Large Format photography group - From "zero to hero!"

steveo_mcg said:
I think this makes it easier to visualise but does nothing for the diagnosis!!

2015-12-22_11-31-33 by Steven, on Flickr

2015-12-22_11-31-55 by Steven, on Flickr

Top one is the negative of the image above, bottom one is the frame developed last night.

I've got a few frames left from this outing so I'll do a couple by inversion tonight and see how they look.
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dark marks on negatives are often caused by stress marks before or during development.
light marks are often caused by contact with a second film during development.

times gone by I often loaded two films in each hanger so i could develop 24 5x4 films at a time, if I loaded one face to face or face to back rather than back to back it could causes patches of undeveloped film where they touched. Rough handeling in the dark especially stress marks caused by your nails can easily cause dark marks. Stress marks have the ability to cause the emulsion to be sensetised as if by light.
You often see it on prints caused by print tongs.
 
Portrait lens.

Ok, I have always wanted to do some proper LF portraits of family and friends but i would ideally like to do them with an older brass lens. As i have a negative equity in my camera fund (i just bought a fuji 100-400 mm yikes.) i wont be getting this for a while and i dont want to spend much but any suggestions that i can research would be gratefully recieved.

Ta
Andy
 
LF lenses made from brass are probably old enough to be well outside my knowledge I'm afraid chap, though I'll definitely keep an eye on the more knowledgeable responses as it'd be interesting to gain an idea of how they compare.
 
Woodsy said:
LF lenses made from brass are probably old enough to be well outside my knowledge I'm afraid chap, though I'll definitely keep an eye on the more knowledgeable responses as it'd be interesting to gain an idea of how they compare.
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I have no idea whether this is feasible, I'm assuming it must be. I don't even know if you can attach a shutter or if the old lens cap off/lens cap on trick is how you do it. :D
 
There's a book with the title "The Use of Historic Lenses in Contemporary Photography" by Paul Lipscombe (I'm attempting to read the spine from a distance of around 6 feet). I got my copy from Robert White - I don't know if it's still available. If not, and you'd like to read it, I might be persuaded to loan it to you.
 
Andysnap said:
Portrait lens.

Ok, I have always wanted to do some proper LF portraits of family and friends but i would ideally like to do them with an older brass lens. As i have a negative equity in my camera fund (i just bought a fuji 100-400 mm yikes.) i wont be getting this for a while and i dont want to spend much but any suggestions that i can research would be gratefully recieved.

Ta
Andy
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Any good mate?

ImageUploadedByTalk Photography Forums1461435871.713062.jpg

;0)
 
StephenM said:
There's a book with the title "The Use of Historic Lenses in Contemporary Photography" by Paul Lipscombe (I'm attempting to read the spine from a distance of around 6 feet). I got my copy from Robert White - I don't know if it's still available. If not, and you'd like to read it, I might be persuaded to loan it to you for a substantial fee of course .
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:D
 
The book appears to be available as a pdf download here. You can get an idea (apparently - I haven't checked) of what it's like from the author's site here.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed reading it very much (but then I read "Wave Mechanics for Chemists" as a bedtime book...).
 
StephenM said:
The book appears to be available as a pdf download here. You can get an idea (apparently - I haven't checked) of what it's like from the author's site here.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed reading it very much (but then I read "Wave Mechanics for Chemists" as a bedtime book...).
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Thank you Stephen, I shall have read of at least some of that later.
 
Got out with the shen hao for half an hour this evening. What a difference! The glass is bright, the moments are precise there isn't the usual fight to align the standards etc. Basically it's not 40 years old.

The all up weight of my pack is, as expected, much the same but the stress on my tripod head is much lower and whole package is much neater so I'm tempted to get a smaller pack instead of wearing out my favourite camping pack.

On the other hand, it has far less movements, isn't really much lighter and fabulously expensive for what I usually spend on cameras. I think I spent more on the shen hao than I have in the last two years.

Any way, trying to decide whether to move the Arca on and keep the toyo for anything where I might need the movements (preferably close to the car) or sell both or what.
 
steveo_mcg said:
Got out with the shen hao for half an hour this evening. What a difference! The glass is bright, the moments are precise there isn't the usual fight to align the standards etc. Basically it's not 40 years old.

