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I've signed up for 2 classes in using a darkroom (2 x 2 hour sessions) and should have a clue by the end of it. There's a camera club near me which has enlargers, scanners, chemicals, dark rooms, cutters, everything, but they obviously want you to be accredited before they let you loose on their equipment. I shoot Nikon DSLR, so I've got some Nikon full frame lenses to start with. (50mm f/1.8, 105mm f/2.8 micro, 300mm f/4.5 AI-S ED-IF and hopefully a wider lens of sorts soon). Do I buy an FM2n, or do I spend a little more money and get a medium format camera? I'm tempted by the medium format because I have a 35mm style SLR already (albeit digital) so the MF camera will be new and fun. I'm tempted by a Mamiya RB67, or maybe some sort of 645. I'd also like a 6x6 because square format just appeals to me, but I haven't seen any in my price range yet. Any advice for hot buys? If you really feel like picking something out for me, there are good UK prices at https://www.ffordes.com I don't really want to spend much more than £250-300 for a camera with a lens as I'm not 100% sure I'll stick at it, to be quite honest. I think I'll still use my D300 as my main camera, but I'd like to use film cameras for some specific projects I have in mind or perhaps to get a more interesting take on a photo in a studio. D300 for shots to give to the model, Medium Format for me to play with later. Should I get something with a meter or just accept that I'll need to buy a meter? I plan on getting into studio photography soon so I suppose it wouldn't be a bad investment.
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Aug 8, 2008 13:06
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Clayton Bigsby posted:CLA I at least had to google that, so for everybody else who doesn't know it's a "Clean, Lube and Adjust" apparently. I ended up ordering a Yashica Mat 124G! Only thing wrong with it is that the meter seems to have become uncoupled from the aperture lever and is stuck at what seems like f/8. I put a roll of expired film through it to test focus and the shutter speeds, and otherwise it works perfectly. I've since done one roll of Ilford Delta 3200 with some incredible results, and currently have some Portra 160 NC in there, with 7 photos of a model. Unfortunately I had to go back to the D300 as the light was failing and the person who had brought the portable strobes didn't have a PC cable with him  .Do people tend to develop and print B&W themselves, and get someone else to develop colour and then print it themselves, or am I way off the mark here? I've got access to some pretty good labs, and a fully kitted out darkroom.
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Aug 15, 2008 08:28
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Those photos are both focussed significantly in front of the camera. The first one has the granite in front in sharp focus and the second has the drinks in front in sharp focus. Have you got another lens to test focus with? Try setting the camera on a tripod, focussing the lens to infinity (at the infinity mark, the lens might focus beyond infinity) and taking a photo of an object at infinity. If that's out of focus it's an issue with the lens or the lens mount, if it's in focus it's probably an issue with mirror alignment.
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Oct 21, 2008 23:10
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dunno posted:So I'm thinking of getting into medium format more seriously. I love me some big negatives and consequently less visible grain, but the Holga just ain't cuttin' it no more. I did nearly the same thing. I bought a Yashica 124G, loved it, and then bought a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II for studio and landscape work. Yet to do any landscapes wit the Mamiya yet, but I actually enjoy using it for studio work. I still use the Yashica for street stuff, so it's not like it doesn't get used at all, they're just different cameras.
