Family, Photography and other misc news
Ebony 45s
Nikkor 150mm f/5.6
1/15 Sec at f/32, ISO100
Fuji Provia 100 5×4 Sheet
Not quite the shot I wanted. There had been storm clouds behind the Cathedral and Castle but bright evening sunshine illuminated the field. Then the rain came, and I could not get the shot until the rain cleared, unfortunately the dark clouds had cleared as well. Still a pleasing shot.
It was a warm sunny day but the weather forecast show potential for a storm. After a good storm you can often get dramatic skies to make a photograph something special.
We loaded the car with the Large Format Camera Gear and I also took the little Nikon Series 1 V1.
As we travelled to Lincoln the sky went a fantastic black but this did not cover the sun, the light was wonderful. As we arrived in Lincoln the sun was finally covered and the heavens opened. No light and certainly no weather to be out with cameras.
We popped into the shops to get a few essential groceries hoping the rain would stop soon.
Leaving the shops we headed over to Lincoln’s West Common. There is a field between the Common and the road which the farmer uses to grow hay. I had noticed on my commute a few days early that the hay had been cut and bailed. It was my hope that with the hay in the foreground and with the magnificent Lincoln Cathedral as a backdrop, it could make a great picture, if only the weather would co-operate.
The rain was slowing after we left the shops, so it was worth an attempt. We drove to a lay-by and parked up, then sat and waited for the rain to finally stop. After about ten minutes the rain did finally stop, so we grabbed the cameras and found a good spot.
The sun had still not come out and the sky was not as dramatic as I hoped but it still had potential, and the winds were driving the clouds quickly across the sky so conditions could change quickly.
First job was to snap a few reference shots with the Nikon V1, one of the better ones is at the top of this post, not too bad I thought.
After finding the best spot it was time to setup my heaviest tripod, a series 5 Gitzo with a Really Right Stuff BH-55 head. Once in place and set level I my Ebony Large Format camera on top.
Large Format Photography is like no other. Its great fun but certainly not quick. Once fixed firmly on top of the tripod the first job for most LF cameras is to unfold them and fix on the lens. Mine is a none folder and I tend to pack it with the standard lens on it, making it quicker to setup. I removed the lens cap and also the rear lens cap. Unlike 35mm you can have the lens fixed to the camera with the rear lens cap on. Next was to remove the rear cover that protects the glass focusing screen.
Then using a Lupe I focused the camera. Once focused with the help of a dark cloth I checked my composition. It was good but I was not close enough, so I picked up the camera on the tripod and moved a few meters forward. Levelling the camera off with the help of the spirit level built into the top of the camera and the tripod, I was ready to refocus and check my composition again. This was much better, I still had a little too much foreground but that was easily fixed my raising the front lens a little.
With the camera focused on the distant Cathedral the hay bale was blurred and out of focus, even by stopping down to f/45 on my standard Nikon 150mm Large Format Lens, I would not get everything in focus.
It was time to employ the next trick in the Large Format Photographers arsenal, the Scheimpflug principle. By tilting the front lens panel you can swing the plane of depth of field so that both foreground and background can be in focus.
Once everything was setup it was time to load the film. Large format film is kept in dark slides, I had loaded up some Fuji Provia 100 earlier so was all set. First job was to close the lens to prevent any light getting in and then to cock the shutter. With that taken care of, the dark slide could be loaded into the camera.
Now time to meter the scene. Like my Medium Format Camera, there is no light meter built into the camera so it was out with the handheld meter to determine the exposure. 1/15 of a second at f/32, was my chosen exposure, setting this on the lens (the lens has the shutter built into it), I was finally ready to go. I slid out the dark slide cover, tripped the shutter with my camera release, then placed the cover back.
Now time to pack up. A very enjoyable 30 minutes in order to take a photography in 1/15 of a second.
A few years ago Fuji discontinued Fuji Velvia, for many photographers this is there favourite landscape film. Well due to photographer pressure they brought it back.
Now they have announced it will be discontinued again for some formats. For me I don’t mind if then end it for 35mm as I only use Black & White film for 35mm and mainly digital. But for medium format and large format I am a heavy Velvia user and hope they keep it for us larger format users.
For Film users a blog can be a odd affair.
Before digital took off, I used to shoot a lot of Black & White. Sometimes I would shoot in the morning, develop and produce a set of contact prints in the afternoon, then print my final selects that evening. Having my own darkroom was great and I could easily lose hours in there.
This was as close to instant film photography as I ever got.
Now I still shoot film but the great majority of my work is digital. Now digital is truly instant. I can go on a shoot that day, post process the images, blog and publish them the same day.
The other month I have had the privilege of spending just over a whole week doing nothing but either location scouting or taking pictures. The purpose of this photography trip was to get some Large Format Landscape Photography done.
By the end of the week I had shot 4 frames of film and 700 digits shots.
It’s likely to be at least a while before I get the film developed, so how do I blog about that. Do I publish the digital shots now and the scans of the film later. Post date my log entries? In this modern fast paced digital world we live it’s difficult to know how to present my film work as they are always shots from the past.
I set myself a number of goals this year on the photographic front. One of those was to shoot more film. By that I meant more medium and large format. Well with all the rain during April and with the way its continued during May so far I am behind schedule. I was hoping to shoot a number of test sheets of 5 x 4 large format as well and get it processed scanned.
I have a large format photography trip planned soon and wanted to analyse my test shots to see what mistakes I had made and work round them.
