lets talk about that old favorite, black and white photography!

when was the last time you used b&w film? so long ago that you cant even recall? oh, thats bad news, then! i suppose its excusable, because we live in the digital age and its very easy to produce your digicam and pop off a few shots….no film to develop and no cost either….but whether or not we ever sit down and actually print out thos digital shots is another matter! a survey has found that 95% of digital photos never get printed out!

the other reason is that we’re afraid of wasting film, so we just leave it at that. what i say is, like that famous ad you see everywhere – Just do it!

don’t worry about the pictures not turning out nice. most of my first roll didn’t, yet i still experienced the magic, still felt encouraged to want to do more black white photography.

ok, if you dont want to go all the way, fine…either get the film developed and scan it, or get it printed as well…you can always scan the prints and manipulate the pics digitally if you prefer doing that, rather than trying out your artistic touch on the prints! but its an understandable point…after all, if the slightly higher cost of b&w film doesnt put you off, the costs of processing or of buying the equipment to do it yourself probably will.

and if you never learned how to do it in the first place, how are you going to keep the tradition alive!

but that was then. now there’s a different direction…b&w is back, because brides want to see b&w photos in their wedding albums!

black-and-white is back because it’s still a great way to learn about how film “sees” light. that’s why good photo educators have never abandoned teaching beginners how to work with black-and-white film and images. that’s why any photo school worth its salt, will still teach how to expose, process and print black-and-white film in the darkroom.

the bottom line? black-and-white photography is back because it’s beautiful.

fine art vintage photography has mushroomed in part because b&w silver halide images are long-lasting and resistant to fading…how long will our digitally printed prints survive?? nobody knows…and so we may well end up losing important works of art…

theres magic in the b&w darkroom….its a relaxing, informal place, where you can spend as much time as you want, trying to obtain that rich b&w print….all the while listening to your favorite music…cut off completely from the hustle and bustle of the real world! i remember, i once spent the entire weekend in the darkroom, aside of coming out to use the bathroom and get something to eat, of course!

not only that, i fondly remember using the darkroom at school one time with another student, a good looking girl. well, we all got so engrossed with the developing we were doing, that the teacher forgot about us 2 in the darkroom, locked the door from the outside, and walked away to lunch!

you can imagine the talk that went around the whole school about me and the girl being locked up in a “dark room” for an entire hour…i walked around with a red face for long afterwards….sadly, i have to report that nothing happened..we were all to naive in those days….!

anyway, in my opinion, if the black-and-white “wet” darkroom were to disappear, the world will be a sadder place.

the educational value of black-and-white film is not limited to making black-and-white images. in truth, and as i understand it, color silver halide images are actually made out of three (or more) layers of black-and-white images that interact with color couplers to produce layers of color dye that when viewed together give the illusion of a full range of colors.

whether you’re learning to control color film and prints, or even the different layers of a color image that has been scanned into a computer, the more you know about contrast, exposure latitude, and highlight and shadow areas of black-and-white images, the greater your mastery over color will be.

so basically, even if you’re accomplished and comfortable working in color, you’ll derive great benefit from learning about black-and-white photography! whetted your appetitie yet? good..thats the whole point of this article!

im in the process of offering for sale b&w photo papers, and hopefully later on, larger items such as enlargers etc, so pls bookmark this site and keep looking in regularly.

as far as chemicals are concerned, i already offer these…click here to find out.

for all you film enthusiasts out there, here's some welcome news you may not have known about one of the worlds best known and best performing developer!

yes, its RODINAL....the monochrome artist's dream and perhaps one of the most versatile developers ever made!

Virtually indestructible, it can survive for years and still be used to develop films -- absolutely amazing!!

i certainly used to work with it every time, all those years ago, until one day i heard that Agfa had discontinued it...i was literally shattered, as you would be if you'd lost a friend or something!

i mean, aside of being the best developer by far, its keeping qualities were out of this world...im sure you've heard all sorts of anecdotes from your friends about Rodinal. anyway, Rodinal is now available again, made under licence by another company, but to the very same exacting specifications.

here i have teamed up Rodinal developer with Rollei fixer, a formidable duo, if ever there was one....watch out Batman...!


