Basic books and infrared light

[Sheldon Crook]

I have never used a large format camera but have recently come into possession of a 5x7 and an 8x10 view cameras. I'm setting up my darkroom in the next few weeks. Is there a good book anyone can recommend for a complete newbie into this area? I have done a lot of 35mm and medium format in the past so am somewhat familiar with the field.
Secondly, can black and white sheet film be handled safely under infrared illumination? If so, I am thinking about using my night vision scope to tray develop the film instead of tanks.
Thanks in advance for any ideas.
Sheldon

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Sheldon. I think you'll enjoy classical textbooks by Ansel Adams.
First, for inspiration, The Holy Trilogy ;-) "The Camera, The Negative, The Print" (Litlle & Brown, Eds) plus "The making of 40 photographs". You'll easily find the ISBN references with a web search.

A recent book of fine Black and White printing is named 'Way Beyond Monochrome". I really recommend it.

5"x7" and 8"x10" formats are perfect for experimenting with fine contact prints.

[Gem Singer]

Hi Sheldon,

In the 1990's, John P. Schaefer re-wrote Ansel's 1980 trilogy into a two volume series," The Ansel Adams Guide-BasicTechniques of Photography". Book 1 covers all of the subjects you inquired about.

Also, S. Anchell and B. Troop's book," The Film Developing Cookbook", is a must read for anyone who developes their own film.

As far as using a night vision scope and infra-red illumination to tray develope sheet film, yes, it can be done. However, it sounds like over-kill to me. Tray development of sheet film is described in both of the books I mentioned. It is quite simple to accomplish in total darkness with a little practice. Welcome to the awesome world of large format photography.

[Dave Moeller]

For books, I highly recommend Leslie Stroebel's "View Camera Technique - 7th edition". It's not a simple book to read, but you'll find everything you ever wanted to know about view cameras in it. You might also check out Steve Simmons' "Using the View Camera" if you're interested in a more introductory text.

I think there were some threads on apug.org about developing sheet film by inspection using infrared light, but I didn't follow them closely. I personally don't have a darkroom; I do my development in tanks and make contact prints using slow papers (Kodak Azo and Centenial POP).

[Ralph Barker]

In addition to those books already mentioned, you may find the Kodak booklet, "Large-Format Photography" (Kodak pub # O-18e, Cat #E152 7895) helpful as an apetizer before the Stroebel or Simmons main course. The Kodak booklet covers the basics very well, and is well illustrated.