It is honestly most the same as the old one. The two differences are using black spiral winding instead of silver (thanks to a free upgrade given to us by our printing partners!) and the pages are now double-sided. The original idea of the blank back pages was for taking addition notes, drawing, etc. I personally found during our last trip that having more printed pages would have been more helpful since I ran out.
These are available on the store now but we also have a few of the original ones left which are now on sale at a discount. Whatever you use for note taking, be it our notebooks, or something else; the important things is to get out there and create some beautiful photos!
For folks wanting to see the original typewritten draft
There seems to be a Venn diagram with reasonable overlap between folks that shoot film and folks with typewriters. Related, there is a smaller (but larger than I thought) Venn diagram of folks into film photography that are also into analog synthesizers, noting the other arm of our tiny business, BitByBit Synths. We have customers that have bought things from both our photography and synths stores. Neat!
Anyways, typewriters were not something I had put too much thought into until recently, though I am now part of that aforementioned diagram. There’s a few reasons why, thought they don’t directly relate to film. I suppose indirectly they do. Just like with film, I wanted something that let me slow down and be more deliberate and thoughtful. Something offline and real. So, a few weeks ago, I picked up an Olympia SM8 mechanical typewriter. Among the things I want to use it for, writing drafts of our blog posts is among them. Given that it’s raining right now, also a perk I can use this thing without needing electricity.
First draft of this very blog post typed up on my new to me typewriter
It has been an absolute joy to use. I don’t need another hobby, but I can see how folks get addicted to collecting these marvels of engineering. Many of us film folk already know this given the collection of large format lenses (and their shutters) and mechanical cameras like the Pentax K1000 – but when folks say “they don’t make things like they used to”, it’s true. Whether that is universally better is subjective, of course. A typewriter is much slower and deliberate as compared to when I’m whizzing away in a word processor on a modern computer. AI is now a thing where it can be used to generate entire documents making it nearly effortless.
Enter the typewriter. Effort-more is what I am after here – not effort-less. We are a family owned human run business and I want our blog to reflect that. I am not saying AI might not have a place, though that isn’t really up for debate here given what we do and the products we offer. Not to mention our customer service. It takes a human some effort to slog through my written nonsense. The least I can do is write that nonsense myself. And just like film, I think things which are important should take effort.
Tom Hanks certainly said it better in California Typewriter (and other places) but in any case, while the end product of the exercise will still be a blog post for our website, and while the average person reading this will not have a clue I drafted it on a mechanical contraption that dates back to the 60’s – I will know. And while I hope it does raise the quality of our posts, at the end of the day, it seems to be a heck of a lot more fun to write with the loud clackaty-clak of my new to me typewriter.
(No, I haven’t typed Tom Hanks a letter yet, but it’s coming – seems like you can’t truly own a mechanical typewriter until you do)
Last month, we went on an incredible vacation to Germany and Iceland. Ilford’s PAN F launch was timed just about perfectly as I was able to get my hands on 2 boxes before we left and had enough time to do some film testing with it to prepare. For the trip, I brought with me PAN F, HP5, FP4, and Rollei IR as my black and white films. That was quite a few but the trip was a great way to compare the stocks. On our last trip to Iceland, I opted for T-Max 100. But this time I wanted to see about slowing the water down a bit with HP5 while also comparing Ilford stocks. It was a great way to compare the PAN F in particular and having developed those sheets, I can confidently say that it did not disappoint. It. Is. Gorgeous!
I could not have asked for better photographic opportunities for the trip. I took so many 4×5 photos that I can through an entire Large Format Field Notebook. As an aside, we will be offering a double-side version of the notebook soon! While I still need to finish developing the rest of my sheet and roll films, nearly every photo so far has been worthy of the darkroom. It doesn’t always go that way, and that isn’t to say there weren’t challenges and lessons learned – that is a big part of why I love to shoot large format.
