Svema film at Freestyle Photo in USA

AgX said:

Out of several reasons to ask such question, there is one very well reasoned:
To avoid buying a film that one already knows for maybe higher price or more hassle or risk, or that one maybe already dislikes.

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Good point.

Honestly I'm looking into this stuff because it's cheaper than much else out there. I used to shoot the Shanghai GP3 but that well dried up.

paulbarden said:

Thanks. I believe I used D-76 with the A-2SH and probably Xtol with the rest.

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Thanks, can't go wrong with 'ol D-76. Price went up on it though...

cmacd123 said:

I did get some Astrum film a year ago, from a mail order seller. Some came in the Yellow and Blue box and another couple of rolls came in just a film can. Both batches the film was very stiff in feeding out of the cassette, and were on a THIN Poly base. --Thinner than MP Print film. Beeing ages behind in the darkroom, I have not developed any yet.

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I mentioned this before as well. Yes, the Foto 400 is on VERY thin polyester base (the other emulsions aren’t as thin) which presents a handling problem for some. It can be a chore to get cut strips of processed film into negative sleeves. However, this film dries FLAT like no other!

Hello,
I'm wondering about the handling of this film. Is it really that much different?
1) Thickness or thinness in this case. I looked up the base thickness of a few films.
Astrum Foto 0.10mm
Scala 50 0.12
Fp4 35mm 0.12
Ilford Pan F 0.12
Fomapan 35mm 0.12
So, is this film too thin to work with when it is .02 thinner than many other films?
2) Light piping.....................
I almost always turn my back to the sun when loading film outdoors to shade the film. I have done this for years with 35mm and 120 rollfilm. Does anyone have experience as to how bad the Astrum film is regarding fogging while loading?
Thanks,
Robert

paulbarden said:

Most of these films (35mm pre-loaded cassettes) are between $3 and $4.5 USD per roll, and with shipping it adds just under a dollar per roll, so that's very budget friendly.

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Where can I buy Foto 100 at this price?

In Ukraine, at Astrum, per e-mail.

I do not necessarily see a bargain though.

rknewcomb said:

Hello,
I'm wondering about the handling of this film. Is it really that much different?
1) Thickness or thinness in this case. I looked up the base thickness of a few films.
Astrum Foto 0.10mm
Scala 50 0.12
Fp4 35mm 0.12
Ilford Pan F 0.12
Fomapan 35mm 0.12
So, is this film too thin to work with when it is .02 thinner than many other films?
2) Light piping.....................
I almost always turn my back to the sun when loading film outdoors to shade the film. I have done this for years with 35mm and 120 rollfilm. Does anyone have experience as to how bad the Astrum film is regarding fogging while loading?
Thanks,
Robert

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Yes, my brother ..
Results and developer in attachments.

AgX said:

In Ukraine, at Astrum, per e-mail.

I do not necessarily see a bargain though.

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Not very convenient. But when it becomes cheaper to buy than the deals I get on Delta 100, I will keep it in mind.

Anybody have experience with the thinness of this film ie: problems or lack of..?
Anybody have experience with the light piping issue or not a problem?
thanks,
Robert

rknewcomb said:

Anybody have experience with the thinness of this film ie: problems or lack of..?
Anybody have experience with the light piping issue or not a problem?
thanks,
Robert

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Am I talking to myself or what!!! .
I replied to you in post #54

Hi,
Sorry I did not understand your reply.
Yes, the thin film is hard to handle?
Yes, light piping is a big problem when loading film outside?
I just dod not understand your reply.
Robert

The film is thinner but its not difficult to handle when loading etc. It can be very difficult to get into negative sleeves properly.

Light piping affects the first few frames of the roll yes, but it's not too severe.

rknewcomb said:

Hi,
Sorry I did not understand your reply.
Yes, the thin film is hard to handle?
Yes, light piping is a big problem when loading film outside?
I just dod not understand your reply.
Robert

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Sorry, English is not my first language
I don't quite understand, what is meant by "light piping"?
- I take care while dealing with this emulsion, and I wear gloves while uploading the film to the camera. My personal advice in this matter is, through my experience in dealing with this brand,

I strongly advise that the film should be loaded with the camera in a dark room, as the film cassette is of very poor quality and during installation the cassette may disintegrate sometimes and it is very fragile, so I strongly advise to use an automatic camera (which has a motor) I used Nikon F4 - At the same time, the film is loaded with the camera in a completely dark room.

