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Apparently you're supposed to graduate from 35mm to MF to LF, I guess to ensure that you have the proper skills before you start burning up sheet film. If you're like me, dumb, and you jumped right in to a big fancy rear end camera, here are some tips: 1.) Buy cheap film. 4X5 sheets aren't all that expensive, but they aren't pocket change either. You can get a 25 sheet box of Ilford B&W for about $40, give or take. Yup, that's two bucks a sheet. That's two bucks every time you open the dark slide. Keep that in the back of your mind. 2.) Get to know your local camera stores. This one is tricky in small towns and rural areas, but do what you can. Expired 4X5 isn't in nearly the demand as other formats, mostly because the Lomo folks don't make use of it. Alternately, you'll never be able to find any because your camera store orders it a few boxes at a time. 3.) Shoot black and white, and learn to develop it. Yes, its a bit of work. No, it doesn't require a dark room. You can get a 4X5 daylight developing tank off Amazon for under $100. Your first batch of chemicals (I use Kodak D-76 and will until I can't get anymore, along with Kodak fixer) will be around $30 and the accessories you need like jugs and holders and such will be another $30. Holy poo poo! This is so expensive! Yes, but my first stack of 10 sheets that I took to get developed and scanned cost me $126 and most of them were blurry messes because of various mistakes I had made. Buying your own chemicals, you can develop an entire 25 sheet box for $30. 4.) Get a good scanner. Save up, they are worth it. I saved up and bought a V700 for about $700. That's a dollar a V. I figure it like this. My first stack of 25 sheets cost me $12.65 per sheet to have developed and scanned. My second stack of 25 cost me $33.20 per sheet to develop and scan myself. My third stack cost me $17.20 per sheet. The fourth stack I'm working on will cost me $11.86 per sheet. The stack after that is $9.20. After that it's $7.60. 5.) Prepare to gently caress it all up all the time. My first fifty sheets were just a god awful mess. I'm to the point now where most of my sheets are alright, and a few are good enough, but I'm still working at it. My small format shooting has improved, I've become more efficient, and learned to pay much better attention to detail. It has been somewhat frustrating, but when you can show people a negative that's larger than most photos they've ever held, well that just feels pretty cool. 6.) Buy and learn to love a light meter and a range finder The light meter should be self explanatory and the range finder is there to help you focus. The problem with using 60 year old cameras is that all the parts don't always work right. Here are some examples of my lovely lovely 4X5 work.   This is what its like when it all goes wrong. Please note that the adorable old people pictured here in all of their blurry glory are the voice actors for GlaDOS and the Sniper for TF2. 
squidflakes fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Feb 8, 2013 |
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Feb 8, 2013 19:27
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 21:49 |
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Holy poo poo, this just owns bones!
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Feb 25, 2013 18:02
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McMadCow posted:That's my final print from the paper negative. Fuuuuuuuuck! That's beautiful! So, this was just done on regular RC paper? Nothing special, just cut down some RC, put it in the holder, expose, and you're done?
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Feb 27, 2013 23:43
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McMadCow posted:^^^ As a negative! The print is fiber. Well thank loving God, I thought you had lost it and were pissing in jars and printing on RC paper a la Howard Hughes. quote:I metered at 4 ISO, so the speed is the only real issue. How did you determine the ISO of the paper?
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Feb 28, 2013 17:47
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McMadCow posted:Cyanotype print of a paper negative I shot outside. 
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Mar 6, 2013 21:40
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I'm still trying to find the top mount range finder plastic for my Crown. I also think I need a new spring for the rangefinder, since the cam refuses to stay in. I also need the master can so I can recalibrate the focus. I figured I'd ask again in case anyone has come across some Graphic parts.
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Apr 19, 2013 19:21
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Spedman posted:I tried shooting some expired RA-4 paper in the homemade 8x10, managed to get some sharp images, but they REALLY lacked colour: These are excellent results that wouldn't be nearly as compelling in full color.
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Apr 22, 2013 16:06
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Well, I made my first print ever...  Contact print from a 4X5 negative on that cyanotype "nature paper" that you're supposed to press leaves and shells and crap on.
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Apr 24, 2013 19:09
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 21:49 |
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I really need to get better organized with my Crown Graphic. I must have forgotten to mark a film holder and turn the slide the proper way after taking a shot because I ruined what should have been my first really nice nature shot with some crazy double exposure non-sense. Have a look, its like the ghosts of Steampunk Pass invaded my perfectly good pond picture. 
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May 13, 2013 17:18
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