I know one of those Civil War re-enactor guys, and for the past couple of months he was begging me to drive up to Ft. Sisseton SD and see him & his regiment "in action." It involved five hours of driving, but what the hell. I took my Chamonix 045n, an E&HT Anthony 4 in. RR mounted in Copal 1, Heliar 150mm 6 in. c.1912, and my ~6 in. f2.8 Ross Petzval c.1845. I brought a small backpack full of holders loaded with Efke 25, FP4, HP5. The Heliar is my favorite portrait lens, but for the shots I took there the Ross Petzval was suprisingly cool! I used Efke 25 with about 6 stops of ND, taking shots in the shade at roughly half second to one second. It seemed to work OK.
I really like the results and think I want to try some more of this. I'm after a Civil War vintage look. The lens is doing its part, but I am using film. What if I added about 2-3 stops of blue filter--would that give me a more authentic look? I could use ~3 stops ND and ~3 stops blue, maybe? I'm headed to a closer, larger re-enactment deal in about 6 weeks and I think there might be a wet plate guy there. I'll watch him and see just how difficult it is. I vaccillate between wanting to try it and wanting to stay clear. If I can get what I want with film, I might stay with that. I can get more shots in a day for one thing.
Any thoughts on my first attempts here? Two shots made with Petzval on Efke 25, one shot made with Heliar on FP4.
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