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Nov 17, 2008 12:25
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I think I want to do some night photography with my Mamiya RZ 67 Pro II and I've got the opportunity tomorrow when two photographer friends are in town. I've got 3 rolls of Fuji Provia, which looks like a good film for the job: http://home.earthlink.net/~kitathome/LunarLight/moonlight_gallery/technique/reciprocity.htm#provia2. I can go out and buy film tomorrow if anybody has any specific recommendations. I need to get a shutter release cable and arca swiss plate anyway. I also have a good lightmeter that does spot as well, and a good tripod and ball head. My widest lens is a 110mm, which is probably too long, but I'll make do with what I have for the sake of the experience. I'll probably take the D300 with 10-20 and 35 just in case anyway (and to verify I'm using my lightmeter correctly...) Any suggestions before the day? I think I might miss the sunset because I have to work in the afternoon, so I'm not going to get too many shots with colour in the sky .I'm tempted to pick up some B&W film. Any ideas? Edit: I know I lose sharpness below f/11 on the D300. What's the rough standard for this for slide/B&W/negative film? TokenBrit fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Nov 20, 2008 |
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Nov 20, 2008 18:48
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longview posted:e: I've also been thinking about getting a proper medium-format camera, if I get a Yashica TLR does that have a light-meter? I'd prefer to get something with at least a needle giving some indication of availible light. My Yashica-Mat 124G does. I don't trust it though. Get something like: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/200224-REG/Sekonic_401_208_L_208_Twin_Mate_Meter.html I'm sure there are much cheaper ones out there, that's just the first I saw.
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Dec 29, 2008 18:17
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Mannequin posted:I'd like to get into film - 35mm but also medium format. Do you recommend going down the 35mm format first? I was thinking of getting a used F5 or F6 (although they're expensive), but then maybe I should just get something super cheap since I'm not sure how often I will really use it. I went straight into medium format and haven't regretted it at all. No F mount lenses would be suitable for medium format. Well, I suppose you could modify a PC lens with a huge imaging circle, but I don't think that would be practical at all. Get a cheap TLR or medium format rangefinder and see how you like it.
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Dec 29, 2008 18:59
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le capitan posted:This wonderful thread has gotten me quite wet for film. I was wondering if the Pentax ME Super 35mm would be a good starting camera? My price range is roughly 200$ for a body and lens. Do you have a DSLR already? Enough of the cheaper 35mm film cameras are similar enough that you may as well make your purchasing decision based on what lenses you have now.
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Dec 31, 2008 16:03
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Clayton Bigsby posted:Either would be fine. Keep in mind that if you want to do close ups with a C series TLR you really need the Paramender to handle the parallax correction. I have an RZ67 Pro II. It's great. I only got it over the RB67 because I can borrow lenses and digital backs for it easily. Edit: It is big, but you can actually handle it. I shoot it in a studio handheld without a problem, even without a strap attached. TokenBrit fucked around with this message at 12:47 on Jan 6, 2009 |
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Jan 6, 2009 12:42
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Dr. Cogwerks posted:Nuts to your Leicas and Bronicas. http://www.boyofblue.com/cameras/yama/yama02.html <- fixed link. And that's truly bizarre.
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Jan 10, 2009 13:29
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hybr1d posted:...I just went and shot my first 10 4x5's today, using Arista 100. My light meter told me that at f64 one of them was an 8 minute exposure... At 8 minutes did you take reciprocity into account? Also, can someone recommend a 120 B&W film for landscapes? I've only really used faster films for street work so it's all a bit new to me.
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Jan 11, 2009 22:34
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Rednik posted:Hey guys I hope you don't mind if I chip in with a dumb little question. I just bought a used Nikon F100 for a photography class and I got a manual focus Nikon 50mm f 1.8 manual focus lens for a great price. Am I right in believing that the manual focus lens will work fine with the F100 or do I need to return it and get the newer AF lens? You only get Aperture Priority or Manual, and you only get Center-Weighted and Spot Metering. The AF and AF-D will give you Matrix Meter and Shutter Priority and Programme modes. And I think Manual will work better because you'll see the indexed aperture appear in the finder, though I don't know for sure that you won't get that with the AI/AI-S version.
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Jan 19, 2009 20:57
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guidoanselmi posted:Idiot question: It's the colour bit that's the pain. I think this is something you've got to take to a pro lab if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. I'd be half tempted to get it in on a spool lightproof developing tank and take it down to a pro lab. Perhaps if you post where you are someone might have a suggestion.
