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127 Roll Film |
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Introducing For 8 exposures 4x6.5cm, 12
exposures 4x4cm, or 16 exposures 4x3cm. |
Bluefire Murano 160 Manufactured
in Canada, and shipped to you by or on-line retail affiliate, The Frugal
Photographer, from their shipping warehouse in Nampa, Idaho. Any lab that routinely prints color prints for pro photographers will be able to process and print this film for you. It is developed using the industry-standard C41 process. Printing is easy if you use a 120 (6x6) film holder with a 4x4 paper mask (your local shopping-mall one-hour lab may flinch, but most independent labs will happily say "yes"). |
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The Hobart Building, 582
Market Street, San Francisco, September 2006, bright sunlight.
Union Square, San Francisco, September 2006. Photographed with a Yashica 44 on Bluefire Murano 160 film.
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Bluefire Murano 160 has beautiful image characteristics — fine grain, full tonal range response, good exposure latitude, and a useful rated speed. It is formulated for natural skin tones, and produces exceptionally high quality images when used in a good camera and processed correctly.
About 127 film: The Original Vest Pocket format
The Primo Jr., made around 1958 by Tokyo Kogaku Kikai K.K. (later Tokyo Optical), makers of the famous Topcon cameras, is a superb example of a 4x4 twin-lens reflex. It was sold in the United States as the Sawyer Mark IV. It came with an extraordinarily good lens and was very well made. At least three variations were made, one with a non-coupled selenium cell light meter mounted above the viewing lens. You'll find more information about this camera here. |
127 film was introduced by Kodak in
1912 for the Vest Pocket Kodak, yielding eight 1-5/8" X 2-1/2"
images per roll. Kodak stopped production of the film in 1995, and most
other manufacturers discontinued it at about the same time.
In recent years, 127 was used in Baby Rolleiflex, Yashica 44, Primo Jr., Sawyer's Mark IV, Ricoh 44, and similar small, twin-lens reflex cameras which were introduced in the late 1950's, and were widely used during the 1960's and 70's. It is also the correct size for many high-quality cameras of the pre-WWII period, including eye-level fixed-lens cameras and compact folding cameras with extremely fine lenses that richly deserve to be used today. Collectors who still use the original Vest Pocket Kodak, especially the "Special" with its very fine lens-shutter combination, report it gives wonderful images. Because the film size is so large, these cameras yield images significantly better than even the best 35mm, yet some, particularly the high-quality folding cameras, are almost as compact to carry as a good 35mm SLR. A 127 transparency (called a Superslide), when projected, gives a much larger, much more brilliant image than a 35mm slide can give. 127 film can be used in antique cameras, including the Vest Pocket Kodak and its imitators, and in cameras designed for Kodak 0 film. Many inexpensive cameras of the 1950's and 1960's used 127 film. A Brownie Starflash or Beacon is not a worthwhile camera for everyday use today, but it is certainly a nostalgic experience loading 127 film into one and shooting a roll or two at a picnic or sporting event.
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127 film is designed to give 12 square, 4x4 cm, or 8 rectangular, 4x6.5 cm images per roll, depending on the camera you use. It has frame numbers printed on the backing paper so you can use it in cameras which use a "ruby window" on the back for advancing film to the next frame.
The so-called "dreivier" (three-four) models are 127 half-frame cameras. They have two red windows on the back so you can get 16 3x4 cm images per roll.
When 127 film is reversal processed and mounted in "superslide" mounts, which fit standard 35mm projectors, you can project images substantially larger than 35mm slides, with tremendous visual impact.
Today, 127 film is still manufactured in Europe, and in Canada by Bluefire Laboratories, but only in small quantities. Unfortunately, low production volumes mean it cannot be manufactured for sale at discount prices.
Exposure and Processing:
Expose Bluefire Murano at ISO 160. This film is balanced for daylight or electronic flash exposure. If you're shooting in artificial lighting, such as tungsten or fluorescent light, be sure to use a cooling filter like the 80B.
Processing of this film is available here.
Frugal Photographer sells a processing tank with adjustable spiral reels that accept 127 film, as well as 35mm, 126 Instamatic, 35mm, 828, Bolta, 120, 620, and 220.
