Starting with Film for the first time...

threemilesfinal · Apr 15, 2011

After a couple years of shooting with my Canon *whispers* d-gital... SLR, I've decided that it's time I explore the analog side of the Hobby. Since I live in a rather remote and beautiful part of Canada, I've decided to venture out into the Medium Format realm as the Torngat Mountains are calling for some 6x6 treatment.

Since I'm a real rookie when it comes to film and manual cameras, I've decided to start with a Lubitel 166B. Got it and a couple rolls of T-MAX400 for $80 including shipping.

Also, I've been doing a lot of reading on developing B&W film at home. It looks like it's fairly simple but I'm wondering, is it too much harder to develop just Colour negatives at home too? Basically, I live in the back-of-beyond so developing negatives at home and scanning with my Flatbed scanner is what I'm hoping to do.

So if you've got any helpful tips, tricks, hints etc that would help, it would be appreciated!

I'm really looking forward to getting out and shooting with this little TLR and hopefully the bug bites me enough to justify a Rolleicord or something.

Mats_A · Apr 15, 2011

Good for you. And welcome to the family.
I myself has yet to develop my first colour film but as I understand it there are kits to be bought with the right chemicals. You just have to be more precise with controlling the temperature. B&W is more forgiving in this aspect.

I would start with developing B&W which is really easy. Use a film like Ilford HP5+ and a standard developer like ID-11 and you will get a result that is good enough even with your first roll. Important for morale that your first roll is not a complete failure.
Just don't do what I did when loading my first roll of 120 film. After much struggling and swearing in the dark I managed to load the backing paper on the reel and threw the film on the floor. When the light came on and revealed the depth of my stupidity....... I was very quiet and humble the whole rest of the evening.

r

Mats

TimmyMac · Apr 15, 2011

Black and white is REALLY easy, and colour is moderately easy. If you want to do colour, all you need is an accurate thermometer and hot/cold water from the tap to control temperature.

I'd highly recommend getting the plastic self-loading reels. If the steel ones are even slightly bent you'll spend hours trying to load 3 rolls of film.

Klainmeister · Apr 15, 2011

The BW development side is pretty simple and I'm sure the instructions on your book will be of much use. As for color....doing color negatives is pretty straight forward and can be done with the same tank as the bw film, except it's good to get a bath of water to put the tank in so that will help maintain temperature.

Rick A · Apr 15, 2011

A hale and hardy welcome to Apug. sounds like you are in for some real fun. Dont hesitate one instant to get into developing your own B&W film, or color for that matter.

threemilesfinal · Apr 15, 2011

Great tips so far! Thank you!

I'm rather excited to try all of this out. We've got amazing scenery here and I'm planning on spending a day in each of the Coastal Communities here and shooting at least two rolls per Community. Obviously I'd have my DSLR as a backup and meter/composition aid.

Are there certain kinds of Film that you would recommend? I got the expired TMAX400 for a decent price just to get used to the Camera and the developing process.

Chazzy · Apr 15, 2011

Welcome to APUG. It sounds as if you are going to have a lot of fun.

M.A.Longmore · Apr 15, 2011

.
Welcome Home, Three ! ... your screen name is a mouthful
Anything else we can work with ?

Ron
.

Roger Cole · Apr 15, 2011

Welcome to the film side!

I'm not familiar with the Lubitel from personal experience but from all I've read it could prove...frustrating. If you like the TLR style, a Yashicamat 124 can be had for not a lot of money. I just bought a very nice one on the 'bay for $160. There are plenty of other great deals on MF equipment now, many right here in the classifieds forum.

Color is not particularly difficult, and I'm often the one encouraging people with experience in black and white to try it if so inclined, but I do suggest learning and practicing the basics of black and white first.

If you have an area that can be darkened a darkroom for printing can be set up pretty easily and inexpensively. Medium format enlargers are cheap and plentiful these days, and the shipping isn't that bad on them. I like 4x5 and the enlargers are still cheap, but shipping can really add up if you can't find one locally.

Oh, and welcome to a fellow pilot too! Three mile final? You flyin' B52s up there?

Jeff Kubach · Apr 15, 2011

Welcome to APUG! Doing B&W is fun!

Jeff

Klainmeister · Apr 15, 2011

Tmax films are great and really good to being with (and finish with!) since there's so much documentation on them and they can be quite versatile. 400 speed is a good choice as you get used to manually setting exposure, aperature ect, because if you forget to adjust, there's a decent chance the film can eat up the mistake and still look fine. Higher speeds tend to get tricky and lower speeds are difficult for handholding in anything short of full daylight, so stick to the middle until you find what you prefer.

threemilesfinal · Apr 15, 2011

^ Okay! Excellent! I'd heard that the faster stuff would work for handheld and n00bs. Basically I looked at the top shutter speed on the 166B and figured what speed would keep me in the top end most of the time.

M.A. Longmore: Yes, Erik works a lot easier than threemilesfinal. I would have used that but gotta stick with the brand right?

Roger: lol No B-52s here... lots of other things though. My site has features on the rather unusual transients we get here. Hopefully if this adventure into Medium Format pans out, I'll get into static work with the machines.

So far, I've already learned a ton more in one day here!

Now if only the Postman would arrive! lol

Roger Cole · Apr 15, 2011

"B52 patterns" are what we (some of us online at any rate) accuse people of flying when they fly, well, three mile finals in 172s and the like! OT alert but this kind of thing:

http://youtu.be/f6q2VKsvQEQ

At any rate, T-Max films are great, but their versatility and responsiveness to development controls also means they are somewhat less forgiving. This is no reason to avoid them and will help you be consistent right from the start. I do agree with the suggestion for 400 speed film. Especially in MF modern films, even older style ones like Tri-X and HP5, have grain as fine as you'll need, the T-Max and Delta films even more so. They're fast enough to hand hold in most light, and slow enough that your shutter should be able to handle them even in bright sun.

