Getting started with large format film photography | Hacker News Reader

Getting started with large format film photography

shootitwithfilm.com

80 pointsazalemeth30 comments

One other thing not mentioned in the article: new large format cameras are being produced all over the world right now (so no need to hunt down ‘antique’ models if you don’t want to have the hassle of maintaining older equipment).

These include Chroma cameras in the UK, Arca Swiss in France, Chamonix from China and very many more.

The experience of shooting large format is massively immersive: I take way longer over each image than the writer in the article, easily stretching to a half hour until I finally take a single image. It’s rare that I have more than 3 or 4 images at the end of a whole day - but the whole experience is really satisfying and meditative: my partner likens it to a day’s fishing

Arca Swiss, isn't related to Alpa Swiss is it? - https://www.alpa.swiss/ I think I recall hearing they use extremely fine metal shims that you add to get the image focus spot on.

It definitely sounds a fascinating hobby. I've been looking at some of the cheap plastic belowless large format cameras, I'm not sure how good they'd be though?

Do you develop the film yourself btw? I assume sending off dark slides might be expensive?

The focusing mechanisms on the bellowless tend to be dodgy or nonexistent, and the good ones cost as much as a bellows camera.

Ultimately, the lenses for these cameras are still not that cheap, so the overall savings on a low-quality body may not be worth it.

> Arca Swiss, isn't related to Alpa Swiss is it?

* https://www.arca-shop.de/en/

Rather than buy some all-in-one 3D-printed camera, if you live in the United States, Graflex press cameras are relatively cheap and abundant. Expect to pay $200 with a 135mm lens, maybe a little more with a few film holders.

These cameras don't do everything that a view camera like the Arca Swiss will do (few movements -- you can't twist them like a pretzel). But it's enough to dip your toes in and see if you even like the process before making a big investment.

(edit: just make sure you don't buy the 3.25" x 4.25" model, you'll have a really hard time finding film)

Both Alpa and Arca exist as separate companies :)

From my father, I inherited several large format cameras, a stunningly beautiful cherry wood and brass (maybe rosewood?) Wista 4x5 field camera, a camera on a rail (Linhof?) that looks very technical and a couple others, maybe even an 8x10 in the collection. Also a couple dozen lenses, mostly Rodenstock but there's some Nikkor and a couple Fujinon.

I haven't thought much about them but maybe I should.

if you have no use for them please dont let them fade away in some storage space :)

Given that his name is Wistar (the name of some Wista lenses) I assume he does put them to good use.

Pure coincidence.

Alas, that is exactly what has happened. They are in these rubberized, humidity-protective bags within hard cases but they are languishing in my garage storage area.

I saw a fascinating video on YouTube a few years ago by Tim Hunkin (of Secret Life of Machines), where he uses his home-made Cibachrome camera to shoot ultra-large format film. By ultra-large, I mean poster-sized, and the camera is made out of old road signs. He develops the film positive right in the camera, and within a few minutes he has a very large photograph. Cibachrome was last produced in 2011, and this was Tim's sendoff.

https://youtu.be/5AOlPuTQt-M

Here's the Wikipedia article about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilfochrome

I took up large format film two years ago and I’ve found it to be extremely rewarding. Film has a different response to light than digital sensors, the size of the negative lets you do things you can’t with digital, and then there are camera movements (tilt and shift). Developing film and printing are also very fun, and feel a lot more like cooking.

I would like to do more of this, I have camera and processing equipment, but it's extremely hard to dispose of the chemistry. Some of the ingredients are highly toxic to fish.

Lots of discussions on waste disposal on forums, but unless your town recycles chemistry or you have a college with a film lab nearby, your (my) options are limited.

Pour the used chemistry into cat litter and let it dry out, then dispose of the litter in a plastic trash bag.

Is this recommended? It sounds like a much better alternative than “it’s not too much silver halide down the drain”

It's recommended by me, at least.

