View allAll Photos Tagged selenium
Zeiss Ikon Contaflex IV with Carl Zeiss 50mm Tessar (both circa. 1958). Arista Premium 100 (rebranded Kodak Plus X). Nikon 9000 scanner.
I love this old camera. It's small (like a rangefinder), light, and takes pretty good pictures. On this day, however, the selenium meter struggled. It overexposed almost every shot. But still, not bad for a camera that dates from the late 1950's.
Zeiss Ikon IKOPHOT Rapid, a match needle selenium light meter in a leather case with a ornate chain. This thingy is from the 1950’s, but I found it at a flea market a couple of years ago. The seller had no idea what it was, she told me it belonged in a set with a camera which had been sold separately. So we gathered it had something to do with photography and as I found it to look truly curious I bought it for a couple of dollars. Googling it later revealed this in fact is a light meter.
About my Corner of Curiosities: A few years ago I bought a little box with drawers, thinking I would collect a few special bits and pieces in there. I parked this little set on top of my IKEA chest of six drawers which stands in a corner of my apartment. In time, I added more small shelfs, drawers and boxes and began to put curious items on display in all the little nooks and crannies. Quirky little things I mostly find on flea markets, but also get off the net. This corner of my home serves as inpiration, and every once in I while I walk up the IKEA dresser, put my elbows on top and rest my chin in my hands while I let my eyes wander through all these curious things. Moments such as these give spark my imagination and spurs my motivation to doodle in my journals. The collection is’nt all that special, as it’s not very easy finding fairly cheap, quirky and curious things, small enough to fit in the corner. My collection is constantly changing, if I find a new collectible, something else has to go or be moved around - as the corner now more or less is full.
Anywho, I thought I’d dedicate a photo album to this Corner of Curiosities, here on Flickr - probably for no other purpose than to tickle my own imagination :)
Fes, Morocco
Camera: Hasselblad 500 c/m with 2.8/80mm Carl Zeiss Planar
Film: Ilford FP4+
Development: R09 1:25 for 9:00 minutes
Dark Room Print: Fomabrom 111 in WA developer, toned in 1+19 selenium and very briefly in Foma Sepia (bleach 5 seconds).
Scanned print.
Mamiya 645 ProTL w/ M-S 120 mm f4 Macro (1:1).
Rollei RPX 25 in Rodinal 1+100, semistand 1 h.
Printed on Fotokemika Varycon RC, developed in Moersch Eco 4812 and split toned in Thiourea-Selenium.
Se is not only important as a toner in analog photography, it also exhibits light-sensitive properties and thus was used in light meters (surprisingly correct even after >50 years).
From left: Zeiss Ikophot, Walz Corona and Weston Master II.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper
Scanned 2nd pass selenium-gold toned IR lith print, Jan 5, 2018.
Rolleiflex T with Tessar 75mm/f3.5, Rollei Infrarot filter. Shot in May 27, 2017.
Rollei IR 400 in Tetenal Ultrafin Liquid 1+19, 6,5 min.
Fomatone MG 132 (24x30cm)
1st pass: Paterson Acugrade FX-31.
Bleached in Moersch Copper Bleach for Lith Redevelopment 1+2 with preservation of the deepest shadows (not much of those in this one...)
2nd pass: Moersch Easy Lith 3A+3B+1000H2O (40°C) followed by a 2,5 min long hot (45°C) waterbath to bring out the highlights.
Toned 10 min in Selenium (1+12), followed by 3 min in Thiourea-Gold.
PS borders.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Discovered last year that closeups of melting snow when converted to b+w look almost metallic. Couple that with some water drops from the meltwater and this is the result.
Sounds a simple formula but I
spent a good hour last night trying to time my shutter finger with the drip of the melt-water! Quickly melting ice doesn't stay still either (I brought it inside to shoot it) so focus drifts away through time.
Used flash to get the exposure fast enough for the water drop and used Silver Efex Pro with a bit of selenium toning to finish off the image.
