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8th-snype
Aug 28, 2005

My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012


Young Orc
There has been much talk of a film dedicated thread and no one has done much about it I decided to take the plunge and get this party started.
Scanning thread = http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3307521
Scan processing video that gets asked for every 3 pages:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_qeZOWqchM

First of all, why film?

Well I shoot film because I like it and because I was broke when I got into photography and couldn't afford a DSLR. The larger formats are still used professionally today because they can produce the quality needed for a fraction of the price of digital capture. Frankly alot of people shoot film because they always have and it works for them. Understandable, why fix what ain't broke.

Edited: Why film in 2012?
I still shoot film because I like it. I like the smoother highlight transitions and the increased dynamic range (not by much at this point). Somethings to consider about film in 2012:

How broke are you? Shooting film is hideously expensive. I am all for people buying film gear and shooting film but seriously don't waste the money on a nice camera is you are only gonna shoot a couple of rolls and move back to digital. What system are you shooting now? You can probably find an old consumer 35mm body for it very cheap. Then once you have the infrastructure built up buy a good body or even better a medium format camera.

What do I mean by infrastructure? We had an IRC discussion not long about the associated costs of being a film shooter. Film stock, development, scanning, scanning software that doesn't suck rear end, film holders that don't make you want to die, and negative storage. A scanner will pay for it's self after a few rolls and if you can't afford to buy one you can't afford to shoot film.





What is film?

Film is light sensitive dye clusters or silver halide crystals embedded in layers of gelatin. Dye clusters are used for color film and silver halide makes black and white images. Black and white film has one color sensitive layer, color film has three. One for red, blue and green respectively.




Film Sizes:
From smallest to largest. Quality increases and grain decreases as you use larger film.

35mm - also called 135, commonly available in rolls of 24 or 36 exposures. Comes in a metal cannister and has sprocket holes for cameras to wind it. Most commonly loaded on one side of camera and wound around a non removable spool in the camera body then rewound into the cylinder after all exposures made.

120 - Medium format, 2.5 inches wide and 28 inches long. Comes on a plastic spool and is tranfered to another spool on other side of camera. Film is sprocketless and backed with paper. There is a little adhesive tab on the paper to seal the film after exposure.

220 - same width twice the length of 120, not all medium format cameras can take this film size.

Sheet film - available in many sizes. Very cool. Requires big heavy camera but provides the best quality.







The three common types of film processing:

C-41: Most common. Negative color film. Images are captured on the film with the colors reversed, and printed so that they come out as a positive on paper. Uses clusters Can be processed at home but is complicated, most people have this done by a lab. The earliest negative processes were quite unstable and tended to fade. I believe any color film made since the early 80s is unlikely to fade. Requires weird color filtration system to print.

E-6: Slide or reversal film. The image is developed as a positive directly on the film. Until the advent of digital photography this was the primary medium of professional photographers due to color fastness and longevity. The printing process is very different from C41 and produces very beautiful colorful prints.

K-14: Kodachrome made famous by national geographic and a song by Paul Simon. Very colorful slides, noted for its signature reds and browns. There is only one lab in the world that still develops this film.






Film basics:

Loading the camera:

Should be easy unless you have a Leica rangefinder, but if you have one of those I'm sure you know how to load it.




ISO:

You should all be familiar with this, the system of rating film speed. Most commonly ISO 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. The lower the ISO the smaller the grain and the less sensitive to light it is. ISO 100 film requires twice the exposure of ISO 200 to capture the same scene. Higher ISOs have more contrast (less shadow detail)





Pushing/ Pulling:

You can not change the ISO of a film. Flame me if you want but film is rated by the manufacturer and that it. You can, however, change the EI (exposure index) meaning under/overexpose the film and develop accordingly. We do this for many reasons, say you only have ISO 800 film and it's getting dark, underexpose the film by one stop nad have the lab develop the film for longer and you have just pushed to EI 1600.