The all up weight of my pack is, as expected, much the same but the stress on my tripod head is much lower and whole package is much neater so I'm tempted to get a smaller pack instead of wearing out my favourite camping pack.

On the other hand, it has far less movements, isn't really much lighter and fabulously expensive for what I usually spend on cameras. I think I spent more on the shen hao than I have in the last two years.

Any way, trying to decide whether to move the Arca on and keep the toyo for anything where I might need the movements (preferably close to the car) or sell both or what.
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Bearing in mind the availability of Arcas and Toyos I'd be tempted to move them on and if you find yourself missing them then buy another one..
 
I think Nick is right (I've never said that before:D). I think your Shen is very like my Wista and so far I haven't found a situation yet where a lack of movement has been a problem.

Andy
 
steveo_mcg said:
Got out with the shen hao for half an hour this evening. What a difference! The glass is bright, the moments are precise there isn't the usual fight to align the standards etc. Basically it's not 40 years old.

The all up weight of my pack is, as expected, much the same but the stress on my tripod head is much lower and whole package is much neater so I'm tempted to get a smaller pack instead of wearing out my favourite camping pack.

On the other hand, it has far less movements, isn't really much lighter and fabulously expensive for what I usually spend on cameras. I think I spent more on the shen hao than I have in the last two years.

Any way, trying to decide whether to move the Arca on and keep the toyo for anything where I might need the movements (preferably close to the car) or sell both or what.
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RaglanSurf said:
Bearing in mind the availability of Arcas and Toyos I'd be tempted to move them on and if you find yourself missing them then buy another one..
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Andysnap said:
I think Nick is right (I've never said that before:D). I think your Shen is very like my Wista and so far I haven't found a situation yet where a lack of movement has been a problem.

Andy
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I agree 99% with the above. I might opt for a slightly different approach by keeping the others for a few months or so, use the Shen as much as possible and then decide. I think ultimately you'll use the one you enjoy using the most, with all factors considered. Realistically, how likely are you to run out of movements? The beauty is that, as Nick says, even if you do move them on and you find that you want them back again, simply buy another.
 
Normally I'd agree, I'm relativity mercenary with my cameras (except my RB) . The Toyo's bellows are knackered so it limits its resale value (I think), the Arca has had fairly extensive after market alterations (by me) and it really is a bit of a beater.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to replace the Arca like for like, it has a short rail, bag bellows and the 171 Arca lens board has been adapted to take linhof lens boards with an adaptor. On the other had I'm not sure I'd really need to replace the Arca, its (relative) small size and light weight are covered by the Shen Hao, the only thing missing is certain movements; front shift and rear fall both of which I can probably manage with out but it can't focus anything longer than 210 and it can't close focus anything longer than 150mm.

If I keep the Toyo I'd need to replace the bellows and buy/build an adaptor to take linhof boards.

I think what I need to do is get out and shoot some architecture with the Shen and check it has enough front rise, I think thats the only thing I'd need a monorail for.
 
I have the (tragically underused) RSW45, which was the lower priced version made solely for Robert White and reviewed by Joe Cornish here: http://www.ebonycamera.com/rev/RSW45.Cornish.html While it certainly wasn't cheap, it was better built than some other woodies that I've seen and played with, plus the relative lack of movements was an attraction as I had problems with my hands at the time and making adjustments was painful. Genuine Ebony accessories were seriously expensive though, but there were some good alternatives on things like viewers and lensboard extenders.

I haven't really done any LF for the past couple of years, yet it was my stated intent when I took semi-retirement to go out there and shoot some sheets. As David in Ffordes said to me at the time, "that's what everyone says!" and he's been proved right once again. :oops: :$
 
Peter B said:
I have the (tragically underused) RSW45, which was the lower priced version made solely for Robert White and reviewed by Joe Cornish here: http://www.ebonycamera.com/rev/RSW45.Cornish.html While it certainly wasn't cheap, it was better built than some other woodies that I've seen and played with, plus the relative lack of movements was an attraction as I had problems with my hands at the time and making adjustments was painful. Genuine Ebony accessories were seriously expensive though, but there were some good alternatives on things like viewers and lensboard extenders.

