old found film used and developed

[philslizzy]

While on holiday in Poland I picked up an old East German Certo 35, it seemed to work well but when I took it out of the case the bottom dropped off. Hmm needs fixing. However inside the Certo was an old film seemingly only just put in no exposures taken. I wound it back and put it in my bag. Later when my Olympus Trip finally ran out of Vista Colour I decided to give it a go. I set the meter to 100, figuring it wouldn't be any higher than 125 or lower than 50 (ASA/ISO).

This morning I developed it, I knew it was B&W by the colour of the emulsion so I guessed and gave it 10 mins (at 24C) in quite old Fomadol that was a couple of months old. The developer came out grey and cloudy. Not normal. However it worked, the negs are reasonably contrasty and only a couple of tweaks were needed in Photoshop to compensate the shortcomings of my £15 Maplins 'Gadget' film scanner.

here it is I have no idea what film it was, there are no markings on the margins, not even frame numbers. But plenty of fungus! PLENTY of fungus!

The film in an unmarked cassette, possibly rolled from bulk but the film end had a proper tongue so what make was it anyone?....



The sprockets and no markings. First glimpse of fungus.



These photos were taken in Warsawa mostly in the Stare Miasto (Warsaw's old town)

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The lack of apparent sharpness is due to the film having a natural curve and the scanner not being able to hold it straight.

Not important photos, I had my digital P&S for the important stuff.

Despite the fungus on the film the lens on the Certo is clean as a whistle. More food on a film than a lens!!

[Lloydy]

The last picture, the hand, is stunning.

[konicamera]

[philslizzy]

[martinsmith99]

[480sparky]

[konicamera]

[philslizzy]

[Excalibur]

[konicamera]

[Excalibur]

[konicamera]

[Excalibur]

[konicamera]

[Excalibur]

[iangreenhalgh1]

At both Agincourt and Waterloo, we had an ally - mud. The French got stuck in it both times. The other major factor was the French leadership on both occasions was incompetent.

The last recorded kill with a longbow by a British soldier was during ww2 - a sargeant carried one and used it.

The ascension of William of Orange (Billy the bastard) was perhaps the greatest tragedy to befall the English. It gave rise to the banking system that has enslaved us ever since.

But back to the original topic, I've never seen fungus on an old film before, it must have been stored very badly. The film would probably be one of the Russian types, Svema maybe.

[konicamera]

[iangreenhalgh1]

Not true, the French had the superior numbers, and while the arrival of a couple of Prussian infantry brigades did have some effect, the battle was won by the British and their Dutch and German allies. Napoleon left the control of the battle in it's middle stages to Marshall Ney, who was very brave but also quite stupid. Ney saw the British brigades in the centre retiring behind the crest of the hill to avoid the French canon fire and rashly thought they were retreating, so he launched the French cavalry, without infantry support. The British formed squares, fought off this cavalry attack, and held their line on the ridge. Napoleon returned to command, threw a fit at Ney for launching the cavalry without infantry support and decided to roll the dice by throwing in his last reserve - the much-vaunted old Guard. The Old Guard marched up the hill, Wellington ordered the hidden and relatively undamaged brigades to stand up and pour fire into them and the Old Guard were soundly beaten, shot to pieces. It was only at his point that the Prussian brigades on his extreme right flank began to pressure Napoleon so the cowardly Corsican fled, leaving what remained of his army to it's fate.

Waterloo was 'a close run thing' but make no mistake, it was a triumphant victory for Wellington's superior tactics and leadership and the dogged resistance of the British, Dutch and Germans he commanded.

Even the opening stages of the battle, which were commanded by Napoleon were mishandled, he played directly into Wellington's plans by sending insufficient infantry without sufficient artillery support to attack the bastions of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, attacks that were necessary but poorly executed. To be fair to Napoleon though, the torrential rainfall of the night before had turned the bottom of the slope where his army stood into a quagmire and that prevented the formation of a 'Grande Batterie' as was his typical tactic. Napoleon intended to use his massed artillery to smash the British line as it had done against the Austrians, Russians and Prussians in previous campaigns, Wellington expected exactly that hence he chose his ground very well to avoid that - the ridge he chose to occupy provided good protection against artillery fire, so that he was able to preserve the strength of his brigades until the final decisive action.

You can also place some blame for the French defeat on Marshall Soult, who had over 30,000 men in his Corps and was following Blucher as ordered. If Soult had marched to the sound of the guns earlier in the day, as his staff officers wanted, he could have arrived on the field of Waterloo in time to join in the assault on the British position on the ridge, instead, he chose to follow Blucher, which meant he was still miles away when the Old Guard made their assault. Napoleon blamed Soult for his defeat, and he might have been right. It was strange that Soult, his most able Marshall, showed no initiative and meekly followed the order to 'keep his sword at Blucher's back' rather than acting on his own initiative as he had in previous campaigns.

So all in all, yes, the French leadership proved incompetent on that day. First Napoleon mishandled the attacks on La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont, then Ney made a rash cavalry charge that did little other than destroy the French cavalry, then Napoleon gambled with his last reserves and lost. Soult played no part and his inaction was a major factor in the French defeat. The commanders who performed well that day were Wellington, who displayed an understanding of the use of terrain and the preservation of force until the crucial moment and Blucher, who drove his battered and dispirited men forward with an iron will. All of Blucher's staff officers favoured a retreat back over the Rhine, to await the arrival of the Russian and Austrian armies, but Blucher was a real warrior who held a fierce burning hatred of the French and overruled them all, if Wellington would stand and fight, Blucher would do everything in his power to join him. He declared that he would shoot any man he saw with pity in him and would tie his men to trees to stop them retreating if he had to.

You can make an argument that without the heavy rain and mud, Napoleon would have got his Grande Batterie formed in the morning, used it to smash the British and Allies, then made a massed infantry assault and driven them off the ridge. That would have left Blucher to fight the French alone for a second time. If Napoleon had waited until the following day, Blucher and Wellington would have linked up, and outnumbered the French, so he had to try to defeat Wellington at Waterloo, it is hard to see what other option he had as time was against him, the longer he waited, the more time for the Austrians and Russians to march their armies into France. Napoleon planned to defeat Britain and Prussia as quickly as possible, hence his aggressive move into Belgium, so he could then chose to meet the advancing Austrians and Prussians on ground of his choosing.

[konicamera]

[Excalibur]

[Excalibur]

Well put it this way Konicamera...if the British hadn't got involved in Europe esp at Waterloo, the French would have had a European Empire (and large world empire). And later if the British DID NOT become allies of the French and the Entente Cordiale didn't exist...then in WW1 Germany would have won.

[iangreenhalgh1]

[Farside]

[philslizzy]

[iangreenhalgh1]

There's a few Poles from ww2 where I live too, there wasn't anything for them to go back home to.

You're right about Poles and their work ethic, I worked in a factory with over 200 of them, they worked so much better, harder and with less complaint than the English, and didn't pull sickies all the time. They are good people in my book.

I'm partial to a Wjieska and a Zwiec too.