Conversely if you are trying to capture a scene with a very high dynamic range, you can underexpose and reduce the development for increased shadow detail. Remember this phrase: Expose for the shadows and print for the highlights. With negative film the longer you expose the film the more detail you have in your shadows. Thus by pulling the film you have given more exposure to your shadows and by cutting development (the standard is 20% of your time per stop pulled) you have reduced the highlights.

Notes on slide film: Reversal film acts the opposite way that negative film does during exposure. It reacts like digital capture, overexposure will lose your highlights so be careful.




Grain:

A much debated topic. I love film grain, hell I like digital noise (as long as it isn't coarse noise that stuff sucks). The reason film grain increases with ISO is that much larger bits of light sensitive material are needed to capture light when there is less of it. Also the grainier an image is the more apparent sharpness it has. A shot that would look a bit soft at ISO 100 will probably look sharper at ISO 1600. Certain processes and developers can increase the grain and the sharpness of the grain.




Storing film:

Keep it cool and dry. Heat with age film and cause color shifts and increased grain.







Some links:
Here is an amazon list of basic equipment you need to develop black and white film. The only thing I omitted is the film. I prefer to buy all my stuff locally but seeing how this is the internet I figured you guys would be into this.
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Convention-s-New-Film-User-Equipment/lm/R2W2L5CU8VZEGA/ref=cm_lm_pdp_title_full

A cool place to buy film and chemicals:
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/

Keh is my favorite online gear depot, very trustworthy, lots of good equipment.
http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/BrandTableOfContent.aspx

Some Flickr groups dedicated to film that I belong to:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/film_is_not_dead/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/tri-x/
There are a ton more, just search for them.

The home developers online bible:
http://digitaltruth.com/devchart.html

If you are into Tri-X check this out:
http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

No analog thread would be complete without a link to the Analog Users Group, these people know their stuff:
http://www.apug.org/forums/home.php






Up Next: I have photos and will walk you through how I develop my film.

8th-snype fucked around with this message at 04:40 on May 6, 2014

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ConfusedUs
Feb 24, 2004

Bees?
You want fucking bees?
Here you go!
ROLL INITIATIVE!!





I don't shoot film with my own stuff, but I do at work. We have it developed by a lab, though, so my only real experience with it is loading and unloading.

I have to say that I'm a master of loading gigantic spools of 35mm film in a changing bag, though. I can do it in about two minutes, from sealed can to sealed can, while holding a conversation.

Luxmore
Jun 5, 2001
Everybody go buy some Kodachrome.



Kodachrome is #1 best film.



Flickr search for more.



Now go get some.

TsarAleksi
Nov 24, 2004

What?
Here are some examples of various types of film if people are wondering what different films will do to the look of their images. Please forgive the skill with which some of them were made, I shot a lot more film a while back.


Kodak Elite Chrome 100


Tri-X 400


Fuji Press 800


Hand colored Ilford Delta 3200


Kodak TMAX 400


Ilford Delta 400


Ilford Delta 3200 pushed to 6400

Luxmore
Jun 5, 2001

TsarAleksi posted:


Fuji Press 800
Fuji Press 800 has been replaced by the equally cool (but completely different) Fuji 800 Pro Z:



I will also add in the interest of full disclosure that I run this used camera store in BC. We sell all kinds of stuff, including darkroom equipment, so if any Canadians out there are looking for used bits and pieces without paying massive shipping and customs fees (Canada Customs :argh: ) you might want to check out the inventory. Let's say 10% goon discount on non-consignment items.

Mannequin
Mar 8, 2003

Mannequin fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Nov 13, 2010

blambert
Jul 2, 2007
you spin me right round baby right round.
Edit: Not arguing promise

Comparing them is quite hard because the processes are completely different.... I guess 'achievable detail' is a better way to compare. I'm working with a few 120 scans at 7240*7240 and the quality is fine, and that'll print at 60x60cm at 300dpi.

