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.

Good old rules

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

Found the shift release "button"

After some more investigation I managed to locate the shift release. The front standard lock has to be open and then you just push down on the shift lock and adjust the front standard sideways. The movement though is quite underwhelming 1cm left or right.

Inspecting the equipment

Haven't had any time to take pictures with the big camera. Instead I have been spending my free time making a movie and taking pictures of that with my DSLR. Some pictures can be seen in Flickr .

Today I spent some time troubleshooting my inside-out negatives. I still stand behind my instructions on loading the film. I went through the negatives and it seems that only last 4 are exposed on the correct side of the film. I also checked all the already loaded film holders and all of them seemed OK.

All the hassle must have been problems with the initial loadings. Have to start being more careful.

Regards from darkroom

My first time in the darkroom didn't go quite as I had planned. My goal was to come back with a bunch of really beautiful pictures. I ended up coming back with one decent print.

After getting to know the darkroom and having the personnel help me set up the enlarger properly, different lens plus bellows adjustment needed for 4x5 after working on 35mm or roll film, I started with making contact prints. I got the hang of it on the second paper and managed to do all needed contacts. Looking closer at the contacts I noticed few issues. Some of the pictures were reversed to what they should have been and not all of them were focused properly.

Naturally I thought I just slapped them the wrong way around into the negative protector sleeves. Off to check the negatives and all of them were the same and the right way around. This struck me as strange and after some more fiddling I realized - The films had been the wrong way around in the negative holders when I shot the pictures! Now I have to slap myself since I even have instructions for the film loading. I'm ashamed.

I sorted out the pictures that were shot "from the back" and that also explained the "softness" in few of the shots. I have no idea yet, how did I manage to insert them the wrong way. This kind of things happen when you have to do something in total darkness and you can't really check if everything is OK.

The second realization was that my infinity focus is a bit off. All pictures that have been focused to infinity weren't sharp all the way. Well, I did cheat a bit on the focus, thinking that if I stop down the lens to 22 I can focus to a bit closer than infinity to maximize Depth of Field. I have to take a look at the camera and adjust or stop cheating ;)

This experience makes me want to focus even more, on 4x5 photography that is. Small mistakes cost pictures. Luckily I haven't been shooting any once-in-a-lifetime situations with the camera yet. Working in the darkroom was as interesting as it ever was. I did go to another darkroom here in San Francisco once before and the previous time to that must have been almost ten years ago! I was definitely rusty, but I'm sure I will get the hang of it.

Now I'm off to check the infinity focus on the camera and double check the loaded film holders to guarantee that the film is the right way around. I'll post the picture I managed to print once I get it scanned. That much I can do in the office next week :)

Films are back from development

Got films 7 through 10 back from development yesterday. Here are some findings.

The drawing circle on my Dogmar is so small that when I dropped the bed for shot #7 the upper corners were cut off. The bed was dropped in order to get better DOF for the shot. I have to test if compensating by rising the lens would yield better results.

I can load the film into the wooden holders a tad crooked or I can put the film holder into the camera a bit crooked. In any case the shot #9 was not streights in relation to the film.

Large Format Photography dot Info

A lot of useful info, hints and tips.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/

I think someone should save the information. The site hasn't been updated in almost 2 years. Sites like that have the tendency to vanish once the administrators get tired of paying for the domain or hosting.

Loading 4x5 film into film holder

I have had it hard to find instructions on the net about handling 4x5 film. Here is my attempt to make this information available to everybody who is interested.

One of the problem is that when you load the film holder you naturally have to do it in total darkness. At least I have a lot ot trouble seeing in that kind of conditions so there has to be a way to make sure you insert the film the right way around into the holder.

In the 4x5 sheet film there is a few notches on top right corner. When you feel them with your right index finger you are looking at the emulsion.

The film holder open up by pulling the exposure guard, opening the flap on the bottom of the film holder. Now you can slide in the film, the notches up or down, your choice, just make sure the emulsion side is facing the exposure guard.





This is easy enough to do even in darkness, but without having any film to practice on in the light it was difficult enough for me on the first time.