Expired Film Treasure: 120-size Kodak Ektar 25 (Abandoned Films 02g)

Dear Readers, I have written about Kodak's ultra-fine resolution Ektar 25 film before. This was the finest-grain color negative film ever made, and when new, had a vivid and contrasty color palette. But it has been out of production for two decades, and most (all?) rolls for sale on ePrey are unusable because they were not stored frozen. Awhile ago, I declared I would not try any more; it was past its time. 

Oh oh, trouble. A friend on the Photrio forum said he had two rolls for me that had been frozen. I could not resist - I know, I know, weak self-discipline. It is an example of succumbing to film GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

The first roll I exposed at an exposure index of EI=20. But when the film came back from North Coast Photographic, the frames were much too thin. However, I managed to save about half of the pictures via scanning. The second roll I shot at EI=12, and this one was much better. So, in no particular order, here are some examples of the famous but long-expired Ektar 25, color shifts, warts and all. These are all tripod-mounted exposures. Click any frame to expand. Comments welcome.

Louisiana

Bridge over Judd Bayou, Tensas National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana (80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens)

This is one of my favorite recent photographs. The light, foliage, and setting were just right. This is the end of the road for cars, well within the forest west of the Tensas River. Unfortunately, this area was cut in World War II, so the forest is not old growth, and the loggers destroyed what may have been the last USA habitat for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. 

Vicksburg and Redwood

Former CCC Camp near Union Ave., Vicksburg National Military Park

King Davis Church, Glass Road, Vicksburg (80mm Planar-CB lens, polarizer)

Shed near abandoned cement silos, Rte 3, Redwood (80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, ½ ƒ/5.6)

Remnants at cement silo site, Rte 3, Redwood (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

Crushing mill, Rte 3, Redwood (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, 1 sec. ƒ/8)

I have photographed this large metal object before. I am not sure what it once crushed or ground. The deep water pit may have been for cooling water or flushing the material out of the device. Now it is a perfect habitat for water snakes. This is just east of Rte 3 across the street from the old cement silos. 

Where is my food? Happy wet cows, Ball Road, Redwood

Rosedown Road, Vicksburg (80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, ¼ ƒ/4.05)

This is the view looking downhill from Confederate Avenue. These architecturally-boring houses have been here since before the mid-1980s. 

Eagle Lake Area

Jones Lake, near Laney Lake Road, off Rte. 465 (50mm Distagon, ¼ ƒ/11)

Jones Lake, near Laney Lake Road, off 465 (50mm Distagon, ¼ ƒ/11)

Snow in Vicksburg

Adams Street, view north (80mm Planar-CB lens)

Ready to go, Washington Street

Kansas City Southern rail yard from Levee Street

104 Locust Street (50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

106 Locust Street (unoccupied)

201 Locust Street (unoccupied)

Yes, once in awhile, we get a snowstorm in Vicksburg. It changes the entire look of the landscape and is too good to resist capturing with film. The overcast sky and soft light was perfect for this Ektar 25 film.

Locust Street is in the north part of town below Fort Hill. A local dude stopped in his car and told me how the neighborhood was vibrant 20 years ago, with houses on every lot. Now at least half of the lots are grass or have abandoned houses.

Summary

Once again, I am impressed that a 25-year-old color film will still work, albeit with color shifts and minor errors in the emulsion. This film shows it amazing resolution when used with the best optics and careful technique (which means a tripod). But I have no more 120-size Ektar 25 and am unlikely to ever buy any. As I concluded before (but obviously did not follow my own advice): this is the end, no more. There is one roll of 35mm Ektar 25 in the freezer, which I will save it for a special occasion.

Update June 2021: A friend found two rolls of Ektar 25 in his mother's freezer. It looks as if I will be able to enjoy Ektar 25 again.

Visual Treat: Autumn in Vicksburg (2020)

Well this was a pleasant surprise. Because of some mysterious combination of temperature, rainfall, humidity, or sunshine, we had an unusually colorful autumn here in Vicksburg. Sure, the foliage was not as as brilliant as you see in New England, Scandinavia, or the Appalachian Mountains, but still it has provided a visual delight. Here are a few examples from around town. Warning: pretty pictures again, no decay this time.