This guy seems to be accurate though, using line pairs per millimeter.... it's all rather vague though.





I was thinking of a few fun things that could be done for the OP.. maybe run through the dark room process for a black and white print, show and tell with old cameras etc. I'm tempted to try the dark room one next week...

blambert fucked around with this message at 14:53 on Jun 1, 2008

johnasavoia
Jan 9, 2006

The thing about film is its not just based on film size, though that has a lot to do with it, tri-x for example is a rather low resolution film, compare this to EFKE 50 or any other slow speed high resolution film, and theres a big difference in "megapixel equivilancy" From my own experience scanning 35 and 120 film on a flatbed scanner made for film, I get roughly 6-8mp from low resolution films like tri-x or neopan 1600 in 35mm, and closer to 12-14mp from the same film at 645 or 6x6(120 film)

There is also the case that in digital files, unless you use an uprezzing program, at some point the file is just going to be pixelated when blown up a certain amount, with film this doesnt happen, you can enlarge and enlarge, and you will see the grain and there won't be any more fine detail, but you still get smooth transitions, which can add to the feeling of more resolution I suppose. Using a high resolution film in 4x5 or larger sizes is still the ultimate resolution champ, easily scanning to the equivilant of 1000s of megapixels.

Clayton Bigsby
Apr 17, 2005

It might be worth adding some comments on the 620 format as well. There are lots of neat folders and other cameras floating around that still can produce great results and cost next-to-nothing, but require 620 format film.

620 is basically the same as 120 except on a slightly different spool. Some 620 cameras can be made to accept a 120 spool, but others (like my Kodak folder) can't handle it.

Possible solutions/workarounds:

Buy 620 film (a few places sell it, but selection is verrry limited)

Cut down the lip on the 120 spool (might still not work in several cameras since the head of the spool is not only wider but also slightly thicker)

Respool 120 onto 620 spools. This is what I do. 620 spools can be found easily enough, often there'll be one left inside the camera you bought. :) Link to instructions:
http://www.brownie-camera.com/respool/respool.shtml

With 120 being readily available (probably for quite some time to come) you have plenty of choices here!

What I would recommend for the more limited option cameras (I have a couple of folders with a fixed shutter speed and very limited aperture adjustments) would be a film that gets along with Diafine developer. PlusX for sunny days and TriX for everything else should work fine; you can get away with rather significant differences in exposure if you soup these films in Diafine. It's what I do when I take the Holga out, and I have yet to get an unusable negative.

edit: and drat it, Leica rangefinders aren't hard to load...

Clayton Bigsby fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Jun 1, 2008

johnasavoia
Jan 9, 2006

Clayton Bigsby posted:

edit: and drat it, Leica rangefinders aren't hard to load...

No but they do take longer than a swingback does, and its a pain to have to cut your leaders ahead of time.

Quick question about diafine, I've been reading up on it, and is it really the miracle developer that it seems to be? It almost sounds too good to be true.

Clayton Bigsby
Apr 17, 2005

johnasavoia posted:

No but they do take longer than a swingback does, and its a pain to have to cut your leaders ahead of time.

Quick question about diafine, I've been reading up on it, and is it really the miracle developer that it seems to be? It almost sounds too good to be true.

With some practice it takes next to no time to cut the leaders and then roll back into the spool. Honestly! :) (Though it is a pain if you have to buy a roll and don't have scissors handy...)

My Diafine experiences are almost exclusively in medium format, but in that aspect, yes, it really is that good. I shoot PlusX and TriX most of the time, and from rated speed to a couple stops faster it always does a wonderful job. The best part is that because of the way it develops it's virtually impossible to blow out highlights. I get gorgeous negs shooting at rated speed and both shadows and highlights have tons of detail in them. Not to mention the developer cost me $15 and will probably last years.

Now, this is all said based on scanning the negs. I haven't wet printed a Diafine neg yet, so no clue how it'd look there. They are pretty flat which makes them great for scanning, but not sure how well they'd print 'traditonally'.