One of those lessons, not to get too meta here, is to listen when the Universe speaks. There was a composition that I really wanted to get near the last day of Iceland. It was a waterfall we visited last time. And while I love the images, the sky was drab and I wanted to see if I could improve it. I was on my last sheet of color as I recall and really wanted the shot. But right before I clicked the shutter, someone popped out from a rock in the distance wearing a bright green vest. Frustrated, I opted to wait. But then realized that maybe this wasn’t the right time. I did get a photo of it on black and white and the Mrs and kiddo were waiting for me. So I packed up, disappointed, but understanding that the Universe was telling me it wasn’t meant to be.
Since Iceland around this time is the land of the midnight sun, later that night, I ended up going on a long hike near the cottage we were staying at. It was a pretty hard hike in places, with a steep uphill grade, but the views – oh my goodness! I could see our cottage, the river, the village, multiple falls, sheep; it was incredible! I ended up finding 2 compositions that I really really enjoy. It was an incredible gift. And one I would not have experienced if I had been stubborn ignoring the Universe. That hike was probably the time I have most connected with nature.
Folks can see some of the photographs of our trip on our varioussocial accounts, though I do plan on updating my actual portfolio soon (it’s long overdue for that). I am also thinking about an Iceland zine, something I wanted to do after our first trip to Iceland. Now I have even more photos to choose from and I haven’t even touched on the color (partly because there is a story to that, which is perhaps for another post).
In any case, the trip was absolutely incredible and we want to thank our customers for your patience while we have been catching up on orders. All our stores are open and we are back to our normal made-to-order turnaround times!
It’s taken me a while, but I’m happy to announce some updates to our carrier lineup, starting with the C760. Finally! I’ve been hard at work trying to perfect multi-material printing and improve the quality of our products as a whole.
Some customers have already seen this with our newer camera scanning tables. The bottoms now have a TPU anti-slip skirt. This has been working well and I like it much more than the adhesive cork we were using. Ironically I would have expected that to have been more complicated than colored printing but that turned out not to be the case. In fact folks may remember I teased an early Omega D2 carrier a while ago. I’ve been working on it since that time.
After lots of work and with help from the truly amazing folks at both Prusa and Push Plastic, I’m proud to say we now have colored engraving/infill! For now the white engraving option is exclusive to our direct store (other colors may follow depending on interest), the C760, and is a small value-add. We hope to eventually offer colored infill as an included preference though this will require further upgrades to our print farm to do so and until we do are making it more of a premium option.
We will be adding this option to our other carriers soon and will also add this as an option on our eBay and Etsy stores as well at some point in the future.
I’m very excited, if you couldn’t tell! Thanks to all our customers for your continued support and encouragement! As a teeny tiny two person business (just me and Mrs. BitByBit Photo and on rare occasions the kiddo when he needs extra money), it really means the world. Our goal has been to be a positive force for good in the growing world of analog photography above all else.
(Those wondering about the Epson carriers – worry not, I’m still hard at work on those too!)
Some of you probably noticed our website was down for the last few days right on through the eclipse! We’d like to call it a side effect of the eclipse but now it was mostly my fault.
A cloudy view of the eclipse which, sadly, was the best direct view we had.
In any case, we’re working on making that better! I had a long explanation but figured most of our customers probably don’t care to read about how we run or websites – folks just want them to be up! My personal philosophy is most things on the Internet can go down every now and again and that should be fine. That includes our websites. But “every now and again” should be minutes maybe even hours but certainly not days! My apologies! We’ll do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Thanks to our new Prusa XL, I can now print multi-material. This means I can make the bottom anti-slip gaskets without having to use the stick on laser cut cork. It not only seems to work better but looks much better and lets me make some further adjustments to the geometry. Some folks that have open scanning table orders will be getting to new version and I’ll be updating all our listings on our direct store as well as eBay and Etsy this week to reflect the change. Price will remain the same.
