what waS your last photography related purchase?

[mshchem]

Print file negative sleeves

 

[baachitraka]

PC-TEA developers have always interested me, but I never fully understood the heating to over 100°C.
I mix and keep the Phenidone in Isopropyl alcohol, because such a small amount is needed, and wonder about the adding of it in such a hot liquid.

The bottle of TEA I have standing in my darkroom is nearly liquid in the summer because the darkroom heats up a bit above 30°C (it's on top of the buiding)...

Can that heating be omitted?

perhaps it may not be necessary to heat the TEA that much. Both ascorbic acid and phenidone will dissolve albeit little slowly.

Its an excellent developer.

 

[Anon Ymous]

It was an impulse bid, but I scored a Sekonic L-208.

 

[AnselMortensen]

Another bottle of Rodinal from my local camera store.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

A2 size light pad. Now I'll be able to have a proper look at my 14x17 negatives, instead of using my tiny, unevenly lit, 8x10 light box.

 

[murdockhendrix]

Polaroid SX-70 Color 1 pack
Polaroid SX-70 B&W 1 pack

 

[AnselMortensen]

"Days at Sea", Ralph Gibson
"Deja Vu", Ralph Gibson
2 Paul Caponigro books, (1 signed).
2 signed Ryujie books.
A Harry Callahan book
A Wynn Bullock book
A Margaret Bourke-White book.
A Charles Sheeler book.
1 roll Ferrania P30, 35mm.
1 roll Adox Color Mission
1 roll Silberra 160 Pan
1 roll outdated PXP-220.
An Omega 4x long loupe.
10 Ilford-type reloadable cassettes

Today was a good day.

 

[Roger Thoms]

"Days at Sea", Ralph Gibson
"Deja Vu", Ralph Gibson
2 Paul Caponigro books, (1 signed).
2 signed Ryujie books.
A Harry Callahan book
A Wynn Bullock book
A Margaret Bourke-White book.
A Charles Sheeler book.
1 roll Ferrania P30, 35mm.
1 roll Adox Color Mission
1 roll Silberra 160 Pan
1 roll outdated PXP-220.
2 rolls outdated XP2+ 120
An Omega 4x long loupe.
10 Ilford-type reloadable cassettes

Today was a good day.

Newark Pavilion?

 

[VinceInMT]

I picked up an X-Ray viewer at a garage sale. It will make a halfway decent light table in the darkroom.

 

[AnselMortensen]

Newark Pavilion?

Yup!

 

[guangong]

By far the smallest items listed. Two Minox cassettes loaded with Ilford FP4. Too lazy to roll my own!

 

[abruzzi]

A bunch of Arca Swiss style plates and clamps. Some from Kirk, some from FLM, and some from Arca Swiss themselves. I’m slowly transitioning from Manfrotto hex plates to A-S mount. My big stuff is still hex, but that will change eventually.

 

[Ben_Hardy]

i just bought my camera batteries from Alibaba

 

[Bill Burk]

Frames...black wood - a dozen 10"x 12" (for 4x5 carbon prints) with acrylic glazing and foamcore. Feel almost guilty because I ordered custom-cut window mats instead of doing it myself (for the first time). Time is short and still lots to print before the end of the month for an October show. And I will still have mats to cut for the larger frames, so I will not miss out on that experience.

$50 each. The price of the work just got bumped up a little.

Wow that’s quite a lot for frames. What makes them better than, say, cheap frames from Michaels?

 

[VinceInMT]

Wow that’s quite a lot for frames. What makes them better than, say, cheap frames from Michaels?

Good question. While I have a pretty well-equipped wood shop and have made lots of custom frames over the years, for my solo show last April I bought some inexpensive frames from Blick for my smaller work and cut my own mats. I had lots of small drawings that went well in an 8x10 frame which, with my mat, cost about $10 each.

 

[Ben_Hardy]

Just bought some camera batteries a

 

[Philippe-Georges]

A wonderful book 'PRAHA' by Jan Reich, an avid adept of Josef Sudek, the poet of Prague.

Sudek is the master whom's work inspired my work for the book 'PARIS DANS MON GAND'.

 

[Vaughn]

Wow that’s quite a lot for frames. What makes them better than, say, cheap frames from Michaels?

That they are not cheaply made or put together. Same material/build as a custom frame shop. Large choice of options (mats, glazing, etc), knowing I can get the same frames to match years down the line (or close anyway...a favorite profile has disappeared over the last couple decades). Fast turnaround. I am comfortable passing the cost on to the buyer knowing we both did well. I am not going to put an $800 photograph I have spent a hell of a lot of time on in a $29.95 frame that these days look like a $16.99 frame on a good day.

I do go down to the local frame shop for a frame here and there...but for the price of just the frame locally, I can get the frame, glazing, the window custom cut, backing board and foamcore shipped to me.

 

[moggi1964]

A couple of plate holders for my MPP VII so I can try out some old plates and see if they still capture an image.

 

[Donald Qualls]

A couple of plate holders for my MPP VII so I can try out some old plates and see if they still capture an image.

Good chance those plates will still work. And with plate holders in hand, you can also buy fresh plates from J. Lane (our user Nodda Duma) or Zebra.

 

[moggi1964]

Good chance those plates will still work. And with plate holders in hand, you can also buy fresh plates from J. Lane (our user Nodda Duma) or Zebra.

Fingers crossed. I don't know their history so they could have been cared for or left in an attic. I have looked at the J. Lane plates but have yet to work out if I could coat my own at a cost that would make the possible screw-ups economical

 

[Donald Qualls]

have yet to work out if I could coat my own at a cost that would make the possible screw-ups economical

Then there's also the question how many batches it would take to produce an acceptable ISO 25 ortho emulsion (could you add ortho sensitizing dyes to a commercially available liquid emulsion, to ease the job?). At least J. Lane plates have a proven emulsion and are coated by someone who knows what he's doing.

 

[moggi1964]

Then there's also the question how many batches it would take to produce an acceptable ISO 25 ortho emulsion (could you add ortho sensitizing dyes to a commercially available liquid emulsion, to ease the job?). At least J. Lane plates have a proven emulsion and are coated by someone who knows what he's doing.

I did have a look at something like Liquid Light with a gelatin pre-coat on the glass. Haven't explored it fully and if I get lazy I'll just head down the pre-made and reliable emulsions from J. Lane or Zebra. I need to get the darkroom back up and usable first - house move means the 'darkroom' is a storage room currently.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Just picked up two, 500ml bottles of Ilfosol-3 for my students. They had to help me up off the floor after I saw the price. $18 Canadian each! With taxes, $40. I'm seriously going to look into mixing from scratch, D-23 because we can dilute it to 1+3, or maybe caffenol

 

[Donald Qualls]

@Andrew O'Neill If you have access to sodium hydroxide (lye drain cleaner, likely found at supermarkets or home improvement stores) you might also try mixing Parodinal. Given a cheap source of acetaminophen it can be the cheapest one-shot developer you'll ever see (like a nickel a roll for developer only).