New Project :0)

stevelmx5

stevelmx5

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Steve
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While I'm waiting for my Mamiya to arrive I started looking at my old Ensign Selfix again. Rather than use a roll of 120 and risk wasting it (the lens mounted viewfinder/focussing are pretty inaccurate!) I've decided to use it for some panoramic 35mm fun.

View attachment 5423

It's a 6x9 120 camera so I first used a developed roll of 35mm and taped the end to the 120 spool and wound it on to see how many turns it needs to cover the 6x9 frame. Turns out it's around 2.5 full turns of the wind on reel. After that, I then made up a paper leader and taped that to the leader on my 35mm Agfa Vista so I can wind it in to place with the back closed. There are also card tubes above and below the film to keep it central in the frame.

View attachment 5424

To make matters harder, I've already shot 4 pictures on the roll of 35mm in my EOS30 before winding it back to take it out of the camera so I've needed to (roughly!) factor that in!

I'll upload what, if any, results I get :0). This is probably my favourite shot from this camera with 120 film


Ensign Selfix 20 - Model 1 by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

Cheers
Steve
 
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Steve thats great I did exactly the same with my Brownie although @Asha helped me with some 127 backing paper for the frame spacing.
I wanted to do it your way but the case was to tight to fit the 35mm can in as my brownie is 127.
 
I thought I had an original idea but no, I had a friend who is good with woodwork to add wooden spacers to 2 120mm reels. As I load my own 35mm I wind the film onto a 35mm cannister and then transfer the film to the 120 reels. My biggest problem was I don't have a camera that will take images without 120mm film loaded - I thought I could use my Fuji GW690 but it wouldn't record the film moving and that meant the shutter was locked. I'm waiting to see the results .

Eric
 
Fingers crossed for the results :0)

I'm expecting the frame spacing to increase quite a bit as I go through the film due to the diameter of the film on the 120 spool getting larger so I've got no idea how many shots I'll actually get out of it.

The beauty of the ensign is that the winding knob isn't linked to anything as it had a red window on the rear to view the shot numbers on the 120 backing paper normally.

Got to be worth a £2 dev at Asda anyway!
 
You will cover the red window up though ?

:-)
 
ha ha the only fault i had with my brownie experiment was the film not laying flat as it went throught the camera, I think you might have the same issue and may consider just sticking some guides on the film frame to keep your 35mm pushed back to the preasure plate, thats what i will be doing with my nest brownie run.
 
Good point with the pressure plate. I'll see how the results turn out before I open it up again. Saying that, the pressure plate is actually on a sprung mount on the ensign which I pulled outwards to tape some card over the red window so it may already be pushing on the film.

I'm not expecting fantastic results anyway so nothing lost if they're not great. ;0)
 
my film sort of bowed in the middle towards the lens which gave some very queer results and i put it down to that.

have fun.
 
Ok, the results are in.....not particularly impressive but still results! Looks like I generally overexposed the shots so there's not a huge amount of detail in the negative along with quite a bit of camera shake so maybe I should have used a tripod rather than guesstimate/run and gun!


Ensign Selfix 20 - 35mm Film Mod by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

This was supposed to be a shot of the wondering country lane....that's 10 feet to the right!


Ensign Selfix 20 - 35mm Film Mod by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr


Ensign Selfix 20 - 35mm Film Mod by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr


Ensign Selfix 20 - 35mm Film Mod by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

Anyway, proved a theory in using the Ensign as an ultrawide crop 35mm shooter but I think I'll stick to my Mamiya from now on as the WLF is considerably easier to focus than the 8mm x 8mm glass cube on the front of the Ensign ;0)


Ensign Selfix 20 - Model 1 by Steve Lloyd, on Flickr

The shots were all taken on Agfa Vista but I had major problems with the colour balance due to the questionable exposure hence the B&W conversions.

Cheers
Steve
 
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Steve I think your film didn't lie straight in the camera back like mine.
With your format being much wider i think its bowed more.

great effort tho
 
Yeah, looks like it was flat with the first image but bowed for the others. Not great but interesting to try :0)

Cheers
Steve
 
i love the bottom image with the tree running the whole length of the film. If you could get a gorrilapod on it things would improve no end.
 
Thanks, I was trying to find long/tall subjects to fit the ultra wide negative. I rushed the shots really in order to see the results really so I might put another roll through it when I can take my time.
 
Thats cool I may try this my Selfix 820
 
i tried similer with a engsign then noticed the shutter was stuck open... :(
the film flatness issue is either tension, or its forming a curve with the back plate and how it comes out of the cartridge at a guess
 
oh they called that type of viewfinder "brilliant" which is somewhat a lie
 
Lol, excellent (well, not) description of the slightly cloudy square marble which is the viewfinder :0)

I think it would be worth adding an additional card/felt film tensioner on top of the existing metal pate to add some tension and also prevent scratches. I'll save it for another day now I've got my Mamiya 645J sorted ;0)

Cheers
Steve
 
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