www.graemehird.com

Michael,

I'm interested in the tool you are talking about. More information would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Graeme

To Jon Wilson:

Why do you put a board into your camera with nothing on it? Just interested in what benefit this gives you .....

Cheers,

Here we go again ....

When they learn to take a great picture with their high resolution camera, I'll start giving them credibility. Until then, they are playing with a gimmick.

I disagree with some of the things that Jean-Baptiste Queru has stated, most notably the area of the film. There is roughly 14 times the area of film in a 4x5 image as in a 35mm shot, not 4 times the area.

There are specialist portrait lenses available for LF cameras with variable sharpness and bokeh, depending on the aperture used. Cooke has one model currently available. The effects these lenses have on image quality can't be reproduced in any 35mm lens.

You can't simply compare 35mm photography with LF photography: they are tools to be used for different purposes. LF is best suited to high quality images of static or predictable subjects, while 35mm photography is best suited to fast moving subject where hand holding the camera is an advantage.

So, what is your preferred subject? Which tool is best for the work you do?

Hi Mark,

I think the paper might be the limiting factor.

Cheers,

Graeme

I use hostony.com for my site, at $9.85 per month. That price seems to be fairly standard. I'm happy with them and won't be changing in the foreseeable future.<p>

Have a look at the APUG.org site. They are now hosting member's web sites for $5 per month. It could be a good deal, but I need more than they were offering.<p>

Don't let image thievery hold you back and don't let the paranoia associated with it stop your viewers from seeing your work. Offer more from a real print than they could ever get from a tiny digital image and you'll still sell your work.<p>

Cheers,<br>Graeme

A couple of points:

1) The lightjet printer will have interpolated some pixels for you. It prints at about 300 dpi (actually 304 dpi) and your scan only had a maximum of 10200 pixels on the long side. To get a print 40" wide, 12000 pixels were required. No big deal - the Lightjet printer does it very well.

2) I'm told the lenses on a Leica can resolve to about 100 lp/mm, giving a total number of line pairs on a 35mm frame of 3500 on the long side. If a LF lens "only" gets 70 lp/mm, a 5x4 film will contain 8750 line pairs on the long side. LF should contain more than double the resolution of the best Leica camera. Of course, we're not considering the resolution of the film itself. And the smooth tonality of a large sheet of film is hard to beat. And further, I'm not convinced about the so-called "poor" resolution of LF lenses - that might have been true 40 years ago (when Leicas were popular), however modern lenses are amazingly sharp.

3) 10x8 to digital is usually done by drum scanning, but some people are stitching two scans from their flatbed scanners and getting good results.

Cheers,

Graeme

George,<p>

I made my own lining for a travel pack for my LF gear. I'd recommend going slightly larger than what you expect to need - you may need to carry water or clothing occasionally.<p>

Go to this <a href="http://www.scenebyhird.com/OtherPages/TechniquesPage.htm">URL </a> and choose the "Build Your Own Backpack" option to see what I've done.<p>

Cheers,<br>

Graeme

Gee, I wonder what those photographers with 20x24" ULF cameras have been doing wrong? 4 gigs, you say? I suppose I <i>should</i> be impressed, but I can't seem to get inspired by his work.<p>

I remember a quote that has been attributed to Ansel Adams that went something like <i>"There is nothing worse than a sharp picture of a fuzzy concept."</i> I guess this is the proof.

<p>I keep asking myself: Why??

At normal focusing distances, you won't need to worry about bellows extension factor. When you start doing photos where you need to extend the bellows more than ~30% of its infinity distance, you'll start experiencing some drop of exposure on the film.

Since you're estimating anyway, just double your exposure when you add 50% to your bellows length due to close focusing.

Cheers,

Graeme

Hi Paul,

<p>

Just for the sake of the archive (repeating what I sent in the email):

<p>

1) Yes, the spot meter functions when in "flash" mode, in the same way as in ambient mode. So using the zone function works fine. It's a great meter for using the zone system - as you've seen from the manual.

<p>

2) There is no information in the viewfinder. I've never found this to be a disadvantage, since it only takes a second to pull your eye from the finder to the screen. Don't let this minor annoyance sway you from getting this fantastic meter.

<p>

I'm never going to need another meter, and if I happen to break or lose this one, I won't hesitate to buy another.

<p>

I bought mine online from Robert White (http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/). I'm pretty sure they're the cheapest around and definitely reliable. I received mine less than a week after purchasing it, sent from the UK to outback Australia. It was nearly half the price I'd be able to get it for in the Aussie photo suppliers.

<p>

Cheers,

Ellis,

I think if you are less than 1 meter from the object, it will be out of focus and thus the meter will measure some tones which are outside the target circle shown in the finder.

1 degree is a radial measurement - it might be the height of a person at 50 metres or the height of a mountain at 10km. The "sphere with a radius of 1 metre and you at the centre" analogy doesn't apply.

Cheers,

1/ Find a subject that catches my eye.

2/ Get my Linhof zoom finder out of the camera bag if I'm not already holding it.

3/ Establish the most appropriate viewpoint and corresponding focal length lens.

4/ Walk away from the scene if the light's not right (recording details for later reference, such as when the best light is expected to be available and the GPS coordinates.)