300ml size -- MAKES 15 litres !! THIS SPECIAL PACK WILL LAST YOU AGES!


This set of Rodinal developing liquid and Rollei fixer has been chosen specifically because they both complement each other.

A darkroom worker has two major enemies - dust and oxygen. with this new design of packing, once you have used the fluids, the excess air can be squeezed out of the pack, thereby ensuring oxygen free storage -- the carton's technology works by literally squeezing air out as the chemical is used, thereby offering the prospect of a never-ending active life from the liquid if the softpack is used correctly.

Based on the p-aminophenol chemical, RO9 is a great mixing one-shot developer. Featuring very good contour sharpness and a high speed yield, it is a highly concentrated, very sharp working film developer. It is recommended for use with slow or medium speed films at a dilution of 1+25 or 1+50 for real economy. For specialist films you can even use it at dilutions of 1+300.

Rollei Fixer (also 300ml size)

Considered by many to be the World's Best Fixer, this highly concentrated liquid ammonium thiosulphate fixer has all the benefits of all fixers, but because it has been developed for use with X-Rays as well as photographic film and papers, it is lightning quick.

At a standard dilution of 1+9 it will fix RC paper in 3 minutes but at 1+4 it will fix paper in just 60 seconds. When speed is important, as in photographic departments, this fixer can minimize queues. You will also appreciate its extremely long keeping qualities!!

Price: £26.95 plus £9.25 shipping UK. International shipping £18.99

Payment: Paypal, NOCHEX, direct bank transfer or personal cheque (UK only)

Email me on harsum888@yahoo.com to purchase.

today, i want to talk with you about another classical camera — the Mamiyaflex twin lens series.

these cameras are a direct competitor to the world famous Rolleiflex, and share the same very high quality pedigree and reliability, but with one major difference…the Mamiyaflex is the only twin lens reflex in the world that has interchangeable lenses!

there was a whole range of Mamiyaflex cameras, and the one i am going to talk about today is the Mamiyaflex C220.

the beauty of using these cameras is that they give you that wonderful 6x6cm large negative…what you may ask, is so good about that? well, in photography, the larger the negative, the more quality you get, meaning you can enlarge it to huge sizes and still have fantastic edge to edge sharpness on your photo…try that with a 35mm negative and you’ll soon see the difference!

also, with this camera system, it is very easy to organise and setup your photograph, as the large viewing screen is designed to help you do exactly that.

there are also a huge range of lenses and accessories that allow you to use this camera for virtually any purpose you care to think of, from portraiture, to landscape, to closeup, etc etc.

so today i am offering you a chance to acquire a Mamiyaflex C220 full kit, which comes to you fully tested.

i have replaced the old light seals with brand new guaranteed-for-life material as well, and everything works as it should. the lenses are beautifully clean Sekkor f2.8 80mm, with no fungus, scratch or mark anywhere.

the bellows are in near-new condition and everything that should work is working just fine. by the way, because this acmera uses bellows, it is ideal for portraiture.

the kit includes another set of f4.5 180mm telephoto lenses, a separate viewing prism, set of lens extenders, an electronic flashgun, 2 original lens covers, and a very handy carrying case for all this equipment. very rarely does equipment like this come on offer.

Price: £342.95 plus £26 postage UK, international £48.99

Payment: Paypal, direct bank transfer or cheque (UK only)

to contact me or to see the full set of photos of this camera kit, click here

ok, guys and girls....today im going to talk a little about another of my favourite classic film cameras, the yashica electro 35.

when first introduced in the 1960s, the yashica electro family of cameras attracted an instant following, justifiably so, too!

it was called the Leica for the lit­tle man, and why? well, read on...

firstly, the designers at yashica were not interested n making a camera with built-in obsolescence, as much of manufacturing does these days. ok, they probably had a fixed budget from whihc to work, but they made damn sure that everything in the camera was of commendably high quality, and built to last.