MrMeowMeow
Aug 11, 2006
Seriously, what the hell is a Dim Mak?
I have a couple of questions about slide film since I've never used it:
How do people scan their slides? Just using regular flatbed scanners or what
Is there absolutely no way to get prints from slides?

I'm looking for a new neckstrap 'cause the one that came with my camera is this old red Canon one that makes my neck real itchy. Any recommendations on straps that won't make me itchy?

Clayton Bigsby
Apr 17, 2005

MrMeowMeow posted:

I have a couple of questions about slide film since I've never used it:
How do people scan their slides? Just using regular flatbed scanners or what
Is there absolutely no way to get prints from slides?


It Depends(tm).

If you're shooting 35mm and want good results you're best off using a dedicated film scanner. Most have slide holders included (if you get them mounted). For medium format and large format a decent flatbed (Epson 4990 for instance) should be enough.

You CAN get wet prints from slides (google Cibachrome/Ilfochrome), though these days you'd do well to just scan and print them digitally.

8th-snype
Aug 28, 2005

My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012


Young Orc
Yeah I don't know much about scanning and what not. I have my Lab do that. I figured that between all of us we have enough experts to answer basically anyones questions.

Dread Head
Aug 1, 2005

0-#01
I would love to get into using b/w film, I have a old pentax k1000 with a few lenses but my question is more about where or how to get b/w film processed. Most of the camera places around here seem to ship it off to get developed. Maybe Luxmore knows since you live in the same city?

Molten Llama
Sep 20, 2006

Dread Head posted:

I would love to get into using b/w film, I have a old pentax k1000 with a few lenses but my question is more about where or how to get b/w film processed.

If you like black and white, it only takes a few rolls before buying the equipment and learning to do it pays for itself. Processing B&W film demands pretty much no space and only minimal time and money. Learn to do it and you save a ton of money on processing, plus you get complete control over your results.

Luxmore
Jun 5, 2001

Dread Head posted:

I would love to get into using b/w film, I have a old pentax k1000 with a few lenses but my question is more about where or how to get b/w film processed. Most of the camera places around here seem to ship it off to get developed. Maybe Luxmore knows since you live in the same city?
Commercial B&W film processing is awful and expensive so you may as well put that out of your mind right now.

Shoot a roll of Tri-X and then PM me, we can meet up and I'll show you how to do it yourself (it takes like half an hour)

8th-snype
Aug 28, 2005

My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012


Young Orc
Well now seems like a good time to go over B&W film developing. I only use one B&W film, Tri-X, because it's so versatile. You can shoot it at an EI from 50 to 12,800 and get acceptable negatives. Sure they are a bit grainy and contrasty but I'm in that. I suggest you mess around and find one film you like then stick with it until you know everything about it.

The same with developers. I use HC-110 for 2 reasons. One, it's a concentrated syrup which makes it easy to mix one shot working solutions. Two, when I got into developing my own stuff I was a huge Ansel Adams fanboy and that is what he used.

Firstly list of everything you will need:
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Convention-s-New-Film-User-Equipment/lm/R2W2L5CU8VZEGA/ref=cm_lm_pdp_title_full
Feel free to omit the Ansel Adam's book if you want it's not really a beginners kind of text.



Chemicals:
You are goons so go find some empty mountain dew bottles. One and two liters and a few 20oz bottles. These are for storage.

Developer: Actually makes the photo a photo by turning silver halide crystals into metallic silver depending upon whither or not they were exposed to light. There are much more knowledgeable people out there about differences in the many differnt types of developers.

Lets assume you have a roll of Tri-X shot at 400 you want to develop in HC-110. Since we are not going to get all crazy the first time out of the box we will use the standard dilution "B".


Dilution 'B' Recipe:
9.4 ml of HC-110
300 ml of water.

