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I have been using a LF camera for some months ( with varying degrees of success) and have a couple of technical questions that I could do with some advise on.

Firstly i am noticing that ( predominantly ) with upright shots where the film holder is inserted from the top of the camera back, I am getting some clipping of the film area. There are a couple of images linked below to demonstrate.

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7160799

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7160804

I am using a Horseman45FA with S K 150mm and 90 mm lenses

It seems to happen every time when i shoot upright and rarely and to a lesser extent when shooting landscape orientation.

Any ideas as to what is happenning and what i can do about it?

2nd Question ( 2 parts )

I am thinking of processing my B and White film from home and wondered if anyone could advise on:

The quality of the results as compared to a pro lab ie using chemicals that are optimum for the results required e.g perceptol for fine grain and acuity
and

how much does it smell

I will be using a daylight processing tank and probably a processing station that brings the bottles and the tank up to optimium temperature which I understand cuts down the smell somewhat

Any advice or opinions gratefully recieved

Thanks for your time

Jon

Jon,

Horseman wrote:Firstly i am noticing that ( predominantly ) with upright shots where the film holder is inserted from the top of the camera back, I am getting some clipping of the film area. There are a couple of images linked below to demonstrate.
<...>
I am using a Horseman45FA with S K 150mm and 90 mm lenses
It seems to happen every time when i shoot upright and rarely and to a lesser extent when shooting landscape orientation.
Any ideas as to what is happening and what i can do about it?

From a cursory look, I would guess that you have a certain amount of tilt in the first image and a little swing in the second? Check if your camera has film and lensboard in parallel. Another issue on the first image is strongly bent film, but that is fairly unlikely. Did you have a lot of drop on the first image? I'm a bit stumped on shape in which the edge of the film holder appears, which would suggest that you are getting some distortion from the lens, i.e. you are reaching the edge of your imaging circle. Together with a bit of drop, this could possibly explain this....?
Are you withdrawing your darkslides completely or do you leave the end in the holder while exposing? This might also be part of the equation....

Horseman wrote:I am thinking of processing my B and White film from home and wondered if anyone could advise on:
The quality of the results as compared to a pro lab ie using chemicals that are optimum for the results required e.g perceptol for fine grain and acuity
and

The quality you can get out of the film in home processing can be substantially better than commercial processing... If you know what you are doing. However, you need to know what you want, and how to get there
I have found, that in 5x5 "fine grain" is a bit of a waste of time... If you want, I'd be happy to discuss the advantages of solvent developers such as D76, ID11, etc. over a pint or 3.

Personally, I am now sticking with modern developers such as Xtol, or, my personal favorite, HC-110. They give me good tonality, do last "forever" and are reasonably cheap. HC110 is also well controllable and easy to change concentration for.
Stand development is also another possibility why you might want to stick with doing your own developing, especially with very high contrast scenes.
Some people have also had very good results with Rodinal, Either commercial or self mixed. Also good for stand development. Just don't use it with HP5 or FP4: "Grain the size of footballs"!!!

Horseman wrote:how much does it smell
I will be using a daylight processing tank and probably a processing station that brings the bottles and the tank up to optimium temperature which I understand cuts down the smell somewhat

Good move. A Jobo CPA or CPP is great. But get one with a lift!!!! It simplifies your life incredibly!
Smell is OK usually. Especially with the more modern developers. Fix smell disappears quickly, as long as you don't spill it...
Make sure you can air the room occasionally. And I do recommend rubber gloves (nitrile) for handling developer, etc.

All things being said, unless I wand a specific effect, I have taken to getting my B7Ws done commercially. Peak Imaging do an excellent job of it (Xtol, I seem to recall). I am simply getting too lazy to fire up the CPA unless I have something like 12 sheets (i.e. 2 drums) or more. It is really a matter of using my time better for printing, etc.
However, if I have a neg that needs + or - development, I sill run them myself.

OTOH, I have sometimes not bothered and corrected for contrast issues in the print if the N+/- wasn't too much (ARGH! HERESY! BURN HIM!!!):twisted:
B&W is forgiving in such matters. I don't care if Adams will turn over in his grave...


Hope that helps...

Marc

Thanks Marc, for your thoughts

I dont at this stage use too much in the way of movements as i am still finding my feet, so to speak and i always remove the darkslides completely.

Any other thoughts

There goes my theory

Hmm..... sagging bellows?

Marc

I ruined some very nice shots when I first started shooting LF because I'd not checked that the bellows had unfolded properly; that's something I have to watch out for with the bellows on my SW45, it gave a result very similar to that shown in your link.

Thanks all

I shall pay particular attention to the bellows next time out and see if it improves matters.

Thanks for you time.

Thanks for all the replies on the strange " clipping " I was getting on my images.

I have now identified this as " bellows rise " the opposite of bellows sag occuring on the rear bellows ( that allows the back to be shifted away from the camera body ). It seems that when closing the rear into the camera the bellows was being squeezed upwards and as I rarely opened the back unless i needed to, was obscuring part of the frame.

Thanks again