There Is No Cat

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Fifth Roll of Polyfilm Handmade Film from Ukraine

As I mentioned in my previous post, I got a couple of rolls of film from a batch, 160626, that is supposed to address the issues I found in my previous four rolls from batch 260526. I did indeed take it out into the inferno of New Jersey this afternoon, temperatures in the low 100s Fahrenheit, pushing 40 Celsius (I did see temps go above 40C/104F today, but not while or where I was shooting). I loaded a roll in my Pentax 67 and took it to Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook, figuring that photos of its defensive fortifications would be an appropriate thing to shoot on Ukrainian film. I also hoped it would be slightly less hot, which it was, but only by a degree or two.

Sandy Hook lighthouse, patriotic bunting hanging from around the top of the lighthouse in honor of Independence Day, when I shot this.

A small brick building with two garage doors; this is a firehouse.

A brick building housing a small concession stand has a sign on the building showing that it offers Sandwiches • Hot Dogs • Milk Shakes • Ice Cream • Hot & Cold Drinks • Slushies • Ice • Clothing • Oddities & Much More, and its hours. A sign standing on the grass says this is McFly's on the Hook. There are metal picnic tables on the lawn and a wooden staircase. Hanging from the staircase is a patriotic banner saying USA 1776 2026 250 Years. The lighthouse is visible behind all this.

A street passes many brick buildings. The building in the foreground is missing much of its roof.

The first four photos show mottling. It's not clear to me if this is interaction with the paper, or a more subtle instance of the plasticizers showing their presence. It's really obvious in the skies of these photos.

A large brick building is completely missing its roof and is surrounding by a chain link fence and buttressed by steel beams keeping the walls from falling down.

A large imposing structure with a gate at the front with the words Battery Potter on them.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh photos show evidence of another fault, with collections of black dots present in mostly the sky. Seven has the most incidence of this.

I got another blank shot on this roll. The Pentax 67 does something weird when the speed dial is moved accidentally to a place between two settings where it kind of implies that it opened the shutter, definitely brings the mirror up, but doesn't expose anything. It's interesting to compare this with the blank shot in the previous roll. The black dots noted in the previous shots are here in spades.

A view of St. George Street, the main tourist area of St. Augustine, with many tourists walking down a narrow street lined with buildings, American flags, and a palm tree.

Shots nine and ten also suffer from extensive dotting. Ten also ran into the end of the roll because I slightly misaligned the film at the beginning and hoped there was enough extra emulsion to cover the half inch difference between the arrow that says 120 inside the camera and the line that's supposed to line up with it. Oops. Missed it by that much. Kind of an interesting look.

A large cannon looks like a face with a very long nose pointing into the sky

At the entrance to Gunnison Beach on Sandy Hook, there is a sign that reads Attention You May Encounter Nude Sunbathers. A sign below it reads Notice This is a Public Beach. Persons engaged in sexual activity in public areas are subject to arrest, fines, possible imprisonment and a Federal criminal record. People are visible in the distance, blurred, walking toward the beach.

It's hard for me to say if this fully addressed the issues with batch 260526; the mottling and the black dots both look to me like they could still come from the plasticizer, or it could be something else. This batch is a definitely improvement from the previous one. Temperatures are supposed to be in the upper 70s and lower 80s Fahrenheit, upper 20s Celsius, tomorrow. If I don't get out tomorrow with a roll in more temperate conditions, I'll try later in the week. Today was definitely a stress test, and I'd like to see what the film does a little farther from the edges of the weather.

Posted at 2:10 AM
Link to this entry

Thursday, July 2, 2026

Fourth Roll of Polyfilm Handmade Film from Ukraine

I had ordered four rolls in all of Ihor's homemade film. By roll 4, I knew what to expect (see the previous three blog posts) in the way of faults. I took my last roll on a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, anyway. It turned out to be an interesting test of the effect of heat on the rolls of batch 260526. Florida in late June is not cool; temperatures were pushing 100F/40C most days. I rerolled this roll onto a 620 spool and put it through my Kodak Medalist II. Developed in Rodinal 1:25 for 10 minutes, per Ihor's suggestion, after exposing at EI 50. Five minutes of pre-wash, acid stop bath, five minutes of post fixing wash. The heat had had its way with the film; the artifacts I had seen on the previous rolls were kind of pushed to 11.

People walk up the stairs toward the Saint Augustine Amphitheater.

A woman walks away from a stand drinking a drink. The stand has a sign over it that reads Food & Beverages and a sign next to it proclaiming the amphitheater to be the #2 in the nation and #3 in the world with a QR code.

A parking garage sits behind a fenced-in pool and is reflected in the pool. A barely visible sign on the fence reads No Fishing Dangerous Wildlife Do Not Feed Alligators

View of a sidewalk and street. On the left is the Florida Moonshine Company with a sign above its door and chalkboard signs on the sidewalk offering free tastings. An open sided vehicle sits out front with the words Tasting Tours painted on its grill.

A large metal ball sits on concrete. A metal plaque on it says it marks the Old Spanish Trail First Milestone St. Augustine Fla. to San Diego, Calif.

Palm trees stand in front of an old fort made of coquina.

The seventh shot for some reason wasn't exposed. Not sure what happened here. But it makes for a pure look at the artifacts this batch encountered.

A long black office building streches from side to side of the frame under a large expansive sky.

Ihor sent me a couple more rolls of his film in appreciation for my detailed feedback on batch 260526 that had exposed unexpected issues in his film. The new batch, 160626, should address the issues I found, and was shipped in an envelope that should have protected it from the heat of shipping somewhat. The weather here in New Jersey is now matching what we had in Florida last week; I saw the temperature hit 104F/40C yesterday afternoon. I may take one roll out in the heat to really stress test it and save the other for when it cools down after the long weekend.

Posted at 1:12 PM
Link to this entry

Back to There Is No Cat