W'eve been sitting on a stash of mid eighties expired Tasma KN-3 for a while now. Ive been shooting it alongside our Ilford HP-5 (Pulverantilists choice no1) when the light suits. Originally rated at 90 gost, thats about 100 iso in english, it's predictably lost a couple of stops and has developed a unique look that you will not find from any other film- guaranteed. I've been testing it in a variety of cameras and different conditions with various development methods and i think i've found what works for me.
To put it in a nutshell this stock needs light and plenty of it. Rate it at iso25 and meter for the shadows to get the best out of it and I find that it really shines the most when used with some top quality glass. You will see with my half frame examples that it can get gloriously gnarly, especially if you tend to crop your shots like i do sometimes or if you under expose by accident. For me though its best to expose properly and use a prime lens on an SLR. The shot of my dog in the grass was taken with an olympus om2 and a zuiko50 1.8 and i was honestly blown away by the contrast and sharpness, without any loss of character. From the same roll are some local industrial scenes and a couple of pics of Ella that again showcase what a special film this is. The rest of the examples are from a pentax mx and the 50 1.8. I particularly like the low angle shot of the truck which required a bit of dodging and burning in the darkroom to get to this state. Its actually quite a fun film to print, not easy but again worth the effort with the right negative.
For developing i've been using Rodinal which can be a bit grainy but that's how I like it. Initially i stuck to the one does all, semi stand method but I found that too many of my shots were being ruined by the dreaded bromide streaks so i changed to 1+50 and i've tuned it to about 15 minutes with a few turns every minute ( i'm not too fussy when it comes to agitation) Sometimes I even push it to 17 minutes if the light is a bit flat just to give the image more bite.
I find that using this type of film is a challenge but the rewards are worth it, sure you aren't going to use it at a gig or for the street at night but for most daylight situations 25iso is easily handheld, especially with a fast lens so don't let the speed or lack of put you off giving it a try.
I hope that you enjoy the images and that you might be inspired to give this stuff a go, find it in the shop and be sure to join the pulverantilist group on Flikr to showcase your efforts.
Simon:)
