There Is No Cat

Thursday, July 2, 2026

Fourth Roll of Polyfilm Handmade Film from Ukraine

I had ordered four rolls in all of Ihor's homemade film. By roll 4, I knew what to expect (see the previous three blog posts) in the way of faults. I took my last roll on a trip to St. Augustine, Florida, anyway. It turned out to be an interesting test of the effect of heat on the rolls of batch 260526. Florida in late June is not cool; temperatures were pushing 100F/40C most days. I rerolled this roll onto a 620 spool and put it through my Kodak Medalist II. Developed in Rodinal 1:25 for 10 minutes, per Ihor's suggestion, after exposing at EI 50. Five minutes of pre-wash, acid stop bath, five minutes of post fixing wash. The heat had had its way with the film; the artifacts I had seen on the previous rolls were kind of pushed to 11.

People walk up the stairs toward the Saint Augustine Amphitheater.

A woman walks away from a stand drinking a drink. The stand has a sign over it that reads Food & Beverages and a sign next to it proclaiming the amphitheater to be the #2 in the nation and #3 in the world with a QR code.

A parking garage sits behind a fenced-in pool and is reflected in the pool. A barely visible sign on the fence reads No Fishing Dangerous Wildlife Do Not Feed Alligators

View of a sidewalk and street. On the left is the Florida Moonshine Company with a sign above its door and chalkboard signs on the sidewalk offering free tastings. An open sided vehicle sits out front with the words Tasting Tours painted on its grill.

A large metal ball sits on concrete. A metal plaque on it says it marks the Old Spanish Trail First Milestone St. Augustine Fla. to San Diego, Calif.

Palm trees stand in front of an old fort made of coquina.

The seventh shot for some reason wasn't exposed. Not sure what happened here. But it makes for a pure look at the artifacts this batch encountered.

A long black office building streches from side to side of the frame under a large expansive sky.

A view of St. George Street, the main tourist area of St. Augustine, with many tourists walking down a narrow street lined with buildings, American flags, and a palm tree.

Ihor sent me a couple more rolls of his film in appreciation for my detailed feedback on batch 260526 that had exposed unexpected issues in his film. The new batch, 160626, should address the issues I found, and was shipped in an envelope that should have protected it from the heat of shipping somewhat. The weather here in New Jersey is now matching what we had in Florida last week; I saw the temperature hit 104F/40C yesterday afternoon. I may take one roll out in the heat to really stress test it and save the other for when it cools down after the long weekend.

Posted at 1:12 PM
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