The #FrugalFilmProject, May 2025: WTF?

The #FrugalFilmProject, May 2025: WTF?

I was a bit late his month with posting my entry for the Frugal Film Project. The weather in our region has been unpredictable for the best part of the month, and the forecast was unsettled. But the last week of May the rain stopped, tge skies cleated, and we had a few days of really nice weather.

This also coincided with a need for a trip to Coimbra, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take the Golden Wonder (a.k.a the Welta Penti II, half-frame camera) along with me. I loaded the Golden Wonder with a fresh canister of Harman Phoenix, and we took it through the back streets of the old town of Coimbra, and also down the main street. At the end of the trip I still had a few frames left, so a few days later I took the Golden Wonder on a trip around Costa Nova and Vagueira. 

As usual, to measure the exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160. I dropped the film off at the lab and few days later, and within a couple of hours the images dropped into my inbox. I opened them for a first look. WTF? What. The. Actual. F? The subjects came out great, I'll say that for the Golden Wonder, what you point it at, the cameras sees perfectly, but the light leaks? I do love my light leaks, I always think that they give character to the images, but in this case it was a bit much.

I originally thought that the lab might have scanned the roll with the wrong colour profile, and asked them about it. In reply the lab sent a snap of the film with the comment that it was 'burned', and looking at the film I was amazed that they got anything from it! Further along the roll the images looked like the film had light leaks, but the first few frames were almost solarised. 

For those not aware, solarisation is where the exposed film is exposed to light so that certain tones are reversed. It is also referred to as the Sabbatier Effect (although this is a slightly different phenomenon). Often the edges of objects on film show the most pronounced effect, and this can clear be seen on some of the early images from Coimbra. The later images, near the tail end of the film, show more normal looking light leaks. 

I was a little frustrated with the results, it's not often that we go to Coimbra, but on reflection I really like how some of these came out. I'm sure I'll never be able to produce this effect again, of course. I've posted the whole roll in an album (https://www.flickr.com/gp/147583812@N06/i92L12qxcH) on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.

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