5/ If the light's right or soon will be, put the viewfinder back in the bag, set up the tripod and attach the camera (Tachihara 5x4) to it. I don't worry about leveling the head - I use a ball head and it's easy to orientate the camera later with the lens attached. Open the camera, locking down each nut as it is opened. I have marked the front standard with the rise/fall neutral position, and that's where I set the standard initially. Select portrait or landscape format as required.

6/ Attach the lens and slide the standard back until it is less than the focal length of the lens from the GG.

7/ Slip under my dark cloth and point the camera at the selected target scene, aiming to have the bed of the camera approximately level. Lock the ball head. Rack out the focus to "approximately correct".(Sometimes, knowing that the "perfect" alignment can't be achieved without image vignetting, I won't bother levelling the camera bed, preferring to use rear swings and tilts to achieve focus. Since I shoot mainly landscapes, perfect alignment of the rear standard with the "optimal orientation" isn't always a big deal.)

8/ When the composition looks right, I focus on the most distant object that I require sharply focused. Employ front (or rear) tilt to bring the foreground into focus. Refocus on distant object, adjust tilt again. Three iterations are normally enough. (Tilt on my camera is base tilt.) Check those focus points with loupe.

9/ If swing is also needed (quite rare), I follow the previous step but use swing instead of tilt. Swings are axial, of course.

8a/ Sometimes swings and tilts will not be possible and I simply use hyperfocal distance. (An example is when a nearby tree trunk is used to frame a distant object for compositional reasons. If the foreground is both above and below the distant object on the GG, a tilt or swing will render it out of focus in part of the scene.)

10/ Stop the lens down until the desired depth of field is achieved. Confirm focus throughout the scene with a loupe.

11/ Meter the scene (using zone system principles if spot metering, or incident metering if I can).

12/ Apply ND grads if needed (I only shoot colour tranny film).

13/ Close and cock the shutter. Note the aperture.

14/ Insert film holder.

15/ Scroll the meter for the appropriate shutter speed for the given aperture. Set the shutter speed immediately and calculate reciprocity failure if needed. (Bellows extension factor is very rarely required in landscape photography, though sometimes is needed for only part of the scene when large tilts are employed for near/far focus - soft ND grads help a lot!)

(Steps 5 to 15 take about 5 minutes - it's a routine I know off by heart.)

16/ Wait for the "decisive moment", when the light is perfect, air is still (or windy if that's what I want to show) etc. This waiting can take an hour or so if I think it's worth it.

17/ Confirm shutter speed with the meter if the light has changed considerably (ie after a long wait)

18/ Pull the dark slide, wait for vibrations to stop, make the exposure. Re-insert the slide.

19/ Remove the film holder and open the shutter to confirm the image on the GG was all I thought it would be under ideal conditions. Start again if it wasn't.

20/ Pack the camera up and look for the next shot.

Reading back on those steps, I don't know how I ever manage to get even one shot right, but it's now a routine that runs very smoothly for me. I get very few technical duds (out of focus, wrong exposure, camera shake, etc) and I'm happy with my ratio of keepers.

I hope this helps,

Graeme.

I second the Gossen Starlight.

Zone system spot metering with strobes is no issue with this meter.

Cheers,

Graeme

David,

The vertical lines remain parallel to each other on the image when the film plane is kept vertical. Using shifts allows you to keep the film plane vertical while including all of the subject.

Take an example of having your 35mm camera pointing at something at eye level on your subject: the line between the lens and the film is horizontal. To get the top of the subject in the frame, you may need to point your camera upwards: that line is now inclined and the film plane has also now rotated away from vertical by the same amount.

On a view camera, you can move the lens upwards without rotating the film plane. An upward shift of your lens effectively points your camera upwards because the direct line between lens and film is no longer horizontal. You haven't disturbed the film plane's orientation, so the vertical lines remain parallel to each other.

Since rotations of the film plane affect the perspective of the image, view cameras can preserve vertical parallelism where 35mm cameras can't (without special lenses).

I hope that helps,

It sounds like a bug in Vuescan. What version are you using? I suggest downloading the latest version and installing it. See if you still have the problem after that.

I use Vuescan all the time for both the Epson 2450 and the Nikon LS-40, and sometimes it does "fall over". I simply reistall and I'm off again.

(BTW, I'm scanning 5x4" film at 2400 dpi and 48 bit depth. The 2450 does not have ICE.)

Cheers,

Hey, where are the side ads for Vegemite? "Buy Vegemite half price on eBay now!!!"

Maybe Kraft are dropping it for the Vegemite 100s? Maybe Canon are releasing digital Vegemite?

Happily, rumours that it tastes like sh!t are all false - it really is bewdiful on toast for breakfast, especially after a night on the turps ....

Want to see how English <i>should</i> be mangled? <p>

Go to www.engrish.com - phonetic spelling at its best ..... when you can't pronounce it properly.

Come ON! Someone answer this question please!

Brent, how about asking on QTL's forum, APUG or f32.net? I want the answer, since I'm getting the same effect on my Kodak Endura Metallic prints when framed.

Darcy,

While I'm not going to answer your question (the others have said what I would have - avoid the polariser with the wide angle lens), I am interested to hear how you've gone about constructing your camera. Specifically, how are you holding the film? It's a project I've thought of a few times, but I always get stumped on the film transport system.

Cheers,

Graeme

Try this software:

http://www.fnordware.com/

I use it all the time and love it.