First tank:

Second tank:

  • 1474: Kinda Fonda Wanda and Alan Subola at Hook and Ladder. (17 October 2024. Rollei RPX 400 @ EI 1600 in Pentax K-1000.) (on top)
  • 1473: Kinda Fonda Wanda and Alan Subola at Hook and Ladder. (17 October 2024. Rollei RPX 400 @ EI 1600 in Pentax K-1000.) (on bottom)

Loaded into both two-roll tanks inside daylight changing bag. Pre-wet film. During the pre-soak mixed 10mL HC-110 concentrate into distilled water to ~400 mL for each tank. Emptied out pre-wetting water and poured developer into the tank, topping off with distilled water. Agitated 40x over the first sixty seconds or so, knocked on the tank several times to dislodge bubbles, and then agitated 5x at 20:00 and 40:00. All agitations are all half-agitations, gently (i.e., gently twisting to a 90-degree angle, then gently back).

After 60 minutes, disposed of developer, rinsed 5x/10x/20x in 68-degree tap water. Fixed in fixer 1+4 for 6 minutes, inverting 10x over 15 seconds at the top of every minute. (That’s now 46 rolls fixed in this batch of fixer.) Reclaimed fixer and rinsed for ten minutes in tap water, then emptied tank, added a few drops of Photo-Flo, filled tank with distilled water and agitated 20x, and hung negatives vertically to dry.

Evaluation and notes

Rolls 1473–1475

Well I’ve got to say that, overall, these rolls are a disappointment. Insert standard disclaimer about how shooting film at a dark concert is difficult, etc.; but I’ve had better results from equally bad conditions. 1473 jammed in the camera and there’s nothing usable on the few frames that I managed to get, too, and it seems like RPX doesn’t push as well as, say, HP5+. The emulsion on these rolls also seems to have some dust and/or scratching damage way more often than most of my other rolls, and it seems like focusing was more difficult than it usually is, even in situations where the aperture was wide open because it’s dark and the musicians on stage are moving around a lot. (Kinda Fonda Wanda is, in fairness, more physically active on stage than plenty of other bands.)

There are, however, some usable shots here. The early parts of 1474 have some really nice moments capturing the keyboardist and the guest guitarist/upright bassist next to Alan Subola; and the end of 1474 and the midpoint of 1475 have some very nice shots of Angie White. 1475-18 even has both of them, with both keyboardists also in focus, and the whole shot properly exposed!

Not, overall, my best night shooting a concert.

Roll 1483

Good ol’ Tri-X, what a wonderful film stock it is. Looks so very good in an HC-110 stand, too: this is what I should always be shooting at MiA.

Sculpture looks great here. The rough textures on some of the old Asian stonework (e.g., 02, 03, 07, 09) show up beautifully on the film. Same deal for some of the metal work later on the roll (especially the chains on 23 27). There’s wonderful foreground/background separation, in part because of the film (but also because MiA does lighting very well: see 04, for instance). There’s the occasional regrettable underexposure (05 is largely because the shot had to be taken before anyone moved; it’s salvageable), but they still tend to be usable. Still, even Tri-X can’t handle everything, so 12 is a loss, and so are several others in the middle of the roll, where I was in very dim segments; too bad.

The last few shots on the roll are probably the best of the Kondō Takahiro sculpture pictures I took that day, though the same sculptures also appear on rolls 1484 and 1485.