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Well, I let myself talk myself into a stunt bid on a Rittreck Field with the somwhat rare 5x7 back, which I now own. Aside from a missing screw and broken ground glass (both easy fixes) it looks to be in decent shape, so for less than $200 after postage to my sister's place in Tokyo I'm pretty happy. It won't be a lot lighter than my Toyo 45G, but should at least be able to pack down into a bagkpack (I currently lug it in one of those insulated re-usable grocery bags) and having the ability to shoot 5x7 is really handy. I love 4x5 for the economy and convenience, but I have yet to get that  feeling looking at a 4x5 plate. Or at least, one of my 4x5 plates. I may actually try and bring some of my LF stuff with me now and shoot some film on the trip, depending on how packing goes. I figured I'd also want a 4x5 back so I could use it with more/cheaper sheet film, and it wound up being cheaper to buy a parts camera to cannibalise than the standalone part, so I guess I have like 1.8 Rittreck Fields  Might see if I can repurpose some of the other parts for DIY projects, I came across this guy's DIY 3D printed 6x17 monorail and was thinking of using his back and maybe bellows to build something a little more robust based on the parts camera's focusing mechanism. I've got another project that could almost definitely use the bellows if they're not too ratty, but I'm assuming the worst given how coy the seller was about showing them. I did try a few half-hearted bids on CF 150mm Sonnars for my Hasselblad, but kept getting edged out by people that wanted them more. I was pretty close to just doing a Buy It Now for a higher price so it'd be there when I arrived, but put in a ridiculously low bid on a very nice looking non-CF that I wound up winning for $120. The part of my brain that rationalises dumb purchases reasoned that basically I'd just gotten the Rittreck + back for free. TomR posted:The rear is 44" x 44" with the image area being 42" x 42". Right now I have a frame with a sheet of hardboard I painted flat white that I'm projecting an image onto and I'm just taking a photo of the image with my DSLR. The lens covers the full 42" square at that focal distance, but less at infinity. The plan is to refine everything and do alternative processes and experiments once I get the camera in a state I can take it places and set it up without it looking like a pile of garbage. I can hang up photo paper, do multiple parts at once and make a one shot photo collage or eventually I'd like to do some wet plate stuff. I'm still working out the kinks though. This is just all so darn cool - those bellows looks particularly well-made. Every couple of years I think about building or fixing something that requires a bellows, I look up a tutorial, and then just nope right back out. A junk enlarger might make a good focusing rail; my two Dursts are both straight columns as opposed to the angled ones a lot of other ones seem to have. I think I might have posted this, but just in case I haven't, the Cameradactyl guy made a hybrid holder/developing tank thing for doing "instant" colour ULF, trying to re-create the massive Polaroids of yore by developing colour positive paper. Might be a jumping off point. Sludge Tank posted:Just make sure you varnish the wood because silver nitrate will turn it to dust pretty quickly. That's amazing I take my hat off to guys who build their own cameras. I love everything Luther Gerlach does. I was doing a demo/lighting test at work on Friday and forgot to take my gloves off when I went to put my mask back on, have had a patchy silver nitrate sideburn all week. I am going to be doing wet plate portraits at the school arts festival Thursday night, have got a couple kids who have put their hands up to be assistants (wrangling sitters, cleaning stuff between plates) while I pour and shoot. Should be fun! Speaking of Gerlach, that ruby darkbox of his is pretty cool. If I can dig up my mini-HDMI adapter, am gonna try and stick a GoPro in my darkbox outputting to a TV so people outside can watch what's going on inside.
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Jun 22, 2022 11:31
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Ethics_Gradient posted:love 4x5 for the economy and convenience, but I have yet to get that I was the same in the quest for largest is besterest but that day I went shooting with you up near Antill Ponds that one little 4x5 plate I made rekindled a keen appreciation and fondness in the smaller format. Viewed floating in a nice dark oversized 11x14 or even larger frame they can be surprisingly impactful. I often forget the presentation of the plate as an object is almost as important as the image itself so due consideration should be taken. I worked in a high end framing business for museums and galleries and learned framing is a distinguishable extension of the artwork presented. Sludge Tank fucked around with this message at 13:01 on Jun 22, 2022 |
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Jun 22, 2022 12:59
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Lots of interesting things are opening up with the availability of laser cut wood and 3D printers. I didn't use anything like that but it would have made some parts a lot easier. My focus mechanism is parts meant for a 3D printer though so I did benefit in some way. I can't take credit for the bellows though. I bought that off ebay years ago. It's meant for an 8x10 camera.
