Large format photography

eddo123

eddo123

Messages
311
Name
Edward Fury
Edit My Images
Yes
Ok, so it seems on here that there arent that many LF photographers. I just thought it would be nice they could all post work etc etc.
Im not a LF photographer yet, but i have camera and lens on its way!! so anytime soon i should do.

So who wants to get this started.......

Cheers Edd
 
I shoot with Large Format camera's at University.

Just started, it's fun!

This is the only photo I have to hand

3098081730_3f77128b40.jpg


Here's the camera!

3059082219_9284c4cd2e.jpg
 
Ok...here goes. This is a portrait of Kiasmum, taken with a 210mm nikkor lens on a Shen-Hao HZX45II camera. Film was HP5 plus. Click on the picture to go to the other LF pics on my website...



Hope you like it.

Cheers


Mark
 
Kiasdad- Like the LF stuff on your site. Is picture 9 a little bay in South Wales? The next beach along from Newgale?
 
Moz said:
Kiasdad- Like the LF stuff on your site. Is picture 9 a little bay in South Wales? The next beach along from Newgale?
Click to expand...
Thanks!
No, the bay is in Cornwall. It's a little place called Port Quin, just North of Polzeath and Padstein (erm I mean Padstow).
 
I've got the camera - Horseman LX-C 5x4. Got the film. Just waiting for the time!
 
hand up here too.

Although, currently frustrated by a lack of film and dev and there being nowhere near me thats open until the bloody 5th of January.

Silly boy.
 
Gandhi said:
nowhere thats open until the bloody 5th of January.

Silly boy.
Click to expand...

I know your pain, all I have left is a couple of rolls of Fomapan 400 and slide film, and with the crappy skies atm I dont ancy wasting the slide, which leaves me 3 rolls of film until I can get some more :crying:

Slightly more on topic I also dable a bit with LF but need to get a new lens, the one I bought with my camera has finally decided it wants to splurt oil all over the aperture blades and inside of the lens itself :eek:
 
raathistle said:
Slightly more on topic I also dable a bit with LF but need to get a new lens, the one I bought with my camera has finally decided it wants to splurt oil all over the aperture blades and inside of the lens itself :eek:
Click to expand...

Not necessarily.. why not contact http://www.linhofstudio.com/services/services.html and see if they can sort out the problem for you. Cheaper than a new lens (probably)....

Cheers


Mark
 
It's really horrible and tbh wasn't that great to start with. I may get it fixed eventually but would like to get a nice lens anyway
 
my next unit in college is LF so ill get some of my pics up soon :D
 
I've just bought a Graphlex Crown - woohoo and now waiting for it to be sent from the USA - Just how long it will take to arrive in Belgrade is anybody's guess!

Also waiting on some film holders from the UK and then I'll get some film.

Haven't yet figured out how to develop and print / scan.....

Will post a picture as soon as I am able.
 
Timing said:
Haven't yet figured out how to develop and print / scan.....
Click to expand...

I'd recommend a Fidelity developing tank. About £70 new but they occasionally come up on Ebay.

A scanner with a transparency hood should do the job admirably. If you have access to a darkroom, you could always make contact sheets and scan these instead.

Will post a picture as soon as I am able.
Click to expand...

Looking forward to it. What sort of lens have you got?

Cheers


Mark
 
If you have access to a darkroom, you could always make contact sheets and scan these instead.
Click to expand...

you wouldn't need much of a darkroom to do contact prints, just a dark room. If you see what I mean. :)

I've been wanting to do a project for while with 10*8 contact prints. I like the idea of a year round subject, all shot with one lens.

I just need the subject..... and the camera..... and the lens..... and the time.

Ah well..... :LOL:
 
I saw a 6x17cm Fujinon camera for sale second hand in the window of Chiswick Cameras today.... OOOF!:D It was there amongst all the digital plastic crap, just sitting there looking like the utter daddy !

Mind you the price tag was a bit of a beast as well - £3000 !!!

How do you even get a 6x17 neg holder into your enlarger??:LOL:
 
How do you even get a 6x17 neg holder into your enlarger??
Click to expand...

Just think of it as half frame 5*7. ;)

They are utter mares to work with and make no sense at all. By far and away my most favourite camera of anything I've ever had.
 
Got my LF camera all set up now, film, lens, darkslides, dark cloth, film changing bag. Not need to get out there and shoot some film off.
 
kiasdad said:
I'd recommend a Fidelity developing tank. About £70 new but they occasionally come up on Ebay.