The film is also extracted from the camera in a dark room, and then the film is loaded into the development tank, of course, in a dark room. I also advise that the film should not be washed before development, as it is thin and cannot bear all of that.
It is a film like any other film, but the emulsion does not include a protective layer.
The last advice.
When developing this emulsion, I advise that you use the developer whose data are attached to the attachments to the post No. 54,
It is this dual developer that has been able to get along with this ancient emulsifier.

Consumer films of the past (I exclude 2 special films from Kodak and Ilford) had as base material TAC, maybe even dyed a bit.
Non-consumer films since many yeas got a base from PET which is not dyed and moreover already as such has higher transmission for light. This difference in base material may show when handling such film in daylightl. Such handling did not take place at non-consumer uses, but it does take place in loading a camera with type 135 film.
Here light may enter the leader and be transmitted up into the part still in the cassette. This is what "Light-Piping" in our context refers to.

Since about 20 years now such films (mostly made by Agfa) are offered to consumers and has this effect been described.

AgX said:

Consumer films of the past (I exclude 2 special films from Kodak and Ilford) had as base material TAC, maybe even dyed a bit.
Non-consumer films since many yeas got a base from PET which is not dyed and moreover already as such has higher transmission for light. This difference in base material may show when handling such film in daylightl. Such handling did not take place at non-consumer uses, but it does take place in loading a camera with type 135 film.
Here light may enter the leader and be transmitted up into the part still in the cassette. This is what "Light-Piping" in our context refers to.

Since about 20 years now such films (mostly made by Agfa) are offered to consumers and has this effect been described.

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Yes, my dear teacher.
Indeed, this is a strange and unfamiliar brand in every way.
- There was an Egyptian merchant who specialized in the trade of photographic supplies. This man found a large stock of Svema films - ISO 25, and of course the young men were very happy about this amazing discovery, as if it was one of the mummies of the builders of the pyramids. Because the price of the roll was only a dollar and a quarter
- There were several problems with this huge amount of films.
- It is by nature a strange emulsion, it does not have a protective layer, and when you load the film with a camera, you are surprised that you find that your fingers have mysterious black traces, especially if the weather is hot.
- When you download the film in the development tank, the same thing happens, and you should not be surprised when you find that some pictures have been deeply scratched or that some parts of some pictures are completely erased, because that black substance that stuck to my fingers is actually silver halides (emulsion ) on which the underlying image is formed.
- Many young men were surprised while loading the film into the camera that the film cassette was not tightly closed, and when they were downloading the film, unfortunately, the cassette was opened from the top... and the film was lost.
- And there was an incident that happened before my eyes in front of the Great Pyramid, where a young man had loaded a roll in his house and came to the Pyramids and photographed the roll and finished and removed it from the camera and loaded another roll in front of the Great Pyramid. When we developed the roller in one tank, the results came out that the first roller had good pictures and the second roller did not produce any pictures,, and I think that the reason was that the roller was loaded in broad daylight and in front of the strong sun.
- I had not used this roller at the time, but I heard all these problems, and based on all that, I became terribly famous for using this brand so that I knew which one of us would win over the other,
So I loaded the roll into the F4 camera in the dark room and took it to the gardens and orchards, and I photographed this roll, and I did not remove it from the camera on the street, but I waited until I came home and removed the roll and loaded it into the development tank at the same moment In the dark room.
- After development, it became clear to me that this emulsion needs to be washed off with the final washing solution. I actually soaked it in a stapler solution for five minutes, and it ended well and quietly.
And these are the results.

Hello,
Thank you for the help and very good explanation regarding the non consumer films and PET base material. I had not thought of it that way so many thanks. Sounds like I was on the right track "being worried" about loading outdoors. Besides, one of my 35mm cameras is that screw mount type that loads from the bottom and takes several tries to load.
Robert