I Am Cured

Walter Glover
Posts: 1270
Joined: 31 Jul 2012, 22:31
Location: Leichhardt, NSW

I Am Cured

Postby Walter Glover » 05 Dec 2012, 09:08

I have been ON again, OFF again about shooting 10x8 ever since I bought the Sinar conversion kit and the 360mm Apo-Sironar S earlier this year.

On Sunday I have one of my muses visiting from the USofA and I have set the studio rig and gear in place. Then I came to loading the double darks. I have only five and a number of 10 sheet packs of TMY MkII. I got through loading 4 sheets in my Harrison JUmbo tent and packed it in.

10x8 was fine by me when I had my own darkroom with a bench for loading, but in a tent: no chance of coping with that. This is not a situation that is not about to change any time soon — plus I have also wondered about changing format half way into a motif.

4x5 suits me fine in all regards. The 8x10 conversion kit is going back on Ebay tomorrow. Maybe along with the 4x5 F2 (although I do like the Sinar F2 4x5 for the studio and it forms a nice partnership with the Linhof Technika for general outdoors stuff.
Walter Glover

"We see things not as they are. We see them as we are."
Emanuel Kant

Lachlan717
Posts: 505
Joined: 03 Aug 2012, 16:49

Re: I Am Cured

Postby Lachlan717 » 05 Dec 2012, 10:00

What was the issue?

I load 7x17" in a Harrison Jumbo with no problems. Mind you, I've never loaded holders in a darkroom, so might have missed out on that joy!

Seems a shame that you couldn't work it out...

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Maris
Posts: 882
Joined: 27 Jul 2012, 16:02
Location: Noosa

Re: I Am Cured

Postby Maris » 05 Dec 2012, 13:28

Walter is right! Loading holders in a dark-tent is a chore compared to doing the job in a nice dust-free airconditioned darkroom. I travel with 26 holders so I can load out a 50 sheet box of film in one go BUT the job is actually twice as big as it seems. The exposed holders all have to be unloaded first.

The amusing part (for other people) is the sense of entrapment when my arms are imprisoned for half an hour in the light-proof sleeves. With a couple of hundred dollars worth of bare film in the tent is it worth taking a chance and pulling one arm out to scratch an itchy ear or both arms out to take care of all those cups of tea I should not have drunk before I started. Oh, the horror!

Lachlan717
Posts: 505
Joined: 03 Aug 2012, 16:49

Re: I Am Cured

Postby Lachlan717 » 05 Dec 2012, 13:44

Maris wrote:The amusing part (for other people) is the sense of entrapment when my arms are imprisoned for half an hour in the light-proof sleeves. With a couple of hundred dollars worth of bare film in the tent is it worth taking a chance and pulling one arm out to scratch an itchy ear or both arms out to take care of all those cups of tea I should not have drunk before I started. Oh, the horror!


Maris,

Perhaps you need one of these?

http://unknowncystic.files.wordpress.co ... helmet.jpg

(Although it will only add to the tea "issue"...

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Alastair Moore
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Posts: 668
Joined: 26 Jul 2012, 09:29
Location: Darwin, Australia
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Re: I Am Cured

Postby Alastair Moore » 05 Dec 2012, 14:12

I can see the frustration. I've tried loading 8x10 sheets in a change bag. It's a task I'd prefer not to repeat. My sole issue with 8x10 is the sheer size of my camera and as such, it gets rare action. A folding 8x10 would be a different matter but those seem expensive and rare, or one or the other. I will be keeping hold of my 8x10 because I'd like to start using it more in the future when I'm more mobile ( ie. I have a car).

I find it quite a thing composing on that massive glass, that 4x5 doesn't have. It's like capturing a frame from a movie screen and I feel much more part of the environment that I'm shooting in.

Of course, 4x5 is my daily driver and I wouldn't give that up for love nor money. It's the second best way to shoot photographs, until I go ULF :)

Walter Glover
Posts: 1270
Joined: 31 Jul 2012, 22:31
Location: Leichhardt, NSW

Re: I Am Cured

Postby Walter Glover » 05 Dec 2012, 20:10

The motivation behind the 8x10 was largely a matter of 'coming home'. But home changes - even if imperceptibly. There is more to what we do than just a camera and lens. The camera and lens are part of a system, a workflow. That system includes methods, it also includes facilities. When I shot 8x10 before I had a Jobo ATL 2 Plus and a series of Expert drums. I had a dedicated full room set up as a darkroom with everything to make it a sleek, a speedy and - importantly - a safe environment. These days I have a Jobo ATL 1500 which does not take Expert drums and so I was looking at a line of deep-tanks for running the 8x10 through the soup. The moment I experienced the inconvenience of loading just 4 of the 10 sheets I intended loading the writing on the wall was clear as a bell. I would end up getting the shits big time, and real quick stuffing about in a makeshift fashion.

I know all too well the joys of the 8x10 contact but I am happy to say that my work is about other things these days. And I have a yearning to take my approach to even more varied approaches. I can do all I need to do on 4x5 .... really simply.

Had I embarked on my current motif 3 years ago with 8x10 it might be different, but I have invested quite a lot in model fees, film, time and effort and making a massive change in mid-stream has been of concern for months.

I guess I went to the mountain and settled for sitting by the lake.
Walter Glover

"We see things not as they are. We see them as we are."
Emanuel Kant

Andrew Nichols
Posts: 181
Joined: 11 Dec 2012, 17:19

Re: I Am Cured

Postby Andrew Nichols » 12 Dec 2012, 20:12

I think if the size of your prints will not exceed a meter 45 is fine.

If you are doing murals of two meters well, there you go...back to 810


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