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Jun 22, 2022 14:07
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Sludge Tank posted:I was the same in the quest for largest is besterest but that day I went shooting with you up near Antill Ponds that one little 4x5 plate I made rekindled a keen appreciation and fondness in the smaller format. Viewed floating in a nice dark oversized 11x14 or even larger frame they can be surprisingly impactful. I often forget the presentation of the plate as an object is almost as important as the image itself so due consideration should be taken. I worked in a high end framing business for museums and galleries and learned framing is a distinguishable extension of the artwork presented. We definitely gotta get out again - late July/early August I'll be back and with the missus away visiting family weekends should be wide open. If your ute can handle snow we could try the Central Plateau or up Mt Wellington when it's gotten a good dusting; when I get the lightweight darkbox set up* my first trip is gonna be up the Sawmill Track to get some shots of the Organ Pipes. You'll be pleased to learn I've switched from random unlabelled PET bottles for my chemistry (got a bunch of HDPE labware, use specific sizes/shapes for different stuff), which should make things a little more user friendly. *My 3D printer has been finding new and exciting ways to fail, so this may be a little while. TomR posted:Lots of interesting things are opening up with the availability of laser cut wood and 3D printers. I didn't use anything like that but it would have made some parts a lot easier. My focus mechanism is parts meant for a 3D printer though so I did benefit in some way. Definitely! I am looking at taking some woodworking classes when I am in the States, and they also offer units on CNC mills which I'm pretty keen on.
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Jun 23, 2022 12:12
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Something I only found out existed this week: In the end I decided to cancel my bid, which didn't matter since it went for nearly twice what I was initially willing to throw at it: this Cambo 4x5 TLR. I had known about the Gowlandflex, didn't realise a bigger manufacturer had actually taken a stab at making a large format TLR. According to reviews it's a fair bit nicer than the Gowland in terms of build quality, portability, etc. It's definitely cool, but at the end of the day I realised I could get a decent 4x5 Graflex SLR with a rotating back for a lot less, that does the same thing and only requires half the lenses What I did buy was something I've been putting off since I got back into LF this year; an actual not-a-piece-of-junk tripod head. I have a Manfrotto ballhead that was OK for my Speed Graphic back in the day, and supposedly had a much higher weight rating, but I found it would sag badly with my 45G or Tachihara on it. I found a three way pan head tripod at the tip for pretty cheap that mostly works, but it's starting to get to the point where I really have to monster the knobs down to get it locked in place, and there's still a little bit of slop even after tightening things up where I can. Even though they were cheaper, I decided not to get another ballhead since I mostly do slow, locked-down type shooting, and have found it really handy to be able to make adjustments on a single axis with the head I'm using now. An Arca Swiss Cube is well outside my price range, but I came across the Manfrotto 400 geared head and after a few days of hemming and hawing, decided to get it:  I did have a bit of a chuckle at Manfrotto's product description saying the head was "perfect for the travelling photographer". I've already got a big pair of CF legs that have been overkill for every camera I've ever owned, so this should pair nicely with them.
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Jun 24, 2022 22:52
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I made a sort of bag bellows to go from the front half of the camera to the rear half of the camera. Seems to work well so far. It has velcro on it, but I haven't put the other side on the cardboard yet so it's just gaff taped right now. Edit: Have a test shot.  Camera Test-1 by Tom Rintjema, on Flickr TomR fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Jun 27, 2022 |
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Jun 27, 2022 21:43
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I made a frame to hold all of the camera parts. It's much easier to setup and position now. The digital camera stays fixed in relation to the projection screen so I don't have to refocus it as often. It's a lot less of a pain in the rear end to use this way. Still a few things I would like to add and tweak. I'm considering putting wheels on the frame so I can roll it into position. Maybe I'll put a tripod plate on the bottom of the front and back and have it up on two tripods.  
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Jul 5, 2022 16:13
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Jul 18, 2022 00:33
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I dig this one
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Jul 20, 2022 15:35
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alkanphel posted:I dig this one Thanks!
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Jul 20, 2022 15:41
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That's amazing.
