john_sarsgard2

Since the Cokin P filter holder is inexpensive (compared to Lee and Hitech), and Hitech and Singh Ray both make excellent filters to fit it, is there any good reason not to use the Cokin holder with these other filters? Am I missing something?

I'd like to try the pre-exposure with sunrises on chrome film. You

know the story...not enough range on the film to get the shadows

adequately exposed if you put the sunrise on Z VII. Let me see

here...I would pre-expose a gray card or rough plexiglass and place it

on zone 1 or 1.5. I'd then place the sunrise highlight on VII as

usual, without compensating for the pre-exposure? thanks...

Maybe you all can save me some grief on inexpensive filter options. I

have most of the filters I need for my 4x5. I bought 67mm glass screw

in filters because they are good quality, easy, and all my lenses take

67mm or smaller, so I just use step up adapters for the smaller ones.

Only one more problem to solve...grad ND filters that you can move up

and down, put at an angle, etc. So I think I need to get Lee or

Hitech poly grd ND filters and some kind of holder. Question: since

Hitech makes filters that will fit the Cokin P series holder, which

you can get for less than ten bucks, is there any reason I should buy

a hundred dollar Hitech or Lee holder for what I want to do?

Paul, I've always been told to avoid fluorescent lights in the

darkroom because some of them have this redisual glow...I think the

phosphers still give off light for a bit even when the juice goes

away. I just use cheap incandescent fixtures.

If you try the one from Darkroom Innovations I don't think you will

ever use anything else. I won't lend you mine because I'm sure you

would not give it back. Just think...even with some breezes blowing,

black as night and two free hands. Only problem is that you don't

look like Edward Weston in the field.

I've heard/read lots about how archival the new Fuji Crystal ARchive paper is. Supposed to be 75 years in the Wilhelm tests...which would be better than Infochrome, at least if not stored in darkness. Would like to see what it looks like, but every place I know tht does pro quality C prints still uses Kodak. Anybody have any experience with this and/or know of a good printer using it?

Thanks, guys. I've used a polarizing filter lots in 35mm. How do you

compensate for it in 4x5, since the filter factor depends on the

rotation of the filter?

In the current View Camera, in the article about 5x7 photography, I saw a very beautiful (to my taste!) landscape from New Zealand by Jody Forster. It's a VERY saturated image shot on Velvia. If you saw it, how do you think she did it? It's extremely saturated color, even for Velvia. I'm a died in the wool B&W person, but this almost inspired me to try some chromes....

Thanks to one and all. Plenty of things to try here, both with my

ancient stainless tanks and plastic reels, too. I'm going to see how

I do with what I've got, and then try plastic reels if my vocabulary

doesn't improve. However, as one poster said, the vocabulary is half

the fun, so just want to reduce the frequency of @#$%. John

I've used mostly sheet film, but starting to do quite a lot of 120. Have some of the classic stainless roll film tanks and reels. I always manage to get the @#$% reels loaded somehow, but my darkroom vocabulary is starting to get mostly 4-letter. Are there now better state of the art reels that are easier to load, or would one of you roll film old timers care to share your secrets on how to easily get the film started on the reel? My vocabulary will thank you!

Many thanks to everyone for the great input. As to output...I am

going to try Dan Burkholder's approach of sending a Photoshop EPS file

to a service bureau with an imagesetter...normally used for making

negs to burn plates for printing. Using this process, the results I

have seen at 300dpi at the final neg size look great. You can't tell

the neg is digital without a loupe. If you've seen Brooks Jensen's

prints sold via Lenswork (lenswork.com) this is how he does

it...contact print from imagesetter negative. Now...can anyone help

me understand a little better why I need a scan on a much more

expensive machine as long as a basic flatbed will scan a 4x5 neg at

the required resolution? I surely don't want to buy a scanner that

will not be good enough. Aiming for quality as good as wet darkroom

here. Thanks!

I'm exploring a combination of digital and wet photography...scanning my B&W 4x5 negatives, doing the contrast control and other manipulations in Photoshop, then creating a negative for contact printing via the imagesetter method described in Dan Burkholder's books. As best as I understand, about 300dpi at the output print size is an optimum resolution to aim for. So, even for 11x14, a 900 dpi or so scan should be fine. Any suggestions on a "best" scanner that's affordable?

As part of buying out a friend's darkroom, got several stainless steel tanks for developing roll film. Everything seems to fit fine, but after the tank is full and I want to open the top quickly to dump it, the top frequently is stuck on and seems to take a sledge hammer and chisel to get it off. All while the timer is buzzing, of course. How can you make sure these things will come off quickly??

Have a few 4x5 negs from the time I was learning to tray develop that I really like, which have minor scratches. Not all the way thru the emulsion, but enough so you notice them on an 11x14 viewed up close, particularly in large uniform areas, like sky. Any good ideas on how to make less visible?

Just starting to explore pyro, and wanted to begin with roll film. Does anybody have times/temps/EI starting points for 35mm Tri-X and PMK pyro? The Gordon Hutchings book seems to refer only to Tri-X sheet film. Pls pardon the non-LF question, but I suspect, like me, that many of you still use 35 along with large format. Thanks!

I want to try PMK pyro with Tri-X 35mm. Have Gordon Hutchings book, but having a hard time finding good starting times/temp/EI for Tri-X 35mm. All the stuff I see is for sheet film. If anybody has times for multiple EIs, would specially love to have them...I have some shot at 200 I would love to dunk in PMK, but suspect most are shooting it higher.

With older cold light heads, you get different contrast with different

filters, but the "real" contrast doesn't match the number on the

filter. Aristo's new bulb...the V-54...works much better. You can

buy one directly from Aristo...I think they cost about $100. They

have a web site. I just called them on the phone, and they were very

helpful. Sent the new bulb right out to me. I get much more even

contrast change with the filters now.

I got into LF and built a darkroom at the same time. Probably should have given up my day job, too. Bought a venerable but very solid Beseler 45MXT enlarger with an Aristo cold light head. The enlarger has a very small filter holder below the lens that won't fit anything but the old Polycontrast filters, and is so small it vignettes the image if I'm using a 150mm lens and am not really careful. I just lay the filters on top of the holder. Anybody know of any better way to use the filters? I would prefer not to put the filter below the lens. If I have to leave it there, is there a way to support the filter without going to a machine shop?