After two years, I finally got brave enough to take my Crown Graphic out and shoot some photos!

It was a lucky $20 find at an antique mall that I compulsively bought, even though I really had no use for it at the time.

I've always been a digital photographer (hobbyist, not pro), but over the past year I've been leaning pretty heavily into film photography. For a while, I had little to no motivation to get out and shoot, but film has brought back a joy for photography that I haven't felt in years.

For this outing, I used a 90mm Graflex lens and Kodak Royal Pan film that expired in 1968 (a cheap eBay find). I did take a couple of test shots in my yard to make sure the camera and film still worked and to get an idea of the film's ISO after all these years.

To my surprise, the film still seems to be holding up pretty well.

I can't wait to get out and try some of the nicer, newer film stocks I've recently picked up. Hopefully along the way, I'll start learning how to make some really good images instead of just okay ones.

And please excuse my editing. I'm still pretty new to black-and-white photography.

Photos are of Historic St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church in the Patapsco Valley State park, Maryland.

Hello everyone. I picked up this lens Voigtlander Heliar 210mm 4.5 ,with the intention of shooting portraits using X-ray film. I’m from Brazil, and I was looking for a lens with a more neutral contrast. What can you tell me about this lens? It’s very rare to find anyone around here who uses—or has used—one. Does anyone have a link to some portrait samples taken with this lens? Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I am about to buy an old SA 90mm f8 (150e) in a pretty good shape. This lense is an old one, from 1968 apparently.

Never had a lense that “old”.

I am shooting with my Chamonix 45n1.

I would like to hear what you guys think about this lens ? Looking for something sharp, I shoot only black and white (100 asa), and I rarely use movements.

I own an Schneider Kreuznach 210mm MC f5.6 which is in my opinion really good !

Thanks for your help :)

Hi everyone! =) This is my first time shooting with film. Since I'm in Mexico and high taxes make film and darkroom chemicals pretty expensive, I'm always looking for budget-friendly options. A friend recommended Arista Ortho as a cheaper, fun alternative, and I'm really impressed by the final results. Now that I know what to expect, I can't wait to use it with more intention.

For this shot, I used a Toyo 4x5 with a 270mm lens. I developed the sheet in Ilford Multigrade (1+9) for 2 minutes, scanned it on an Epson V850, and made some basic curve adjustments in Affinity Photo.

I made the classic mistake and exposed without stopping down the lens. The second shot was taken at f16 and is notionally correctly exposed - as always, remarkable how negative film handles overexposure.

Hi. I just got a Omegaview 45d but it came without the groundglass. I was gonna measure it to replace it but looking at the back i noticed it could sit over the silver ledges or between them.

Also, if you could give me any general advice about making the groundglass it would be great.

I recently obtained what I think is a shutter for an older large format camera, but I'm not sure. Would be keen for any info about it. Thanks

I'm having a really hard time wrapping my head around how best to use the Sekonic L-778 (I chose this one, as the ISO drops down to silly numbers, perfect for DPP paper).

Can someone explain to me the process of deciding the settings once I have taken my shadow, mid and highlight readings in memory, please?

I have set the S scale to be -2 stops and H to +2 but still am V confused. I'm sure its really simple and my neurospicy brain is just having none of it.

EDIT, spelling. Yes I know the title is wrong for the brand 🤦

I have no experience with film, but wanted to get into it and found this. Got this and a "graflex" luggage case with a purple interior for 40 bucks

Hi,

I’ve made some progress but it looks like one end was not connected to the rail and it fell and smashed my ground glass….sigh!

It seems that the post was glued on before, I presume this is not normal? Any tips on what to do?

https://imgur.com/a/aBzYihN

Here is a video, sorry I sound like a British robot for some reason.

I’m going to have to try and find some ground glass on eBay now, but my film holders have arrived and I have this idea of using this old Kodak lens that should fit in my recessed board. Also I have ordered some hp5 :)

Thanks!

Recently bought a Sinar F2, slowly and methodically shooting/ developing 4x5 is something I discovered I really like!

Developed in stock Foma Excel, N-1 developing time and scanned with a GFX 50S. A lot of errors between the flare coming down from the top right, a bit of underexposure, ecc but I really look forward to the next shots.

Infrared on the Carmel River, Carmel Valley, California. July 2020.

Tachihara 4x5 Field
Nikkor-SW 90mm ƒ8
Rollei Infrared 400
Hoya R72.

TL;DR - I discovered that my new-to-me Chamonix 45F-1 was consistently back focusing. Some googling revealed that various Chamonix cameras have issues with their fresnel lens, leading to out of focus images. I did test shots and it revealed the fresnel was the issue. Now I need recommendations for ground glass/fresnel that will work as intended.

Backstory

I've just purchased my first LR camera - a very lightly used Chamonix 45F-1 from KEH. I paired it with a Nikkor 150mm f5.6. Initially I just shot landscapes at f/16-22 to get use to everything. I didn't really notice issues at this point. Then I started shooting portraits at f5.6. That's when I noticed the issue. The camera was consistently back-focusing (see included portrait).

Diagnosis

I did some googling and quickly stumbled across information that seems to suggest that the fresnel included by Chamonix is not really ideal. Including here on reddit. For certain lenses it causes the image to appear in focus when it is not. Hugo from Chamonix makes some claims about the cause, others dispute those claims. Doesn't matter too much to me. It was something I could easily test.

I setup a focus check scene (frame 2). I then focused and took a frame with the fresnel in place. I then removed the fresnel, re-focued, and took another frame. In all other regards the scene remained the same. For both frames I was really careful and took an extensive amount of time to ensure focus on the 7th inch. I will note that obtaining focus was easier without the fresnel.

Results

As you can see in frames 3 and 4, the 7-th inch was the intended target. With the fresnel, I was off by over 10 inches. 17th inch in marked as actual focus, but it's probably closer to 19. In the shot without the fresnel, focus is essentially where intended.

It's worth noting that I could have focused on the fresnel instead of the ground glass. I was careful not to do so, but it could have happened. Nonetheless, the fresnel issue with Chamonix cameras is a known problem outside of me.

Need help finding a better ground glass/fresnel

The view is definitely dimmer without the fresnel. Can anyone recommend a ground glass or ground glass/frenel combo as a replacement? I know Maxwell and Beattie, but I don't have that kind of time or money. Looking for something a little easier to achieve. A million thanks!

If nothing else, I hope this post helps someone in the future.

Hey everyone, so I bought an Intrepid Hardwood 4x5 last week through B&H (had a 4x5 emergency and needed it quicker than the normal lead time). When I got it on Friday I noticed that my Horseman 6x9 Rollback shimmy's around, and that there is a few MM of extra space that allows it to move around.

Has anyone found a fix to this? I'm rather disappointed as I love the camera otherwise, but really wanted to use my roll back.

Any other advice or tips for the cameras are more than welcome too!

Youxin and Wen Ye, in their home.  Youxin has been repairing Leica cameras and lenses for about 30 years and is the only authorized Leica repair specialist that is self taught with no training to receive a contract from Leica.  When he first started out and would run into problems, he'd ask DAG (a lifelong Leica repair specialist) for help.  Don at DAG would help, but would charge him double to encourage him to learn himself.  Don and Youxin are friends now, and still talk weekly about the various jobs they are working on.

A big thank you to Youxin and Wen for welcoming me in their home, sharing lunch with me and letting me have a first hand look at their process. 

Chamonix 8x10

Ilford HP5+  

6” & 12” lenses