From: shoppa@almach.caltech.edu (TIM SHOPPA)
Subject: Re: Astrocam 110 Film
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Keywords: 400 speed 110 film still being produced?
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 22:03:00 GMT

In article <6251@transfer.stratus.com>, cdt@sw.stratus.com (C. D. Tavares) writes...
>In article <Bu9u4v.J89@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib) writes:
>> In article <561@rml.UUCP> jack@rml.UUCP (jack hagerty) writes:
>> 
>> >Even if it did disappear, I wouldn't sweat it. I've had good luck flying 
>> >my Astrocam using 200 ASA film made by 3M (sold through K-Mart and other
>> >"house" brands). I just put the instructions "Please push one stop, camera 
>> >was set to 400" on the envelope and it's worked every time.
> 
>> How much extra do they charge for pushing? 
> 
>Ever seen the sign that ends with, "DUMB LOOKS ARE STILL FREE"?
> 
>In my neck of the woods, they don't charge anything, because they have no
>idea what you are talking about, and therefore don't DO anything special.
>-- 
> 
>cdt@pdp.sw.stratus.com      --If you believe that I speak for my company,
>OR cdt@vos.stratus.com        write today for my special Investors' Packet...

I believe the latest incarnation of Kodacolor Gold is advertised by Kodak
as having two stops under/ three stops over latitude, i.e. pictures can
be underexposed by a factor of four or overexposed by a factor of 8 and still
turn out fine.  Color negative film has a notoriously wide exposure latitude,
no matter who makes it.  Exposure errors are corrected during printing.

Can you set the shutter speed/aperture on an astrocam?  If not, then I wouldn't
worry too much about the difference between 200 and 400 speed film.  The
difference between a very bright sunny day and a overcast day is 4 or more
stops (a factor of 16 in exposure), so the difference between film speeds
pales in comparison.  On a cloudy day, though, the 400 speed film might
be nice.

For those who are really interested, there are several companies that do
business in selling modern film emulsions in older formats.  Perhaps you
could convince them to put some of the new 1600 or 3200 speed films in
110 format, and use these for some nice city light/ night shots?  One company
that I know of that does something like this is:

Film For Classics
PO Box 486
Honeoye Falls, NY 14472
(716) 624-4945

I don't know if they do 110 format, but they do many older formats (116,
616, 620).

Another thing you might check is looking in the photo magazine "Shutterbug"
(which is basically a magazine full of ads with a few articles).  There
are always several companies that sell old/outdated film at a discount, and
clearly advertise it as such.  You may well be able to find 400 speed 110
from them, as well as black&white 110 format film.  One that comes to mind
is located in Columbus, Ohio, I think it is called "Columbus Camera Group".
I've bought some older large-format stuff from them, and they are very nice
and curteous in helping you get what you want.

Oh, yes, a lot of the mass merchandise film developers are totally clueless
when it comes to push-processing.  I'm sure any decent "pro" lab (i.e. non-
mass merchandise) will gladly push process.  They may not get much 110 film,
though! :-)

My Mission: to launch my Crown Graphic 4" x 5" sheet film camera to 2000 ft.
Actually, with all this talk, I'm seriously thinking about launching a
small 35mm camera on a rocket.  With a nice lens, decent exposure, and
a short enough shutter speed to eliminate blurring, I'm sure I could make some
remarkable shots!  I wonder if I was clever enough, if I could use
some mercury switches to ensure the camera was pointed at the right angle
to take the picture, thus eliminating the "blue sky" shots I ended up
when I used my astrocam (launched 3 times many, many years ago before
being smashed to pieces when the engine blew out of the back of the rocket
instead of deploying the recovery system!)


					Tim (Shoppa@erin.caltech.edu
					    or	 @juliet.caltech.edu
					    or	   @CITIAGO (bitnet)  )

Newsgroups: rec.models.rockets