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It's a curly film in rolls. Consider it the price for greatness.

It could be very useful to gather a bunch of tips and techniques to help new darkroom and film users - or offer a nice refresher for those that know everything. Obviously things like how to check your safelights or test for base fog have been covered extensively elsewhere but it might be nice to...

I used to do all my work in an unheated, uninsulated outbuilding. Going out in the morning during winter to start up a heater (which did almost nothing) and break up the chunks of ice on everything was part of the fun. Plenty of times I was working in below-freezing temps where the heater would...

Seems like a good candidate for the scientific method and deductive reasoning. Send me a few rolls and I'll send some of mine in return. I shoot many hundreds of frames of Neopan 400 a month and would love to get the secret of this fast version!

I shoot quite a lot of Neopan 400 these days, so far nothing out of the ordinary. You should probably send me a bunch so I can test it for you on this side of the ocean. You never know!

You tell 'em Mike, don't take any of their gruff!

I'm a big fan of Type 55, it's what I use for my Angels & Insects photos. That's hard to come by these days, but there are some threads with suggestions on what the film might be and what to substitute with.

My thoughts exactly.

To offer advice on what will make a good portrait lens for you it's nice to know before-hand what you consider to be a good portrait. Super sharp and unflinching or soft and dreamy? Advice without qualifying information isn't worth much.

It's hard to go wrong with a Sinar!

I have a C330 I use for documentary photography. I normally use Neopan 400 in low-light and Efke 25 in bright sunshine.

I make extensive use of my C330, these days the rest is either a Graflex RB or Mamiya RB67. The C330 is comparatively small and has enough lenses to choose from to fit almost any situation. If I know I'll be able to carry an assortment of gear I'll pack along anther camera, if I have to travel...

Did you ever find the station wagon???

If you've got the money to spare and it's all in good condition then go for it. It's hard for anyone else to place a value on it for you.

I've resealed a large number of RB67 backs along with miscellaneous other odds-and-ends with Jon's pack and I still haven't made a dent in the kit he sent. The sheer variety of thicknesses and densities he puts in there is mind-boggling. It'd be a steal at twice the price.

Prices are all over the place, I've seen them go for $150 - $450 depending on what's included, the phase of the moon, and who was on the cover of People magazine that week. If you can wait then patience can pay off with a good deal, but it's a crap shoot. Mostly when I buy things these days I...

Jon Goodman's kit is outstanding. I picked one up to reseal some backs and still have loads of it left. He's also very communicative and will answer all of your questions.

I've done a lot of travelling with a CG - they're great cameras. Make sure the focusing rails aren't bent (due to closing the bed without fully retracting the rails first). Otherwise anything wrong should be pretty self-evident. A few Grafmatic six-shots will come in handy. Once you get it...

I don't suppose you folks would suffer a Pentac (Heliar) user in your midst? I wouldn't even think to brooch the subject were it not for the languid pace here and my inabilty to find someplace more suitable. If it's not completely verboten I might be able to help pump in a little new blood.

It really depends on the look you're after. If you don't mind soft then there's a whole range of antique lenses that'll serve you well. I picked up an old Dallmeyer Pentac for $80 and couldn't be happier with it.

Pick something and stick with it. Try out the various combinations of dilution, time, and temperature. Remove as many variables as possible. Get to a point where you can replicate and anticipate. From there make small adjustments to only one thing at a time so you know what to expect. There is...

I shoot a lot of Efke 25, shoot it at 25, and develop it in Rodinal. I've done 1:25, 1:50, and 1:100. For the first two I went by the Massive Dev chart, doing inversions every minute. For the last I inverted for two minutes and let stand for 90. I think that the results are great with all three.

It's all just smoke and mirrors.

Is cropping a photo a lying? Yes, it is a lie of omission. Does that matter? It depends...

The folks at graflex.org swear by Lemon Pledge in the yellow can when it comes to old bellows.

I mix-and-match backs and bodies all the time. The two versions work a little differently but will still interchange just fine.

It sounds like you are still uncomfortable with your gear. That will go away with time and practice. Learn your gear, learn what it does and how you interact with it until it becomes second-nature. Eventually all of that will just melt away and become invisible. Just keep working at it and don't...

Part of this is knowing ahead of time what you want the final image to look like. It may be planned out to the tiniest detail or it might be impromptu (for example you know you want a shot of a model looking off into the distance over her shoulder but the exact expression and angle aren't...

For tripod work with lighter cameras (under ten pounds or so) I normally use Bogen/Manfrotto 501 video camera heads on a variety of legs depending on the situation. I have some that are set up for working at standing height and some that are floor-level. Don't know the models of the legs but...

I use Jobo's for 4x5" inversion processing with six sheets per reel, works great. I like using them because I can do a combination of inversion for developing and rotary for fixing.