about a half hour to look like this when left alone on a table at around 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit. Still... I think this film is worth the wait.

Fuji FP-3000B45 - Crown Graphic 4x5 - Huntington Reservation

Yesterday was one of those 60-something days in the middle of March. That, of course, led to a long drive and some time taking photos in a few different spots along the lake. I had my Crown Graphic with me, but, in a moment of brilliance, had only brought a pack of Fuji FP-3000B45. 3000 speed film on a bright sunny day with a camera that will only shoot at 1/400 of a second just doesn't add up. So, since this was one of the few times I only had one extra camera with me, I ended up shooting with that - a 35mm Canon Ftb loaded up with some 32 iso Rollei ATP. I will get that developed sooner or later.


Since my obsession with my new camera runs pretty deep though (and because I came across this location that I absolutely needed to shoot) I ended up going back out last night near sunset. I found the 3000B45 a lot more difficult to work with than expected, but after a few shots I came up with the photo posted above. This one was taken after sunset, somewhere near 8pm, with a 1 sec exposure. At the time it was dark enough I could barely make anything out on the ground glass and I wasn't sure how this film would handle the longer exposure. To my surprise (and delight) it handled it quite well... probably one of my favorite photos I've taken in a long time.

Impossible Project PX 680 Old Gen - Shot in Crown Graphic 4x5

I spent most of Friday driving along the Lake Erie Coastal Trail with a couple of cameras. I had taken the day off with the promise of temps around 60 degrees. Unfortunately, that never really happened, but I still enjoyed the back road drive from Cleveland up to Erie, PA. I definitely didn't take as many photos as I had hoped, but there are a few decent ones to share.


The three that I am posting today were something of an experiment. While browsing through different resources for my new Crown Graphic 4x5 I stumbled upon flickr user Patrick J Clarke and his experimental runs of integral films through a large format camera. It sounded like an interesting idea so I figured before I headed out for the weekend I would load one of my Old Gen packs of Impossible Project's PX 680 into my 4x5 sheet holders to see what I could get.

The process is definitely more work than just popping a pack of film into your SX70 or 600. In a darkroom I transferred each shot individually out of it's film cartridge, placed it in the desired position in the 4x5 sheet film holder, taped it down and placed the dark slide over top. I then measured out and cut a matte for the ground glass of the camera so that I would know approximately what area of the viewable ground glass was covering the PX680 below. All in all, it turned out to be pretty accurate. 


After exposing the film I just placed the sheet film  holders back into my case and went along my way. It wasn't until hours later that I used a dark bag to remove them from the holders, place them back into an empty Impossible pack and run them through a 600 for development.

The work can be a little tedious, but there are definitely some positives to shooting the Impossible film this way too. Full manual control over exposure is the most obvious advantage, but, what I found most helpful is that I didn't have to worry about temperature. These were all taken outdoors with temps running below 40 degrees fahrenheit, but, since I didn't have to develop them immediately that temperature didn't matter as much. Once I was back inside and the film had returned to room temperature I developed and got the results you see here.


Sure, this takes the instant out of instant film, but I did enjoy myself and find it interesting to experiment with this film in different ways whenever I can. I think I still have a few issues to work out with the process in order to get the best results, so, I'll probably run a couple more packs through this way.