Some of my recent work was featured on the KEH Spotlight blog today - thanks KEH!
Using reading glasses to focus a 4x5 camera
A 4x5 focusing screen is big, and an 8x10 one is even bigger, but they are often a bit dim and so critical focusing can be a pain. Many photographers use a loupe to magnify the ground glass, but good ones can be very expensive. I've used cheap ones, which work fine, but it is yet another item to keep track of and worry about scratching in your pocket between shots.
So what about strong reading glasses? I have no idea why they aren't more popular for this purpose, but I've found them to be a great solution. You can find them on Amazon and eBay for very little cost, and at strengths of 4 or even 6 diopters. I guess they are often overlooked because they are only found in lower strengths in the local drug stores.
Here's why I like using reading glasses for focusing:
- They can be kept on your head when not in use. No need to fumble looking for a loupe in your pocket.
- Super cheap so you don't have to worry about them and you can carry spares.
- Compact and often come with a storage case.
There is a drawback, however. A traditional loupe is placed directly on the glass at a fixed distance, but glasses have the extra variable of eye-to-screen distance. I find that I have to focus on the etched lines on the ground glass first to know I am focusing on the correct plane.
Camera Kit: Large format 4x5
Large format seems like an extinct branch of photography to the uninitiated, but the format never went away. Actually, it is finding a new wave of appreciation among film photographers. There are a few reasons for the resurgence - there is no digital equivalent sensor size, nor is there a digital camera body capable of tilts, shifts, swings, rises and falls (with the exception of some specialty lenses). Used equipment is found online in abundance, and some entrepreneurs are even making new cameras such as the Intrepid Camera Company, Stenopeika and others.
The jump to large format
As for major changes in your photography workflow, the jump from digital to film is the biggest. You need to find a lab or learn to develop film yourself and then either scan the negative or darkroom print your images. Most people will start with either 35mm cameras (because they are the most similar to consumer digital cameras) or medium format systems such as the Hasselblad 500 (because the cameras work in the same way as 35mm ones).
The jump from small to large format film is a little easier. With large format, a few things change. Firstly you no longer need to get emotionally attached to a single manufacturer. You can pair anyone's lenses with anyone's bodies and choose any film holders for the negative size you have chosen. For bodies, you can choose between studio monorail systems which are the cheapest way to get going down the rabbit hole, or fold-able field cameras that have more restricted movements, but can fit in a backpack.
There are also a few extra pieces of kit your smaller camera systems may not have needed - lens boards, sheet film holders, a focus loupe and a dark cloth. Tripods and cable releases are no longer optional - you are going to need them to get even basic shots.
What is it good for?
Taking one photograph really well. This process is the antithesis of 'spray and pray'. A lot of time is spent picking and tinkering with the composition. It takes so long to set the camera up that you don't want to waste that time on a mediocre image.
Tilts and shifts by design. And rises and falls, too. The cameras are made to move the lens around for perspective control and plane of focus manipulation.
MASSIVE negatives. They dwarf the grain even in 400 speed film.
What's the compromise?
Large format is not small. No way are these cameras going to fit in your pocket. Or small bag. Not even a medium bag. With a monorail camera, even a large bag is often insufficient. The compact Intrepid camera, on the other hand, easily fits in a backpack with a couple of lenses.
Forget about a quick snapshot. By the time the camera is set up, focused, shutter cocked and film holder inserted, a good deal of time will have passed. If you have a human subject, you have to keep their attention during setup and focusing or else there will be some long silences.
Lots of lens research required. You need to figure out which lenses cover your negative, and if you want extra coverage to accommodate small or large movements on the camera. Fast lenses allow for easier focusing via a bright image, but slower lenses are siginificantly smaller and lighter. You also need to make sure your body can cope with ultra-wide angles (75mm or less) or very long lenses (300mm or more) or if it needs special bellows or lens boards to cope with them. A great list of lens stats to get you going can be found at www.largeformatphotography.info.
What's in my camera bag?
Cameras: Intrepid 4x5 folding field camera
Lenses: Schnider 65mm f5.6, Schnider 90mm f5.6, Calumet 150mm f5.6, Rodenstock 210mm f5.6, Rodenstock 300mm f9
Accessories: Lens board for each lens, film holders (9), focusing cloth, cable release
No time to focus: the Rollei 35s
Winter in Houston is brief, so to make the most of it I take lunch-time hikes around downtown. I looked around for the smallest manual 35mm camera I could find to bring along with me. That turned out to be the Rollei 35.
What is is good for?
- Super small - almost as small as a cigarette packet if you remember those. Or two stacked tape cassettes if you remember those.
- Admiration of clever design. The lens retracts to save space when not in use, the hot shoe and frame counter are on the underside. The meter battery sits above the film cassette in the camera's interior (though I rarely use the meter).
