First Tripod, Loupe, Darkcloth, Meter

[Jim Jones]

. . . I was around 4 or 5 years old and my father decided it was time to teach me darkroom work. About the same time he decided that I should learn to use a slide rule and do trigonometry and play Chess.

Good for your father! If more parents were like that today, we might yet recover our old place as a leader in practical education. I had to do these things on my own when many years older.

[Alan Gales]

First film I developed and printed was a roll of 120 from that camera when I was around 4 or 5 years old and my father decided it was time to teach me darkroom work. About the same time he decided that I should learn to use a slide rule and do trigonometry and play Chess.

Jim, your Dad sounds like he wanted a buddy!

I didn't learn how to play Chess until I was 13. I took Trigonometry Sophomore year in High School. The teacher showed us how to use a slide rule. By then scientific calculators had replaced them though. I had an original TI30. We are talking 1978 to 79 school year.

[Jim Andrada]

I was talking 1944 - 45!!!

My father was an engineer and a really sharp guy - but no common sense about some things. I saw him using a slide rule one night and asked him what it was and next thing I knew I was"enrolled" in a days long after dinner course in slide rule tech. Asked him one night why when you put gas in the car (in the bad old days before they captured the fumes) things looked wavy and got a 3 day course in indices of refraction, vapor pressure, etc. He only had one mode of explaining things and didn't seem to be able to distinguish between answering questions for a curious 4 year-old and answering them for his engineering students when he taught at Columbia. Good in some ways!

[John Kasaian]

So what did the OP end up with?

[Jim Andrada]

Good question!!!

[Alan Gales]

So what did the OP end up with?

I think he bought a slide rule.

[Jim Andrada]

Just to follow up, a couple of photos of the way I set up the Technika and the Arca Swiss clamp on a Manfrotto ball head QR
plate.

[JMO]

To the OP, I think you've gotten a lot of good advice in this thread. However, as a Master Technika Classic user for the last 5 years, doing mostly landscape photography, I'll offer the following suggestions (if your budget can stand them?):

Tripod: Really Right Stuff makes (arguably) the best carbon fiber legs available, and I use their Versa 23 (TVC-23) model, with their BH-55 ballhead, and their largest screw-type B2-Pro/L model clamp (at 80mm wide). I have RRS plates on all my cameras, which are all Arca-Swiss standard dimensions I think. Some of my DSLR shooter friends who use longer lenses for birds and wildlife would not go smaller than the RRS 3-Series legs, but for your Linhof MT the RRS TVC-23 tripod is sufficient, and will be truly "your friend" when it comes time to take a hike. Just the TVC-23 legs are about $900 if I recall. There are many threads on this Forum discussing various tripod options, and considerations, and if you stick with this group here you'll find that some/many have strong opinions that only the most heavy and sturdy tripod you can find and stand to carry should be preferred.

Loupe: I have mostly used the Schneider 4x loupe that Bob Salomon mentioned, until recently when I purchased a Peak 8-16x loupe from a seller through the FS section of this Forum. I still use the 4x in the field for landscapes, but I've begun to explore interiors and table top still life subjects, and can now see the benefits of having a good 8x for fine focusing control. Follow Bob Salomon's advice about adjusting your loupe's focus so that you're focused sharply on the inside surface of your ground glass (and all the other advice he gives, especially concerning Linhof gear).

Darkcloth: No magic or high-budget option needed here, but I've used a Harrison dark cloth and not found any reason to look for a better option. I travel with one of Harrison's film changing tents, which was mentioned above, but don't use it any more at home since I now have a nice darkroom (way better for loading and unloading film holders).

Meter: Leigh suggested the Sekonic L-558, and that's the one I started with and still could use and like very much. But a LF friend suggested I consider a Gossen Ultra Spot 2, which I was able to pick up a really nice one for a reasonable price fairly quickly on eBay. Gossen no longer makes this spot meter, but I haven't touched the Sekonic L-558 for the last two years or so since I got the Gossen. And I don't really use all of the features the Gossen Ultra Spot offers on how to determine determine BOTH your exposure, and your development, for each film shot. I also have a Pentax digital spot meter, and it's really light and compact, so would be a good choice for someone who is concerned about space and weight in the backpack when hiking (as well as its good performance of course). when I go on a road trip I take the Sekonic and Pentax along as back-ups in case something would happen to the Gossen.

That's enough advice for now, except to suggest youtake your time in assembling your gear, and anticipate that part of your LF journey will be an evolution in your tastes and selection of the various needed gear. You'll appreciate most the wise/wiser early decisions you'll make about gear choices (thus your posts here), and try to avoid the regret of having to spend money twice (or more) on certain components of your LF kit until you're satisfied. ...

[ben_hutcherson]

I stay pretty simple with my set up, but then I'm starting with 4x5.

I have a Peak 4x with a black square skirt that cost me about $15 used. I use it both on the light table(it's full frame 35mm, and the skirt is 2x2 for a mounted transparency) and on the ground glass. The square skirt makes getting into the corners easier.

I just use a black jacket combined with the pop-out hood on my speed graphic for a dark cloth. What I use specifically depends on the temperatures-it's generally a jacket that I can wear also.

I've been using my faithful Leitz Tiltall tripod, although I find it a bit wobbly for 4x5. The nice thing about it is that at 6'2", I can comfortably look at the GG without raising the center column-you'll pay big money for a Gitzo or the like tall enough for that.

I switch between a couple of different meters. I have a Minolta incident that I prefer for when it's possible to actually get close enough to take an incident reading. I've yet to invest in a proper spot meter, but I've had good luck with either using an iPhone app or a 35mm SLR. I hover between using a partial and a spot screen when I'm using my Canon New F-1(I tend toward the partial screen because the only spot screen I have is optimized for long lenses and vignettes badly with anything less than 200mm). My old F-1, which I trust less for metering(CdS, vs Silicon in the new one) is always partial. Of course, if I have the Canon T90 out all it takes is a button push to switch between center weighted, partial, and spot.

[Dan O'Farrell]

A very sturdy and ridiculously inexpensive tripod, if you can find one, is a H.J.Riess, of Munich