My first 5x7 picture

Sully75 · Apr 30, 2010

Perhaps not the most exciting news, but I'm really happy to be able to take a picture with my camera.

I bought a beat to shreds Eastman no.33 camera that I thought was a 5x7 on ebay. It was a mess, someone had glued the focusing rails together partially upside down, nothing really worked. I stripped it and stained and oiled it. I made new bellows from a kit by Sorin from diycamerakit.com. The whole thing took me 3 months of very part-time work (was finishing nursing school at the same time).

The camera came out beautiful. The focusing rack still kind of sucks but is workable, but otherwise I really love it. I ended up with Shneider-Kreuznach 180mm f.6/300mm convertible lens off ebay. I have about $200 into the camera total. The best thing about the camera is that it folds up into almost nothing. It has limited movements but my goal is to use it for portraits so I'm ok with that.

So far I've just developed one picture:

I developed it in a Bessler 11x14 drum with D76 1:1 for 11 minutes. Not really sure about what development time I should be doing...I'm pretty new to this stuff.

I just got a 4x5 spring back, and want to make a new wooden back to accept it. I would prefer to make my mistakes on 4x5 film if possible. I also have been thinking about loading 4x5 film holders with a sheet of hp5 on one side, and a sheet of portra on the other.

Anyway, just wanted to share a picture. I have a lot to learn but I'm excited about my first picture.

Here's before:

and after:

Sully75 · Apr 30, 2010

PS

I had two questions:

1) It's hard to see, but there was a tiny bit of flare on his head (he's my roomate). I didn't mean to have the sky in the picture but the camera slipped at the last minute (need to get a washer for the front standard rise and fall). I think this is a fairly old lens, and might be un or minimally coated. But is there any way to compensate for that kind of flare? I'm not sure if a lens hood would do anything, since I'm shooting into the light source itself?

2) There were some very subtle drips on the negative...I photoshopped them out. I'm not sure what I did with the Bessler tank to screw it up. Is there some specific way you pour chemicals into and out of the tank? I don't have a darkroom so I'm stuck using the tank (which I like a lot, very easy to use). I was wondering if they could have been water stains, perhaps I didn't photoflow it properly? I wasn't sure if I should finger squeegee it or just let it drip dry, I ended up giving it two finger squeegee swipes and then hanging it.

werra · Apr 30, 2010

Congrats, this is some very nice work you have done on restoring.

martinhughesireland · Apr 30, 2010

Came out very nice well done

keithwms · Apr 30, 2010

Well done indeed!

RE: flare, always use a hood if you can. Let me suggest checking out the mamiya 645 and rb/rz hoods, they are collapsible plastic and come in various sizes. I never became fond of compendium shades, but these little plastic hoods do a nice job. If you can't get the right size for your LF lens (the diams tend to be pretty small) then you can just use a step down ring. There's not shame in rigging up something to a lens, especially an older one and a convertible which certainly doesn't have the flare control that some modern coatings offer.

Drips on the neg? Sounds like a drying issue to me. If you hadn't 'shopped them out then we might be able to tell otherwise. But note that the collodionites really like drips and streaks and other individualizing features

That's a pretty big drum you're using, right? Maybe you should consider something smaller. How do you know you're getting good even coverage and agitation when you put such a small piece of film into such a big drum? That'd be my concern.

I have but one critique... mind the feet, don't cut off the feet But well done, I get a sense of his character and actually this will be worth a lot to you someday.

Shadowtracker · Apr 30, 2010

I think the feet are a good point but probably happened as a result of the camera slipping as described. The tonal range is excellent, the focus is excellent, you have good blacks/grays/whites so I think your development is good. One thing that can cause streaks is too much photo-flo. I have not worked sheet film yet (but have a 4x5 to use and now a 5x7 on the way to rework into shape), but with regular film, I think a lot of people use too much photo-flow and it can cause drip marks with residue.

Great job reworking the camera - Looks like you will have many years of good use from it.

John Koehrer · Apr 30, 2010

The print looks a little soft to me.
Is the neg sharp and do you have a focusing loupe?

Keep in mind it's hard to tell here on the interweb.

stillsilver · Apr 30, 2010

Great restoration job!

Mike

DLM · Apr 30, 2010

Beautiful camera. I really like the photo also. While the background is a bit busy, I think it looks good because the posts on the right and the window on the left kind of frame the subject, keeps your eye on him. I can't wait to have the time and available space to get a lf camera one of these days, the results look so good.

holmburgers · Apr 30, 2010

As for flare, something to think about is how large the coverage is on a lens like this. So, that is to say there's a lot of "picture" or image that isn't getting to the ground-glass/negative & is getting thrown onto the bellows. So having an interior bellows surface that has low reflectivity is good, but also, "killing" this extra image with a hood is well advised. That being said, I need to get a hood for my Symmar 180mm (same exact lens i think??....)

nice restore!

photobizzz · May 1, 2010

Camera looks nice, very nice. As for the flare I use lens hoods on all my lenses. I can't afford the proper compendium shade for my Toyo 45A, it costs almost as much as I have in the camera so I use metal screw in shades like one would on a SLR lens, they seem to do the job for me and if you can't find the proper size; like keithwms mentioned use adapter rings. It will not help much when shooting directly into the sun though.