- Quiet - its leaf shutter makes a noise that is barely noticeable.
- No digital equivalent. If you want small, you'll have to get a digital point and shoot or that Pentax Q with the super-small sensor. If you want 35mm equivalent, and are doubling the size of this Rollei at the very least.
- Fixed lens - Not being able to change the lens means fewer decisions to make before heading out doors, and no further money spent on building a system.
WHAT'S THE COMPROMISE?
- No optical focus aids at all. No range finder, no through the lens split prism. Just a focus scale on the lens. In reality, zone focusing is perfectly fine for most street photography during the day, and I've even practiced my range estimates so I can use the 2.8 aperture indoors. You can read more aboutthe speed benefits of manual camera settings in this previous post.
- Left handed winding. Unusual, but not a problem.
- The lens retract button - it is right next to the shutter button. Getting the two confused can cause frustration.
"Not Hiring", near downtown Houston, Rollei 35, Ilford HP5
Good habits for loading large format film holders
Large format film holders have dark-slides with a white and black side so you know if the film is exposed or not, but if you have a few holders on the shelf, how do you know which are even loaded with film? Which are ready for developing?
Everyone has a system - here is what I do:
- Empty. Film holders sat on the shelf have no film in them. They are ready to be loaded.
- Loaded, un-exposed. These holders are in Ziplocs, slides are white-side out and handles down in the bag so that I don't accidentally pull out the slide when removing the holder from the bag.
- Loaded, exposed. Same as above, but the slides have black sides out. The holders stay in the bags until they are emptied for development.
- Back to step 1.
Sandwich-sized Ziplocks are the perfect size for 4x5 film holders and help protect against the elements when out in the field.
I process images in batches of 6 (3 film holder's worth) because this is the capacity of the mod 54 insert for the 3 reel Patterson tank. Used film holders are cheap (check out the bargain ones on KEH) - I keep two sets of 3 holders so that I can still shoot even if I have one batch still to process.
Return of the Stereo-Realist
The popularity of stereo images (including video) has peaked and troughed through the decades. Each time, we embrace the novelty of it, then it fades away - probably because we get fed up with all the equipment we need to get it to work. The Stereo Realist is a 35mm stereo camera that came at a similar time to the ViewMaster you might remember from your childhood if you are at the age where you start to find gray hairs in the mirror. Funnily enough, it might be more practical to use the Stereo-Realist today than when it was born half a century ago.
Stereo photography has some history
The Victorians embraced stereo photography. In fact, stereo images were originally drawings that pre-date chemical photography. It was a way to explore an escape from the tyranny of two-dimensional prints. It turns out that Brian May (the guitarist from Queen) is an avid fan of this medium and has released books documenting its history through the London Stereoscopic Company.
Then there was a stereo craze in the 50s and 60s that gave rise to the ViewMaster and a host of stereo cameras from various manufacturers. The Realist was released by the David White Company just in time to ride the wave. It was an expensive luxury camera and it proved to be very popular (read more about it on Dr T's website).
To get a stereo effect, the camera has two lenses separated by a distance similar to the distance between our eyes. So each lens makes a unique 25.4 x 23.4 mm image of the same scene. When the images are viewed as a pair, it tricks the brain into thinking there is depth in the image. I wouldn't say it is perfect - it is more like seeing a series of 2D cardboard cut-outs in 3D space. Still, it is memorizing and everyone who has seen one of my stereo images breaks out in a smile at the novelty.
Using the Stereo Realist
The Stereo Realist is a fully mechanical camera with a few quirks (find the manual here). There is very little coupling between functions. For example, winding the film will trigger the frame counter, but it will not cock the shutter. There is a separate lever on the front which readies the shutter for the next shot. And once the shot is taken, the winding mechanism to advance the film is locked until you press the the release button. None of this is a problem once the full cycle of motions is performed a couple of times.
Why is the Realist relevant again?
Because computers. In the film days, stereo photos would have to be printed at special labs at specific sizes for specific viewer hardware. But now we can scan the negatives, stereo-pairs of photos can be assembled in Photoshop (or even in a word-processor). The trick is to keep them small - two or three inches wide. They can be viewed on a screen, but printing the images out makes it a more tactile experience.
The simplest way to view the stereo pairs is to go cross-eyed until the two images appear to overlap and a third image seems to exist between them. This is easiest when the pictures are either small, or viewed from far away. If you ever looked at “Magic Eye” books in the 90s, it is a very similar process! Many people cannot (or will not try to) use this technique. In this case, you can use an set of inexpensive 3d viewers which are easily found on eBay (I recommend these low cost viewers). If viewing these images causes any discomfort at all, please do not attempt it.
Stare at the images and let your eyes cross until the images overlap. You'll perceive a third image in the center with a stereo effect. If you are having trouble seeing it, move further away from the screen or make the images smaller.