Good morning, happy Tuesday! 👋

I was at a wonderful wedding in Pittsburgh over the weekend, and I was surprised how many film cameras I saw. The wedding photographer had one, someone from the venue had one, even a guest had one. 🤯 Did I? No, I decided to travel lite and didn’t bring a camera. 🥹

Here is what we’ve got today:

• 🔀 What is color reversal or slide film?

• ✍️ Scanning old slides

• 🏈 Film camera at a NFL game?

🔀 What is color reversal or slide film?

You might remember from school or in a movie a teacher using a slide projector. It had a big carousel on it, filled with individual slides that were projected onto a screen. “Next slide”, the teacher would say, and then a student would press a button to advance to the…well next slide. Well that’s color reversal film, aka slide film.

So what is color reversal film? Well, it’s film that when you develop, you get a positive image instead of a negative.

Since what you see is what you get, you can shine light through the film and project the image onto a screen. People would go on a trip 🚙, take photos with color reversal film then drop it off at a lab. There the lab would develop the film, cut and mount each frame into a slide. You would then put the slides into a projector and make your friends sit there while you recapped your trip. 😴 

Can I still shoot color reversal film today? You can! Kodak still makes it. It’s called Kodak Ektachrome E100 Color Reversal Film.

How is it developed? Is it the same as negative color film? No, the C-41 development process won’t work for color reversal film. Instead, a process called, E-6 is used. Most labs will process reversal film, and you can easily get kits to develop it yourself at home.

Shooting color reversal film is just like color negative film, except usually the dynamic range is more limited. Meaning there is less gradation between black and white tones.

I personally have not yet shot any color reversal film, but man do I want to. Can you image pulling your film out of the development tank and see the FINAL color image?! 😍 One day I will.

✍️ Scanning old slides

Alright, story time. 📖

My grandfather was into photography. He even had a darkroom, which I remember being a scary red light room in the basement. Now if only he had held onto all of his darkroom equipment. 😭 But what was kept was all of his old slides. There are services that can digitize old slides, but mailing them is nerve racking. Fortunately, I had everything needed to scan them myself.

It was a lot of fun seeing these old pictures from the 50s and 60s. They brought back a lot of memories for people in my family as well.

I encourage you to check the attic, look in the basement, call old relatives and see if there are any slides you can bring back to life!

Many digital camera scanning setups have holders specifically for slides. But even with just a light table, tripod and digital camera you should be able to get some good results.

🏈 Film camera at a NFL game?

I came across this story on PetaPixel. It’s too good. Film photographer Miles Myerscough-Harris shot on Portra 800 the New York Jets during a game. And then developed (in the bathroom) and scanned the film before the game ended. This was a way of promoting the Jet’s new, classic uniform.

Besides being fun, it’s things like this that tell me that film is alive and well!

That’s going to do it for today. I’ll see you on Thursday. 🥃

Who needs a negative, just go right to a positive.

Ben Henschel

📷 Polaroid Now / 🎞️ B&W i-Type Film