Why do I use 300ml at a time? Because the patterson tank requires 290ml of fluid to cover one roll of 35mm. So I'm always making up just enough to develop one (or by doubling it) two rolls of film.





stop bath: To stop the developers action when the appropriate time has arrived. Not needed use water.

Fixer: This washes out the silver halide crystal that have not been exposed to light. Making the image light proof and permanent.

I use Kodafix. I make up a liter at a time. You dilute Kodafix 1:3 with water so a liter would be 250ml of fix and 750ml of water.

Permawash: Just helps to wash out the fixer.



I do all my measuring with a graduated cylinder for the larger amounts:


I use needless syringes for the smaller amounts,

but you could use smaller graduated cylinders.


So now that you have mixed your chemicals go get your film. You need a pair of scissors, a dark room, a can opener and the patterson tank system for this next step.


First make sure the room you are in is completely dark. Then spread out the tank so that you know where all the pieces are in the dark (hosed that one up a few times). Now you use a can opener to pry the top of the film cannister off. This allows you access to the film and spool. Take that right out of the container. Snip off the film leader so that the whole film has the same width. Save the leader we are going to need that later.

Now take the film in one hand and the auto loading reel in the other. Carefully feed the film into the opening on the reel. Once there is a few inches in you can start ratcheting the reel (it was designed to do this, hence the auto loading name). After a few minutes the film spool should be very close to the reel, take your scissors and snip the tape holding the spool on and ratchet until the film is all up in there.

Now you want to take the hollow piece of the tank

and slide the reel onto it

now place them in the tank

and place the funnel looking thing over them, being sure to twist and lock it in place.



Now you are ready to pour in chemicals. The system is light tight at this point so feel free to come out of the closet (or where ever). Make sure your solutions are all about 20 degrees centigrade.


Set a timer and pour in your developer. It needs to be in there for 7 minutes with this film/developer combo. Use this
http://digitaltruth.com/devchart.html to get all the times you need, it's not perfect but it gets you in the ball park.


Agitation: moving the tank during development to move fresh developer onto the film and to reduce air bubbles. I use 30 seconds of initial agitation by gently rolling the tank on a counter and tapping the base to remove air bubbles. Then I agitate 5 slow inversions every 5 minutes. Most people think I'm crazy but this works for me. It allows the developer more time to develop the shadows and does not replace the burnt out developer in the highlights as often. For really big pushes I agitate even less.


After seven minutes pour out the developer and fill the tank with water. This will stop the developers action. Acid stop bath will stop it faster but I have found you get just a smidge of further development in the shadow areas if you use water as it takes time for the water to soak into the film.


Now is good time to do a clip test for your fixer. We do this because it's easy and we reuse fix so this will tell use when it is getting older and weaker.

Take that film leadre we talked about saving and run some water over it. Then throw it in a shot glass.

Splash in a enough fixer to cover the bottom half of the film. Time how long it takes for the film to become clear (usually around three minutes) double that and you have the time you are going to use to fix the film in the tank.


Now pour out water and in goes the fix. Agitate for 30 seconds continuously then 10 seconds every minute. Pour in some permawash solution and let it sit for a
few minutes. Now fill up the tank with fresh water and invert it ten times, empty and fill it again inverting 20 times, repeat with 30 inversions. The film si now washed and ready to come out of the tank. Some people use photo-flo (liquid soap) as a final step, I only recommend this if you have hard water.


Here is where you will need these.

There is no reason to spend a ton of money on film hangers when the grocery store has what you need for 99 cents.

Carefully remove the film from the reel. While the emulsion is still wet it is very fragile and can be scratched easily so be careful.

Clip one end on the chip clip:

and the other clip a binder clip to


Now hang you film in a dust free area nad wait a few hours for them to dry.