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Jan 20, 2009 10:41
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Kaluza-Klein posted:What is marking the end of one exposure and the beginning of another? Blank space. Have a look at the negs, the camera advances the film the frame width + a few mm to delimit frames. Your local shop's printer can't handle not finding the edges where it expects to when it scans the neg and thus shits itself.
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Jan 22, 2009 22:29
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w_hat posted:Good advice on checking it out. Do pro labs usually have a good film scanner, not drum scanners but maybe a Nikon coolscan or something? Both the pro labs near where I work (Central London) have relatively cheap drum scanners.
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Jan 24, 2009 01:52
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pwn posted:Perhaps one of those people that crams modern game systems and PCs and whatever else into old NES casings and the like can figure out a way to make an F4/F3/whatever with digital guts. That'd be spiffy aftermarket stuff. It would undoubtedly, somehow, be illegal, as well. http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf3ver2/variations/index.htm#DCS We've already had one, sort of. I know what you mean though. I can't help but think it would be possible, but it wouldn't be something I'd want to try.
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Feb 7, 2009 13:46
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i.e a digital back for 35mm? Some MF digital backs trigger from the X sync cable, so that bit is certainly possible. Polaroid have sort of been saved. A company has bought all the stock, warehouses, trademarks and knowledge. I think they plan to recommence production in 2010. I'm all geared up for my 4 hours in the darkroom tomorrow! I've been looking forwards to this for ages, got some FP4 to process and some paper to print on. Hooray!
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Feb 7, 2009 19:31
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TokenBrit posted:I'm all geared up for my 4 hours in the darkroom tomorrow! I've been looking forwards to this for ages, got some FP4 to process and some paper to print on. Hooray! That was relaxing! Printing didn't go as well as I'd hoped, I started running out of time if I wanted to wash stuff properly. I was amazed at how well it all came back to me, I haven't done it in months. As soon as I got in the darkroom I just fell into a routine and was managing to dev 2 tanks of film at the same time as setting up the enlarger and mixing the chemistry for the paper. It's a great feeling to be surrounded by chemistry, paper and film.  Next step, once I've got more printed, is to start making my own chemistry. Pyrocat HD (and lung cancer), here I come.
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Feb 9, 2009 00:20
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With the same developer as what? There are some developers that T-Max 3200 (also known as TMZ) gets on well in (D-76, Kodak's own T-Max developer) and some that it's not so great in (Rodinal). Google for the combination you want to use and see if you can find results. Worst case, post on photo.net and someone will have an example for you.
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Feb 16, 2009 08:15
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Looks like it'll work, but it might be really grainy. I wouldn't feel like you had to use HC-110 because it's in the first tutorial that you used. It's really just as easy to use any other liquid developer and only marginally harder to use a powder developer. The only people at which it gets interesting is when you start making your own developer from raw chemicals. I'd just buy a bottle of Kodak T-Max dev if you like using T-Max films. It really shouldn't break the bank (enough for 5 litres of solution here costs about the same as 2-3 of rolls of film, for comparison.)
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Feb 16, 2009 17:33
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Rontalvos posted:So I got a new toy in the mail today, but I'll have to wait till tomorrow to post pictures. RZ/RB67? I've been loving my new FM2n. Put 2 rolls through it, but haven't had time to develop them yet .Need to get the gear to build a home darkroom rather than waiting for the time to go to a proper darkroom.
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Feb 17, 2009 14:58
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I'd say the Neopan and Delta are pretty much the same for that. You won't really be able to mess up developing film to be honest, once you've got your chemicals sorted (easy if you take your time with it) and the film in the dev tank it's simple from then on. Obviously people make mistakes occasionally (same as anything) but it's a pretty routine task if you don't try anything really clever.
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Feb 19, 2009 21:00
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I've never pre-soaked film, 35mm or 120, but I might start now just to see if there's any difference. I've found you can get rid of some of the odder anti-halation backing colours by leaving the film in the sun for a day on a windowsill. As for measuring for small quantities I went and bought a set of syringes. It's the same way for rodinal, there aren't many graduated cylinders that will let you accurately get a 1:50 ratio when you're mixing up 500ml.
