Large Format photography group - From "zero to hero!"

I've never used anything other than a ball head for 5x4, and personally it's always been fine. I've no doubt though that 10x8 is too heavy. Indeed, some manfrotto ball heads have the capability of applying variable damping/friction in a way that is separate to the main ball release. Perhaps this might help?

Thinking about it, more controlled movements are probably more useful with a camera like the RB than with a LF, most field cameras are probably lighter too...
 
Never used anything other than a ball head for 5x4, and personally it's always been fine. I've no doubt though that 10x8 is too heavy. Indeed, some manfrotto ball heads have the capability of applying variable damping/friction in a way that is separate to the main ball release. Perhaps this might help?

Yeah, this one does as well, it just feels like it all goes at once unless the 8x10 is perfectly balanced. For 4x5 I'm sure it would be fine @ChrisR. It might go up in the classifieds if I get on with the geared head :D
 
I've got a ball head on my big tripod at the moment for the 8x10 and I'm swapping it for a geared head, I just don't trust it with all that weight when I need to make an adjustment.

It holds the weight fine when it's locked down, but when I need to level it out or make a small adjustment I always feel like it's going to slip away from me.

Did you see there's a Benro geared head in the Accessories Classified? Northlight Images gave it a very good review...
 
Although it looks like Chris (raathistle) has his tripod head sorted, I thought I'd just mention for anyone else thinking about a ball head that Redsnapper do a very sturdy ball head for £60.

I've used one for a number of years with a pretty heavy DSLR and large telephoto without any issues.

It's rated to carry up to 10Kg, has a separate variable tension control, and importantly is also aspherical, so it actually tightens more the further away from level it gets (so it prevents the camera from simply flopping over).


 
In all honesty I've never really liked ball heads in general, I much prefer a 3-way head so I can control each a is individually. I imagine it's entirely possible to use the ball head I have with the 8x10, the guy I bought it from certainly had been and had made some quite spectacular images with it
 
Although it looks like Chris (raathistle) has his tripod head sorted, I thought I'd just mention for anyone else thinking about a ball head that Redsnapper do a very sturdy ball head for £60.

I've used one for a number of years with a pretty heavy DSLR and large telephoto without any issues.

It's rated to carry up to 10Kg, has a separate variable tension control, and importantly is also aspherical, so it actually tightens more the further away from level it gets (so it prevents the camera from simply flopping over).

I have quite a small Manfrotto ball head, with the QR plate replaced with Arca Swiss. I'm not sure it's going to be adequate, thought I'd try it and see. But that redsnapper looks a good call, thanks C&C.
 
Hey guys, sorry for dumb questions, picked up an MPP Technical VII in a spur of a moment and now have no idea what to do with it :D

As far as I could workout it comes with an international back. What film holders do I need? I see lots of different makes on ebay (toyo, fedelity, linhof, etc) are they all compatible?

Apart from holders and tripod, what else do I absolutely need to get started? I don't want to invest too much before I know if I like it.
(The camera came with 250mm lens)

Also are there any good professional labs that process 4x5 ? Or do you just do it yourself?
 
Most film holders are basically the same and will work with most camera backs. I'm pretty sure the Fedelity type will work in your MPP (I think @Andysnap had one)

Dark cloth of some kind a t-shirt will do, a changing bag to load the holders, a loupe* to help focusing, a light meter errm I think that's all.

*I've tried and managed okay with pound shop reading glasses, you can upgrade later if you chose to.
 
A 250mm lens is equivalent, in 35mm terms, to approximately 85mm, ie a bit longer than normal, ideal for portraits. Depending on the type of photography you do you might want to acquire additonal lenses.

A "standard lens" would be around 150mm. I use a 150mm lens and a 90mm lens which is about equivalent to 28mm in 35mm terms.

You'll probably want a cable release. In my case I lose and break them all the time so I carry at least two.
 
Hey guys, sorry for dumb questions, picked up an MPP Technical VII in a spur of a moment and now have no idea what to do with it :D

As far as I could workout it comes with an international back. What film holders do I need? I see lots of different makes on ebay (toyo, fedelity, linhof, etc) are they all compatible?

Apart from holders and tripod, what else do I absolutely need to get started? I don't want to invest too much before I know if I like it.
(The camera came with 250mm lens)

Also are there any good professional labs that process 4x5 ? Or do you just do it yourself?


Yep, they're pretty standard, Ive got Toyo and fidelity and they both work fine. As Steve says a large black T-shirt will do and I bought a 13x loupe from Amazon which cost £5.90 and works well. I develop my own as that can be the most expensive part of the process.
 
You can, of course, use a digital camera (that'll get me kicked out of this forum) as a light meter.

As for processing your own for B&W it's not that difficult but you do need a tank big enough to take the negative. The processed negative needs to be scanned and here again, to get started, you could use a digital camera, scanners that take 4x5 are expensive
 
Ok, so I need:
1. Holders
2. Tripod
3. Loupe
4. T-shirt :D
5. Cable release
6. Black changing bag
7. Meter? I never use a meter for my MF photography. Is it that much more critical for LF?


Are you looking to shoot b&w or colour, or both?

I'll probably start with B&W, but if it takes off I'd def like to do colour as well, both negative and slide. Although if I have to dev myself, then slide film will probably be a bit much.
 
Are you looking to shoot b&w or colour, or both?

I was pretty shocked looking at prices for colour 5x4! ISTR about £6 a frame for Ektar 100 which was about the cheapest (only looked at Fotoimpex though). Gulp.

I was thinking of starting with a 50-pack of Fomapan 400 (bearing Steven's warnings about comedy reciprocity failure in mind), which I think works out more like 70p a frame.
 
Ok, so I need:
1. Holders
2. Tripod
3. Loupe
4. T-shirt :D
5. Cable release
6. Black changing bag
7. Meter? I never use a meter for my MF photography. Is it that much more critical for LF?




I'll probably start with B&W, but if it takes off I'd def like to do colour as well, both negative and slide. Although if I have to dev myself, then slide film will probably be a bit much.

You also do need film, and an additional film envelope to hold exposed frames. There appears to be no official route to get the latter; appeal to a friend or a lab for a spare envelope?

ETA if you have a modern smart phone, specially an iPhone, there are pretty good meter apps, plus apps that will help you work out bellows factors, reciprocity etc. Not that I've ever managed to use any of those! In theory I suppose practised use of Sunny 16 with a bit of maths in your head should work fine!
 
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I was pretty shocked looking at prices for colour 5x4! ISTR about £6 a frame for Ektar 100 which was about the cheapest (only looked at Fotoimpex though). Gulp.

I was thinking of starting with a 50-pack of Fomapan 400 (bearing Steven's warnings about comedy reciprocity failure in mind), which I think works out more like 70p a frame.
In my case I started with a 50-pack of Fomapan 100 which cost about £35. There is nothing wrong with the image quality provided by this film stock, although I found that it was a little susceptible to scratching. As Chris implies, if you are using Fomapan films it is absolutely essential that you have a table showing the reciprocity adjustment otherwise you are likely to have underexposed films. I have a table showing adjusted times for Fomapan 100, FP4+, TMax 100, TMax 400, and Tri-X here and carry this in my bag.
 
Ok, so I need:
1. Holders
2. Tripod
3. Loupe
4. T-shirt :D
5. Cable release
6. Black changing bag
7. Meter? I never use a meter for my MF photography. Is it that much more critical for LF?

OK, so far I have a tripod, a loupe, a cable release and a meter. No film, holders or T-shirt-substitute yet.

But I do now have item no 8, a lens. A Fujinon NW 135/5.6 arrived today. It looks in very nice condition, although I can't test it as I don't have a LF camera yet!

It might be worth outlining the tracking for the lens. I ordered it early morning of 3rd September. It was shipped on the 4th and arrived in Coventry at 10:14 pm on the 5th. Three minutes later it was transferred to Customs. On the 10th they raised some Customs charges; on the afternoon of the 12th they released it from Customs and then revised the charges. At this point they sent me a letter! I got the letter on the 14th and paid the charges immediately, and it was finally delivered on the 17th. So 2 weeks, 14 days and a bit, of which nearly 12 days it was sat in Coventry.

The good news was that lens plus delivery was under £135, so there was no import duty. The bad news was there was still VAT to pay, and the even badder news was that ParcelFraud's charges have gone up to £11.25. (The yet worse bad news is that starting from some incomprehensible date in March or April next year, the £135 threshold is abolished, and we'll have to pay import duty on everything. :( )

Probably the worst news of all was that the delivery happened this afternoon when I was out and my OH was in. Cue strong talk about irresponsible spending! Apparently, other people can have hobbies they're not obsessed with and don't mean they have to keep buying stuff. And what did I need it for, anyway? Oooops.
 
Those flippin' "administration" charges are a killer, I've had stuff where the admin charge was more than the duty and it's not like you get a choice to collect it or have someone else with cheaper charges deliver it.
 
But I do now have item no 8, a lens. A Fujinon NW 135/5.6 arrived today. It looks in very nice condition, although I can't test it as I don't have a LF camera yet!

Without a camera, you can test the opening and closing of the aperture, the shutter speeds, the remote release, and the button that opens to full aperture for focussing. As long as you do not see any major optical defects when you hold the lens to the light, there's not much more can go wrong.
 
Thanks Kevin. I've done those tests, although there was a nasty moment when I'd cocked the shutter, was trying to find the shutter release (didn't realise I needed the remote screwed in, thought I could trip it by hand), and moved the speed off T by accident. Then I read how you shouldn't change the shutter speed after cocking the shutter, and moved it smartly back again (it had only gone to B). In fact it all seems to work, and shutter speeds seem plausible. It's in lovely condition.

Couple of questions:

a) what's the difference between T and B?

b) what do folk keep their lenses in when not on the camera?

On the latter, I have found a SRB blue large lens pocket that might do, certainly better than the bubble wrap it's in at the moment!

I'm annoyed with myself about filters, too. For the past few years I've been using a Cokin A filter set and filters I found in a charity shop. But I thought that wouldn't work with LF lenses, having heard that Fuji lenses were 67mm. So at the Photography Show I spent quite a bit of money on a SRB Elite filter system, which is supposedly P size. It turned out to be a lot bigger than I thought, so it's sat on the shelf meanwhile. This Fujinon NW lens has a 52 mm thread, so I had a look on the shelf and there was only a 49 mm adapter. Since I was buying some paper from Premier Ink, I ordered a P sized adapter from them. It turns out that the SRB Elite rings are considerably bigger, so that was a waste of money. Not only that, I found some P sized adapters in a drawer, including the 52 mm. And what's more, I found a 52 mm Elite adapter there as well!!!

So anyway, the plan now is to keep the Cokin A in the shoulder bag for 35mm, and the Elite in the big bag for LF. We'll see how that goes...
 
b) what do folk keep their lenses in when not on the camera?

At home and for travelling - an aluminium case.
Working from the car: same case.
Using a backpack: possibly a plastic freezer bag round, otherwise wrapped in the dark cloth in the top section of the backpack.
 
I keep mine in either my fstop smallish ICU for the 4x5 gear or in the photobackpacker case that I got at the same time as the 8x10. I tried keeping them wrapped in things or in individual pouches but found it a bit fiddly
 
So basically you're using the padding in the bag or case to protect the lens?
 

Thanks Peter. The second one looks like it might not work with a lens board attached. The first one looks a bit similar to what I've got, though neoprene might be better. I have one of these https://www.srb-photographic.co.uk/srb-in-it-microfibre-lens-pocket-9511-p.asp but it does seem to be huge. Still, gives me plenty of microfibre to wrap it further in, I suppose.
 

I guess the pouches look the part and the wraps are practical in that they can be adapted to protect a host of appliances but tbh I personally find that standard bubble wrap works just as well with a rubber band to secure it in place.

At home the lenses are simply stored on a shelf ( pushed well back!) in a cupboard with my LF outfit and accessories laid out on the next shelf below.

I've tried pouches, alu cases, bags etc but tbh, like Chris ( raathistle) , i found it all too fiddly.

Now I open the cupboard door and can immediatley see and locate whatever item / lens I want easily and without fuss.
 
Much as my backpack has a rain cover, when it rains here, it usually teams it down and all bags have limits..
Items securely wrapped in bubble wrap as opposed to neoprene will remain dry!;)
 
what do folk keep their lenses in when not on the camera?

I'm annoyed with myself about filters, too.

I'm a bubble wrap person myself, then into whatever bag I'm using at the time. My latest bag is a Lowepro shoulder which I got for £1.50 in a charity shop and takes all my LF gear on a short trip near the car.

If I'm going on a proper walk with my Intrepid, the camera goes inside a laptop sleeve (originally from a cabin bag) and then inside an ordinary walking rucksack. The two lenses go in each side pocket, with their bubblewrap.

I leave UV filters screwed on the lens and I also have a B&W set in Cokin P size (yellow, orange, green, red) with a 52mm adaptor for my 150mm lens and a 67mm adaptor for my 90mm lens.

I don't use grad filters with B&W film or colour negative since I don't find them necessary. I do have some Cokin or Hitech grads which I could use with slide film but I'm not keen on having even more magenta than Velvia already gives so I try to restrict the use of slide film to scenes with low dynamic range.
 
Was sorting out my 4x5 film last night and found four or five exposed sheets in a film box in the fridge. I *think* it's a mixture of Delta 100 and Fomapan 100. No idea where or when I shot them though!

Developing them is going to be fun, who knows what world class images I'm going to find :LOL:

b) what do folk keep their lenses in when not on the camera?

I keep them in my camera bag like I would with any other camera lenses. It has padded dividers and I set them up so that the lenses can't rattle about. I've never really worried about them getting wet as it's got a rain cover, and if there is a high chance of rain then I won't be out with the 4x5 anyway
 
I visited the American LF website today for the first time in a long, long while. The thing that happened to catch my eye is a guy in Wales who is going to be importing Pyrocat and PMK developers and associated fixers. He realistically suggests they may be neither cheap nor quickly delivered, but I thought it was worth giving him a plug for anyone who might wish to try these developers? https://www.stillphotographic.com/shop
 
So what is the "rule", or convention, for dark slides?
 
It's just that one side is visibly different from the other. On the fidelity elite dark slides, at the finger tab end, one side is white and the other is black. It also has raised bumps on one side and is smooth on the other.

Personally, I use white side facing out for unexposed, black side facing out for exposed.
 
So what is the "rule", or convention, for dark slides?

, I use white side facing out for unexposed, black side facing out for exposed.
:plus1: although some folk choose the opposite.
It really doesn't matter Chris so long as whatever 'system' / 'method' you use works for you so that you know what film is exposed / unexposed not that any which way is perfect as I still mnaged to stuff a sheet of film yesterday!
 
It's just that one side is visibly different from the other. On the fidelity elite dark slides, at the finger tab end, one side is white and the other is black. It also has raised bumps on one side and is smooth on the other.

Personally, I use white side facing out for unexposed, black side facing out for exposed.
Me too, although it doesn't matter which side you choose to signify exposed as long as you're consistent.
 
Same here - white unexposed, black exposed or empty.
 
On the wet/dry plate holders I'm working on, I'm engraving "EXPOSED" on one side of the dark slide where you grab it to remove it. That way, if the slide has been shot, the writing will be facing outwards, towards you, when you insert the holder. I'm terrible for remembering if I've used the dark/light edge to signify exposed so I figure writing it in big obvious letters is foolproof ;)
 
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