More good old rules

Keeping it SAAF

SAAF is a little acronym that you should learn as well, this stands for Shutter/Ambient – Aperture/Flash. What this helps you to remember is that shutter speed will control the ambient light and aperture will control light from the flash. If you need more ambient light, slow down the shutter speed. If you need more light from your flash, use a larger aperture (smaller f-stop number). Being able to use your aperture to control the light from the flash also allows you the ability to fine-tune the light to get exactly what you want.

New found respect for Ansel Adams

I have been spending this weekend in a cabin at Bodega Bay. Mostly the time has gone by eating and chatting with good friends. We naturally also watched Hitchcock's Birds that was shot in near here.

I also lugged my speedy up here and thought of strolling the beach and meadows taking beautiful pictures all weekend long. I took one walk with the camera and tripod. I walked only about 2 miles on the beach and back on the road and realized how heavy the gear is. I can't imagine hiking up the mountains carrying even bigger camera and more film holder. Props to Ansel for that! Now we have to look who wins the better picture competition.

Farm

Farm, originally uploaded by M Skaffari.

Old abandoned farmhouse near Bolinas, CA.

Unfortunately the white walls were a bit overexposed and now look slightly murky.

Skyscraper

Skyscraper, originally uploaded by M Skaffari.

Battery street

Battery, originally uploaded by M Skaffari.

Flag

Flag, originally uploaded by M Skaffari.

Montgomery

Montgomery, originally uploaded by M Skaffari.

This is the first shot taken with Ekfe PL 100 M film.

Hard to say anything definite of the film from one shot, but it looks to have higher contrast than Ilford FP4+ and also bigger grain. I'll have to see some more shots to give better opinion about it.

Results from the night shoot

Osgood, originally uploaded by M Skaffari.

I scanned the negatives from a night shoot some days back. They look absolutely fantastic! The old Dogmar lens can't really take any highlights and all bright spots are beautifully haloed. The contrast is not too high and I actually increased the contrast in Photoshop after the scan. No other editing done.

I scanned at 6400DPI which resulted in 32000 * 25600 pixel (800mpix?) files so if someone needs a large print I have files to give ;)

Evening shoot

Today I dug my Graflex from the closet and headed out for a night shoot. I took several shots of different locations in downtown San Francisco. My goal was to capture the feeling on the streets in the night when there are not so many people around. I chose locations that didn't have restaurants or bars around them so guarantee the lack of pedestrians.

It's hard to gauge the exposure in the dark. I used my Canon 1D as reference light meter, but even then i approximated the needed exposure and bracketed the shots I really liked. I shot the whole evening with f/8 and exposure times between 2sec and 10sec. I'll try to get the films processed as soon as possible to see the results.

On one of the shots the film got stuck in the camera. I'm not sure id it holder was loaded wrong or how the film got out. I have the holder marked and need to see if that causes further problems.

1st image from my newly built 4x5 pinhole camera

Actually I'm working on more than just images. I promised to create pictures with a pinhole camera. I didn't have any handy so I had to go and build one.

The basic premise of a pinhole camera is easy.

1) Box that doesn't leak light
2) Light sensitive material (film or paper)
3) Very, very small hole to let some light in

I happen to have Polaroid 550 pack film holder and some Fuji FP-100B45 film for it at home so I decided to build a camera around that. How cool is it that you get instant pinhole shots from your hand crafted camera!

I build the camera out of black 3/8" foamcore board. It seems sturdy enough when constructed with plenty of glue and duck tape. The lens is made of a soda can where I made as small of a hole I could.

Only problem with the camera is actually not a problem with the camera, but the way I loaded the film into the holder. When loaded wrong, the tab that is used to pull out the instant film makes the pressure uneven on the film and creates the lighter line in the picture.

I'll fix this as soon as I get to a dark room. Tomorrow will be the day for pinhole photography!

Bragging

This has nothing to do with large format photography, but I got my picture published in New York Times. Well, it was published on their website, but I will count it anyway ;)

http://www.skaffari.fi/blog.html

Bay Bridge

Bay Bridge, originally uploaded by M Skaffari.

Finally got around scanning some of my large negatives. This turned out to be a bigger issue than I thought. I didn't consider the size of the images / files.

Scanning 4x5 inch negative at 6400dpi results in 1.23G TIFF file. That also results in ~ 70x90 inch print at 300dpi so maybe i'm scanning a bit too high resolution if i'm just putting the files in the internet. If I need to print the images I will just scan at desired size.

Otherwise I have to say I like the results for both paper image scanning and film scanning. I can recommend the Epson V700 to everybody.

Scanner ordered

I finally got myself to order the scanner I need. Epson V700. Should be here by Monday and then there will be more images in this blog. Maybe I'll start working more with film now.

Finally got around to testing the Arista paper

It has been a long time since I managed to go into the darkroom. I finally managed to test out the Arista paper I got back in November! Not sure what happens with all my time...

I used Arista Private Reserve Paper and printed from Kodak T-max and Agfa APX films.

The paper is very nice. Easy to handle, it sits very flat. Contrast range is very usable, I ended up printing on grades 2 (T-max) and 3 (APX). The base is very white and the paper produces slightly warm toned grays. Overall I would say this paper is excellent value for money.

Now I still need that scanner to get the images from paper to computer.

550 is here

I just received my Polaroid 550 film pack holder. Now I have to start shooting something. I'm really running out of excuses to take the big camera out. Maybe this weekend is the time.

Complaining helps always

Yesterday I wrote on my problem of not being able to buy the film holder. Well, now I have one. Actually I don't have it yet, but won one Polaroid 550 on eBay auction. And also paid less than I was willing to invest. Groovy!

Looking for Polaroid pack film holder

I have been looking for either Polaroid 550 or Fuji PA-45 pack film holder for a while now. I would like to get a second hand one that is in reasonably good shape for reasonable amount of money. I have been bidding on both on eBay, but keep getting overbid, no matter ow far I'm willing to go. I could go and buy the Fuji PA-45 new for about 200$, but would like to save some money also.

If anyone happens to have one and are willing to part with it I would be very interested.

Polaroid 550 image by Polapix

Good old rules

The optimum aperture for sharpness and detail is about two stops away from wide opened.

Testing CS4 Contribute integration

Just fixed my Adobe CS4 Contribute installation and now I'm testing it out. Let's see which is easier, editing the blog manually or using a tool that has been designed for the job. At least there are more editing options and automation in Contribute.

It also works with web sites. I'll have to test that out also one day.

Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 1:4.5:210

Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 1:4.5:210
Originally uploaded by M Skaffari

Bought this lens for 10$ on flea market. There is a nasty crack on the front element. Have to set it on my Graflex to see what is the effect on the image quality.

More film holders

New old film holders
Originally uploaded by M Skaffari

Happy new year 2010!

First post of the year. I finally dragged myself to clean up two film holders I bought from a flea market in LA. The ones in the picture aren't them, but are similar. Original wooden Graflex holders.

Now I only need to
1) take some shots
2) print the pictures
3) sell the prints? weird