Originally Posted by
Colin Robertson
Hi Matt.
When composing, beware that the ground glass will show the entire 5x4 area, but the actual areas of exposed is a fraction smaller- the film holder has to cover the edges if the sheet. It can be well worth leaving a tiny bit of 'wiggle room' at the edges of the frame when composing- no problem with the amount of film you have available in 5x4.
Yes, the ground glass can be dim, and on very wide lenses, with both greater depth of field and depth of focus, and small maximum apertures, placing critical focus can be tricky. Get used to the relatively bright (seriously) and easy to focus 150 before you go wider. In passing, 58mm is very wide on 5x4; something like 18-19mm on 35mm. Exact equivalence is hard as the diagonal angle of view differs between formats. What are you using in small format as a comparison?
With Fomapan 100 I think most of us use it at EI 50. Nice film, but handle it carefully when it's wet.
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