Slowly moving over to film photography

JammyB · Jul 7, 2014

Hi Just signed up.
Based in East Yorkshire.
I have been a mainly digital photographer for a few years now and have become reasonably good at it. I have really found my groove with black-and-white landscapes, often long or multiple exposures but I try to avoid the cliches and just wish I had more time to get out and about actually taking shots. I also enjoy working on my collection in Lightroom and especially getting a good high quality print made of something I'm particularly proud of.
I've done a bit of 35mm, mainly Tri-X in Diafine, scanned and printed but mainly digital so far. A good Friend recently lent me his grandfathers old Roleicord MF TLR and it's kick-started a bit of a fascination with the art of carefully contemplating the photograph before taking the shot without the luxury of the histogram. I've acquired some Tetenal Ultrafin, some Fomapan 100 and 200 and I have a few questions about that. I'm keen at some-point soon to get my hands on a MF SLR like a Mamiya RB67 or a Bronica SQ for landscape work.
I also dug out my old Pentax 35mm SLR and acquired some Spursin HDR for pushing.
There is an enlarger available but I haven't had chance to get round to that yet So for now I'm scanning Negs.

I hope to learn and contribute a little

Thankyou.

Pioneer · Jul 7, 2014

Welcome aboard. Lots of people here who can help as you use that Rolleicord and Pentax more.

Trail Images · Jul 7, 2014

Hello and welcome. Glad you have joined in on the fun here at APUG

Jeff Kubach · Jul 7, 2014

Hello and a warm welcome to APUG!

Jeff

Ken Nadvornick · Jul 7, 2014

JammyB said:
...it's kick-started a bit of a fascination with the art of carefully contemplating the photograph before taking the shot without the luxury of the histogram.

Yes, that's how it gets started. Before you know it, that contemplation will become the most enjoyable part of the whole process. You'll wonder why you ever did it any other way.

Welcome on board.

Ken

F4user · Jul 7, 2014

JammyB said:
.........
I have been a mainly digital photographer for a few years now and have become reasonably good at it. ......................kick-started a bit of a fascination with the art of carefully contemplating the photograph before taking the shot without the luxury of the histogram...............

Haha, someone with practice on digitall ( simulator ) and go forward to real photograph.
On digitall "..graph" is missing ... it is photo-electron-storage.

Welcome.

Chazzy · Jul 7, 2014

Welcome to APUG.

Jim Taylor · Jul 7, 2014

Welcome, from the west riding!

JammyB · Jul 7, 2014

Jim Taylor said:
Welcome, from the west riding!

I'm originally from the North, but at least it's still Yorkshire

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Sirius Glass · Jul 7, 2014

Welcome to APUG

paul_c5x4 · Jul 7, 2014

JammyB said:
I'm keen at some-point soon to get my hands on a MF SLR like a Mamiya RB67 or a Bronica SQ for landscape work.

Maybe you could hook up with a few locals and get the feel of the cameras in question - You might find the RB67 reputation of being a heavy brick justified. If you come south of the border, we might even try to tempt you with larger formats

JammyB · Jul 8, 2014

paul_c5x4 said:
Maybe you could hook up with a few locals and get the feel of the cameras in question - You might find the RB67 reputation of being a heavy brick justified. If you come south of the border, we might even try to tempt you with larger formats

Yes, the more I read about it the more I lean towards an SQ.
although the 6x7 format and the belows would be nice.
Bulb or at least T mode is a must so I have to stick with the higher spec versions of either and they seem to be going for about the same sort of money.
At the moment I'm keeping my eye out for an SQ-Ai with an 80mm lens.
Ive seen a couple on ebay have gone for under 300.
I've got the Rolleicord to play with for now. I'm going to take it along the coast next week and see how it does at landscapes.
There is also a couple of large format cameras from my mates grandfarther (the same source as the Rollei) but I haven't looked at them yet.

baachitraka · Jul 8, 2014

Don't give up on Rolleicord yet. They are very simple art making machines.

- Test Roll.
- Start developing at home.
- Build a basic darkroom and start printing.

skysh4rk · Jul 8, 2014

JammyB said:
At the moment I'm keeping my eye out for an SQ-Ai with an 80mm lens.
Ive seen a couple on ebay have gone for under 300.

I own an SQ-A and SQ-B and have previously owned an SQ-Ai.

If you have the choice, I personally recommend going for an SQ-A or SQ-B instead of the SQ-Ai, unless you really need TTL flash metering (or any metering in the case of the SQ-B), as I find the battery door, battery type, and the electronics of the SQ-Ai to be far more fiddly and troublesome compared to other cameras in the SQ series.

