After I had it tuned and cleaned and buffed and waxed by my camera tech Allan at CameraWorks in Waterford, my new-to-me Pentacon Six TL – which at this moment does NOT have a nickname – is ready for its first roll of post-tune-up film.
And for this test run, I’ve packed a spool of Kodak Ektar 100 film – that has been specially wound backwards to expose as “redscale” film. Color film has emulsion layers, and if you expose the back layer first, it will expose the blue colors on the film, leaving you with a picture that’s drenched in oranges and yellows.
And trust me, I can fool around with stuff like this – yeah, nothing like getting up at 2:30 in the morning, going into my “dark room” (also known as my bathroom) and re-wrapping medium format film so that it exposes backwards on the roll. Insomnia’s good for something, right?
It was a cloudy, dreary day in February when I took this redscaled film and shot a few images in downtown Troy. Then … off to the film lab for development.
Last week, the film came back. And of the twelve images that I shot … three gave me the “ooh damn” reaction.
As in, “Ooh, damn, I got that shot.”
Like this one of what’s left of the old Troy Pork Store sign.
See, as I said before, redscale film gives you an angry sky and a desolate landscape.
There’s a weird architectural anomaly in Troy – what looks like a spiral staircase on top of some scaffolding. Let me get a shot of that.
That’s got some power to it.
I need something more dramatic. Let’s get this shot from another angle.
Tell me that picture doesn’t scream Satan’s reception area to you.
At one point in this blog’s history, I chronicled the various “ghost signs” in the Capital District – the old painted advertisements that were painted on building facades. Here’s one that I kinda like a lot; it’s the Uneeda Biscuit sign down near Troy’s historic district
Okay. Let’s take notes.
When I shoot redscale in the Pentacon, I need to add an additional f-stop or two to really bring out the detail. And although I did get plenty of dramatic images from the cloudy skies … my shots could have improved with sunshine.
But … that being said … the Pentacon Six TL passed its test. The shutter issue I previously experienced is gone. The film advanced properly. All is good.
Which means I can designate this camera as one of my shooters for my next big photo project.
What’s the next big photo project?
Wait until you see. 😀
Chuck The Writer 
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