I haven't really done any LF for the past couple of years, yet it was my stated intent when I took semi-retirement to go out there and shoot some sheets. As David in Ffordes said to me at the time, "that's what everyone says!" and he's been proved right once again. :oops: :$
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Well, Summer's on the way maybe its time to dust of the black cloth and shoot some sheet. :D
 
Andysnap said:
Well, Summer's on the way maybe its time to dust of the black cloth and shoot some sheet. :D
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Can't disagree with the thought and the encouragement there Andy. (Did I mention that I've got a wholeplate camera as well? :eek:)
 
Peter B said:
Can't disagree with the thought and the encouragement there Andy. (Did I mention that I've got a wholeplate camera as well? :eek:)
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Excellent. Where are you based Peter? Maybe we should organise a Large Format meet as a form of encouragement. :D
 
Andysnap said:
Excellent. Where are you based Peter? Maybe we should organise a Large Format meet as a form of encouragement. :D
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I'm in Highland, which is handy for Ffordes but not a major centre of LF photography in my experience. ;)
 
Peter B said:
I'm in Highland, which is handy for Ffordes but not a major centre of LF photography in my experience. ;)
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A LF meet in the Highlands! We should definitely get on to that, don't you think, @Andysnap ? :)
 
Peter B said:
I'm in Highland, which is handy for Ffordes but not a major centre of LF photography in my experience. ;)
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I think you would be surprised at how many of us would consider a meet up that way. I'm going to leave it for now as we already have one weekend meet on the go but I think we should definitely consider it, maybe in the Spring next year.
 
I'd be interested in a LF Highlands meet and so would my wife.
 
And I'll be in the highlands with a large format camera in a couple of weeks...
 
(y)Not quite the Highlands but I shall be on Arran from Saturday onwards for a week and I may just have an LF camera with me.
 
Sounds like a lot of interest, and plenty time to get something organised for next spring by the sound of it! (y)
 
Don't think it is being discussed elsewhere, so I was just wondering if anyone orders from the Ilford ULF & Unusual sizes annual run which closes next Friday? I had an email reminder from Silverprint today and had a look as there is usually at least 1 strangely priced size on the list. This year it seems to be the halfplate (4.75 x 6.5 inch) FP4+ at £38.70 compared to 4 x 5 at £38.34 and 5 x 7 at £61.79, and I think I might just have a couple of halfplate film holders to go with the old Kodak wholeplate camera. It's almost certainly the last thing I need to spend money on, but then again that's what fridges and freezers are for! :rolleyes:

http://shop.silverprint.co.uk/Ilford-FP4-ULF/products/1016/
 
Please could anyone tell me the Filter size for this L/F lens to be used on a Wista field camera
Schneider Symmar-S 135mm f/5.6 Lens in Copal 0 Shutter
Also Is the Lens board used with this lens compatable with the
Rodenstock 210mm f/5.6 Sironar-N Lens
or do I have to get a different board. ?
Thank You :cool:
 
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Thanks Peter for reply just ordered filter. Regarding the lens board for the Sironar N it has only got COPAL no 0 or 1 on the lens it fits the same board has the Symmar so will
see what happens Once again thank you for reply. :cool:
 
What's the best way to go about replacing leaky bellows? When I got my Arca it's bellows were full of holes and I used tape to repair it, but now it's splitting in places again because there is just too much tape for it to flex properly. I assume 4x5 bellows are a standard size and you just have to buy the correct length for your needs? Do you usually buy them already with the plates on the ends to attach to the front and rear standards, or do you have to peel the original bellows off and then attach the new ones to the same plates? Has anyone got any recommendations for places that supply bellows?
 
Checking out what other brands that may fit ( if any) is worth looking into as Sinar bellows are compatable with Horseman and they're dirt cheap in comparison.

"Do you usually buy them already with the plates on the ends to attach to the front and rear standards"......YES!
 
Asha said:
Checking out what other brands that may fit ( if any) is worth looking into as Sinar bellows are compatable with Horseman and they're dirt cheap in comparison.

"Do you usually buy them already with the plates on the ends to attach to the front and rear standards"......YES!
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Ahh I see, I only ask as one "how to" I read about changing bellows had the guy remove the bellows from the plates and then glue replacement bellows in afterwards :)
 
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