8th-snype fucked around with this message at 10:17 on Jul 16, 2008

blambert
Jul 2, 2007
you spin me right round baby right round.
Nice one, all covered there.

quote:

Then spread out the tank so that you know where all the pieces are in the dark (hosed that one up a few times)

I've found it's 100% personal preference, but I always use a changing bag (about $20) so I can't lose stuff. I've dropped and lost a few rolls on the loading room floor, plus it's just nicer being in light I think... just make sure you remember to put everything in (happens far too frequently).

Edit: Oh another one is opening the film canister and then finding you've put your scissors in the outer layer.

blambert fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Jun 2, 2008

Luxmore
Jun 5, 2001
Yup, excellent post.

Is there any specific reason you do a clip test for the fixer instead of just using a drop of Hypo-Check?

8th-snype
Aug 28, 2005

My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012


Young Orc

Luxmore posted:

Yup, excellent post.

Is there any specific reason you do a clip test for the fixer instead of just using a drop of ?

Fix gets weaker as it gets older. Hypo test will tell you when to throw it out but not how much longer to leave your film in the fix later on in it's life span. I try not to throw out fix until I have to as it is the only item in my workflow that is considered hazardous waste.

That and I don't have to buy hypo check if I don't use it. The cardboard box I store my chemicals in is already overflowing.

Molten Llama
Sep 20, 2006
A couple tips for processing:

1. If you're a cheapskate or just want fewer chemicals, you can skip the wash aid/hypoclear if you're using a non-hardening fixer. Outside of Kodakland, any fixer you buy is likely to be non-hardening since pretty much nothing requires hardener anymore. Of Kodak's options, Kodak Rapid Fix is non-hardening while Kodafix is hardening.

2. If you're in a hard water area, buy some distilled water. It's much better for mixing chemistry (especially if you're starting from powders), it's dirt cheap, and it can even take the place of Photoflo. Do your final rinse in distilled water and voila, no spots.

Clayton Bigsby
Apr 17, 2005

blambert posted:


Edit: Oh another one is opening the film canister and then finding you've put your scissors in the outer layer.

That's when you put the film into your tank, slap the lid on, then open the bag and put 'em in. Not that I'd know. :v:

Re: developing, I am a HUGE fan of photoflo. A bottle will last you a lifetime. Also, if you develop in a bathroom that has a shower, running hot water in the shower for a few will help remove dust from the air so you can hang your precious negs to dry.

I.G.
Oct 10, 2000

I'm interested in exploring black and while film photography more seriously, but am a little overwhelmed by the variety of stocks available. Could somebody overview a few of the popular stocks? What is a versatile starting point for a beginner?

Clayton Bigsby
Apr 17, 2005

Syph3r posted:

I'm interested in exploring black and while film photography more seriously, but am a little overwhelmed by the variety of stocks available. Could somebody overview a few of the popular stocks? What is a versatile starting point for a beginner?

I'm assuming that by stock you mean emulsion.

If you just want to get your feet wet, sort of, there's no harm in playing with the available C41 (color process) black and white films. There's XP2 (Ilford) and whatever the current Kodak one is (BW400CN?) as well as a Fuji that may or may not be available where you live. These are not 'true' black and white films but will let you get a feel for it while getting development and printing done at a normal cheap minilab.

Now, if you want real black/white, it's hard to beat TriX for versatility. It handles a wide range of speeds with ease, and has a very classic (and classy) black and white film look to it. Again, I will pimp Diafine because it's just so easy to get superb results with, and it makes life a lot easier when you don't need to fuss with temps and times while starting out development. TriX and PlusX together with HP5 and FP4 from Ilford are great films for getting that old school black and white look, while Tmax and Delta (in my opinion) are a little cleaner and cold looking. Hard to explain and entirely subjective, but these t-grain style emulsions while no doubt excellent just lack a certain feel to them.

hybr1d
Sep 24, 2002

I shoot digital, but I still love my Pentax K1000 and Yashica TLR. Here's one of my favorites. Probably not very good to many, but still one of my favorites.



Now for my question- what's a good starter large format? I don't care how big it is, and I just want something that lines up with an old Pentax SLR. I'm not really brave enough to buy one off Ebay.