Looking forward to it. What sort of lens have you got?

Cheers


Mark
Click to expand...

Hi Mark,

The lens is a 135mm Optar - if it all works out well then I'll be on the look out for something wider.

You know I've not been able to find a fidelity developing tank but have found the HP combi ones which seems to attract a fair amount of positive and negative comment in equal amounts.

Still awaiting the camera - I can't wait for it to arrive and get playing with the thing. Even figured in a dream I had last night - how sad is that?

Tim
 
Timing said:
Hi Mark,

The lens is a 135mm Optar - if it all works out well then I'll be on the look out for something wider.

You know I've not been able to find a fidelity developing tank but have found the HP combi ones which seems to attract a fair amount of positive and negative comment in equal amounts.

Still awaiting the camera - I can't wait for it to arrive and get playing with the thing. Even figured in a dream I had last night - how sad is that?

Tim
Click to expand...
Hi Tim,

my mistake - a senior moment on my part:bang:. I meant the HP Combi. I was getting muddled with the film holders that are Fidelity! :wacky::wacky:
I do use the Combi tank. They're OK. The biggest issue is the time that they take to fill/empty, but since my 'normal' development time with Perceptol is 12 minutes, any variations are easily negated. Consistent technique WRT timing helps...

If the lens is OK, I would recommend sticking with it. I have a 90 and 75mm lens and these are actually quite hard to use. A 130/150mm is much easier to focus, as there is much less light fall-off at the edge of the focusing screen. With wides, you have to move your head about quite a bit to see the edges of the frame.

Have fun!

I'm hoping to get my LF kit out this weekend, assuming I can get some suitable subject material...

Cheers

Mark
 
Likewise.

Just waiting for the postie to turn up with my new darkslides. 2 is not quite enough. especially as I now have some adox chs, velvia and acros 100 sat in my fridge!

I dont really fancy changing film in a darkbag on location!
 
Gandhi said:
^^and the winner of 'highest bellows compensation factor goes to.........'^^
Click to expand...
Depends on the focal length...

By my reckoning it's 17.92x with a 150mm lens. Just over 4 stops. Not too bad really...provided you have a decent tripod. Add in a bit of reciprocity failure, red filter etc...you could be talking about some fairly lengthy exposures...

I wouldn't want to use it outside when it was even slightly windy!
 
kiasdad said:
Depends on the focal length...

By my reckoning it's 17.92x with a 150mm lens. Just over 4 stops. Not too bad really...provided you have a decent tripod. Add in a bit of reciprocity failure, red filter etc...you could be talking about some fairly lengthy exposures...

I wouldn't want to use it outside when it was even slightly windy!
Click to expand...

180mm Lens, flash was powerful enough to have no need to compensate for any reciprocity failure! :)

Exposure was a little under-exposed, by a stop or so (amateur here) but it was shot at 1/100th @ f/8.
 
Is this the right place to ask blonde questions about LF?!?
I'm looking into a panoramic / MF back for my Cambo - a 6x17 back? Basically I know nothing and want to take panoramic shots - will I need a lens such as a 90mm with wide-angled bellows or will my 165mm do? Or should I just look into a MF panoramic camera?
Thanks!
 
6X17 backs are quite pricey. About £400 maybe? Still cheaper than a GX617 fuji job though.

I think it's not so much the wideness of the lens, more the coverage that might be an issue. Any lens that covers 5x7 should be ok I think.

I prepare to stand corrected though as I'm no expert with LF, yet!
 
Our little loin clothed friend is quite correct, you'll need a lens with a 7 inch image circle just to cover the film, more if you want to be able to use any movements.

There are a number of 6*17 backs for 5*4 cameras and they range from some really ropey bits of kit that will never hold the film flat to some quite good stuff, that's obviously more costly.

90mm is a fairly standard wide lens for 6*17, 110 is also quite common, then 180 is about the normal middle and 300's make good teles.
 
Excellent thanks!! I've found a 6x17 back for under £200, just have to work out if it's dicey or not! Just one last question - what are bag bellows for?
 
joodles said:
Excellent thanks!! I've found a 6x17 back for under £200, just have to work out if it's dicey or not! Just one last question - what are bag bellows for?
Click to expand...

