chris_y.
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Posts posted by chris_y.
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Hi- I have this camera - bought it like you for an affordable intro to large format- it is a serviceable camera but the back it came with is called a "springback", which attached the ground glass and its frame by a couple of flat metal spring arms that pull away from the camera. This lets you slide the film holder in between the ground glass holder and the body when you are ready to shoot. It works OK for regular 2 sided film holders and 4x5 Polaroid holders, but Polaroid pack film holders and any rollfim holders will be impossible to use; the spring doesnt pull away far enough.
My solution was to remove the spring and attach some screen door springs from Home Depot upper and lower across the back, they'll hold anything in place. Its not too elegant but it works. What you want really is the more modern Graflock back, which holds the back on with two little levers that hold the sides of the back.
If I were you I would write off the C400, and go back and try to find a camera body that has a Graflock back, even if its more money. failing that, just get a ground glass and use screen door springs running horizontally top and bottom to hold backs on, the springback isnt worth restoring unless you find another body for cheap and still its uses are limited.
There is a lot of knowledge about LF on the web- read and read. LF also lends itself to this kind of tinkering- and you'll learn so much about photography you wouldnt otherwise-
best-
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It boils down to this: Always wind the camera before you remove or mount the lens. Always. Thats all you need to know. The 500C is the Harley Davidson of cameras, it just has this one quirk. As soon as you try to remove the lens from an un-cocked body, it'll jam. Its not fatal, but you'll really need a manual...
chris
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<p>Best I can do: the Harvard Square Angel Guy. He's the performer I was shooting. He stands stock still till you put some money in his jar, then he turns slowly, beams down at you, and gives you a benediction that will knock your socks off.. I told him later in my best Jimmy Durante- "Kid, you got a hell of an act!"
<p><IMG SRC="http://www.chrisyeager.com/z/angel.jpg">
<p>Not that I care if you believe me....</p>
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coated lens: right, should have said "single coated.." gotta keep up on my hass-ology....
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>and where's the guy's picture?!?!?
in my head, but good point. I flashed that he'd make a good shot, he really had the face for it, but a) he was in the shade and i was EV'd for the sun, and that freakin' EV lock is a hassle... b) I think I didnt have the heart to imply that a fellow photographer was that "picturesque"
great story about phoenix-
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I just got my feet wet hassy-wise last month, buying an old 500C on
Ebay. I did all the research and learned about the jam and unjam-
ology before the camera came, so I was ready to not break it first
time out. I took it to Harvard Square saturday to do some street
shooting- saw a great street performer I wanted to shoot, and I
backed up against a storefront to get my uncoated lens in the shade.
Next to me, about 3 feet away, was a grungy looking old guy with wild
hair, a white beard, some dirty khakis and a stained blue T shirt
stretched across his considerable belly. Im holding the camera at
waist level, head bent down, and he's giving me the eye... in a
minute, he sidles over and says "Um, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure" says I.
He says "Coupla months ago I bought a 500CM, and the first time I
took it out, I was trying to change the EV, and it jammed... the
mirror's down, the dark slides in..."
Only in Harvard Square!
chris
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Thanks for the answer- Im going to try to limit the capacity by
making the slots V-shaped, tapering at the bottom... this will look
less like a print washer and more like my Nova trimate- with its
separate compartments- |V-V-V| So I'm hoping this way to minimize
stress on the sides- they'll be butressed though..
<p>
chris
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Im thinking of building a slot processor for 20 x 24 prints- kind of a rolling floor model.. I have a good handle on the design and fabrication but I'm in doubt about one thing- is there a corrosive factor between B&W chemistry and ordinary hardware store type plexiglass? Is there some reason we don't see plexi used for this more often?
<p>
Chris
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>that has a warm feel and maybe even a little distortion thrown in
<p>
I've got a Gibson SG that fits that description to a T, you just
can't see through it...
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Its great isnt it? The very first day I used mine I ubderstood as
never before why god gave us the 35mm SLR... but grainless is where
its at! You went straight for the manly film back- I've been wimping
out with Polaroid all along...
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>I need to work on shooting a bit wider to allow for cropping - as
well as for different aspect ratios.
<p>
I've noticed this too, john, I keep telling myself this time I'll
pull back plenty but when its happening I end up "stuffing the
frame." It's the kind of thing that if I did it daily I'd have it
down by now, but shooting once every week or two I have time to un-
resolve...