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Jul 23, 2022 15:29
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Jul 24, 2022 04:20
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What have other people's experiences been when confronted with baggage screeners who want to either open a box of film/film back, or put it through the xray scanner? I have flown with 4x5 a few times in the past (and earlier in this trip) and had no issues with a hand check before. Sometimes they swab it, other times just shake the box and call it good. Since I blew a frame (forgot to close the lens down before removing darkslide to take my shot) I took the junk sheet and threw it in my bag to help get across what was in the box since it's rather unusual. This worked fine for the Japan leg of my trip (the Singapore one was supposedly film safe). I always do my best to finish off whatever film is in my camera/film backs but this time didn't really come close, so left it in. Again, was fine in Japan (the security person asked me to put the A12 back on my Hasselblad and shoot a frame to demonstate it worked, which was mildly annnoying but a compromise I could live with), the hero working in Melbourne said it had to go through the scanner if he couldn't open it. At the end of the day I caved, because after 20 hours of travel I was not up for a fight, and most of it had gone through the scanners inadvetantly during the outbound leg of the trip anyways (all generally 100 ISO, with a roll of Tri-X I am planning to pull to 100 in the Hasselblad back). I also wasn't particularly confident anything I shot was going to be any good anyways*. Curious to know what others have done in the past when confronted with that situation. I'd almost packed my changing bag in my carryon for that situation to give them the option to inspect by touch, but I felt like either they wouldn't do it, or they'd screw something up not knowing what they were doing. *Trip was largely a bust from a photography standpoint, despite going full Howard Hughes I got covid most likely on the way over, so spent most of it in iso on the US Navy base my sister lives on. OTOH it was great from an acquiring cameras standpoint; went hog wild on Yahoo Auctions in the lead up to the trip and during iso, so scored some killer bargains. Also bit of a longshot except for the Rittreck (which I know a poster in this thread has) on DIY repair questions:
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Jul 24, 2022 05:28
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Ethics_Gradient posted:What have other people's experiences been when confronted with baggage screeners who want to either open a box of film/film back, or put it through the xray scanner? I dont have experience with sheet film but i went on a trip to New Zealand and Australia a few years back with zero problems. For 120 rolls I left the plastic packaging on the fresh ones and made a point to finish any rolls left in my camera so it could be scanned worry free. I also kept all the rolls shot or not inside the original paper 5 roll package. Those packages were inside a ziplock bag to easily take out of my carry on while going through security. Half the time theyd swab one of the boxes and that was it. As for paint theres always basic matte black rustoleum which I used for the inside of my 6x12 3d printed camera. If you wanna go fancier you could try that super light absorbing Black 2.0 paint but i doubt its durable.
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Jul 24, 2022 06:51
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I've had 800 ISO film go through the carry on baggage scanners and they were fine. I think you only have to be concerned about the more powerful X-rays for check in luggage.
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Aug 6, 2022 00:20
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Ethics_Gradient posted:[*]Rittreck 6x9 - have not really tried anything on this yet, but the shutter curtain seems to be kinda fouling the mirror at the very top. It seems pretty straightforward to get into so I'm going to have a poke around in the next week or two, just wondering if there is anything to watch out for in particular. My Rittreck is a bit different to yours but here's an album with photos from my ongoing service. It's been quite easy to work on except for my current fight which is getting the curtain tension rollers out. I can't figure that one out and I need to to replace the curtain ribbons. You can see them here, the 2 brass gears at the bottom right are what set the tension and it looks like they're threaded onto those rods but I've had no luck getting them off. 
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Aug 6, 2022 06:19
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Ziggy Smalls posted:I dont have experience with sheet film but i went on a trip to New Zealand and Australia a few years back with zero problems. For 120 rolls I left the plastic packaging on the fresh ones and made a point to finish any rolls left in my camera so it could be scanned worry free. I also kept all the rolls shot or not inside the original paper 5 roll package. Those packages were inside a ziplock bag to easily take out of my carry on while going through security. Half the time theyd swab one of the boxes and that was it. Yeah, that's my ideal situation case (rolls either in the foil or shot), but I was only a few frames into a roll on one of the Hasselblad backs, ditto the Rittreck. I wrote "FILM" on my hand in marker and carried it in a plastic bag outside my carryon so I didn't forget to ask to have it hand checked, mostly because I'm a forgetful idiot. I don't think durability should matter too much - once it's in it shouldn't be rattling around or anything. I banged up the original coating because I didn't have suction cup on hand to precisely place the element when I was putting it back in, had to keep trying to get the perfect drop, which chipped it away in a few places.   Tell me about your 6x12 camera! I am in the process of printing the Berg 6x17 right now; farmed out the bellows to eTone in China to the tune of US$90 because I know mine would turn out horrible and I know they do good work. I spent this afternoon trying to cut the ground glass from a broken 8x10 plate and then wasted a perfectly good one before giving up and calling a framer, for  my problem is solved. Is something I want to learn though, need to keep an eye out for a stained glass windowmaking workshop or something. Cacator posted:I've had 800 ISO film go through the carry on baggage scanners and they were fine. I think you only have to be concerned about the more powerful X-rays for check in luggage. Everything went through the checked bag once (Flight Centre didn't put the fact my "Qantas" flight was actually a codeshare with Jetstar on my itinerary, so had to check my carryon and forgot about the film because I'd woken up at 4:15am), so we'll see how it goes. Megabound posted:My Rittreck is a bit different to yours but here's an album with photos from my ongoing service. It's been quite easy to work on except for my current fight which is getting the curtain tension rollers out. I can't figure that one out and I need to to replace the curtain ribbons. Holy smokes, Goon of the Year! Thank you, and that is a really impressive effort so far! Hoping to dive into this thing in the next couple of weeks. It's a really neat camera; people said it was big but I'm honestly surprised at how compact it is given it's a 6x9 SLR. I'm hoping it's an easy fix, it seems like the top part of the mirror is fouling on the shutter curtain or something. I got what looked like a very half-hearted exposure the first time I used it, the camera makes encouraging ratchety noises when I turn the knob, and the mirror makes a weak little motion when it gets to the "click" part of the rotation. I can't seem to depress the shutter button now.
