I unexpectedly find myself a large format shooter and need processing advice

[mark]

Depends on the tank but the market drives the price. As long as people are willing to pay 2-3 times the cost of a new model the prices will remain high.

 

[Len Robertson]

My mistake on the temperature. I went back and looked here: http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/CAXX0540 and the site gives it in degrees F, not C. Either way, it is cold. I went to the Spokane WA area forecast and saw highs this week in the low 40s F with rain and realized how warm that is by comparison.

I suspect there is information online about LF shooting in sub-freezing conditions. The bellows may be something to be careful of. You might need to leave the focus racked out to the lens focal length so the bellows only needs to flex slightly when you fine focus. It probably depends on the bellows material. Keeping the shutter as warm as possible so it doesn't slow down from the cold is probably the main thing. I don't know if there is any chance of light leaks when removing the darkslide from the light trap material not springing closed. You'll just have to experiment and have fun.

Len

 

[JBrunner]

My mistake on the temperature. I went back and looked here: http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/CAXX0540 and the site gives it in degrees F, not C. Either way, it is cold. I went to the Spokane WA area forecast and saw highs this week in the low 40s F with rain and realized how warm that is by comparison.

I suspect there is information online about LF shooting in sub-freezing conditions. The bellows may be something to be careful of. You might need to leave the focus racked out to the lens focal length so the bellows only needs to flex slightly when you fine focus. It probably depends on the bellows material. Keeping the shutter as warm as possible so it doesn't slow down from the cold is probably the main thing. I don't know if there is any chance of light leaks when removing the darkslide from the light trap material not springing closed. You'll just have to experiment and have fun.

Len

Here's my limited practical experience with cold, down to about 0f. No problems with bellows or camera mechanics, aside from cold fingers. No obvious problems with shutters, though most of my exposures are long or bulb.

Problems that I have had are fog on the gg and lens elements, and static. No lightning bolts, rather an affinity for every free particle to attach to various things including film and dark slides. Also dropping things in snow can be a royal pain.

All in all I have found it doable, if even more meticuloudly plodding than normal LF.

Here's my favorite acronym that I say to myself:

FAST

Focus- image focused and camera locked

Aperture- aperture set

Shutter- shutter closed

Tach- shutter speed set and cocked.

Only after my FAST check is complete do I pull the slide. This stupid little thing has saved me a lot of blown sheets.

Ask me later how to go out and shoot empty holders all day.

 

[mark]

Ask me later how to go out and shoot empty holders all day.

This one's easy. It is a good way to save on film though. You get the chick magnet action of using the camera without the hassle of processing.

LF Chick Magnet Action

Set up
Look thoughtfully at the scene (and for hot photo chicks)
Wait for hot photo chick to come ask to look under your dark cloth
Join her under the dark cloth
Load film holder into camera while getting her number or room number

 

[m1tch]

You think that 4x5 contact is nice, wait till you get a 5x7 camera then an 8x10.

Then a 36x24

http://www.picturecorrect.com/news/wet-plate-photography-studio-in-a-truck-touring-america/

 

[Sirius Glass]

Here's my limited practical experience with cold, down to about 0f. No problems with bellows or camera mechanics, aside from cold fingers. No obvious problems with shutters, though most of my exposures are long or bulb.

Problems that I have had are fog on the gg and lens elements, and static. No lightning bolts, rather an affinity for every free particle to attach to various things including film and dark slides. Also dropping things in snow can be a royal pain.

All in all I have found it doable, if even more meticuloudly plodding than normal LF.

Here's my favorite acronym that I say to myself:

FAST

Focus- image focused and camera locked

Aperture- aperture set

Shutter- shutter closed

Tach- shutter speed set and cocked.

Only after my FAST check is complete do I pull the slide. This stupid little thing has saved me a lot of blown sheets.

Ask me later how to go out and shoot empty holders all day.