As for drying I ran into the same problem, also the negs slipping from the clip when drying so I am building a small drying cabinet out of a rubbermaid tote, galvanized photo frame wire, the binder clips you use to hold bunches of paper with the little fold over chrome handles, a 120mm - 3 speed, PC fan, and a 3X3.5X.5" HEPA filter. I am drawing the air flow through the HEPA filter rather than blowing on the negatives and the filter is high left and the fan is low right on the opposite side of the tote to create a cross breeze. Just my method, there are 50 people with diff methods of drying, and I use just a few drops of photo-flo in the 4X5 tank when I am finished washing, all that is needed. Hang the neg by the corner and the finger method is safest over a squeegee.

Besk · May 1, 2010

Are you sure you have the standards on the rail correctly? Seems to me that the back should be on the short rail and the fold up longer focusing bed is where the front standard goes. The camera will be a little better balanced on the tripod that way.

Sully75 · May 2, 2010

photobizzz said:
As for drying I ran into the same problem, also the negs slipping from the clip when drying so I am building a small drying cabinet out of a rubbermaid tote, galvanized photo frame wire, the binder clips you use to hold bunches of paper with the little fold over chrome handles, a 120mm - 3 speed, PC fan, and a 3X3.5X.5" HEPA filter. I am drawing the air flow through the HEPA filter rather than blowing on the negatives and the filter is high left and the fan is low right on the opposite side of the tote to create a cross breeze. Just my method, there are 50 people with diff methods of drying, and I use just a few drops of photo-flo in the 4X5 tank when I am finished washing, all that is needed. Hang the neg by the corner and the finger method is safest over a squeegee.

Colin, that sounds good...the only thing is, I know from experience that those binder clips rust really quickly. (I use them making yogurt...long story). I think maybe next time I'm going to try to hang the neg more at a diagonal, with a clothes pin at the bottom. Not sure if it will make much difference but I'll give it a try.

Re: the poster who mentioned too much photo flow, I may be guilty in that regard. I did not follow the instructions particularly closely. That might be it.

Sully75 · May 2, 2010

keithwms said:
Well done indeed!

That's a pretty big drum you're using, right? Maybe you should consider something smaller. How do you know you're getting good even coverage and agitation when you put such a small piece of film into such a big drum? That'd be my concern.

The drum comes with suggested amounts of chemicals...I think the point is that the film is alternately completely in the chemical and completely out of the chemical, as it goes through it's rotation. It worked really well...so stupidly easy. I hope I can get it dialed in right. It's way easier than doing spiral tanks...you just set it and forget it.

Sully75 · May 2, 2010

Shadowtracker said:
I think the feet are a good point but probably happened as a result of the camera slipping as described. The tonal range is excellent, the focus is excellent, you have good blacks/grays/whites so I think your development is good. One thing that can cause streaks is too much photo-flo. I have not worked sheet film yet (but have a 4x5 to use and now a 5x7 on the way to rework into shape), but with regular film, I think a lot of people use too much photo-flow and it can cause drip marks with residue.

Great job reworking the camera - Looks like you will have many years of good use from it.

Ding Ding! I had set up the picture with no sky and his head more framed by the shed. Not sure when the front slipped but sometime after that. I need to get a lock washer for it.

I think you might be right about the photo flow.

Sully75 · May 2, 2010

John Koehrer said:
The print looks a little soft to me.
Is the neg sharp and do you have a focusing loupe?

Keep in mind it's hard to tell here on the interweb.

I would say it's moderately soft. There is some sharpness, but it's softer than I like.

I do not have a focusing loup. It seems like when I'm focusing it's pretty clear when it's in focus. A loup makes that much of a difference than?

I was thinking about getting some magnifying reading glasses from Target, I've heard people mention them. Are they an acceptable substitute?

Sully75 · May 2, 2010

Bob Eskridge said:
Are you sure you have the standards on the rail correctly? Seems to me that the back should be on the short rail and the fold up longer focusing bed is where the front standard goes. The camera will be a little better balanced on the tripod that way.

Yup. The front part of the rail has two gigantic holes in it for the front standard assembly. The camera folds up into a small box (this is a before picture, showing how the rails were glued in wrong):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmcevoy/4304125675/in/set-72157623159051495/

mhcfires · May 4, 2010

Someone really managed to screw up the rails on that camera. It is a wonder it even worked. You did a nice job finishing it. I have one which is in need of some TLC. The bellows are in good shape, the rest of the camera needs some love. I also have a Kodak 2D 5x7 and a Kodak 2D 8x10. They also need work. the #33 is in the best shape, so it has been getting a little exercise. I hope to be able to finish it this summer. Congratulations on a job well done.

Sully75 · May 4, 2010

Hi Michael,

I highly recomend Sorin's bellows at DIYcamerakit.com for your other cameras. They are pretty darn cheap and I hope that he can make a go of it, so buy early and often.

Yeah, the rails were amazingly screwed up. The whole camera needed a chiropractor.

Rodex · May 5, 2010

Great job with restoring the camera and the photo looks good also. Congratulations

My first 5x7 picture

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