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Aug 6, 2022 08:43
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Ethics_Gradient posted:Tell me about your 6x12 camera! I am in the process of printing the Berg 6x17 right now; farmed out the bellows to eTone in China to the tune of US$90 because I know mine would turn out horrible and I know they do good work. I spent this afternoon trying to cut the ground glass from a broken 8x10 plate and then wasted a perfectly good one before giving up and calling a framer, for I found an article about a camera design called the Kraken 6x12 and the creator was selling all the files for $30. The design uses a focusing helical you can easily buy on ebay and that alone sold me on it cause every other design I saw was fixed focus or used bellows. It also came with lens cones for focal lengths ranging all the way from 58-180mm.  After printing the camera I found a now seemingly defunct camera company on Ebay called Fotoman that sold this incredible universal viewfinder. It used interchangeable masks that slotted into the viewfinder so it could work with almost every film size and focal length combo. They made some pretty nuts modular film cameras so its sad they shut down. Thinking about it now I bet they were trying to be a more affordable version of Alpa but that niche is so tiny as it is. Check this 4x5 camera out:  Despite being so relatively thin it still had rise and fall movements. I have some light leaks to iron out but its pretty solid and the focus seems consistent enough across the frame for my hobbyist use.  I've got a small vacation next week so I'm hoping I'll be able to shoot a roll or two. Ziggy Smalls fucked around with this message at 10:32 on Aug 6, 2022 |
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Aug 6, 2022 10:26
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Ethics_Gradient posted:Tell me about your 6x12 camera! If you hate money, there is a guy who will convert old 6x6 folders into 6x12 cameras: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dirkfletcher/albums Edit: I do not have one, but I have always lusted after a 6x12.
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Aug 6, 2022 14:23
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Ziggy Smalls posted:I found an article about a camera design called the Kraken 6x12 and the creator was selling all the files for $30. The design uses a focusing helical you can easily buy on ebay and that alone sold me on it cause every other design I saw was fixed focus or used bellows. It also came with lens cones for focal lengths ranging all the way from 58-180mm. That is so cool! What lens are you using on it? Bellows definitely add another potential point of failure/jank; I got pretty ordinary results with the 35mm panoramic camera I tried to make out of a Nimslo, macro rail, and 6x9 folder bellows back in uni. I'd like another crack at it using a helicoid and 3D printer to make a lens cone like your camera, but with what Nimslo's cost these days, don't think I can justify butchering another one. That viewfinder sounds really handy! Does it get really croppy with smaller sizes/longer focal lengths, or is it still pretty usable? I definitely remember the Fotoman brand, didn't know they'd gotten out of the business. With the rise of 3D printers there are a few other people making highly modular systems (Dora Goodman's comes to mind, but I've seen a few others). If you've got time, I'd love to see the film travel mechanism, pressure plate, anything like that. The guy who designed the 6x17 I'm working on seems to get really good results (he posted high res scans) but it almost seems too good to be true with how simple it is. He mentioned adding some foam to push against the spools to help keep tension on the film, which I'm gonna try. Assuming it more or less works I'm hoping to iterate a bit on the design in the next few months and ape some of the creature comforts on the Shenhao 617, like a ground glass on hinges that drops out of the way, and maybe geared focusing. Definitely take that camera with you and share the pics! theHUNGERian posted:If you hate money, there is a guy who will convert old 6x6 folders into 6x12 cameras: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dirkfletcher/albums Those are pretty cool! There are a lot of Horseman 6x12 backs about on Yahoo Auctions, I might have a crack at 3D printing something similar someday. edit: nm, those things are over 1000AUD! Can probably get lucky and find one attached to a camera/not advertised for a fair bit less though. Ethics_Gradient fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Aug 6, 2022 |
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Aug 6, 2022 23:12
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Ethics_Gradient posted:That is so cool! What lens are you using on it? Bellows definitely add another potential point of failure/jank; I got pretty ordinary results with the 35mm panoramic camera I tried to make out of a Nimslo, macro rail, and 6x9 folder bellows back in uni. I'd like another crack at it using a helicoid and 3D printer to make a lens cone like your camera, but with what Nimslo's cost these days, don't think I can justify butchering another one. I bought a 90mm f6.8 Rodenstock Grandagon-n off of ebay. I wish i had gotten something wider for landscapes though. The viewfinder is great but yeah i imagine it has issues when you get to longer focal lengths. I have the mask for 6x12/90mm and only plan to use it for even wider lenses. The travel mechanism and film plane setup is incredibly simple. Its just a combination of built in tension on the winding knobs and the film being sandwiched between the back cover plus a pair of flat rims at the top/bottom edges. You keep track of your frame count via a small hole on the back cover which lets you see the numbers printed on the 120 roll's paper backing.