I like what you posted, I have done a variation of that:

Focus- image focused and camera locked

Aperture- aperture set

Dark Slide - Pull the dark slide

Shutter - Crank to a narrower slit

Swear - Swear and repeat the process.

​

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I would have developed that shot anyway. Just in case.

Also fun: forgetting to pull the darkslide. Not as frustrating as burning the sheet of film for pulling it too early, but it can be its own little hell.

I have also shot empty holders. This is why I tend to mark mine now with what they have in them. Always. As soon as I'm done loading them. And then I erase it when I'm done. And I have separate bags for empty and loaded holders. And those bags are MARKED.

I try to idiot proof as much as possible since I'm, more than not, the idiot.

 

[adelorenzo]

Well, I haven't had any more time to shoot so I haven't been able to ruin any more shots. A friend gave me a 100-sheet box of Ilford FP4 so at least I've got lots to play with, hopefully this weekend.

I have been spending some time fooling around in the darkroom making contact prints. Here's my first print from my first sheet of film:


Sierra by Dead Link Removed, on Flickr

 

[takermaker]

The way i develope my mammoth plexiglas negatives ànd my 18x24 inch paper contacts is i purchased a 10 foot 2x4 cut it so i had four 30 inch long pieces nailed them to form a cube purchased some 6 mil black plastic from home depot cut the plastic oversize to fill the cube and added my chemicals

 

[adelorenzo]

Ah yeah, so for the record using a view camera when it's cold is not a lot of fun. I went out today to shoot, it's only -30 C (albeit -40 with the wind chill) but it's really kind of a bad time.

The whole large format idea of taking your time and really composing the shot is totally at odds with the few seconds you have to do anything before your hands freeze. I managed to shoot six sheets of film but made fatal mistakes with two of them from being so rushed. It is really hard to dial in your image as you really only have a couple of seconds under the dark cloth at a time as your breath ices up the ground glass, not to mention it is extremely difficult to operate the controls.

The camera also had some issues, biggest one being that the fine focusing knobs were totally unusable so I could only focus by moving the standards back and forth. I'll have to strip those apart and take all the grease out for winter use. But really it's more of the human problems with the cold that make the process difficult.

I will definitely try again but for the most part I'll stick to medium format for the colder days.

 

[sly]

Ah well, thanks for letting us know. Good on ya for trying.
Years ago I was north of the tree line in Quebec in February. It was minus a bajillion. I was trying to take photos with my Nikon. I kept it in my coat between shots, but fumbling to focus with my mitts on was difficult. I managed a couple of shots and then the film snapped when I wound it.

There's always portraits and still life until the weather warms a little.

 

[adelorenzo]

Developed and contact printed the negatives tonight. A couple of decent efforts but they all suffer from basic exposure and composition errors, none of them I am happy with.

I'll head out with my Fuji 6x9 next time, I can operate much quicker with that camera in the extreme cold as I don't carry my light meter or even focus it much, normally it is Sunny 16 and zone focus. I don't think my Pentax's motor drive would be happy at those temperatures.

 

[adelorenzo]

Just to update this thread I ended up going with a Jobo Multitank and 2509 reel, I use it on an old unicolor motor base and that seems to work well. I didn't like fishing around in trays with my fingers.

Also I was out shooting at -20 C yesterday and that was much better. The camera controls were still stiff but overall a much happier experience.

 

[aleksmiesak]

I started with a Hasselblad 501 and 60mm Zeiss lens. Within 8 months I added Wista 4x5 with 2 lenses and extras and also a very special Szabad 8x10. And I had no intentions of ever touching LF. Silly me!

In a few days I will be going out shooting with the Wista in Eastern Montana and we've had highs of -3F last few days. Which I bet seems tropical for you. But I will make sure to think of you when I'm cursing at my numb and useless fingers

 

[adelorenzo]

Jobo on a print roller base

Some pics of the little Jobo in action it works well on the roller base. I use 500 ml of chemicals just to have a little extra coverage due to the angle the tank sits at.