Spontaneous shooting with the RB67, a play in three acts

dnjl · May 1, 2012

The following is loosely based on true events :munch:

ACT ONE: in which the landscape photographer spots a fleeting moment of human happiness
(Photographer is busy setting up his RB67 on a tripod)
(Photographer spots a nearby scene and runs over with his camera)

ACT TWO: in which the RB67 plays the role of antagonist
Photographer: hi there ma'm, would you mind me taking a picture of your lovely kids?
Ma'm: why no, please, go ahead. Boys, this man's gonna take a picture of you!
Photographer: thank you! It'll only take a moment
(Photographer removes yellow filter from lens, takes an incident reading and erects WLF on his RB67)
Photographer: just a second please
Photographer (mumbling): why on earth is the focus why does it not oh! I'll quickly unlock the mechanism here and... yes, I thought so
Photographer: alright kids, you ready?
Kids: yeaaaahhh
Photographer: ok, here we go... I mean... hold on...
(Photographer removes darkslide)
(Children wait patiently)
Photographer: alright, we're good to go! Ready? Smile! Wait, just a second...
(Photographer fumbles around his camera)
(Photographer levels revolving back)
(Children wait patiently)
Photographer: okay, uhm, this is it... finally
(sound of mirror and shutter)
Kids: did it work?
Photographer: it sure did! Thanks a lot boys!
Kids: okay, byyyeeeeee!

ACT THREE: epilogue
Photographer (walking away from the scene, talking to himself): wait, I forgot to change the ISO value on my incident meter when I removed the yellow filter
(Photographer knocks head against tree repeatedly)

~Curtain~

It's probably just me, but this is how "taking a quick snapshot" turns out with my RB67. I'll always forget something, and then I'm left scratching my head over why the shutter won't release . This camera makes me feel like a complete idiot at times.

In this particular case, reducing developing time in Xtol saved my negative.

(Hp5+ at ISO 125 in Xtol stock, 7min45sec)

BetterSense · May 1, 2012

If I forgot that I removed a yellow filter, I doubt I would even take note. A stop or two extra never hurt anyone, especially not spread over 6x7 inches.

bwfans · May 1, 2012

So cute! Great picture.

swittmann · May 1, 2012

What a wonderful picture!!

(And these things sound familiar to me as well - I have a Hasselblad 500 c/m + handheld meter)

cjbecker · May 1, 2012

I always count down for 3 and on 0 I take the dark slide out.

Jeff Kubach · May 1, 2012

Wonderful picture!

Jeff

zsas · May 1, 2012

Great write up and great photograph!

ajmiller · May 1, 2012

Great picture and their faces tell the story..especially the girl's!

Tony

markbarendt · May 1, 2012

Great shot

andrew.roos · May 2, 2012

Hilarious - and a great photo nonetheless.

Chris Nielsen · May 2, 2012

That is awesome, as is the photo. I can relate, although I mainly use a body with broken interlocks so it's more a case of working out why the photo was blank as it will let me exercise my stupidity without complaining

annunaki · May 6, 2012

Lovely shot. I too find the same frustrations with the RB.

BTW, what lens did you use in this shot?

dnjl · May 6, 2012

annunaki,

I used a K/L 127mm f3.5 for this shot. It is by far my most used lens.

F/1.4 · May 6, 2012

Funny story and it's still a great photo, and I think the tones look great nonetheless!

LOL I think is why the 645 format exists

Steve Smith · May 7, 2012

Chris Nielsen said:
I mainly use a body with broken interlocks so it's more a case of working out why the photo was blank as it will let me exercise my stupidity without complaining

I always leave the darkslide at home now as I have learned that the shutter will fire if the darkslide is only pulled out by about 1/4"

The back can still be opened to change the film but not removed from the body.

Steve.

Chris Nielsen · May 7, 2012

If I change film without first inserting the dark slide the back never locks at frame one and just rolls straight through until the film is gone

tron_ · May 7, 2012

Hahaha great story OP, I recently picked up an RZ67 and wanted to give it a try so I asked my mom if she wanted a picture done. She said sure and I rifled off two frames before noticing the camera was on "emergency mode" and the dark slide was still in the back.....

fenderslash · May 19, 2012

Ha ha. I'm sure we can all relate and have similar stories. My biggest "doh!" moment was when shooting a few rolls of portraits of a friend's kid with my Rolleicord TLR. I started off with B&W and ended up with colour. Of course, I totally forgot about the yellow filter on the "taking" lens when I changed to the colour film! It looked 100% fine through the viewfinder...

Great shot, by the way.

Ric Trexell · May 19, 2012

This is why we still shoot film.

I think this is part of the reason we still shoot film. Had you been using a 'D' type camera, you wouldn't have to remember to do anything. If the picture was not right, just click off another 100 pictures and then spend a few hours with Photoshop and then you can show every one the great pictures 'you' got. Those 'D' cameras take the fun out of learning the craft. At least when you use the RB and everything comes out right, you feel like you are a photographer. When I use my video camera, I don't feel like a videographer, but like a hunter using a machine gun, you can't miss. Do any others feel this way?

Spontaneous shooting with the RB67, a play in three acts

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