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As part of an exhibit at the MFA in Boston 2 years ago, they had a
reconstruction of westons darkroom. A L-shaped wooden bench, with a
sink in the right side. Cold running water. Trays and tongs. A gram
scale and copious hand-written notes on formula. On the dry side of
the L, the contact print frame. The light source was a bare bulb that
hung above the frame on a wire. The wire was looped back on itself
one time and held in place with a wooden clothespin. To increase the
light, lessen the loop, to decrease it, widen it. This darkroom was
indeed part of the Weston legend.
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Again I can't tell you how beautiful i think this shot is. Of course
it's the last frame on a roll- absolutely how it works! It sounds
from the shape you were in like you felt how he looked- maybe that
was the empathy..
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Ah, then you saw the van Gogh trailer too- I have tried every camping
strategy at FRFF from tenting to B&Bs and my favorite so far is this
year's- driving the 3 hours home... It was blazing hot Friday- and 40
degrees that night.... which doesnt surprise me at all--- I've been
there years you needed an overcoat!
<p>
I just finished boxing up an order for these guys- they wanted 7
shots... for which they paid good bucks-
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<p> This Michael and Grace. They're a duo from Seattle. I met them 6 years ago when they came through Boston and I was thrilled to see them again this summer at Falcon Ridge. They were fresh air compared to the disappointing sucession of Ani Di Franco and David Wilcox clones who played the showcase stage; he lays down hypnotic, jazz-colored guitar lines and she sings in a mystical, transported style that reminds me of Flora Purim. Well, when we started talking the said they needed new pictures- I said lets meet about 2 hours before sundown and we'll shoot a few rolls. We wandered some of the campsites- found a wicked cool trailer painted all over as "Starry Night" by some muralists from NY. Then there was the farm's silos, and the double decker Greyhound bus- the Lord's own RV...
<p>This was a pretty good exercise in using what was there- backdrops weren't a problem but light control was- Im so used to leaving the subject alone and moving the lights, here I didnt have the experience to turn them into it in different ways- I could have used a bunch of assistants with diffusers and flags- and it took us all a while to relax enough- but I'm happy i got Grace's etherial spirit with such an on the fly session....
<p>I'm not much on color correction- I leave that to people who still have their whole lives in front of them... adjust as required-
<center>
<p><img src="http://www.chrisyeager.com/z/slides/htm/vango.jpg">
<p><img src="http://www.chrisyeager.com/z/slides/htm/bw_21.jpg">
<p><img src="http://www.chrisyeager.com/z/slides/htm/col_17.jpg">
</center>
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thats a fantastic image. i wonder if we could see it a little
larger....
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Thanks... top is Polaroid 665 with my 4x5, bottom is Kodak 400CN....
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<P>(I hate this %$@^$)
<p>Ok, here you go. The power of the first polaroid - all the rest from this headshot session were ok but i didn't see this expression again. She got a headshot and I got a portrait.
<p><img src="http://www.chrisyeager.com/z/pola1.jpg"><br>
<p><img src="http://www.chrisyeager.com/z/34_smile.jpg"><br></p>
<br><br>
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One interesting thing is that the area he close to print is not much
larger than 35 mm..
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<p>Haven't checked in in a while- it's been a slow and pleasant summer - still doing studio and will post a series.... but found this while looking for the Avedon Marian Anderson image on the web- it's from the Anderson Archives- the Avedon contact sheets for that session!
<p>
<a href="http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/photos/anderson/2074.html"> Contact Sheets </a>
<p>
click "next" till you get to the final print...</p>
quite instructive..... don't you think?
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Hey, he aint so shabby- and certainly all over the place.... His
people shots are quite old-school, but thats probably a result of
where he lives- Greece. Kind of like if Kertesz had Photoshop...
On the nudes- he's not afraid to show where his head's really at-
gotta give him that...
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Radio shack has a two-alligator-clip on a split wire deal in a little
plastic bag for 2.98. The clips are insulated. I made a couple of bi
post synch cords with these, they dont look totally pro but they work
fine. Bi post width to shaver cord hole separation can sometimes
vary.... but the clips go on everything...
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On long vs short and face features, the longs help enormously for two
problems, long noses, which they shorten, and sunken eyes, which they
bring forward. It's the perspective effect, a group of things (e.g.
eyeball, cheek, tip of nose) seems closer together the farther away
you get.
<p>
210 seems to do ok for head and shoulders on 4x5 in this respect. I
have a 350 for my 4x5 and i find that I have to be about 10 or 12
feet away from the subject, unless i want to get really tight on the
face- also your rail needs to be extra long to focus that length in
4x5.
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"Backology" is quite the pursuit in 4x5 as I found out. You should
start with this site:
<p>
Hasselblad Winding Debate
in Medium Format
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