What's your coolest trick?

[Thilo Schmid]

David,

you cannot *dry* film in a salad dryer. But you can remove all excess water with a single pull on the string (of course not too strong). The film is free of water drops (which will cause watermarks) afterwards and can be dried as usual. I use a Durst UT100 dryer.

I process most of my films in a JOBO-Processor. Depending on the amount of sheet film, I use either the sheet film reels or the Expert Drum. The salad dryer method does only work, if the film is in some kind of holder. I have once tried the Combiplan Tank holder and it worked, too. I use Drysonal (clean Ethanol) for single sheets B&W developed in Expert Drums and remove excess stabilizer on color sheet film between my fingers. 5x7 (13x18cm) is my largest sheet size.

 

[David Hall]

Thilo,

Oh, I get it. You spin the film. I thought you meant you put the reels in the thing because it's got holes in it and will let the film dry without having to really touch anything.

I am going to have to try the spinning trick!

dgh

 

[lee]

I have always used photo-flo and while the film is still on the reel either 35 or 120, after the photo-flo before removing the film, I remove them from the tank (can) and grip tightly and shake the s**t out of the reel for a couple of times. OK, maybe 4 or 5 times. Then I just hang up the film and use the empty film can if 35 for a weight to allow it to dry straight. 120 reguires that I use a clothes pin or an extra 35 metal film container. I don't touch any film after I hang it up. You are just asking for trouble.


le\c

 

[SteveGangi]

I have some Prontor Press shutters (from the 60s/70s) that came with my Rodenstock Ysaron lenses. Instead of worrying about the second release cable, I just don't hook it up. After all, the release cables have locking screws anyway. I found that having two cables just confused me... which one is for taking the picture and which one is for preview (and ruining a sheet of film)? It's safer and easier to just use the one that will take the picture, since I like to have a peek at the depth of field anyway. I don't have the little slidey remotey thingies. They just seem like they would be in the way.

 

[Thilo Schmid]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SteveGangi @ Feb 26 2003, 02:54 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>I found that having two cables just confused me... which one is for taking the picture and which one is for preview (and ruining a sheet of film)?</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Well, that is a simple one: use different ones. I have a shorter blue cable realease with a smaller push button for the aperture control and a larger black one with a large push button (a Horesman) for the release. Easy to distinguish even in the dark.

 

[SteveGangi]

No! That's too easy! Why do I always miss the obvious solutions???

 

[Thilo Schmid]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (SteveGangi @ Feb 27 2003, 12:33 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>No!&nbsp; That's too easy! </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Ok, there is another, more expensive solution. Buy the original Prontor double cable release. It has a grip, a push button and a seperate dial switch for the aperture control. Unfortunately, they are out of production and stock, but used ones currently start at US$100. Yes, one hundered and more...

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Hey, that's cheap by comparison to the Prontor timer for long exposures, not to mention two of them for the double release shutter.

 

[irphotoguy]

This is not what I would call a trick, but I've put together a tool for dead-on metering for infrared films. I start with a Minolta Auto Meter VF and modify it so that it responds the way the film would. Used correctly, it is even more reliable than a regular light meter. Check it out at http://www.davidromano.com

 

[glbeas]

Only real "trick" I can think of is figuring the approximate actual aperture with my calculator. Fer'instance 100mm len at f/8. Divide the focal length by aperture to get the aperture factor or 12.5 (which should be the real size of the aperture in mm). Measure the total extension, say its 150 mm from focal plane to lensboard. Divide that by the aperture factor to get 12. That tells me I'm really working with an aperture of f/12 for that magnification.
The math can be swapped around to figure what to set at a particular extension to get the working aperuter desired. Say the 150 mm total extension and the 100 mm lens, you want f/8. Divide 150 by 8 to get the factor of 18.75. Divide 100 by the factor 18.75 and you get 5.33. So you would set the aperture to a smidge wider than f/5.6 to get a working aperture of f/8.
It's worked every time I've used it. Only hard part is finding the damn calculator when I want it, it tends to turn invisible on me at times.

 

[Aggie]

..