Lawrenceu · Apr 15, 2011

I love your handle. Definitely not flying a STOL are you!

That is a hilarious video.

2F/2F · Apr 15, 2011

Hi,

Congratulations. I think you have made a good move by going straight for medium format.

But I think you owe it to yourself to get a better camera. The Lubitel won't give you a true taste of the astounding quality you can achieve with film. At the very least, don't use it to make your judgment of all film. That is like racing a Geo Metro at Indy and then saying that Indy cars are crap because your engine blows up.

You're also gonna want an enlarger to print your film, and fairly soon. It does you no good to shoot film if you have no way to print it.

Is there a school within reach that teaches a basic photo course on film? That would help you immensely.

threemilesfinal · Apr 15, 2011

Roger: aaaah! gotcha! yes, the Canadian Forces are notorious for flying the full procedure and wasting everyone else's time even when it's CAVOK. hehe

Lawrenceu: lol well actually... the Twin Otter is usually what I'm found in if I get up at all.

2F/2F: Thanks for the welcome! I figured the Lubitel would be enough to whet my appetite for now and to practice with. I'm eyeing a couple Flexaret Vs on fleaBay as possible upgrades should things work out well. Hadn't thought about asking at the College here... it's not a very big Campus but it might just have that stuff! Good idea!

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 15, 2011

If you decide to retire your Lubitel after buying another TLR ,
I have a idea for you
Try to find Nick Shuval Sergeev from f295.org and he did extraordinary work with his Lubitel after converted to pinhole.
You will have long winters and you can create great photography at home as he did at cold Russia.
His images are generally very sharp and original and I did not see a better -in house - photography than him.
He is the owner of pinhole.ru site and you can see his extra ordinary shots.
I think he uses 300 micron pinhole at his machine. I dont think it will fit in your ansel adams photography image when using this camera at infinity focused but you can get great advise from him for close range photography.
Northern Light is special and most pure white in northern hemisphere.
In Holland and Antwerp , Diamond traders defines the pureness of diamond to hold againts to north.
You can use this advantage at home.

Best ,

Umut
Istanbul

Lawrenceu · Apr 15, 2011

Lawrenceu: lol well actually... the Twin Otter is usually what I'm found in if I get up at all.

Oh, those are great airframes. Are you on floats? I was amazed at how much that water holds on to you the first time I took off from it. Shoot, I miss flying. I can't afford the avgas let alone anything else connected with aviation.

lxdude · Apr 15, 2011

M.A.Longmore said:
.
Welcome Home, Three ! ... your screen name is a mouthful
Anything else we can work with ?

Ron
.

Not as tough as that guy's-what was his name? Something like RunLateForDinnerB4x5...

M.A.Longmore · Apr 15, 2011

lxdude said:
Not as tough as that guy's-what was his name? Something like RunLateForDinnerB4x5...

.
I formerly resembled that remark ...

Ron
.

threemilesfinal · Apr 16, 2011

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
If you decide to retire your Lubitel after buying another TLR ,
I have a idea for you
Try to find Nick Shuval Sergeev from f295.org and he did extraordinary work with his Lubitel after converted to pinhole.
You will have long winters and you can create great photography at home as he did at cold Russia.
His images are generally very sharp and original and I did not see a better -in house - photography than him.
He is the owner of pinhole.ru site and you can see his extra ordinary shots.
I think he uses 300 micron pinhole at his machine. I dont think it will fit in your ansel adams photography image when using this camera at infinity focused but you can get great advise from him for close range photography.
Northern Light is special and most pure white in northern hemisphere.
In Holland and Antwerp , Diamond traders defines the pureness of diamond to hold againts to north.
You can use this advantage at home.

Best ,

Umut
Istanbul

I'll definitely look into that! Photographing the Aurora Borealis is definitely something I want to capture on 120... haven't seen any displays here anything like when I was up on Baffin Island yet though.

Lawrenceu: We operate one on floats in the Summer but I only fly on wheels. Love to get my float rating as I grew up around seaplanes, alas as you know... $$$ and photography is expensive enough of a hobby. lol

threemilesfinal · May 3, 2011

Got the Lubitel 166V in the mail today! Turns out this one is "new"... or at least as close as one can ask for.

Glass is all clean and clear. Focus and aperture rotates with firm accurate control.

For a plastic body, it feels pretty sturdy. Fairly thick plastic and the back closes firmly.

The WLF pops up like a Kremlin Guard to attention.

I thought the WLF was going to be a lot darker really.

Focusing will take some practice but I'm starting to get the hang of it with just experimenting on things around the House.

Shutter and Aperture assembly in the Box.

I'm heading down to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia this weekend and am hoping to run three rolls through it. Going to try and get the negatives done at a shop in Sydney before heading back to the boonies as I don't have my developing stuff yet.

Will post up the results!

woodsb · May 3, 2011

Looks great ! Good luck with it.

threemilesfinal · May 11, 2011

thanks!

just went and shot my first roll of TMax400 with it. will probably finish the second one today as well and send it off for processing.

getting excited to see what the results will look like.

Dr.Pain-MD · May 12, 2011

Congrats on the purchase, TLRs are wonderful cameras. Share a few shots with us if you can after you get them developed.

Starting with Film for the first time...

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