As I write this in April 2020, I understand that many of us are still under stay at home orders. During this quarantine period, I have not much freedom to go out for photo walk but that’s not stopped me from explore. There’s always a kinda ‘itchy’ feeling to do this or that during this time. Meanwhile, the safest way I can do is to explore objects I have found around the house.
Sadly, earlier this year — as we all know — there have been price increases for some film stocks. So I have had to look for other alternatives at a cheaper price without too much sacrifice in quality. This lead me to try some rolls from a Chinese manufacturer: Shanghai GP3 ISO 100 film.
I grabbed a roll and loaded it into my Rolleiflex 3.5F, shot at EI 100 and developed it in Pyrocat MC for 20 minutes with minimal agitation. I found that for a cheap film it’s sharp enough, has good contrast and is not too curly when it’s dried (as some folks have mentioned).
A little tip, I think it’s better to dry the negative in a room with a not-too-cold temperature, here in my place in Jakarta, Indonesia, the temperature is about 27-29 Celcius, this might factor in the film curl. I’ve tried some combinations with this film using various other developers like Rodinal, Caffenol, and ILFORD DDX. All came out quite well at box speed.
I once tried to push it to EI 400 and the result is quite contrasty and lost speed. So from personal experience, I feel I’d better rate this film at EI 100 to get the best out of it. The other thing I don’t like from Shanghai GP3 is the film base, it’s very thin and I’m afraid this could affect to long term quality. For those who looking for cheap low-speed film stocks, I think GP3 could count as an alternative.
I haven’t spoken about the quality of Fuji NEOPAN 100 ACROS or ILFORD Delta 100 Professional here but later, if this pandemic is over, and I want to go around just having fun shooting film then this roll will definetly go into my bag.
I hope you enjoyed my 5 Frames from Jakarta during lockdown.
~ Mustakim
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One response to “5 Frames… Of Jakarta during lockdown on Shanghai GP3 100 (EI 100 / 120 format / Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar)”
The images look good to me. Did you adjust for contrast and curves in PS prior to posting? My favourite developer is PyroCat as well.