colin_graham

Anyone got one they can measure? I just need the outer dimensions, no 'T' or

anything critical, just lenght x width (without darkslide). Also the

measurements of die-cut factory 5x12 film would be nice too. Thanks very, very much!

I converted a Kelty redwing. Most camera-oriented backs dont seem to be designed for walking more than a mile. I used to try to hike (10 miles or more) with a tamarac and that was just ugly. In the Kelty I can fit a 4x5, 4 lenses, eight holders, light meter, water and strap a wooden tripod to the side. It's thirty something pounds but it feels lighter than a ten pounds felt in the tamarac.

Er, I should say, float 5x7 trays in the 16x20.

Gralabs are great. Huge luminescent dial timers. Ebay, where else? For the temp question, you could water-jacket with some ice or extrapolate for rising temp. I use a 16x20 tray and float my small 4x5s in it. @_@

Sandeha-

you can right-click on alot of foreign text pages and then click on the 'translate into english' tab. Works as often as not. (Nice link by the way, just finished my bellows.)

As an update, look for a local bearing supplier first. I live in a very small town and even we have a local distributor for Boston gears. I saved 50% off of Small Part's price. (Just know what you need before you go in!)

Alternativephotography.com -about every process I've ever heard of is gone over there, with examples, formulas and bullet points. A great sight.

I'm thoroughly sold now. Thanks for the replies! The only thing left is to find a deal on one. Thanks again.

I was looking into getting this lens recently, and wondered if

anyone is familair with it. I have a 300M and really like it for

4x5, but would I be better off with a more standard design 210mm? (I

hike alot and am trying to keep wight down). Thanks for any thoughts

Hi Larry-

You might try heating the beeswax up first, maybe leaving it in the sun or nuking a small piece, so it flows out better. Once you apply it, let it set up again and rub it out, burnishing it really. This makes it well-wearing and quite slick. The hardness of beeswax or carnauba makes it a good choice.

This is for anyone experimenting with home made ground glass. I've

gotten tired of looking past my own reflection to focus so I just

tried grinding the off-side of some low glare picture frame glass.

It really works nicely. The glass has a light acid wash on one side

that I thought might ghost or confuse the focus plane if I ground

the other but it doesnt at all, and the lack of reflections seems on

the order of at least a full stop increase in brightness. Can now

use f8 lenses without waiting for my pupils to pucker. A local frame

shop owner even gave me the scraps to experiment with. Just make

sure to mark the acid side before starting because it gets easy to

confuse them.

I have a grandagon 6.8 that's great. A half stop dimmer than 5.6 but negligable really, and considerably cheaper and lighter than a 4.5. I havent run out of coverage with it yet and I think it only has a 228 or so circle. If you dont have w.a. bellows then there's not a lot of dramatic movements you can do pulled in that tight.

Just another option. I was reading an archived thread on the loupe subject and some were recommending magnified drugstore glasses. They come up to 3x and work very well; you can see the whole field, hang them around your neck when not in use, the depth of field is someting like 5-8 inches and they're around fifteen bucks. Just be careful not to look at anything more than 12 inches away! (instant headache) I'll never go back to a loupe. You can compose and focus at the same time.

First Agfa APX, now Ilford Delta and HP-5+...I feel queasy.

Al,

Thanks for the good information and advice. I am indeed starting to lean heavily towards the pyrocat-HD. But I can't give up on the FG-7 idea just yet, so I'll probably start around 1:45 at an hour with minimal agitation and work backwards until (if) something happens. I was thinking without the sulfite too as that much time would probably just dissolve the silver.

Thanks for the point towards the Unblinking Eye sight, it is excellent, and I've been nosing around Michael Smith's Azo sight as well which also has much wonderful information. What I really need are some of you guys on retainer so I can call up whenever I need to! But the true beauty of these forums is that they really aren't too distant a second place at all. Thanks again.

Thanks for the replies. I was just considering using a higher dilution mainly for contrast control (everything I even look at lately seems to have an SBR of 12 at least). I have had luck with rodinal in higher dilutions and extended times and have gotten what appears to be sharper results from minimal agitation, as well as good contraction of higher values. It just happens that I have a large supply of FG-7 at the moment and not so large a supply of Delta 100. Plus, I like FG-7. Bob, thanks for the good idea of trying cut roll film before commiting to sheet film. I was mainly seeing if someone has had good results with this and could recommend a starting point for dilution and time. Thanks again.

I was wondering if anyone has tried highly dilute FG-7 as a

compensating or even a semi-stand developer. I was thinking of

starting at around 1:30 or maybe 1:45 and doing some tests but

maybe they're something about the chemistry of this particular

formula that might not suit such a process? I'm running 100 delta so

dont want to start any really idiotic or wasteful tests at this

point, but I was thinking maybe without sodium sulfite, for sheet

film in a tray/tank....? Any thoughts appreciated.

Andrew-

For tray development you might want to consider Edwal FG-7 1:15 with a 9% sodium sulfite solution, which lets you use dilute working solutions with much shorter times, i.e. Normal= 6.5 minutes, N+1=8.5, N-1=5 minutes. (But the real bonus is the invisible grain, incredible acutance and contrast.) Looks great for HP5+ and the t-grain films too. Very similar to ID-11 1+1 but exactly half the time!

Thank you Michael, precisely right. Much easier now!

Dont know where to post this....I once, for a very brief, very

magical time, had keywords highlighted when searching on photonet.

Now I just get the thread lists, which can number in the hundreds.

Was I dreaming or does someone know how I can turn this back on? Is

this a Google thing, or maybe just a browser glitch? Any help on the

subject would be appeciated.