A Second Outing with the Pentax Auto 110 with Fomapan 400.

Encouraged by my recent first experience with the Pentax Auto 110 I tried a second film. This was Fomapan 400 downrated to ISO 100 in Rodinal at 1:50 because the camera has only one film speed setting at ISO 80 as a result of damage from leaking batteries. There are times for a range of speed ratings between 100 and 6400 for this film in the Massive Dev Chart, https://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php, and these negatives are completely useable at ISO 100. The Rollei Superpan I used for the first run does have the edge in this format though, grain and acuity being better. For this second film I followed a method of modifying the cartridge suggested by Bob Janes in his article Perfecting the 110 Reload that he has kindly shared with me to see if it would eliminate some of the light leakage problems. The joint around the curved lower edge of the film compartments is weak after being separated. Bob’s method re-seals these joints and the backing paper covers the new joints along the saw cut. I did have a lot of scratches, probably from some of the debris from my razor saw left over from inadequate clean-up after making the modifications. None of the scratches aligned with the saw cut however. The light leakages were gone too. Mk 3 cartridge according to Bob Janes.

To head off the lost frames I saw with the first film, I wound on very gently and only experienced the slippage once. I produced 18 useable frames out of 19 so definitely the new SOP. The missed frame was almost at the end, probably caused by the resistance from the fold I had made on the end of the film as an indicator as it left the feed chamber. This was no doubt just enough to cause the slipping clutch device to operate as it squeezed its way out and not to be included in future. I have invested in a “clicker” in my pocket to keep track of exposures in future.

Film #2 examples.

In conclusion. The results from this film are not bad and again demonstrate the need for abundant detail and the minimum of plain tones when using this small format. And my new cheap as chips clicker is great to keep track of exposures. I have a couple more more strips of Fomapan 400 to use up and then I will return to Rollei Superpan though for subminiature. The couple of still intact rolls of Fomapan I have in stock will go through my 120 cameras at box speed.

Share this post: