Tag: Pakon 135 scanner

Film Star Tomatoes

I bought the Pentax 17 half-frame camera soon after it came out. And only a couple of weeks ago did I finally finish the roll and get it processed. I scanned the film myself – the first roll in what seems ages – and it took me awhile to get familiar with my film scanners. I have a Pakon 135 which I use with my very old XP eMachine laptop, and my newer Pacific Image PrimeFilm XAS scanner which works with Windows 11.

Tomatoes - Pakon 135 Scan
Pakon 135 Scan

The above image was done using TLXClient (the professional part of the Pakon software – may have the name a bit munched), a part of the Pakon software. It is limited in size for the final scan. I used it with scratch and dust removal along with whatever else was in the arsenal. The image was a tad dark so I lightened it a bit in Lightroom. It has a warm cast which is very nice to the eye.

Tomatoes - PrimeFilmXAS and NegLabPro

The above image was scanned as a negative – not a negative turned positive as the Pakon does. From there I converted it to a positive image using Negative Lab Pro and the “Cine” color interpretation. It is a lot colder and more blue of an interpretation. I rather like it. Post-processing of film images is a lot like painting – you can interpret things as you wish.

I used the Pentax 17, one of the two newest film cameras manufactured in the past couple of years. It is a simple camera which uses zone focusing but is automated in a lot of ways which make for some fun times. What I have seen so far in image quality is pretty good – and when you remember to take the lens cap off, you get pictures, too! (There is a light on the viewfinder which blinks at you if you have no incoming light – but I forgot that!) The biggest thing is that this is a “half frame” camera, meaning instead of one image, you get two. Thus, a 36-exposure roll should net you 72 images.

Image quality has been discussed back and forth for different film sizes, so I will leave it to you, dear reader, if you want to find out more. The link above takes you to the Ricoh website for the Pentax 17, and if you use the tabs on the web page, you will get a lot of information. I think the pictures I got look great – when I remembered to do things right! Using the Pentax 17 is easy and fun, and its compact size makes it easy to take with you.

Fujicolor 100, Pakon 135 Scanner, Pacific Image PrimeFilm XAS scanner, Lightroom, Negative Lab Pro, Pentax 17 camera.

Wheel Barrows

Wheel Barrows

I busted a toe about 5 weeks ago and am finally able to wear more than a piece of tape around my 3rd and 4th toes and tight shoes. I have been hobbling around and taking, slowly and surely, short walks. I think I am out of the woods for the most part, and last week I was able to walk, very carefully, along the trails at the botanical garden. These wheel barrows reside behind their maintenance building, and I rather liked their colors and lines, so neatly stacked upon each other.

I took these with my Olympus Trip 35 and Fuji Superia 400 film. I picked up the film today and scanned and edited in post. The little Trip 35 does a great job for a camera ca. 1967. Some of the roll didn’t advance right, but when it did work, it did a pretty darned good job.

I save a lot of money on film since I don’t process it myself by scanning my own images in either my vintage Pakon 135 scanner, Epson V600, or Pacific Image scanners. Here I used the Pakon and my old eMachine XP laptop. It’s a pretty easy process. Once scanned, into Lightroom, and the rest, as they say, is history. There is something about film, even when edited in the digital darkroom, that a totally digital experience cannot replace – not even those great Fuji films mods in the X100V.