Vicksburg National Military Park

Ansche Chesed Cemetery, next to Confederate Avenue near the Visitor Center

Louisiana Memorial, Confederate Avenue

It was about a week early for the best foliage along Confederate Avenue. I turned right on Pemberton Boulevard and walked past the 1937 headquarters building (now used as office space).

Foliage north of the Shirley House, Union Ave. (Kodak Ektar 25 film, Hasselblad 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens)

Former road near CCC camp off Union Ave. (Kodak Ektar 25 film) 

When you reach Union Avenue, you have two choices. Turning left, you ascend the hill towards the Shirley House (surviving from before the Civil War) and enter thick woods. The former Civil Conservation Corps (CCC) camp is near an overgrown roadway near Old Graveyard Road.

If you turn right on Union Avenue, you return towards the main parking lot and visitor center. 

Union Avenue near the arch at the main parking area

Confederate to Pemberton to Union Avenues is a popular walking and jogging route, about 2.8 miles. The part near the memorial arch is noisy because of the freeway next door, but the woods are pleasing and shaded in the summer.

Kings Point Island

Kings Point Ferry (Kodak Tri-X Professional, Mamiya C220 camera, 105mm lens)

To reach Kings Point Island, you need to take the ferry across the Yazoo River. To reach the ferry, drive on Haining Road at the Port of Vicksburg, turn right on a ramp, then follow the signs to Kings Point Road. The ferry runs all day. If it is on the other side of the river when you arrive, they will come and pick you up. You need a car with high ground clearance (or a truck).

Kings Point Road heads due west. I have driven it in the past when it was dry. But this time, despite a general lack of rain this fall, there were muddy sections that I did not want to risk in my little car. We could only go a mile or two and turn around. Time for a Bubba truck.

Dry swale, Kings Point Island (27mm ƒ/2.8 Fujinon lens)

Wilton Bayou/marsh from Kings Point Road (9cm ƒ/4 Elmar lens)

Most of thesephotos are from my Fuji X-E1 digital camera on which I mounted a recently-acquired 1950s Leica 9cm ƒ/4 Elmar-M lens. This old manual focus lens works surprisingly well on my Fuji camera. I will test it more in the future on film after I send it off for a cleaning.

Major Loss: Beautiful 1903 Steel Arch Bridge over Jackson Road, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Old-timers remember when Confederate Avenue in the Vicksburg National Military Park crossed Jackson Road on a steel arch bridge. It was a beautiful example of early-20th century engineering - light, airy, and strong. I posted low-resolution contact sheet scans before, but as part of my National Park project, I scanned these 2002 negatives individually at 2400 dpi. In the 1980s, pedestrians could still cross the old bridge, but traffic was routed on a modern concrete bridge.

Photographers from the Library of Congress photographed the bridge as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey. According to the Library of Congress:

Notes
-  Significance: The steel arch bridge on Confederate Avenue in Vicksburg National Military Park is significant for its design. It is the only extant steel arch bridge in the State of Mississippi. The structure was included among a number of the state's historic bridges nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
-  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N479
-  Survey number: HAER MS-12
-  Building/structure dates: 1903 Initial Construction

Look at the last photograph; you can see how a footing has been displaced and has tipped over. But the bridge is still standing, held up by three footings. The structure was not weak. Workmen from Riverside Construction of Vicksburg pulled down the span using a bulldozer and dump trucks on June 20, 2002. They cut up the steel and took it away for recycling.

This is how we lose our architectural and engineering heritage: no one cares, and boneheaded authorities take the cheap and easy way out. For shame.

This is a footing on the north side of the road.

These frames are from Kodak Tri-X Professional film exposed with a Tachihara 4×5 inch wood camera with 75mm ƒ/8 Schneider Super-Angulon or 180mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar IIN lenses. I scanned the negatives with an Epson 3200 Photo scanner and touched up dust or chemical blobs with Photoshop CS5.

Vicksburg with Color Film 2017 (test of a Hasselblad)

Clay Street, Vicksburg (also known as the ugliest street in America), 150mm Sonnar lens.