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Aug 7, 2022 00:03
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  Not too bad for a roll that just would not get on the rail because my dark box was too humid and that fell on my filthy shower floor.
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Aug 14, 2022 21:03
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Aug 16, 2022 14:34
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That's very nice. Kind of cinematic.
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Aug 19, 2022 15:29
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Aug 21, 2022 20:08
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Aug 31, 2022 00:36
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Sep 4, 2022 14:30
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Sep 25, 2022 23:23
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Sep 27, 2022 12:44
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^ Very nice! Sorry in advance if this question is silly/bad, but why do people like pinhole cameras that use 120 film? Doesn't diffraction completely ruin the resolution of the final negative? Seems to me like a terrible use for 120 film. In addition, what subject matters work well with pinhole cameras? I've looked at countless pictures and I don't get it so far, but perhaps I have been looking at the wrong images.
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Sep 27, 2022 14:35
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So good!
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Sep 27, 2022 15:24
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Is the BetterScanning.com variable height mounting station still the recommended holder for 4x5 on a V850?
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Sep 27, 2022 16:37
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theHUNGERian posted:^ the effects of diffraction are less evident in larger formats, i shoot f/22 on 4x5 most of the time, but try to avoid it on 35mm for example. i've only shot on a pinhole camera once or twice, just to do it, but if i were looking for a project or something i'd try to really lean into the flaws (softness, low contrast, subject movement from long exposure etc). i enjoy this photograph
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Sep 27, 2022 16:38
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theHUNGERian posted:^ People make lots of dumb decisions in photography, see also: Holgas. Breadnought posted:Is the BetterScanning.com variable height mounting station still the recommended holder for 4x5 on a V850? If you can get one! There's been a lot of chatter online about the guy being very sporadic at responding to emails and orders (I think related to his health/the pandemic or something). I got some 4x5 film not long ago and haven't tried scanning it yet, you made me realise I should be able to make a reasonable facsimile of a Betterscanning holder with my 3D printer and some threaded brass inserts + hardware I have laying around.
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Sep 27, 2022 21:30
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Breadnought posted:Is the BetterScanning.com variable height mounting station still the recommended holder for 4x5 on a V850? I've sent him 3 emails over the course of 2 years trying to get a response about 120 holders and have had no reply. I'd be looking for a different solution
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Sep 27, 2022 23:55
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The 120 holders aren't that great. (Although I'm not sure what alternatives are out there). Next time I'll make my own.
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Sep 28, 2022 00:14
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I can help you there, get a Lomo digitaliza It's a glassless neg holder that does a good job of keeping it flat. There's no adjustable height for focusing but I found that 20c euro pieces were perfect for my V850.
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Sep 28, 2022 00:25
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eggsovereasy posted:the effects of diffraction are less evident in larger formats, i shoot f/22 on 4x5 most of the time, but try to avoid it on 35mm for example. i've only shot on a pinhole camera once or twice, just to do it, but if i were looking for a project or something i'd try to really lean into the flaws (softness, low contrast, subject movement from long exposure etc). But the typical pinhole camera is somewhere around f/160. Anyway, if anyone has awesome pinhole camera pics to share, please do as I am curious. I am thinking about taking one on a mountaineering trip where the temperatures will be so low that my digital camera might die. 
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Sep 28, 2022 02:50
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I shot some 6x9 Pinhole and enjoyed it, don't have a project for it tho so I sold it on.   
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Sep 28, 2022 03:16
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   Making dumb decisions with Holgas rules
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Sep 28, 2022 04:09
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