Went to the RSPB Reserve at Rainham Marshes with 2 Great Camera Club Mates - one a NIKON user with 500mm lens and one a Canon user with 100-400mm series L lens -- I took my Lowly 2007 Pentax K10D + SMC Pentax-A 400mm f5.6 al manual focus. I got the Infamous 'Bird on a Stick' as hated by Camera Club Judges - the STARLING but also a couple of quite good ones including a HERON flying by manual 'Follow-Focus' . I set 'RAW' files and adjusted in FastStone Image Viewer

Rainham Marshes 01 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

Rainham Marshes 04 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

Rainham Marshes 05 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

Rainham Marshes 06 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

a Fellow Camera Club /FLICKR Mate gave me a German Staeble-Lineogon 35mm f3.5 lens to test as he had given it to a Fellow LEICA owner and it would not Focus -- so i did try it on my 1934 LEICA II and all shots were completely out of Focus -- SO I had the idea to fit it to one of my Asahi Pentax M42 cameras with a M39 to M42 ring Adapter -- YES it now WORKED but for 'Close-Ups' only ! FILM was another 'TEST ' from our Youngest Club Member age 16 from his Gran Dad -- 'Llyoyds Pharmacy 200 ASA C41 film which is now 80 ASA -- I got amazing results with the Old Lens and Old Film using a Vivitar 283 flash off camera on my 1961 Asahi Pentax S3 at f8 and f16

Old Lens Test 02 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

Not used my ME SUPERS + WINDERS for a LONG time as been 'messing About with OTHER MAKES' so loaded a body with outdated cut bit of HP5+ for processing in my Home -Made 510-Pyro and went out into darkest BRENTWOOD -- the GRAIN was terrible on enlargement -- maybe 'Scanning' emphasises the Grain rather than a darkroom Print -- I tried various lenses -- SMC-Pentax -K 50mm f2 , SMC - Pentax M 50mm f1.4 and a Vivitar MC 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 off my Gift RICHOH KR-10
SMC 50mm f2 lens

ME Super HP5 510-Pyro 01 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

ME Super HP5 510-Pyro 02 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
SMC Pentax -M 50mm f1.4 lens

ME Super HP5 510-Pyro 05 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

ME Super HP5 510-Pyro 06 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
Vivitar Zoom

ME Super HP5 510-Pyro 04 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

Me Super HP5 510-Pyro 03 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
There was some strange Exposure Trouble if I used Winder on 'AUTO' -- it OVER -EXPOSED by about 3 stops so switched to 'Manual Exposure'

I gave my Gift RICOH KR-10 another outing loaded with some outdated Kodak T-Max 400 I wanted to use up . As it was 'Old' I rated it at 200ASA a decided to try my batch of ID11 developer at Stock Strength -- time given is 7.5 mins for T-Max 400 BUT negs came out very contrasty -- 6 mins would have been better ! I should have known my batch of ID11 has increased in activity but it suited the snap of the metal seat -- one of my Test Subjects --

I used my TESTPENTAX 17 sent to me by a great Fellow YouTuber for some outdated FUJI PRESS 800 ASA C41 film to see how the Half Frame goes with 'faster Grainy Film' -- I rated it at 200 ASA as it was old and processed in a new batch of C41 --

I finally did a YouTube VIDEO on my 'Findings' and show the Films I used and some A4 prints ( Computer Prints -- too HOT to do Darkroom Prints at the Moment ! )


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI7Yw_AOz8c

I had a word with my YouTube MATE about things on this Camera as there is no 'Readout' what settings it gives and in instruction book NO 'Technical Details so I went on the RICOH Website and FOUND the PENTAX 17 book and on that were 'Extra Pages' so i found out the Maximum Shutter Speed is 1/350th second for example. My Mate said the Instruction Book he was sent was a First Version one-- more pages added on later ones. i did find if you wind and fire shutter only TWICE at loading you can get EXTRA FRAMES No Problemo -- shutter does not 'Lock Up' as in some cameras. Also it is easy to open back in changing bag and CUT the film with the rewind button pressed IN so you can process 'Short Lengths' of Film as I do . No 'DX Coding' which is GOOD so outdated films can be downrated easily.