 

[glbeas]

Glad I could help, Aggie. Maybe if I'd stayed in Mensa longer I'd have been more ingenious and fixed you up with something fancier.

 

[Jorge]

Ok, David wanted another "why didnt I think of this?" trick. Instead of using a quick release for your LF cameras, tilt the head vertical and attach the camera...much simpler and you can use the entire head surface, not just those little surfaces the QR's give you.

 

[David Hall]

Jorge,

Not sure I get it (remembering that it took me a minute to get what "turn the lens sideways" meant). I have a Ries head, the old fashioned kind with the big plate and a screw in the middle. Do you mean turn that vertical?

dgh

 

[Jorge]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (David Hall @ Mar 6 2003, 02:48 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Jorge,

Not sure I get it (remembering that it took me a minute to get what &quot;turn the lens sideways&quot; meant). I have a Ries head, the old fashioned kind with the big plate and a screw in the middle. Do you mean turn that vertical?

dgh </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Yep, you got it. If you have a folding camera most people try to put it on with the head horizontal and bob and weave like a boxer to see where the screw hole is and then once they find it fight with the securing screw. If you turn the head vertical, you can see very well where the hole is, you dont have to fight the knob and you dont scratch your camera.

 

[Robert Kennedy]

My coolest trick is probably the simplest. Although it only works for some 35mm cameras and not my MF or LF ones.

I bought a Nikon N80 with the quartz date feature on it.

So I can keep track of when I did a shoot (I use the N80 for street shooting), I simply take a picture of the general area on the first frame and then turn the QD feature OFF. This means only the first frame is imprinted. It is my "reference" frame. It makes it very easy to keep track of things and see how I am (hopefully) improving.

 

[David Hall]

That's what I need. A little thing that puts the time and date and maybe other information on the film edge when I expose a sheet of film. When you use Kodak and Fuji sheets there is always a little yellow or white logo and lot number that appears at the top of the sheet. Howcome it can't also say "ErcR, photographed at f/16 at 125th/second on March 7, 2003, requiring N+1 developpment"?

dgh

 

[Jorge]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (David Hall @ Mar 7 2003, 01:34 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> That's what I need.&nbsp; A little thing that puts the time and date and maybe other information on the film edge when I expose a sheet of film.&nbsp; When you use Kodak and Fuji sheets there is always a little yellow or white logo and lot number that appears at the top of the sheet.&nbsp; Howcome it can't also say "ErcR, photographed at f/16 at 125th/second on March 7, 2003, requiring N+1 developpment"?

dgh </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
If that is really what you want the expo/dev BTZS palm program will do it. Apparently it is a rather neat program with lots of useful data uploaded.

Of course it will not "print" it on the edge of your film, but then again what do you want and autofoucs 8x10?

 

[Robert Kennedy]

Hey, they make electronic shutters now....

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Over on the LF forum a while back I read about someone who uses a Dremel to cut a slot in the filmholder flaps and then prints up an acetate on transparency material with a number to identify the filmholder and a copyright notice with his name and a year to fit in the slot, and this in turn gets printed on the film. You could probably do the same, but leave the acetate blank and write on it with some sort of erasable pen before removing the darkslide.

 

[David Hall]

Jorge,

Uh, yeaaaah. Autofocus and maybe some kind of AE would be perfect on the 8x10. Then I could have 30x40 grainless, tack sharp enlargements of birthday parties, graduations, all the things I use the point and shoot for.

dgh

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Clearly, you need this back:

http://www.graflex.org/articles/auto-focus.html

 

[David Hall]

That's fantastic. You should start a thread with that on April first of this year!

dgh

 

[Robert]

The vintage 4x5 graflex holders I bought came with numbers. All the older gentlemen did was glue in these little plastic numbers into the holders. When you expose the film the number ends up on the negative. It's up to you to keep track of what each number was used for but it's a simple little thing.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Yes, Grafmatics also have a space for that, and it's mentioned in the instructions, but then the number reduces the image area. I like the idea of the slot routed in the flap, because it enlarges the image area to make room for the data.