Scheimpflug Shenanigans

The trials, tribulations, lucky shots, and outright failures of a beginning Large Format Photographer. All posted images are © Jeffrey E. Roush unless otherwise specified. The Scheimpflug principle is a geometric rule that describes the orientation of the plane of focus of an optical system (such as a camera) when the lens plane is not parallel to the image plane. It is commonly applied to the use of camera movements on a view camera.

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I don't have any color chemistry at the moment, but this sunflower was at the perfect height for a quick shot with the Intrepid 4x5. So, instead of passing on it, I captured it on HP5. I think it worked out perfectly well in B&W. 150mm, f/8 for a bit of background separation, 1/250th, Processed in Diafine, 4+4, and captured digitally with my phone using the Intrepid Enlarger light source under the negative.

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Twenty Minutes at the Rivers Edge

AristaEDU Ultra 100 ISO, Skink Pancake .4mm Pinhole with 4 stops of ND filters strapped to the front,  Intrepid 4x5 Mk1, 20 minute 11 second exposure. Processed in Ilfotec HC 1+79 for 13 minutes at 68F.

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Successful pinhole outing. This was the first try with the Skink Pancake .4mm pinhole on my Intrepid V1 (4x5). It was pretty overcast so each exposure was around 1 minute 25 seconds. Ilford HP5 at EI320 in Ilfotec HC 1+47 for 9 minutes. 

Since I have both the V1 and the V2 Intrepid 4x5 Cameras, I got the idea that I would use the V1 as a pinhole kit. It fits in a small bag with just the camera, the 2 pinhole boards ( a Skink Pancake with .4mm pinhole and the Intrepid .5mm that came with the camera ) and a few film holders. That way I can travel light with it when I don’t want to haul the BIG backpack with the V2 and all the real lenses and filters and what-have-you. Pinhole isn’t the appropriate tool for every situation but it’s compact enough to keep in the car or just grab on a whim and fun to have at hand when you just want to have some quick photographic fun.

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I added  a 1969 (according to the date code anyway) Crown Graphic Special to the livery. Talk about an arm workout. Fully kited out with a 6 shot Grafmatic magazine and flash handle (that holds 3 D size batteries) the Crown weighs just shy of 8 pounds. 

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There are a ton of "photography" apps out there. A lot of them are of questionable use. This one though, Cadrage, is a super time saver for me. It's a viewfinder type app. Once you set it up and tell it what focal length lenses you have, it will let you use your phone camera to pre-compose your shots. SUPER useful with large format where pointing the camera around to find your shot isn't always an option. This was the preview for the last shot I posted. My final composition was slightly different but you can see here how well it approximated the scene.

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I made a quick stop after work to give the new Intrepid V2 a go. It was 28F, windy, and snowing so I wasn’t out for long. My fingers were so cold I couldn’t work the camera effectively. I was there long enough to make two exposures of this scene then I gave up and returned to the truck to defrost.

Ilford HP5 400 (@320), 4x5, Rodinal 1:25, 9 minutes at 68F. Intrepid V2, 210mm, 1/8 second @ f32.

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Yay! The new, and much refined, Intrepid (on the left) came today. The metal front standard and narrower focus bed feel much sturdier and the etched glass is a welcome addition.

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’ve been continuing to experiment with the Harman Direct Positive Paper. This might not look like a very interesting image but it’s a great example of just what this medium can do. What I’m finding is that it responds best to LOW contrast scenes and the resulting longer exposure times.

In this image the foliage varied from darker green in the trees and grass to almost light yellow in the large leaves closest to the camera resulting in the overall contrast of the scene being low since, in black and white, most of these colors reproduce in grays of similar tonality. Adding to the low contrast was a completely overcast, evening sky.

Compared to last weeks image, which had a much wider dynamic range in the scene resulting in a somewhat hard, contrasty print, the lower dynamic range of this weeks scene resulted in an image with much more overall tonal reproduction throughout the midtones.

Intrepid 4x5 camera, 140mm f/280 pinhole, 1 HOUR 23 MINUTE exposure on Harman Direct Positive Paper developed for 90 seconds in Arista paper developer 1:9 dilution

©2016 Jeffrey E. Roush

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Sometimes you just have to slow down. When it comes to photography, using a large format view camera in and of itself requires one to take their time. Every step in the process, from setting up the camera to exposing the image, takes time and thought. If you really want to slow things down take that big glass lens off the camera and go back to basics, the pinhole. Nothing but a teeny-tiny hole and air between the world and your chosen medium. This weeks image is just that, a pinhole image, recorded on Harman Direct Positive Paper. The scan doesn’t do this medium any justice at all. It’s a true fiber based paper that dries to a glossy finish. It has a bit of a warm tone and the blacks are deep and luscious. You will spend some time using it to make pinhole images though. The ASA/ISO on this paper is somewhere between 1.5 and 3. Even in bright daylight you can expect to be standing out there for several minutes. If it’s a little cloudy, you might be looking at up to an hour or more. Still, I think the results are worth it. Huron River,  Intrepid 4x5 camera, 140mm f/280 pinhole, 20 MINUTE exposure on Harman Direct Positive Paper developed for 90 seconds in Arista paper developer 1:9 dilution

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I took a chance on a 50 count box of Ektachrome 100 Plus that expired in 1999. It’s not too bad. Once I tweak in the EI a little bit more I think I can probably make pretty good use of it.

