There are quite a lot of loopy concepts on the market with regards to experimental pictures. A number of exposures. Movie Soups. Capturing your rolls backward. However have you ever ever heard of anyone loading two rolls of movie right into a digital camera on the identical time? Me neither, and that’s precisely why I’m going to do it!
The thought in a nutshell is to determine a method to get a colour roll and a black and white roll of 35mm movie loaded into my Nikon F3 so that every press of the shutter exposes each movies on the identical time. After they have been developed I may presumably stack or layer the developed negatives for a cool impact. Hopefully.
Going into this experiment I figured I’d have some issues to resolve. The primary can be getting the right publicity for the again roll as a result of the sunshine has to not solely expose the entrance roll but in addition journey by means of the entrance roll to show the second roll behind it. After discovering out how a lot gentle discount happens when it travels by means of movie, I’ll offset every movie’s iso to match nonetheless many stops I want.
One other apparent drawback is that movie cameras are designed to deal with one roll at a time, and properly, that’s not what I’m doing right here. So going into this I anticipated some binding points, or possibly even some ripped movie. It’s price noting that the winder on the F3 is so diesel I’ve torn movie leaders off a single roll earlier than not to mention including the extra resistance of two rolls.
Lastly, I assumed that doing this may mess with the picture sharpness of each the back and front rolls in some capability. Sandwiching two movies right into a digital camera will transfer the entrance movie barely out of alignment from the aircraft of focus, and the again movie will probably be obstructed by the entrance roll presumably delivering mush photographs.
So let’s simply set the bar good and low right here; do I anticipate tack-sharp footage? Nope. If I come away with a number of frames that have been lined up and uncovered all over, I’ll contemplate {that a} win.
Loading the Two Rolls
If cramming two rolls of movie into one canister sounds actually awkward and like an enormous ache, you’d be proper. It’s.
I attempted a number of other ways of getting each movies rolled into one canister. I figured the easiest way to stop the 2 sandwiched movies from getting caught when advancing was to verify the sides lined up completely. Doing this at midnight can be practically inconceivable, so I needed to provide you with a method to begin the rolls into the canister with the lights on.
What I ended up doing was utilizing an empty canister to switch the roll of Fujicolor 200 into briefly whereas nonetheless hooked up to its personal canister. This short-term switch was carried out in a darkish closet so the movie wasn’t ruined, however then I may entry the tip of the Fujicolor’s roll within the gentle to line up and tape on the second movie. This different roll can be T-Max P3200 black and white, and when within the digital camera will probably be positioned behind the roll of Fujicolor 200, towards the strain plate.
After the whole lot was lined up and taped collectively, I went again into the darkish closet and wound as a lot of the 2 movies into the one canister as I may match and reduce off the surplus. Utilizing this technique I used to be in a position to load about 20 frames into the canister utilizing two 36-exposure rolls. Surprisingly, turning the spindle with two back-to-back rolls was just a little stiff, however not inconceivable.
With each movies loaded into one cassette, it took a number of makes an attempt to get the chief proper. At first, I attempted slicing a double-leader beginning each movies on the winder, however that ended up creating a niche on the advancing spindle and a ripple between the movies. What ended up working was slicing the rear movie chief off straight and taping it simply behind the opposite chief of the entrance roll.
The rationale I selected to place the colour movie within the entrance and the black and white movie in the direction of the again is that I believed this may ship a greater finish consequence. I wouldn’t have to fret about colour shifting like I might have if the sunshine traveled by means of the black-and-white roll first.
OK, so the digital camera is loaded, and the exhausting half is full!
There Had been Some Failures
After some preliminary exams with my gentle meter, I measured a few 3-stop gentle discount by means of movie.
For my first try, I grabbed a roll of Kodak Ultramax 400 and Fomapan 400 to stack. To get my 3-stop distinction between the movies I made a decision to shoot the Ultramax at field velocity and pull the roll of Fomapan (Holga) to iso 50.
Sadly, this primary run turned out to be a bust. Whereas the colour Ultramax photographs turned out nice, the black and white roll didn’t have any photographs uncovered. It seems to be like I would wish extra gentle to make it by means of the entrance roll of movie.
I can see from the publicity on the Fomapan negatives that there was positively a difficulty with the 2 movies not staying flat or aligning correctly within the digital camera as properly.
Let’s Strive This Once more
Okay, so spherical two. I wanted extra gentle to hit the again movie so I elevated the iso distinction between the back and front movies. This time I used a roll of Fujicolor 200 and Kodak T-Max P3200. I rated these pictures at 100, overexposing the Fujicolor barely whereas creating the roll of T-Max at 3200.
To repair the binding problem, I in the reduction of the rear movie so there was just one starter chief (the Fujicolor) getting superior by the sprocket wheel. I believe the issue was that when each movies have been hooked up to the winder it was making a bow and an area between the back and front rolls.
After loading and capturing 18 frames of the Fujicolor/T-Max rolls I used to be joyful to see this time was a hit! Sort of…
With this try once more the entrance roll of colour movie got here out nice, however now with a 5-stop distinction between the 2 rolls I had precise photographs on the again roll of black and white. These photographs have been nonetheless a number of stops under a “right” publicity, however nonetheless, they got here by means of!
Within the sharpness division, I didn’t see that a lot of a distinction within the Fuji photographs, however the T-Max was a unique story. There was vital blurring mixed with extreme blotchiness of the grain from underexposure. Principally, the black-and-white pictures regarded like I used to be like capturing a pinhole picture with out utilizing a pinhole digital camera.
Additionally, I used to be given a pleasant reminder that I want to vary the door seals on my F3…
Combining the Photographs
To merge the 2 negatives in Photoshop I stacked them collectively as layers after which used the rework device to get the alignment as shut as I may. I positioned the colour layer on prime and adjusted the mix mode to “colour” to composite the photographs collectively.
The ‘colour’ mix mode in Photoshop ignores variations in luminosity between your adjustment layer and your base layer so it transfers the colour from the Fuji detrimental onto the T-Max detrimental, similar to it might have been contained in the digital camera.
Nonetheless, as a result of the T-Max pictures have been underexposed, straight merging the 2 movies diminished the general brightness. The shadow areas regarded a bit bizarre and mushy from making use of colour on prime of one thing that had no element.
I received a significantly better consequence utilizing a number of the contrast-based mix modes as a result of they alter the luminosity of the merged photographs. ‘Delicate gentle’ regarded just like the ‘colour’ mix mode when merging the 2 movies however helped even out the distinction in exposures between the 2 rolls. ‘Pin gentle’ and ‘Laborious gentle’ mix modes created one thing that nearly jogged my memory of a cross-processed picture.
Another choice I attempted that regarded fascinating was not utilizing mix modes however simply adjusting the opacity of the colour layer right down to about 50%.
Going Ahead
After I was initially planning this experiment I puzzled if the ultimate stacked photographs would create some type of neat separation or 3D impact. Whereas the approach didn’t ship excellent outcomes that soar out of the body I’d nonetheless contemplate it a hit.
It’s price noting that there’s in all probability a extra technical method to go about doing this, however I take pleasure in tinkering round and simply messing with issues till they work. A giant a part of the enjoyable for me with any movie experiment is all about trial and error.
After all, there’s nonetheless loads of room for enchancment right here, however after only a few makes an attempt, I’m in a position to get photographs on each rolls with out them jamming up the digital camera. In order that’s an superior place to begin in my e book.
In regards to the creator: Chris Kuhn is a photographer and YouTuber who creates content material about movie pictures. You will discover extra of his work on his website, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. This text was additionally revealed here.