I haven't tried it myself, but caffenol[1] might be an alternative if you're shooting B&W.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffenol

The environmental risk is from unexposed silver halide that you rinse off the film in the fixing step. The developer isn't really the harmful chemical; though do read the MSDS for the developer you use and follow its instructions. (I wouldn't want to absorb it through my skin, breathe too much of the vapor, drink it, etc. True of the chemicals I use to clean my bathroom, too. Risk can be mitigated through proper safety measures!)

People reuse fixer, or at least I do, but there is a point where it's exhausted and needs to be discarded. My understanding is that the environmental risk from hobbyist developing is exceedingly low and dispose of it accordingly. If I were deeply concerned, I'd just let the liquid evaporate and store the solids in a plastic bag in a drawer. (That seems to be the NileRed approach to metal waste. When you're tired of the bag, you pay for professional service to take it away.)

if fix is supposed to keep the paper from discoloring over time, which is not immediately aparent, how do you know when your fix needs to be replaced?

I am not sure about discoloration -- I don't develop paper very often, and I don't use fixer for any reason other than to remove unexposed silver halide. (Without a fixing step, you could expose the film to light and run it through the developer again, and have another image. Or most likely, just completely ruin the negative. Fixers claim to do a lot of things, but washing away silver halide is the reason it's a mandatory step.)

For measuring exhaustion, I look at the datasheet to estimate the area of film that it can fix before exhaustion, and keep track with tick marks on my bottle. I typically use Ilford Rapid Fixer diluted 1+9 (100mL fixer -> 1L of working solution). 5L of fixer develops 2000 8x10 sheets, so 100mL does 40 sheets. I mostly shoot 4x5, so that's 160 sheets. When there are 160 tick marks on the bottle, I discard it and make a new batch. (Honestly, expiration dates are really my limiting factor. 6 months in a tightly capped bottle.)

Film photography is 99.9% bookkeeping and 0.1% art ;)

I have recently been using my room as a pinhole camera. I have wasted so much paper and money to also come to that conclusion. Next on my to buy list is that Ilford darkroom paper light meter. But it's hard to take notes in the dark.

I have been dropping steel wool into the developer and letting it sit for a day or so. I had read about this in a few forums — I assume the iron reacts in some way with the developer to create a chemical less toxic.

Ah, I see you also went down the rabbit hole from yesterday’s yaw-free view camera post :]

I somehow missed this, would you mind linking it?

I guess: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28306355

I have a Mamiya 645J and a Yashica Mat 124G and some old accordion type cameras more for show. I haven't used any of them in at least 20 years. I developed my own film too but only black and white not colour it's so much harder to get into.

I would feel so self-conscious now if I took them out they are so obviously a camera compared to stealthy cameras on phones.

There's so much knowledge need to take a great picture the composition, light levels, shutter speed, focus. It sounds simple but even with everything perfect I could never get a good picture.

I got into medium format a few years ago — picked up a Mamiya, Yashica, a few others off eBay (probably like my Bronica the best).

Developed B&W film first (no prints, I scan using a flatbed scanner). After watching a few YouTube videos, went ahead and developer a few rolls of color film. It went fine — although there are rather strict temperatures you have to maintain.

I am still smitten by the B&W photos and a few candid portraits I managed of friends and family. I may stick with B&W.

Since I am mainly photographing friends and family I suppose I am not self-conscious. To be sure though I think when I am out in public there is a curiosity about the camera. Not in a bad way.

I have heard others say that the twin-reflex (like your Yashica) are in some ways more discreet than a smart phone since you generally shoot from the waist...

I used to do this many years ago with Polaroid types 105 and 55 film. It's 4x5 film and it works in almost any 4x5 camera. It develops instantly and you get both a B&W print and a high-quality B&W negative from a single exposure. No darkroom needed. It was awesome. No idea if it's still available but I hope it is. Might be time to revisit that hobby.

Polaroid and Fuji discontinued their large and medium format instant films, but a new shop, One Instant, is producing some Type 100, at ten euros an exposure.[0]

There was a shop producing some large format peel apart, New55, but production wasn't economical (even at something like $17/shot retail) so they shut down.[1]

[0]https://the.supersense.com/collections/packfilm

[1]https://new55project.blogspot.com/

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