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I wanted to practice exposure when needing to compensate for bellows extension. I think I nailed it on this image. It turned out pretty much exactly as I intended. The dark areas within the lamp separate from the background which I intentionally let go to black. The light from within is just enough to give the glass some texture while maintaining good contrast and dimensionality in the magic goop that makes a lava lamp do it’s thing.

Overall not all that interesting of an image, but a fun exercise just the same.

4x5 Ilford HP5plus, 21 seconds, 210mm @ f/32, Intrepid field camera. Tank processed in Diafine 3:30+3:30

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Probably the best 4x5 image I’ve made so far. The Intrepid Camera has it’s quirks but if you’re not trying to get super fancy with a shot it’s a perfectly fine camera.

4x5 Arista.EDU Ultra 100, 15 seconds @ f/32 with Red25 and 3 stop ND filters stacked.  Intrepid field camera. 210mm. Dip&Dunk processed in Diafine 3:30+3:30

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I tried a quick little closeup shot with a dandelion from the yard. It could be much better but I don’t think it’s too bad for a first try without having spent a lot of time on the set up or proper lighting.

Light was a single bulb in the base of a lava lamp (hey you use what’s handy right?) angled toward the petals just outside the frame. I placed a white board on the opposite side to reflect a bit of fill. Maybe the reflector should have been a little closer just to bring out the rim of the vase a little bit more but overall I’m pretty happy with the contrast ratio.

The background was just a black portfolio leaned against the wall about a foot behind. I spot metered the darker side of the petals and then added in about 1.25 stops worth of bellows compensation.

I’d like to have gotten a little more sharpness throughout as I think it’s a bit soft in general. With more time spent on setup and focusing I’m sure I can do better next time.

Shot with the Intrepid field camera, 90mm @ f/22, on Arista.EDU Ultra 100, tray processed in Diafine 3+3. Scanned with Epson V700.

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So, here I am again. It’s been a long winter both physically (it’s almost the middle of April and we had 4 inches of snow last weekend) and emotionally. My depression really got the best of me over the winter. I’ve been pretty much doing nothing but dragging myself to work, dragging myself home, then doing it all over again. But Spring is coming and I’ve been out a little more lately with friends and such. So hopefully more 4x5 shooting to come! My Intrepid finally arrived. Much delayed from their original estimate but arrived none the less. I’ve only had a chance to get out with it once but it seems like it will be quite a capable little camera. The park scene here is one of the first shots from it. Bad developing on my part (or the maybe curse of the Arista film again), but it is clearly capable of capturing a decent image. It will be SO MUCH MORE usable than hauling my tank of a Cambo monorail around. I won’t hesitate to hike around with this in a backpack (assuming I can get myself out of the house).

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W00t. An unexpected financial win means In 8 to 10 weeks or so (assuming no delays or customs malfunctions) I'll have one of these on the way.

The Intrepid Camera from @theintrepidcamera

I ordered mine with blue bellows and the pinhole lensboard. I already have the regular lenses to use on it that are currently on boards for my Cambo monorail, and I have lensboards on the way that’ll fit this beauty. I've been wanting a real field camera for a while and this fits the bill perfectly.

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Full of holes...

Back when I started this Tumblr, I made a post about having been excited to find Arista.EDU film sold by Freestyle Photographic Supplies because it was super cheap and therefore great to learn with. That still, I think, holds true but after going through two boxes of it it’s become obvious there might be some issues with it. 

Every time I develop my sheets they ALL come out with pinholes of varying sizes on them. Sometimes just one or two small ones, sometimes they are LARGE and all over the place. I thought for sure I was doing something wrong. Not tapping the tank hard enough to dislodge air bubbles, agitating to aggressively, something, since it happens EVERY time.

Some further research (if one can call digging through internet photo forums research) seems to show it might be the quality control of the emulsion itself or, possibly, in how it reacts when the developer and stop bath mix. I don’t have this issue on any of my 120 or 35mm films of various other brands and I process everything in the same chemistry:  Rodinal or D76 in various dilutions, Ilfostop, and Ilford Rapid Fix. So if it is the chemistry, It’s a reaction happening specifically between this emulsion and those chemicals. I’m not likely to change my development processes just to be able to use this particular film so I guess it’s time to try something else.

Arista.EDU (re-badged Fomapan by all accounts) is still a decent, inexpensive film to make all my mistakes with, but as I move forward I think I might switch to Ilford FP4 or HP5+. Both are about double the price of the Arista.EDU but, since I still need to watch my budget, way cheaper than Tri-X. 

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I've been using my 1944 Speed Graphic a bit. The folks with the barrels are homebrewers that I know and brew with on occasion. The other two shots are from a recent scifi/fantasy convention. 

All three shots were taken on 100ASA film, using flashbulbs in a Graflex 3-cell handle with a 5" reflector, and with the front lens shutter. The shots came out ok but I'm not completely satisfied with the overall exposures. I'm not sure if I got the f-stop/shutter speed slightly wrong (using the guide number off the flash-bulb package), or if the solenoid is somehow out of adjustment.

The shutter speeds on the vintage lens are limited so I went with 1/50th as that's what I understand the time to peak of the flashbulbs to be. Perhaps I should have gone with something slightly slower to give some exposure on both sides of the peak light but the next slower speed is 1/25th and I wasn't confident I could handhold this heavy rig at that speed.

More things to try for next time!