fine, the camera could not be called portable or pocketable, but the qualities it had, made it all the more worthwhile than virtually any other 35mm film camera at that time.

so what did it have that people so raved about then, as well as now?

well, the lens for a start! just look at that massive piece of high quality glass; 45mm and f1.7, which joins the league of the best lenses ever fitted to a camera.

in fact, someone has said that the yashica lens is virtually equivalent to the lens on voigtlander, nikon or even leica cameras!

coupled with it's auto exposure system, this camera was designed for afficianados who hankered for results, not flashy widgets!

i myself know of several professionals who still use this camera as a back-up to their own digital cameras, as with these classic film cameras, there's virtually nothing to go wrong -- ok, if the battery runs out, the camera will still happily click away taking excellent photos!

ive got several of these cameras myself, which i rotate so that each one gets used regularly, and thats one of the cameras i am offering for sale to you.

it comes in it's original carry case, which also has the rare tele and wide angle lens kit inside, together with a mini-tripod, cable release and set of 3 filters, incuding a polariser for those extra special effects with colour or mono film.

price? just £163.95 plus £7.99 postage (UK)
USA, Canada & Europe £28

my contact details are available here or here

till the next time we meet, take care and enjoy your film photography!

wow! its been so long since we talked about our pet subject...classic film!

well, cut a long story short, im now also on wordpress.com (http://wp.me/pf2B5-5s) and for those of us who prefer more of an artistic touch, you can also view my pages on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6LriJO0iK8).

on both the above sites you will find some of my favourite classic cameras for sale, at very realistic prices.

im not one to blow my own trumpet as it were, but i have many, many clients, some from prestigious educational and scientific establishments who have purchased their cameras, photo chemicals, paper etc from me.

why not have a look? youve nothing to lose?
see you next time and we'll chat about another classic camera i love....

you know, one of the reasons why i am always telling everyone about classic cameras, is that quality of that kind doesnt exist anymore, sorry to say.

ok fine, we now have digital cameras that are now almost equivalent in producing quality photos as film, but, have you ever had a close look at most digicams? noticed the amount of plastic in them? notice how fragile they seem? and heaven help you if you accidentally happen to drop a digicam on the ground -- chances are it will never work correctly again -- i know, its happened to me!

as an example of what i am saying, look at the photo of the voigtlander vitessa camera above.
this superb camera was built in the 1950s and of those ones still available, 99% of them are working fine, often as good as when they were new. why?

well, in my opinion, one of the answers is due to the quality of materials and workmanship that was used in those days.
built-in obsolescence didnt exist then, so everything that was built, was built to last lifetimes.

unlike today, when manufacturers choose the cheapest materials around!

in the case of the vitessa, it was so solidly built that you could quite easily use it as a door-stop, and it will still carry on working!

and of course, as all of you photographers out there will know, in order to take a good shot, your camera needs to be heavy-ish, so that when you depress the shutter, the camera does not shift about.
all the classic cameras were built with this in mind, all being manufactured out of metal; eg the Nikon F range, the Canon A1, the Minolta etc etc.

it remains to be seen how many digicams will survive in fully working condition, in another 50 or more years time! i dont think many will survive, somehow.........

PS the voigtlander vitessa above is available for sale here

remember the olympus trip 35?

yes, you got it! and i mean the one made out of metal, not the plasticky, later version.

well, im a self-confessed olympus trip fanatic!

so much so, that when i was with my family in the USA on holiday, a bloke saw me taking shots of the buildings etc (oh, im talking about las vegas here...!), he gave me a funny look, came up and asked me why i dont use digital, as its easier and cheaper...

so i too gave him a funny look, and said that the majority of the world's professionals still use film as well, so there must be a reason for it.....!

i mean, the quality of the photos i get from my olympus trip has got to be seen to be believed, so why should i ditch it for a digital camera?

oh, and remember THAT famous tv ad about the trip, starring david bailey, one of the worlds foremost photographers? you can view it here