Bag bellows are used with wide-angle lenses. With lenses under say 90mm it can be difficult to use movements because the normal bellows get compressed, making it difficult to use tilts and swings.
I certainly find that when I use my 75mm lens, the bag bellows are indispensable on my Shen-Hao. The other advantage is that it obviates the need to use a recessed lens panel with shorter lenses, which are OK, but they make it tricky to operate the aperture and shutter speed controls.

Hope that helps.


Cheers

Mark
 
I'm just about to invest in a wideangle. Still undecided between 75mm and 90mm. The former is closer to my usual focal length usage but I don't have the luxury of changeable bellows. I fear that 90 isn't going to be wide enough. I think I can handle the reduced movements as I don't use massive amounts of them anyway at the mo. Hmmm. Decisions decisions. Both are f8 btw. Can't really afford the price difference between that and a 5.6.
 
Gandhi said:
I'm just about to invest in a wideangle. Still undecided between 75mm and 90mm. The former is closer to my usual focal length usage but I don't have the luxury of changeable bellows. I fear that 90 isn't going to be wide enough. I think I can handle the reduced movements as I don't use massive amounts of them anyway at the mo. Hmmm. Decisions decisions. Both are f8 btw. Can't really afford the price difference between that and a 5.6.
Click to expand...

I have a 75mm and it's quite a difficult lens to use, even with the bag bellows. Mine's a 75mm Caltar f5.6, which is basically a Calumet-badged Rodenstock.
Even at f5.6, the fall-off at the edges of the focusing screen is quite marked and it's quite a challenge making sure that the edges/corners are right, even with a tilting loupe. With a lens with a maximum aperture of f8, the problems will be worse.

If it were me, I'd go for the 90mm. Mine's a 90mm Rodenstock Grandagon 'N' f6.8, so it's half a stop faster than an f8 (I think). You will still find it more challenging to use than a 'standard' or 'long' lens, but less-so than a 75.

Also, if you can't change the bellows, you may find the 75mm can't be used as the bellows won't compress enough to allow infinity focus, though you might be able to get away with a recessed lens board.

Hope that helps.
 
Excellent stuff, looks like a 90mm is the lens to go for then - Ghandi where are you buying the lens from? I purchased my 5x4 from Mr.Cad but I was wondering if there were any other similar places out there? I've seen a few on eBay but I've had more bad than good experiences on there...!
 
Id go for the 90mm if i were you. I recently bought a 90mm Fujinon 5.6, its a great lens, though quiet bulky. But the extra stop really helps when in lower light conditions. Saying that the reason i chose a 90mm was because it was near enough the focal length i used most on my SLR.
 
Hand up here too, had a quick play so far and about to use LF for my college project shooting a minimum of 20 portraits by May :)

I reckon around 40 people x 2 or 3 shots per person to get to what i want :)

will post stuff when i can.

I was contemplating fomapan 100 for this - anyone got any views on it?
 
love large format doing it at college atm ill need to get the pics taken to show you . Sinar though Woooo
 
joodles said:
Excellent stuff, looks like a 90mm is the lens to go for then - Ghandi where are you buying the lens from? I purchased my 5x4 from Mr.Cad but I was wondering if there were any other similar places out there? I've seen a few on eBay but I've had more bad than good experiences on there...!
Click to expand...

Robert White and Ffordes sell shen-hao. Ffordes also have quite a bit of used kit. Other places worth looking are MXV and Peter Walnes.

Cheers

Mark
 
There's another guy on ebay called cliffpr (can't remember the name of his shop) who i got my symmar-s 135 from. Very good service and plenty cheap.

If I can source a cheap enough one, I think I'm gonna go 90mm for now and look at 75 mm later when I'm a bit better. 90mm is still roughly 26mm in 35mm terms, so I think I can live with that. I do like the look of super-wide shots though!

will have a look through the websites for those guys though. Cheers Mark.
 
Well aren't you just a source of good information Mark! Many thanks for those websites, some interesting things on there!
 
Hello all. I got my first batch of film back today, got to say im pretty pleased considering the circumstances. I sent off 10 sheets 2 of which came back with nothing on, 2 more were ok but not usable and then 6 which were all good.
I think thats pretty good considering the lens i was using before i got my own, the shutter stuck on any exposure longer than 1/8th. Only think i have noticed is that its best to over expose slide by about 1/3rd stop. I had read this but i wanted to find out for myself because other peoples practices differ.
I know for next time now! Loving the world of large format though!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top