BETWEEN THE LINES
By R. V. W.
Newer members may not appreciate the heady - & somewhat frustrating days of 1975-6. In February 1975 3M announced the withdrawal of CR50 film & its proposed replacement with a 100 ASA material & new kits for processing. In early 1976 the new film was slowly & reluctantly filtered onto the market . All of the CR50 film was by then gone. The 100 ASA Kits were nowhere to be found except various formulae offered by CR50 members, which were largely experimental. The Ektachrome & Agfa processors continued on their expensive way to the rejoicing of the Great Yellow God.
Spotting this gap in the market various suppliers on the Continent & in the far East stepped into satisfy this need - not always to the users delight. Loyal 3M film users were faced with a quandary about what to do. Technical enquiries inundated our Technical Specialists. With no 3M film first then no kits or reliable formula the then CR50 Club abandoned its exclusivity and opened up its interests to ALL makes as the Colour Reversal Club (March 1976).
The following article reprinted from the Area 9 News of that time ------ the situation then ruling.
WUNDAFILM & WIZZODEV.
Since the going down of the sun on CR50 these two outstanding products (of the imagination?) have been promoted to all and a sundry in the in the home processed colour - slide racket by Twistem & Cee the ultra-optimistic P.R. group for Bleach & Fix Laboratories (Blixlab).
Beguiled by the full-page colour spread, Joe Soap collects his bargain-offer half-dozen cassettes of Wundafilm and exposes them at the alleged ASA on his once-in-a-lifetime holiday in the Canadian Rockies. Back home in the smoke, Joe can hardly wait to process these masterpieces, scans the Photo-press, and writes away for his Wizzodev Kit.
Now Wizzodev is a true product of this technological age. Not only will it process Wundachrome, Supafilm, Hypochrome and all other reversal and negative films it makes prints on all papers in colour or monochrome. It keeps for at least 5 years when made up and was awarded a Highly Commended Certificate at the Kalamboolee Art Festival. With all this going for it, it just had to be Wizzodev.
As for Wundafilm, this new breakthrough in multi-electronic atomically-tested super-coating claimed a new high in colour saturation at any speed up to 2500 ASA with negligible contrast change and umpteen lines per mm. resolution.
Lest we are confusing you, you should know that the light was good in Calgary and the irriplacable shots of the famous Stampede did not need more than the usual 200 ASA which Joe normally used for FP4 so he stuck with it all the way, not wishing to take any un-necessary risks.
So here I am. goggling over six rolls of Joe Soap`s handiwork, puzzling away when I should have been watching "Match of the Day". Ivor Tank, Leader of Area 79 who sent them to me said that Joe had been known to process CR50 with doubtful results. There must have been some unique aerial conditions in Canada during Joe`s visit for the skies had a most unusual shade of magenta. The landscapes, where visible under a muddy coating, were almost pure cyan. Oddly enough, the magenta snowscape seemed incredibably sharp. Until I caught on that it was the ultimate in reticulation. The leaders seemed more or less right until it occurred to me that they were over a foot long. Yes, Doctor watson, the emulsion had been absolutely spirited away. But the abstracts were really first class and this only confused me more than somewhat. The truth finally dawned - missing and misaligned layers of emulsion. If it`s any consolation Joe, these should do well in some `way out` competition.
We have not yet got around to acquiring a new Wizzodev Kit to test but should you get there first, we aught to mention that Joe seemed a bit upset by the hole he found burned into the Formica worktop where the Colour Dev. had rested.
Whether the Wundafilm, the Wizzodev or the user went wrong we leave to you to work out. There are no prizes for the solution. Nor slides for poor Joe.
Now this half of your editorial team can hardly read (as older readers of this publication will already know only too well), and thus remains deprived of the benefits of modern-age advertising, especially in the photographic press. Furthermore, some contend that he suffers from a certain scepticism from time to time. So now, arising from the work of Saint Murph (whom you may recall was responsible for that famous industrial principle known as Murphy`s Law) may I preach my sermon? I will anyway....
(1) If thou desirest to play with unknown film or kits, first shall ye make a test strip, under normal lighting conditions at ye recommended speed with bracketed shots at «, 1, 1« stops either way.
(2) Then and only then shalt though dunk it in ye brew.
(3) carefully shalt thou examine ye results, adjust, test and query till right.
(4) If though failest Colourwise, check ye brew or at ye last resort consult the CRC oracle.
(5) When and only when rectified by ye actual test to your satisfaction shalt though shoot seriously.
(6) verily, then shall the light shine out of your slides and brighten the darkness of ye CRC officialdom.Kalamboolee came up the other night in a conversation with an Aussie friend who thought we Poms were dead simple, sport. Kalamboolee, he said was evacuated in 1894 when the gold ran out, and who wants to go to the middle of nowhere anyway, Art Festival or not?
Just for the record. please be careful not to confuse Wondachrome (mentioned on page 1), with Wundafilm. Wundachrome is believed to be of Hong Kong manufacture (not Taiwanese as some suggested), whereas Wunda-film originates from the Central African Nyaswana Republic (as befits a developing (?) nation. At least, that`s what the man from Blixlab thought. How confusing these film names are nowadays!