I finally bought a camera

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Large format photography : One Thread

Well, it finally happened. I won an auction on ebay and I am the proud owner of CC400 4X5 monorail camera. I had been the victim of last second bids on two previous auctions. Thank you all for the info that led to this decision. When I take my first large format shot I'll scan it in and notify the group where it is at.

-- Edward Kimball (edward.kimball@ns.sympatico.ca), May 01, 2001

Answers

Heh heh heh.

He has been assimilated.

-- John H. Henderson (jhende03@harris.com), May 01, 2001.


Pods in the basement!!! Pods in the basement!!!

-- B. (bmitch@home.com), May 01, 2001.

Welcome to LF!!

Do you by chance live in Nova Scotia? I ask because I am planning a trip in July.

JC

-- James Conrad (jcc928@aol.com), May 01, 2001.


Edward, please heed this notice: "Warning! Operation of LF equipment can cause your face to break out in a permanent s**t-eating grin!"

Regards and welcome to LF.

-- Doug Paramore (dougmary@alaweb.com), May 01, 2001.


... especially when you start printing your negs. The first time you come out of the darkroom... try to contain yourself because people will be watching... :) Welcome to LF!!! and by all means, HAVE FUN! Cheers

-- Scott Walton (scotlynn@shore.net), May 01, 2001.


I have two words for you (well actually several):

Polaroid Type 55and a 545i holder.

Fuji Quickload film and holder.
-- Ellis Vener Photography (evphoto@swbell.net), May 01, 2001.


In additon to Ellis's answer, try the polaroid 56p/n. When you take the pic you get a negative and a positive, if you expose it at ASA 25 you get a print you can use for composition and focus check, and a beautiful neg :-)). The only drawback is you need to place the neg in a sodum sulfite solution right away, but beleive me, is worth the hassle. Enjoy!!

-- Jorge Gasteazoro (jorgegm@worldnet.att.net), May 03, 2001.

What is Polaroid type 56? Something new? It's not listed on Polaroid's web page.

-- Bill (bmitch@home.com), May 03, 2001.

Yes, if I moved any slow mos would be groing on me. I picked up a lens to go with my camera. It is a Rodenstock Ysaron 127mm. I went out yesterday morning and shot a couple of chromes (agfa 100). They will be ready to be picked up tomorrow night. I can't wait.

-- Edward Kimball (edward.kimball@ns.sympatico.ca), March 18, 2002.

Well, that sucked. I am not sure what I did wrong but the transparencies came back clear. No hint of image at all. Well, try try again.

-- Edward Kimball (edward.kimball@ns.sympatico.ca), March 19, 2002.


Edward,

Make sure that you close the shutter before you remove the darkslide. This may not be the problem, but it can be very easy to forget.

Also, you may find it helpful to use Tuan's "Step-by-step guide to operating the view camera" ( http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/how-to- operate.html ), just to make sure that you don't forget anything.

When you do get a perfect transparency you'll be thrilled!

-- Matthew Runde (actorm@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.


Correction:

That should be:

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/how-to-operate.html .

-- Matthew Runde (actorm@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.


It sounds like you didn't expose the film at all. The most likely culprits are that you either didn't remove the darkslide or forgot to cock the little shutter lever thingy before taking the photo (one of my personal favorites). Had you forgotten to close the shutter after composing and before pulling the dark slide (my OTHER personal favorite) then you would have massively overexposed, leading to a very dark or black negative.

-- Jennifer Waak (jen.waak@visi.com), March 19, 2002.

I did close the shutter before putting in the film holder. I took out the dark slide and then triggered the shutter (1/4s at f/32 in shade). I then put the dark slide back in. I had to struggle a bit to have it seated well enough for the clasp to turn to keep the slide in place. I would expect different results if I had loaded the film backwards. The film was loaded in my dark bathroom at night (no lights on in the apartment).

Also

-- Edward Kimball (edward.kimball@ns.sympatico.ca), March 19, 2002.


When you say "clear" do you mean clear black, or clear white? With Xparency film I'm assuming clear black. That would indicate no light ever got to the film. If that's the case, take the back off that camera and put your eye where that film used to be and trip the shutter a few times. It may be clicking away and no light is getting through. If you've got a black frame and the center is clear, the shutter may have "hung" in the open position and eventually burned everything out. Usually you'd still have some faint trace in a deep shadow somewhere.

-- Jim Galli (jimgalli@lnett.com), March 19, 2002.


If the slides came back clear (not black) they were grossly overexposed. It's possible that after focusing you forgot to reset or close the shutter and it was still in the full open position. Make a little step-by-step cheat sheet and use it until everything becomes automatic for you.

-- Steve Gangi (sgangi@hotmail.com), March 19, 2002.

I figured out what went wrong and boy do I feel stupid. I put the holder in the wrong direction so the ridge was not seated in to the groove. This created a small gap that was letting light in while I was putzing about. You live and learn.

-- Edward Kimball (edward.kimball@ns.sympatico.ca), March 19, 2002.

I went out again this weekend and this time I got it right. I proofed a couple of shots with polaroids to see the difference that movements make. I took 4 shots with transparency film as well. I'll get those back after work today.

-- Edward Kimball (edward.kimball@ns.sympatico.ca), March 25, 2002.

I did it. I got back my 4 transparencies and in 3 out of 4 there were no camera errors. In one thre was a band of what looked like flare or fogging along one side. About a 3mm band. The rest of that transparency looked good.

I was amazed at how much movement I was able to use with my 127 Ysaron. In one of the shots I used a little bit of tilt, a little bit of rise and a little bit of swing and I still had no drop off at the edges at f/16 (focussed at about 4 ft - I also shot at infinity with modest movements (rise and tilt)).

Thanks alot for all of the help and advice.

-- Edward Kimball (edward.kimball@ns.sympatico.ca), March 26, 2002.


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