Lets home this next week will enable me to get out and get some more shots.
On Sunday I had a trip to Hartsholme Park, the main reason was a couple of Landscape shots I wanted to get (report to come once I have developed the film)!
When I arrive I was surprised to see lots of Austin 7’s arriving. After I took my landscape shots I headed over to the cars to take a few shots.
I took one on my Ebony 5×4 Large Format Camera, possibly not the best choice! Also a few with my old trust Nikon FM2 which had some Black & White film loaded. I also took the shot above with my trust Nikon V1, shot in RAW and then processed in Lightroom V3 and converted to Black & White. I really seem to be in a Black & White mood at the moment.
It turned out they were all having a drive out and meet up to celebrate the Austin 7’s 90th Birthday. A lovely old car and very photogenic.
For film users it’s been a lean few years on the film and print developing front. High street shops that develop and print film are becoming few and far between, and those that still exist only process 35mm print film.
A few specialist mail order companies still offer E6, and Black & White for 35mm, Medium Format and Large Format, but these are cutting there services. The local one I use has just stopped processing Black & White for Large Format 10 x 8.
I like many old film users have the equipment for manual processing of 35mm Black & White film, but I do not have the means for Colour or Medium and Large Format.
It’s been over twenty years since a new home processing unit was release and in 2010 the last unit available was discontinued.
I would like to shoot more Black & White film for Medium and Large Format but good quality processing is getting harder and harder to find, so in the last two weeks I have been researching my options.
Manual processing is still an option and you can still pick up Patterson, Jobo processing tanks as well as solutions like BTZS but I would prefer a temperature controlled semi automatic system that can handle colour too.
There have been rumours recently that Jobo may be about to go into production with a new model this year. The prices of old second hand units has been climbing in the last twelve months, and they now cost more then they did new. Checking out their website, I looked up their UK distributed and dropped them an email. Their reply was prompt and promising; I was please to find out that Jobo are currently gauging interest and are looking at putting a new model into production this summer for an autumn release. Its unlikely to be cheap but it should mean that secondhand prices should drop and new spares are also soon to be coming.
Its interesting that Fuji has been releasing new films and new film medium format cameras yet companies like Kodak have been cutting back. Let’s hope films revival continues and more film related products get released.
I spent some of this bank holiday weekend planning a few future photo shoots, nothing definite yet but starting to get a few things lined up.
I definitely want to get a few large format landscape shots completed; mainly for the practice; ready for a big photo trip next month. As I have not owed a large format camera until recently, and have only hired, borrowed or gone on large format landscape courses I am terribly out of practice. Its going to be good shooting some film again, I have shot barely four frames of film this year and over 1700 digital.
I might even dig out my old Nikon FM2 possibly one of the greatest manual film SLR’s ever, and shoot a few rolls of Ilford HP5, now where did I put my old developing tank!
If you have had the pleasure of photographing with film, then you will know the pleasure of film loading. With the modern film SLR of the 1990’s, then autoloading made the loading of small format 35mm film an easy task. With older cameras it was a manual process but still relatively simple. The 35mm film canister and the film sprockets took away the need for much skill, just some care was required, and it was rare to ruin a roll of film.
With the modern digital camera then very few people use 35mm film anymore but medium format and large format is still relatively popular, though medium format in professional use has mainly moved to digital with cheap digital backs now available for £10,000, cheap being a relative term! Strange as it may seem, over the last few years film sales have been increasing.
For medium format and large format, loading film is a more challenging and old fashioned affair.
Hasselblad 503CW
Hasselblad 80mm f/2.8
1 Sec at f/22, ISO50
Fuji Velva RDP 50 120
If you need to know how to load a Hasselblad V System Film Back then check my old Blog Post that you can find here:
Having a free afternoon today I decided to load up a few large format dark slides with a film I wanted to test. The film in question was Fuji’s Provia 100F.
Large format film has to be loaded into its holders in total darkness; I, like many old film users no longer have a darkroom, so I resort to an old changing bag, not ideal but it gets the job done. The sheet film has a notch in the corner so you can tell which way to load it. Held in a portrait orientation, the film emulsion is facing you when the notch is in the top right hand corner.
There is quite a cultural change when shooting large format film to digital. On a days shoot with small format digital I can easily shoot 500 or more images. When shooting medium format its likely to be no more then 6 or 7 images. With large format that drops to 1 or 2.
With the amount of effort needed to get a single shot with large format you tend to be really sure you want that image before tripping that shutter. Its a slower more contemplative form of photography.
In my continued search for the ultimate in image quality, I have finally managed to get hold of my own 4 inches by 5 inches Large Format Camera.
I have shot large format before and regularly shoot medium format, but until now all my large format shooting has been with hired large format cameras or on Large Format courses.
While to many the Ebony 45S looks like a hundred year old camera, it is a current state of the art Large Format Camera, capable of shooting Large Format Film, a Digital Scanning Back, a Medium Format Film or Digital Back or one can even mount a Nikon D800E to the back (something I hope to test later in the year).
This camera with its advanced movements, tilt, shift, swing, etc gives nothing away to image quality. The downside is speed of use and the size and weight.
I see my Nikon V1 being the perfect compliment when carrying this ultimate in image acquisition.
In keeping with my Nikon habit I have also got a Large Format Nikkor 150mm f/5.6 standard lens.
Its going to be a tough learning curve but one I am really looking forward to.