It took longer than it should have, but I finally listened to your pleas and have made a 35mm Full-Rebate (Full-Frame) Scanning Table! Available now right here on our direct store with eBay and Etsy to follow shortly. It is also available with the Raleno Scanning Table system by request and will be a normal offering at some point soon.
Honestly this wasn’t all that hard of a change to make. I had to move some of the hidden magnets around…and that was honestly about it apart from the gate sizing which I was able to take from my darkroom carrier designs. I’ve been wary of releasing a full-rebate option just for fear of film flatness. Since I don’t (yet!) have an ANR glass solution, the film flatness is impacted though it the same trade-off as in my darkroom carriers and I have found it is generally pretty minor. The flare is still certainly a factor but again like the darkroom carriers, if using good coated glass, it’s also pretty minor.
So I finally relented and am making this available! Some 120 sizes may follow for the 6×7, 6×12, and Raleno scanning tables as I am able. If folks have an interest in a 120 option, feel free to reach out!
As long last I am finally confident enough in my 8×10 drying rack design to offer it up as a product!
It is a beta product for now just because I have only been able to test a few 8×10 films, though I suspect many will work. Any standard base film cut to proper dimensions should work (though if folks find otherwise do let me know). Thin base films (like those from Astrum/Svema) will not work at present as the base is too think to support itself.
Otherwise it works similarly to the 5×7 drying rack, just bigger. This includes hold downs. These are optional but recommended as they help keep the film straight and well separated from each other.
Currently only available in the 2 sheet variant, though I do plan on having perhaps up to 6 sheet options available.
If you have any questions about the drying rack, or really anything else, feel free to use our contact us form and reach out! Otherwise if you’d like to grab up an 8×10 rack they are available now!
Occasionally I’ve had customers ask what my 3D printing setup looks like. Until recently it was not something that was worthy of a photo, looking very much like a business that really hit its stride in 2020 😛 As we’ve grown, I recently had some extra funds and time to improve it to something that, while still modest, is something I don’t feel so embarrassed to share.
This is where most of the print magic happens! Just off the frame is a Corsi-Rosenthal box (a fancy way of saying a box fan with filters) to help pull out particulates. Out of frame on the left there is an AirGradient with a VOC sensor to detect presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This is mostly for when printing ABS, which the printer on the bottom corner, a Voron V0.1, mostly does (it’s what prints the smaller tin-type stands, the lens hoods, and the 120 film canisters, spare printer parts).
The big honking printer left-center is my Voron 2.4. It’s for 8×10 Simpleasels and my Eurorack stuff (that’s over at bitbybitsynths.com). Next to it are my 3 beloved Prusa MK3 workhorses. The first two print most things. The last one mostly does my PETG prints (drying racks, lens discs, filter trays, blank Eurorack panels).
Most of the time I have anywhere between 3-5 printers running. I’m getting to the point where I could use a 6th. The next printer I plan to add is a Prusa XL so I have 2 printers that can make big things. After that, I might be pushing against power limits but there is some space in the other corner out of frame for another printer (perhaps an MK4, or a 300 Trident) as well as another small one on that desk with the V0 (perhaps another V0 or T0). I can also likely cram more MKs sized printers in once I get the dry boxes up on a shelf or hutch, depending on how much space the XL may end up taking.
Modest by full time print shop standards but for folks that were curious where their products are made, it’s in this room. Unless I’m laser cutting something. That’s in the garage and a story for another day…
Testing out my 8×10 drying rack prototype with some actual film!
This is Fomapan 200 (developed in 510-Pyro for the curious) and as you can see, it’s fairly bendy. I was already thinking I’ll need to add something along the top just like I have for the 5×7 drying racks to hold the film along the top-center. I also need to space the notches out further I think but it is coming along and I do expect I will be releasing it as a product at some point, though it will probably take another couple of iterations through some designs before I get it good enough to sell. Worry not though it’s coming!
