Kodak Ektar 25 – Urban/Rural Decay in the Texas Panhandle – by Andrew Morang

Kodachromeguy replied:

Comment posted: 21/12/2019

Thank you and the other writers for your kind comments. I exposed the film at about EI=20. The metal tab on the lens of the Electro 35CC has a minimum setting at EI 25, but it moves a slight distance below, so possibly it was around 20. As for development, I sent it to Dwayne's in Kansas (USA), and they did regular C41 processing. Dwayne's also will print a color proof sheet for only $3 extra.

Kodachromeguy replied:

Comment posted: 21/12/2019

Thank you for writing. There are so many towns in rural America that are drying up and fading away, I am always amazed how these changes occurred in only a few decades, within my lifetime. As recently as the late 1960s or early 1970s, small towns in the South were vibrant. Where did the residents go? Why? Are they happier now in their new city/suburbia? Is this what we really want? Is this really progress?

Kodachromeguy replied:

Comment posted: 21/12/2019

Thanks for writing. Some comments: 1. Ektar 25 when fresh was ultra high resolution. Decades later, these rolls appear granier than film I exposed in the 1980s, but I am not sure about resolution. 2. The Color-Yashinon lens has a blue coating. I do not see the characteristic multi-color sheen of multi-coated lenses. I have never read any advertising about multi-coating. The camera was introduced in 1970, before the era of multi-coating for consumer optics, especially for a point-an-shoot item. The term "color" was advertising copy. 3. You don’t need to get this odd modern fixation with scanning shortcomings. Use digital if it suits your photo vision.

Terry B replied:

Comment posted: 21/12/2019

Sorry to say, Alvaro, but your observation about what "color" on a lens means is completely wrong. If you'd care to do some basic research into lens coatings you'd learn a lot more. Lenses started with single layer (blueish) coatings courtesy of Zeiss and this was taken up post-WWII by other lens manufacturers. Later, multi-coating became the norm. It needs to be understood that colour and B/W film responds in the same way to coating as the defect that coating was designed to mitigate is flaring. Light transmission reaching the film is "purer" in that reflections from each glass/air surface and from within each lens element are reduced resulting in reduced flare. As flaring has a deleterious effect on contrast and sharpness it will affect images shot on colour and B/W film. The different "colours" that we see when looking at a lens are the result of which wavelength(s) of light the manufacturer wishes to suppress. Depending upon the price point of a lens, this will result in our perceiving different colours because fewer or more layers of coatings have been used. It is easier to appreciate the impact of coating with colour images, but it doesn't take much for the viewer to see the same impact on B/W images, too.

Terry B replied:

Comment posted: 21/12/2019

Andrew, from what I I've gleaned from the lenses in my camera collection, referring to lenses as "color" really started to make an appearance post WWII, although as you know Zeiss invented the process in the late 1930's, when it started to become more common for some manufacturers to add the word "Color" as part of the lens name. Not all manufacturers felt it necessary to do so, notably Zeiss and Leitz (in my experience) but Agfa, for example, did re-brand some, if not all, of their lenses thus. So their Agnar, Apotar, and Solinar were re-badged as Color-Agnar, etc. Balda did the same with the majority of their lenses, as did Voigtlander. There was an advantage possessed by these so-called "color" lenses with their single coating (less prone to flaring and thus higher contrast) but as it was evident simply by inspecting the lens that it was coated, I suspect this was an advertising ploy. I used to think that these lenses possessed some special optical qualities missing from their non-coated siblings that made them especially suited to colour photography, but as the un-coated 4-element Solinar was already very well colour corrected, this couldn't be the case.

Kodachromeguy replied:

Comment posted: 21/12/2019

Yes, indeed! I have a 50mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar lens on my little Voightlander Vito BL camera. It is single-coated, and they added the term "color" as well.

Kodachromeguy replied:

Comment posted: 22/12/2019

Thank you, you are right about the light. However, on my October trip through Texas, an unusual tropical storm was approaching, one that had pushed in across the Pacific coast of Mexico. For a few days, the light reminded me of an approaching front in New England. The skies were ominous and very interesting. I hope some of the Ektar frames show this.

Kodachromeguy replied:

Comment posted: 23/12/2019

I did take a few Tri-X photos at motels. I will try to share them later. These old motor courts are hard to photograph because they are very linear with boring concrete driveways. It is hard to make them look like much. Here is an example in Albuquerque, New Mexico (sorry, digital): https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2017/05/travels-on-mother-road-route-66-part-9.html Here are some from Tucumcari, New Mexico: https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2018/08/travels-on-mother-road-route-66-part-14.html Thank you for taking the time to comment.