My friend generously loaned me his Hasselblad camera and gave me some Fuji NHG400 color film to try. The Hasselblad is a 6×6 film camera, like my older Rolleiflex, but instead has a modular design. The reflex mirror is in a rectangular box. A lens mounts on one side, a film-holder on the opposite, and a viewfinder on top. You can switch and swap components as needed, and all these parts click together with remarkable tolerances (similar to how 50-year-old Leica lenses work perfectly on a new body).

Hasselblad 501CM, A12 film back, and Zeiss 80mm f/2.8 CB lens (all 1999 production).

Kansas City Southern railroad line from the Confederate Avenue bridge, Vicksburg Military Park, 150mm lens.

The Hasselblad has a big advantage over the Rolleiflex: you can change lenses. My friend's 150mm Sonnar lens, although about 40 years old, has beautiful color fidelity. It gave a field of view approximately equivalent to an 80 mm lens in 35mm terms.

501 Fairground Street, 150mm lens.

503 Fairground Street.

The five matching houses on Fairground street are typical 1920s cottages. They are wider than shotgun houses but similarly intended as inexpensive housing for urban working families. I have photographed them before many times.

Fairground Street bridge, 150mm lens (flare is from a  light leak in the film back).

The Fairground street bridge is now closed to car or foot traffic and is deteriorating. One span was built by the Keystone Bridge Company and was erected here in 1895. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

KCS railroad cut from Washington Street, 150mm lens.

Gent with his bicycle, 150mm lens.

I often like to photograph the Kansas City Southern railroad line where it passes under Washington Street and runs through a deep valley between Belmont and Pine Streets. The gent on the bicycle was coming down the sidewalk and we chatted. He graciously let me take his portrait.

Tri-State Tire, 2209 Washington Street, Vicksburg.

This building with its Spanish motif was once an ice cream shop but has been a tire store since the 1970s.

Stairs on the east side of the unused Mercy Hospital, Grove Street, 80mm Planar lens.

The former Mercy Hospital is closed and locked, but must have a lot of photographic potential. Some background on the hospital is in this Preservation Mississippi post.

2314 Grove Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 80mm lens. (Update Dec. 2019: the house is empty but still standing)

This is a typical early 20th century cottage. This was once been a duplex, but one door has been removed.

Thank you, Bob, for letting me use your camera and lenses. But now that I have sampled a Hasselblad, I want to buy one (Hmmm, an element of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) at play here.....).

Historic Steel Bridge, Vicksburg National Military Park

Long-term Vicksburg residents may remember that Confederate Avenue in the Vicksburg National Military Park crossed Old Jackson Road on a steel arch bridge.  The bridge and four similar structures were built in 1905 and used for many years, but by the 1970s, the other four had been replaced with modern concrete bridges.  By the mid-1980s, the steel bridge over Jackson Road was still open to pedestrians, but the road had been rerouted over a modern concrete span parallel to and west of the historic bridge.  Sometime in the early-1990s, the bridge was closed to pedestrians, but it remained unused in place, a relic of sound early 20th century engineering and construction.

This is the view of the historic bridge from the new concrete span. As you can see, it spanned quite a deep valley with a road and creek below.

This is a postcard from the archives of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Sometime in the late-1990s, one of the footings on the south side washed away, leaving the bridge standing on only three footings. According to the Vicksburg Post (June 20, 2002), National Park Service officials concluded that the bridge was structurally in imminent danger of failure and that repairs would be too expensive. Jackson Road was closed because of the fear that the bridge would fall.

I examined the footings with a friend who is a mechanical engineer, and his opinion was that if the bridge was standing strong on three legs, there was no imminent failure mode. The footing could have been repaired with piles or a concrete pad. Regardless, the decision was made to raze the beautiful old bridge. This photograph shows one of the footings on the north side of the valley.

Here is the still-intact arch entering the brush on the south side. You can see the dangling footing in the lower center of the frame. The demolition job was contracted to Riverside Construction of Vicksburg, and the workmen literally pulled down the span using a bulldozer and dump trucks on June 20, 2002. The steel was cut up and taken away for recycling.

This is how we lose our architectural and engineering heritage: no one cares, and authorities take the cheap and brainless way out. For shame that this happened in a National Park.

Photographs taken with Kodak Tri-X film on a 4x5-inch Tachihara camera, using 180 mm and 75 mm lenses. I had to carry tripod and camera down Jackson road on my bicycle because it was closed to traffic.