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Feb 23, 2009 09:19
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I checked with a Swedish friend, those are starting prices. If you poke around on the website you can either bid in person or send them a letter with proof of ID, a telephone number and the lots you're interested, they'll phone you when the auctions start and you can bid over the phone. Personal experience tells me that the Swedish speak better English than most so there probably won't be any sort of language barrier.
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Mar 2, 2009 13:30
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Depending on the film you use and the length of the exposure, you may need to worry about reciprocity failure.
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Mar 6, 2009 13:00
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With the tulip pattern take up spool on the diagram I'd guess it was a newer Leica. I think it has to be an M4 or newer, but it looks pretty much like an M6/M7. ^^^^ It's not a Voigtlander Bessa, they don't load from the bottom (or at least the modern 35mm ones don't.) Also the earring and long hair suggest it's a she, not a he. I feel like a detective! TokenBrit fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Mar 9, 2009 |
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Mar 9, 2009 21:11
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With my FM2n I'm now more or less able to take it out of my bag, set a shutter speed and aperture on the camera, lift it to my eye and normally be within a stop of what the meter recommends. I'm still thankful for the meter but I reckon I'd be able to get by without it, just I'd have to bracket a little more often. It all comes with experience, if you pay attention you should be able to learn it pretty quickly.
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Mar 20, 2009 14:46
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Reichstag posted:Further explanation here (given in the context of depth of field). http://silverbased.org/shallowest-dof/ The background separation given from my RZ67 with a 110mm f/2.8 shot wide open is fantastic. The subject pops out of the frame beautifully. I'll see if I can dig out an example. I should probably scan some of the stuff from 35mm film with the 50mm f/1.2 as well, though I haven't had long to work with the lens and get anything amazing yet.
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Mar 29, 2009 01:36
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They both look like poor quality auto curves/auto levels adjustments, so probably the scanner. It's possible the prints were made from the scan as well, so you need to look at the negative to get a good idea of exactly what happened. There's no such thing as auto white balance on film. The film itself is balanced to a specific colour temperature and you change film depending on whether you're going to be shooting under daylight or tungsten light.
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Apr 4, 2009 16:48
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gib is correct. If you're curious, it takes a second scan using IR light, which reflects dust more than the emulsions. The extra bits are filled in using interpolation (guesswork).
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Apr 7, 2009 21:06
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I don't print very often, so when I do I take the time to rent a darkroom with an enlarger (£4/hour + £1.50 for 1 litre each of dev, stop and fix) and make darkroom prints! I take 2 or 3 hours and make a few FB or RC prints each time. It's well worth the £13.50 it costs for 3 hours. I get to use top notch equipment, washers, drying racks etc. and all the lightproofing and maintenance of equipment is done for me.
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Apr 8, 2009 10:30
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I'm not a big guy (5'9" I think) and I have no problem with hand-holding or taking the RZ on trips. It's big, but it's not hugely bigger than what I'd be taking anyway. Perhaps I should take some photos of myself hand-holding it as evidence. I do use it on a tripod when out and about though.
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Apr 11, 2009 21:51
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HPL posted:So I was thinking about getting back to using my Contax T2 again. The thing is that you can't set the ISO manually, it takes the ISO from the DX code on the film can or else it defaults to 100. What I noticed is that to change the DX code from 400 to 1600 all I have to do is put foil tape over one square in the first row and that's it. I'll try that tonight. If it works, that would be awesome because then I could put my A2E back on auto ISO instead of having to remember to change it every time I use a different kind of film. You can also bulk buy new coding label stickers. Foil and glue is more fun though!
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Apr 18, 2009 10:03
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I have been tempted to do my own colour dev. I can pick up something like a Jobo CPE2 for about £100 ($150) 2nd hand, which is tempting. Has anybody had good success with a big tub of water, two taps and a thermometer?