JammyB · Jul 8, 2014

I'm not at all bothered about flash or in camera metering I'm really into landscapes. But I often do long exposures. Sometimes several minutes and the A and the B seem limited in that department. apparently there's no Bulb mode and no t mode on the SQ-B.

baachitraka said:
Don't give up on Rolleicord yet. They are very simple art making machines.

- Test Roll.
- Start developing at home.
- Build a basic darkroom and start printing.

I won't. I'm already up to step 2

baachitraka · Jul 8, 2014

Step 3 is not that complicated,

- Get some beautiful paper from ILFord or any paper of your choice pref., fiber based.
- Clean up the enlarger.
- Lay down three trays for paper developer, stop bath and fixer.
- Expose.
- Wait for that moment...

M.A.Longmore · Jul 8, 2014

.
Welcome Home, JamMeister !

~Ron
.

Nuff · Jul 8, 2014

You missed the get a spot meter part and learn the zone system part too You will forget about histograms etc...
If you want 6x7, you might want to consider Pentax 67 with MLU. They go for very cheap and lenses are cheap too.

benjiboy · Jul 9, 2014

Welcome to A.P.U.G., what's a histogram ?

JammyB · Jul 9, 2014

benjiboy said:
Welcome to A.P.U.G., what's a histogram ?

You'd probably call it cheating

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Trask · Jul 9, 2014

Nice that you've chosen to join us here on APUG. I've got an SQ-A and find it a great camera -- the Speed Grip is very useful both for quickly advancing the film and, frankly, holding the camera steady. I suggest you try one while shopping.

TBL · Jul 9, 2014

I'm new here also. I've recently retired from teaching physics and for the first time in decades have some time to devote to photography. I've been using an old Ricohmatic 225 tlr that belonged to my grandfather and have acquired a number of old 35mm cameras including a Nikon F and several seventies era Pentax SLRs. I've also been developing c-41 process color film using a changing bag, Patterson tank, and a temperature controlled water bath built in an old cooler. So far I've just been scanning the negatives with an Epson scanner, but there is an old Sears enlarger in my dad's attic that I may try to resurrect. I'll never be a great artist with a camera, but I sure am having fun.

Jaf-Photo · Jul 9, 2014

Hello, it's a nice journey of discovery isn't it?

For your use (slow landscape photos) i would say that you were correct in thinking Mamiya 67.

They are awesome cameras (and lenses) at excellent value.

What you should be aware of is all the extra time and work you will be spending to produce just one good picture. That's ok if you have the time, but it can become an issue if you have a lot of other commitments.

As film is my main medium now, I am amazed by the speed of the digital workflow whenever I use a DSLR.

An image from a scanned negative is also much less malleable in Lightroom than a digital original. You can do some basic work but if you do too much you will blow the grain, tonality etc. So there will be more emphasis on getting it right first, i.e. choice of film, exposure and development.

Last, you should consider using slide film for landscape work. It scans easier, you have more latitude in Lightroom and you can convert it to B&W.

Sirius Glass · Jul 9, 2014

benjiboy said:
Welcome to A.P.U.G., what's a histogram ?

I think that it is a medical procedure for people to do chimpin'.

JammyB · Jul 9, 2014

Jaf-Photo said:
What you should be aware of is all the extra time and work you will be spending to produce just one good picture. That's ok if you have the time, but it can become an issue if you have a lot of other commitments.

As film is my main medium now, I am amazed by the speed of the digital workflow whenever I use a DSLR.

An image from a scanned negative is also much less malleable in Lightroom than a digital original. You can do some basic work but if you do too much you will blow the grain, tonality etc. So there will be more emphasis on getting it right first, i.e. choice of film, exposure and development.

Last, you should consider using slide film for landscape work. It scans easier, you have more latitude in Lightroom and you can convert it to B&W.

Hi JAf
I would say anything I would ever need doing fast would still be done digital. I've spent literally hours just working on a single image in Lightroom but I feel the boffins at Adobe have done the hard work sometimes. I really want to take it to the next level and start working in-camera more while I'm there with the landscape is in front of me. Here's just a couple I've done over the years that I'm really happy with. I think Film will suit my style.:Flickr
manipulating tonality in light room can still cause all sorts of contrast issues even with digital. The more you try to correct an image that wasn't taken as perfectly as possible the more assumptions the software has to make the more evidence creeps into the image.
I would like to progress to hand making print's eventually. Scanning is the stop-gap.

Slowly moving over to film photography

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