I was sent a PENTAX 17 by a YouTube Mate who had one sent to him by Ricoh and he did s review but showed NO SNAPS -- so I have tried it with outdated AGFAPAN 25 and outdated 'TUDOR' (FUJI) 100 . I processed the AGFAPAN 25 i a Home-Made 2-bath formula after doing a 'Clip Test' of 4 frames which showed I had to cut the Dev Times i each bath to 3 mins , then I did the Tudor 100 in C41 myself. I set 50 ASA for the Agfapan 25 -- the LOWEST ASA on the Dial then set a bit of '+' Exposure Compensation to make it 32 ASA as I know that gave good results. The 2005 dated TUDOR 100 I set 100ASA on the dial then added a bit of '+' exposure compensation to make it about 64 ASA . I found all my very 'CLOSE-UP' were OUT OF FOCUS ! Subjects about 3 to 4 feet away were sharp enough. I used the FLASH Fill-In on several such as the B&W ones in the Graveyard and the Bloke Window Cleaning but the flash is really TOO WEAK to do much at any 'Distance' On some B&W 'LANDSCAPE' shots I had a Black BLOB in the Corner which may have been a FINGER or my CAP -- My WIFE nearly FAINTED when she found out THE PRICE !! I am demonstrating it today at the Monthly 'TEA CLUB' of BRENTWOOD & DISTRICT PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB where half a dozen members meet up during the Summer Shut Down and Drink TEA, eat CAKE and TALK PHOTOGRAPHY !

Not used for a long while as I was 'Messing About with Other Makes' but I gave one of my Spotmatic-F's an outing with a SMC -Takumar 150mm f4 lens and outdated Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 processed in a fresh batch of C41 -- I got 1/000th @ f5.6 for most of the ones in ( The RARE! ) Sunshshine --


SP-F + Fuji Superia X-Tra 03 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr


SP-F + Fuji Superia X-Tra 05 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr


SP-F + Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 02 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr


SP-F + Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 04 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr


SP-F + Fuji Superia X-Tra 400 01 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

Given a RICOH KR-10 Super with the 50mm RIKENON and a VIVITAR MC Macro 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 zoom and a Flash and Instruction books Continuing trying to get good results with a batch of outdated ILFORD FP4+ using home-made Kodak D23 developer in my 'Gift' RICOH KR-10 Super. I added a small amount of Sodium Carbonate to the remainder of the 500mls I mixed up and it gave better negs. I next did a 'Clip Test' in some Kodak T-Max 100 dated 06/1989 and found 64 ASA was best with 13 mins 1+1 dilution. Sister Mary is a Nun who attends my Cancer Group once a Month on a Monday . I tried the 50mm f2 RIKENON lens at Full Aperture in very poor light from windows and got only 1/8th second. AV Auto Exposure rating film at 64 ASA.

Sister Mary by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
50mm f2 RIKENON at full aperture in the Rain

KR-10 Super HP5 FX-37 03 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

KR-10 HP5 FX-37 04 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
Using up the last bit of the 2011 outdated Ilford HP5+ in my 'Gift RICOH KR-10 Super this time using the KOAK D23 Film Developer Formula -- I mixed up 500mls METOL 3.75 Gms , SODIUM SULPHITE anhydrous 50Gms Filtered WATER to 500mls and gave film 12 mins @ 20oC - RESULTS : Much better FOG LEVEL especially compared to 510-Pyro which had a high Fog Level and GRAIN better than Crawley's FX-37 Formula I had tried . Still HIGH but film was outdated .
SMC PENTAX-F 100=300mm f4.5=5.6 lens at full aperture, Uncropped

D23 Test 03 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

D23 Test 02 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr