Enough is as many as you are willing to carry. Personally if I take 6 dds out with me that’s a lot of shots and almost reaching Woodsy’s machine gun approach to photography.How many double dark slides does the team think is a reasonable number? I'm wondering if I have enough - and I also think that possibly "enough" in this context is not the same as "enough" in the context of having enough cameras
As far as I know, the W series with the Seiko shutters means its almost certainly the first iteration of that lens, and will be a single coated lens. This in itself is not 'bad', it's just that certain aspects of the image (such as flair handling or colour contrast) may not be as good as the latest models.
So, I'm currently looking at a 135mm W lens that I think is really a NW as the lettering is outside the lens barrell (see the listing that @C&C posted). The NW has a 52 mm thread which is a bit more useful to me than a 46mm thread. However, the image circle at f/22 is 206mm, a lot less than the original W series at 228mm (and a bit less than the CM-W series at 214mm). I have no idea how restrictive 206mm would be in terms of movements! Any comments?
How many double dark slides does the team think is a reasonable number? I'm wondering if I have enough - and I also think that possibly "enough" in this context is not the same as "enough" in the context of having enough cameras
I'm just catching up with this thread so sorry for the belated contribution. There is a list of lens specifications compiled by Michael K Davis at the Large Format forum here - http://www.largeformatphotography.info/lenses/ - this list states the maximum amount of front tilt and front shift possible using each lens - there are seperate figures available for both landscape and portrait orientations. The list also gives a figure for % excess coverage (ie the size of the image circle, in excess of that required for 4*5, where 0% means that no movements are possible.
Ag Photographic are trying to supply the pop-up film tent formerly sold by Calumet, but their website says they are out of stock and there are supply problems. https://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/pop-up-changing-tent-2575-p.asp
I've got a Calumet one and it is entirely usable up to 5x4, plus it folds flat for storage. Here's a digisnap of it in use.
View attachment 133208
I have a dark bag (thanks @steveo_mcg ) although I've not used it yet... but I think I'm going to start off loading dark slides in a dark room. Since the chances seem to be pretty good that there'll be no images on the first few images anyway, any possible loss of quality from stray light is less of an issue.
So, I think I complement Conrad's state of preparedness: he has everything except (*) the dark bag/tent (and perhaps film), I have a dark bag and nothing else yet!
* Obviously he has that now too...
Lol - no film yet - I'll get that when the other important bit - the camera - is here/definitely on its way!!
I think when loading the film initially, I'll be using the bag whilst sitting in a dark room!
Oh, also missing a dark cloth and am looking at a low cost option for that. Current favourite is a couple of black polo shirts or similar, but still looking... in case anyone has any good ideas?
I use this idea as well after seeing Woodsy using a t-shirt, I bought a heavy cotton XXXL black Fruit of the Loom t-shirt but rather than attach the tshirt to the camera I stick my head through the hole and drape the fabric over the camera, this makes it easier to slide in dark slides.I use a simple black t shirt. The slightly elasticated neck fits snugly around the back of my 5x4 camera
this is available it seems
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Photofle...hash=item33e8bf6235:m:mq7dunH1TZoJ0xBdw96zpng
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but since I'm trying to buy a LF lens, it seems like a place to start! I've heard mention of a new EU trade deal with Japan. Does this mean zero duty on cameras and lenses, does anyone know? I tried reading the relevant HMRC websites and they're either broken or incomprehensible to me.
Oh BTW I have heard that when everyone's (non)favourite B-word happens (no flames, please), HMRC are dropping the £135 exemption on imports; everything will attract duty.
I've been looking for similar things, but from what I can gather everything will still attract VAT which is the vast majority of the additional cost anyway
So I'm assuming that most of my first attempts with LF will be rubbish, ergo I need cheap film to be rubbish with! I believe Fomapan is a good choice for cheap 4x5 black and white; what's a good choice for colour?
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.
snip...@Woodsy that offer of a few sheets of expired Velvia is incredibly generous and most welcome. Thank you.
Anyone manage to get by with a ball head with their LF camera? Pricing up a lighter tripod and most seem to ball head. The three way on my Calumnet tripod is a bit done, the adjuster arms are all bent so its a pain to use at certain angles.
So is it fair to assume from this that you were reasonably happy with a ball head for 4x?