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May 7, 2009 15:08
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Brucie Banner posted:Not in any way that's important. I've done all my developing in the university darkroom with stainless steel so that's what I've actually bought. A good metric I've used to prevent agitation marks is whenever you're agitating, usually about 4 "turns" or agitations (flipping the container end over end) per 5 seconds. I never had agitation marks except when I messed up the chemicals or something like that. I started off with constant inversions for 30 seconds, then 2 inversions every 30 seconds with a solid tap at the end to dislodge bubbles. I have now gone over to using Patterson reels that have a little agitator built in. It sticks out the top of the tank once the light-tight funnel is in, and you twiddle it to rotate the plastic reels.. I give it constant twiddling for 30 seconds, then 2 twiddles every 30 seconds. I get pretty much the same results. HPL posted:Get the AP tank. It comes with two reels and can do both 35mm and 120. I don't think the Paterson tanks even come with reels. The AP reels are nice. It's not that bad loading film onto a slightly wet reel. It's a wee tad stickier, but nothing show-stopping. My Patterson Universal Tank came with one reel, I bought a second. I can do two 35mm rolls or 1 120 roll. I think it will do other sizes that I never use.
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May 11, 2009 14:29
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Twenties Superstar posted:Next I will buy some nice slow film and do portraits Nice! Get a pale model with deep red lips, mix with Adox CHS 25, win!
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May 13, 2009 01:07
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Sadi posted:Thanks, all went well as far as the first roll went. Well other than me trying to load the film on to the spool I hadn't tried yet and it having a bur, preventing me from putting all the film on and and me getting pissed and cutting the roll in half to get it on two spools. Turns out I cut it in the perfect place while it was in the changing bag Along these lines, does anybody know of a method to develop the same roll of film at different rates? I've seen it alluded to as difficult to do, but never seen the method. The only way I can think to do it is to shoot it with a blank/not important frame at the transition, extract the leader, reload the film, wind it on to the frame delimitation, pop the back of the camera off and use a scalpel to cut the film at that point, just before the frame guides. Well, you could also dev for the faster speed and then inspect with IR goggles to see where to cut, but I'd like to be able to do it without access to a darkroom or IR equipment.
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May 16, 2009 14:14
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It was more out of curiosity than anything. Particularly for landscapes, where the zone system may call for different exposures and I want to keep the shutter speed/aperture at a certain point or avoid reciprocity failure during rapidly falling/changing light. In a week or so it might not matter at all... Watch this space! I shoot both 35mm and 120 currently, it would be more of an issue on 120 because I tend to do more landscapes on that. Again, I was just wondering what the accepted method was. Never thought to read the backing paper on 120...
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May 16, 2009 18:46
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My V700 has to warm up. Mind you, it's such a short part of the overall scanning process that I don't find it to be a big deal.
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Jun 16, 2009 15:58
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Well, I've been shooting large format for a fortnight now, so I suppose it's time to "come out". Large format shots up on flickr so far (in order from oldest to newest):   Yeah... Two. I have a few more that I haven't scanned and uploaded yet, though nothing special. I like the Adox CHS 25! I think I prefer the Ilford FP4+ though. I did some experimenting this week and I've settled on shooting FP4+ at ISO 80, and developing in HC-110 1+100 20C for 30 minutes, inversions every 3 minutes. The negatives come out good for scanning, though I think they may be a little flat for printing well. I'll see, scanning is pretty viable at the moment. The camera is a Sinar F2. Lenses are Ilex 90mm f/8 (apparently a reasonable copy of the Schneider 90mm f/8 Angulon), Schneider 150mm f/5.6, Schneider 210mm f/5.6. It's all really fun! Not hugely expensive, nothing compared to what we pay for some of our other toys in photography. Film costs can run away, but I think it's worth it. I've got some slide and colour negative film to shoot next week as well, results in a few weeks!
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Jun 19, 2009 01:19
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