I quite like the result. Hope you like it too.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
One week solargraphy
pinhole tin can + 13x18cm RC paper + Kodak x-tol (1+10, 15° ) + Selenium bath for a little intensification
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Minolta X-700, 58mm
Maco Eagle film, f5.6 1/125 with circular polarizer.
Lith print on Ektalure G with selenium toning.
Pu'u Loa area of Volcano Park, Hawai'i.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper
Selenium toned van Dyke print, 8x10-ish.
Taken with Wehman Field Camera, Ilex Acuton 215
on x-ray film.
Rolleiflex sl 66, delta 400, D76 1+1
Ilford multigrade fb classic 1k 24x30cm/ 20x20cm
PQ universal
stop bath water
Alkaline Fixer
Selenium toner 1+24 2min.
Sepia toner 2min.
I would like to prepare a photo exhibition.
If you would like to help me with this project, you can write to me.
The silver print is looking for a new home. ;-)
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper
I recently began reprinting my Series of Dreams...
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
$20 buy. Came with it's leather case and some typical accessories (cheap folding flash bracket, cable release, etc.). Works perfectly. Selenium cell meter is spot on. Shares the same shutter as the Kodak Retina Reflex series of cameras. Very familiar to me. Not a SLR, but a LSR (Leaf Shutter Reflex). An amazing amount of gears and springs inside needed to coordinate everything. Just winding it is almost musical. But for some small machining, this camera will take Kodak Retina Reflex lenses. A big bonus for me as I have a few - one I could sacrifice for the cause.
Stickers on a downpipe
Nikon F6, 55mm Makro, Kodak TriX in Moersch EFD, Lithprint auf Fomatone MG 131; Moersch SE5 (first tray 50 A , 50 B 1000 H2O, 40 D; second tray 5 Lith Omega 500 H2O), partially bleached, parially selenium and gold toned
Photograph scanned from an original hand-printed, selenium-toned print made with Ilford MG FB Classic paper.
Scanned Lith print.
Mamiya 645 ProTL w/ M-S 120 mm/f4 macro.
April 25, 2026.
Fomapan 100 in Rodinal 1+100, semistand 65 min.
Lith printed on Foma Retrobrom 151 Sp and developed in Moersch Easy Lith and Lith Omega.
Repeatedly toned in Se 1+9 to get the shadows darker. The result is always the same: You should have stopped in time. Purple Haze... Poor Pearl Hyacint.
PS borders.
Produced for the Periodic Table of Printmaking project by the Gregory half of spoonergregory.
Selenium is a dense purplish-grey nonmetal semiconductor first discovered in 1817 by Jöns Jakob Berzelius. Its name derives from the Greek word selene which means "Moon".
One of the element's most well-known uses is in the lightmeters of old cameras. These rely on the fact that Selenium's ability to conduct electricity is related to the amount of light present. The distinctive "honeycomb" pattern of selenium meters can be seen on many old cameras from the 50s and 60s. Unfortunately today many selenium meters no longer work accurately. However, and more importantly, they still look very, very cool. I love old cameras, and so came up with this design for my woodcut, of an old selenium-fitted rangefinder sucking up the light.
For more information on how the print was put together, see this photo: flickr.com/photos/spoonergregory/468303349/
Kentmere Pan 400 dev in Ilfotech DDX 1+4
Print 12"x12" on Ilford Art 300 dev in Moersch 4812 Selenium 1+10 2 min
Scanned LF lith print.
Graflex Crown Graphic (1952) w/ Wollensak Optar 135 mm/f4.7.
Kodak Tmax 100 4x5" in Rodinal 1+100, semistand 1 h.
Cropped neg printed on Fomatone MG 133, underdeveloped in Moersch SE5 and toned for a long time in Selenium (1+9).
PS borders.
To the best of my recollection I didn't do anything else but leaving this underdeveloped and fixed lith print in the Se toner for a long time. The solarization effect came as a surprise.
Perhaps an apt salmon pink colour?