Our new 2013 Catalogue Update has been printed and is on its way to existing customers. If you’d like a copy we’d be happy to mail you one on request.
It details all the latest news from the world of Firstcall including analogue and digital developments including extra special offers – many of which do not appear on our website.
Firstcall is a photographic business and tries to sidestep any controversy that may arise through political comment we may make but Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has announced his plans for teaching photography and (if you live in England) his plans will have a devastating effect for anyone with a love of photography.
His proposed change, for an English Baccalaureate (EBAC), from September 2015, means there will no longer be ANY arts subjects – Art (Photography), Music, Drama or Dance – taught to GCSE level within our state schools.
This is because only “core” subjects will be allowed.
There is a massive reaction against this move within the photographic trade and the Arts world at large.
A petition has sprung up with over 100 Creative Arts organisations voicing their opposition.
To see what the planned changes are and sign the petition please visit the BACFORTHEFUTURE campaign at http://www.baccforthefuture.com/.
Another campaign at Creative Review also endorses a fight back. http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2012/december/includedesign
We have until June to reverse his decision!
Manfrotto new collapsible backgrounds give your portraits an urban look.
We now stock these new double-sided collapsible backgrounds from their contemporary urban range.Each 1.5m x 2.1m (5′ x 7′) background sells for £149.99 inc VAT.
The range includes four different backgrounds to take your portraits against corrugated metal/metal, redbrick/stone, distressed paper/graffiti or rusty metal/plaster.
Examples of all eight surfaces can be found on our website.
We’re giving away a FREE Fuji Instax Mini 7S instant camera in Fuji’s newly announced Christmas promotion. The camera in effect is given away because if you buy their Christmas package of 5 films (100 pictures) for £78.95 – the camera is all yours for nothing (it would normally cost you £70).
The ISO 800, Mini 7 film offers 20 exposures and gives small prints that are just 1.8 x 2.4 inches in size (credit card type prints) but at Christmas parties the fun element of instant photography is still as magical as ever.
When shooting, you can pick from four exposure settings (the shutter speed remains at 1/60 sec). Focus is fixed, but when things get really dark there’s a built-in flash.
So enjoy the magic of Christmas and bag a bargain for your stocking too by clicking on the link below.
http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/products/4585/fuji-instax-mini-7s-with-5-films
Classroom Pinhole Kit – A complete package to teach the whole class pinhole photography.
Our new Classroom Pinhole Kit is a brand new way to teach a class of up to thirty Key Stage 2 children the exciting world of pinhole photography.
This exclusive Firstcall promotion has been devised with help and support from Ilford, the leading British supplier of photographic film and paper and principally rediscovers the artisan element of photography by teaching this classic process.
The kit contains everything you need in one box for the whole class including six cameras (need constructing), 100 sheets of photographic paper and chemicals to develop them, all equipment needed for processing, safety equipment and full instructions.
The investment has a long pay-back too. After the initial purchase we also supply refill kits of key items e.g. cameras, gloves, chemicals and paper.
A downloadable resource video for teachers is available to compliment the project. It shows how to use the kit, choosing a suitable room to make a blacked-out darkroom. This information and the safety and technical data can be found here:http://www.ilfordphoto.com/pek
The Firstcall Catalogue is now into its 23rd year and our new 2013 version is about to be published due (3rd September).
In the 164 pages you’ll find many hard-to-find items that are either directly imported or distributed by Firstcall. No other company in the UK produces a photographic catalogue like ours anymore and it is considered by many as a valuable source of information for reference.
All Firstcall’s new and exclusive photographic products are listed including many specialist darkroom and artisan photographic supplies that are so often no longer sold on the High Street.
Email info@firstcall-photographic.co.uk with your postal details to receive a free copy!
Fuji Darkless was a novel way to develop film in daylight without a darkroom or changing bag. We now intend to re-launch this process in an updated kit for the 21st century photographer and it will be tentatively called Firstcall Daylight.
The trick is developing the film in its own canister with just 8ml developer solution (concentrated) in daylight. Because of the tight spooling of the film in the factory only 24 exposure films lend themselves to this process. Using just two solutions the development is simple and easy to follow. The first solution is a developer and development time is fixed (typical for 3 minutes). You then use the fixer to complete the process and “stop” the process continuing.
The process is initially planned for black and white film but could also be used for C41 colour at a later stage. We would welcome your feedback – positive or otherwise as to the viability of the pack we plan to launch of two black and white films plus kit components to retail under £10 if the feedback is favourable.
Please forward this blog/Facebook link to other analogue photographers for their thoughts too.
The problems with getting your slide collection “digitized” are well known. It’s an extremely time-consuming and fiddly job to manually keep changing adaptors or slide carriers regardless of how you scan them. For example, slide copiers attached to a digital SLR can only be done singularly; film scanners only take a maximum of five slides to an adaptor and even the quickest method by use of a print scanner will only take a maximum of twelve slides at once. The changeover time to re-load slides eventually drives most photographers mad with frustration.
In addition to the time-constraint problem there is the more important issue of quality. Slide photographers are some of the most quality conscious image makers around. Why would you want to degrade an image during transfer to such a low level whereby it’s almost unrecognizable from the original? Such is the proposition sold by cheap newspaper offers e.g. the Ion 35mm Film and Slide Scanner. Its name alone is a misrepresentation – it’s not a scanner but simply a film camera that copies your images at a lowly 5 megapixels yet costs £90 for the privilege. Continue reading
Earlier in the month we visited Compard KG near Hamburg to witness the manufacture of Firstcall’s unique range of black and white chemicals.
Marketed as “Softpack”, this complete range of chemicals remains always fresh due to the flexible type of packing used. Drawing on inspiration from the food industry (and looking like a Capri-Sun drink pack) the carton’s technology works by literally squeezing air out as the chemical is used, thereby offering the prospect of a never-ending active life from the liquid if the softpack is used correctly.
With Firstcall’s Softpack range there’s no more having to cancel processing sessions because your darkroom chemicals are out of date and you need never throw away part used chemical bottles ever again.
Based on the Agfa formulations the range covers film and print developers, fixer and stop-baths, ancillaries and even toners. With prices starting at just £3.79 you can see the full range at:
http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/search/softpack
(The picture shows Rodney Bates of Firstcall and Matthias Schröeder, owner of Compard KG.)
After our announcement last week about the new proposed Jobo CPP3 processor for later in 2012 we have been inundated with requests for further information and in particular whether the unit will be capable of taking the Expert range of tanks – needed for sheet film development.
Large format photography using both 5 x 4 inch and (to a lesser degree) 8 x 10 inch sheet film is currently booming and Jobo is a leading manufacturer in film developing tanks for the large format photographer. The news that Jobo continues to produce these high quality sheet film tanks is reassuring to many photographers living in North America and Japan
In a visit to the factory in Gummersbach, Germany this month we were privileged to witness the manufacture of these tanks. One key employee, Rita, has been making the tanks by hand for many years and we watched with awe as she “expertly” hand-glued every tank as it came down the production line.
In a digital age it is the skills of women like Rita that keeps our analogue craft alive and we’re all indebted to her. More information on our best-selling Jobo Expert 3010 model can be found here.
http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/products/839/jobo-developing-tank-3010-expert-drum