Luxmore
Jun 5, 2001

hybr1d posted:

Now for my question- what's a good starter large format? I don't care how big it is, and I just want something that lines up with an old Pentax SLR. I'm not really brave enough to buy one off Ebay.
I've always found field cameras easier to come to grips with than a huge monorail. You can pick up Speed Graphic 4x5 cameras fairly inexpensively these days, and the later ones have a pretty fair range of movements. You can probably also find a Linhof Technika III for under a thousand bucks with lens.

Otherwise, there really aren't any lovely large format cameras out there. I'm quite fond of the Linhof Kardan Bi-System, which is a gorgeous satin chrome/beige gloss paint astronaut-looking thing:

Only registered members can see post attachments!

8th-snype
Aug 28, 2005

My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012


Young Orc
I want a large format camera, bad. I need to upgrade my DSLRs first.

hybr1d
Sep 24, 2002

I can't for the life of me remember where I bought my Yashica TLR. It was used, and not from B&H or Adorama. Where do you guys recommend looking for used gear? If I'm lucky I can find the same retailer again.

Luxmore
Jun 5, 2001

hybr1d posted:

I can't for the life of me remember where I bought my Yashica TLR. It was used, and not from B&H or Adorama. Where do you guys recommend looking for used gear? If I'm lucky I can find the same retailer again.
KEH probably.

johnasavoia
Jan 9, 2006

I've been endlessly scouring keh, craigslist, local ads, and anywhere else to find a cheap 8x10 camera, I love shooting large format paper negatives, and I'm looking for a bigger negative than my Crown Graflex.

Is there any table for giving a general field of view comparison for focal lengths across formats? Like 80mm on 645 is similar to 50 on 35 is similar to 28 on APS-C, etc?

hybr1d
Sep 24, 2002

What's the process for dealing with light leaks on a large format's bellows? Also, here's a picture because I keep asking questions :)



Also, as I step from medium to larg(er) formats, should I try the 4x5 or jump straight to the 8x10? It's hobby only, and I am not looking for anything but bigger negatives.

johnasavoia
Jan 9, 2006

hybr1d posted:

What's the process for dealing with light leaks on a large format's bellows? Also, here's a picture because I keep asking questions :)



Also, as I step from medium to larg(er) formats, should I try the 4x5 or jump straight to the 8x10? It's hobby only, and I am not looking for anything but bigger negatives.

If you plan to enlarge or scan negatives, 4x5 is a much much better choice, all the advantages of extra resolution/small DOF/movements, but in a much smaller and generally cheaper package, 4x5 is more common so better luck finding good deals on cameras/lenses/film/accesories, however if you find a great deal on an 8x10, let me know, and if you find another great deal, jump on it.

twovansnotone
Jun 25, 2004
I have to say I don't really shoot film much, simply because of the hassle- I'm really lazy about developing it, and then printing is just another pain in the rear end. I love film though, and I'm so excited that this thread finally got going! I started photo in High School with black and white, on my beloved Pentax K1000. We used Kodak Tri-x 400, and probably my favorite thing to do was overexpose and underdevelop. Usually just to ei 200 or 100, but I'd like to try pulling a little more. I am now a huge fan of Pentax cameras, and hence bought a Pentax DSLR when I decided to go into digital stuff.

I'm going on a road trip in a few weeks, for about 6 months or so. When my boyfriend and I are done, I've already decided I'm going to buy myself three new photo things (as soon as I can afford them, of course!). First, a film scanner ($500); Next a nice photo printer ($300-$500); Lastly, I will upgrade my digital slr ($700-$1000); for a total of $1500-$2000 into my photography HOBBY. Photo is a ridiculously expensive hobby... Yeah, and we'll be wanting to go to Europe after a year or two also. Looks like I need to get a really high-paying job. Good thing I'm in education, huh?

