Instant Film On A Hot Summer Day

Expired Fujifilm FP-100c Instant Film At Furman University

Last Sunday was a typical hot South Carolina summer day. With temperatures raising into the mid 90s it would have made perfectly sense to stay at home and enjoy the air conditioned inside. However, people do what they do and I decided that I wanted to go out and take some pictures.

Since I had a package of expired Fujifilm FP-100c instant pack film in the fridge, I decided to take the Mamiya RZ67 out and head to Furman University.

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Furman has great grounds with an auditorium, a football stadium, and the other usual suspects you might find on a university campus. The centerpiece however is an artificial lake that surrounds a small peninsula with a bell tower.

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I am not displeased with the pictures, but as you can see it took some experimenting with exposure to get acceptable results, partially because I used a polarizing filter for some of the images. The darker band at the right side of the third image is on the picture (not from scanning). I probably took the strip with film and developing emulsion not even enough out the camera.

After having taken a couple of images of the lake and the bell tower, I turned my attention to a small creek located just near the verge of the lake.

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All pictures as displayed here are 'as taken'. No edits done, what you see is what it is. Note that although the Mamiya RZ67 is a 6x7 camera, because the Polaroid back I use doesn't have a mask it produces a square 7x7 image in the middle of the frame.

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I like the results I got, but probably would need to experiment a bit more to get the results I really want. The colors are bright and details are sufficiently visible. The whole feel of the images to me actually is a bit vintage. Unfortunately Fujilm FP-100c is discontinued and although still available, it is a bit expensive and only expired batches are left. So I need to think if I will order more.

For the techies: all pictures taken with the Mamiya RZ67 Pro II with 250mm APO and 50mm ULD lenses on Fujifilm FP-100c instant film. Scanned using a Canon MP920 scanner/printer and the Canon standard software.