Yashica Test Run
It was a sticky afternoon in Virginia. It felt like I was walking behind a car tailpipe when I was outside. The sun was about two hours away from dipping below the horizon, the sky was painted strawberry-mango and the clouds were used to mix the two. It was beautiful outside and I had to take advantage of this. Now would be a good time for me to test out my ’95 spy camera: the Yashica T3. I've seen what others were able to produce with it online and today was the day I put the camera to a field test.
I had already planned to go for a jog, so I decided to pack up the Yashica for the adventure. We also picked up Jasmine along the way. She didn’t know it yet, but she would be used for a few of the test shots. I led the expedition, running and stopping to capture the sun wrapped subjects. After an hour of stop and go exercise, my 24 frames were filled.
Itching to see how the Yashica performed, I stopped by the house and stuffed darkroom supplies into my bag and headed to the studio reeking of expired deodorant. I got to the studio and the darkroom welcomed me with a chemical-aroma filled hug. I replied with a smirk upon entry. I slid on my black gloves, mixed the necessary chemicals, and began to develop the test roll. Fifteen minutes later, we had success! But I noticed something was different about this roll of film; it was purple when I pulled it out of the stop bath. I could still see the images clearly but only on one side of the film. That didn’t bother me because the Yashica passed the field test with ease!
Later on I asked a few friends why my film was purple and only printed on one side of the film. I came to find out that the film I was using was black and white C41 processing only. Which means I have to use special C41 chemicals when developing the film. I do not know much about the different chemical classes for developing film but I do know you need the right chemicals and temperatures when developing C41 type film. I didn’t have the discipline to read my film type before developing which resulted in interesting looking film. If I had read C41 processing only I would've waited to send off to the shop for processing. I'm just glad I was able grade the performance of the Yashica.
If you would like grade the performance as well here is link to my dropbox. Feel free to use, edit, or whatever you want with these photos.