/random

8th-snype
Aug 28, 2005

My office is in the front room of a run-down 12 megapixel sensor but the rent suits me and the landlord doesn't ask many questions.

Dorkroom Short Fiction Champion 2012


Young Orc

hybr1d posted:

I can't for the life of me remember where I bought my Yashica TLR. It was used, and not from B&H or Adorama. Where do you guys recommend looking for used gear? If I'm lucky I can find the same retailer again.

Keh.com. I am an untrusting bastard and these people impress me.

johnasavoia
Jan 9, 2006

Chiming in to say how great KEH is, they rate everything a step lower than it really is, at the very least, I've bought a couple BGN rated lenses that could have been new for all I knew.

Molten Llama
Sep 20, 2006

hybr1d posted:

What's the process for dealing with light leaks on a large format's bellows?

Patch it up somehow, assuming it's due to damage rather than wear. Could be tape, could be gluing patches on, could be paint. What will work best depends on the bellows material and the nature of the light leak. Pretty much anything you can cook up to block light without causing further damage will do the trick.

There's a point at which fighting worn bellows becomes a losing battle, since it's just going to spring more and more leaks. If you're dealing with wear (or really horrible damage), the best solution is to suck it up and buy replacement bellows.

Clayton Bigsby
Apr 17, 2005

Luxmore posted:

I've always found field cameras easier to come to grips with than a huge monorail. You can pick up Speed Graphic 4x5 cameras fairly inexpensively these days, and the later ones have a pretty fair range of movements.

The Super Graphics have really nice movements for what's really a press camera; the earlier (Crown and Speed) are a little more limited. The real issue though is the lens! Most of these come with a lens that just BARELY covers 4x5 and adding movements in is just too much. Make sure you're prepared to get a lens casting a wider circle if you plan to use movements with these guys. FWIW, I paid $148 or so for a nice condition Crown Graphic with lens and all recently.

Light leaks, if the bellows are rubberized there's this patching goop you can get at fabric stores that's flexible (check the LF forums for the name/brand) and can patch up most things permanently.

UserNotFound
May 7, 2006
???
Cross quoting from the general gear thread to bring more discussion here (in reference to me looking at getting an N80+battery grip+28-80 for $140)

Luxmore posted:

Not a terrible deal on the N80, although I'd hold out for an N90, which is hugely more solid and will work with manual-focus Nikon lenses.

Meanwhile, film is more or less a personal choice, and you may have to try out a few before you find one that you like. What sort of stuff do you shoot?

I went ahead and got the N80, as my local store doesn't get a lot of this kind of stuff on consignment, as well as the fact that while the N90 will meter on a manual lens, it is not compatible with VR lenses, which is the direction I see my lenses taking in the next few years.

First off, this thing is pretty sweet with my 50/1.8. Coming from the D40, I grew tired to trying to hit the focus manually, but obviously the N80 can nail focus in a heartbeat. Well...I haven't gotten anything developed yet to confirm, but I shot 2 rolls of TX400 at EI400 at a party this weekend, and should be getting in a dark room by the end of the week (I haven't been in a dark room in maybe 10 years!!)

Has anyone here ever use Diafine w/ Tri-X 400? Why do I see conflicting reports about whether or not it will expose the TX400 to EI1600 with the "standard" proccess? I understand some people choose to set their camera to 1100 or something they feel gets the exposure they're looking for, but others seem to insist that they shoot at 400 and the Diafine doesn't overexpose it...

Also, I wouldn't mind if someone would talk about some of the finer points of shooting slide, as I'm very much used to the latitude of B&W and doing all the processing myself. I'd be really interested in shooting my campus w/ velvia before I leave.

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Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer
I'm trying to compile all the necessary pieces and parts to develop my own 120 negatives and haven't seen this answered anywhere - can I use ANY kind of light while loading my film rolls onto their spools? Like a red light?

It probably shouldn't matter, I just don't know how delicate I have to be loading film.

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