Hi everybody.
I've been lurking here for about a month now, reading lots of posts, gathering information, and looking at everyone's beautiful photos. I would have posted sooner, but it took me a while to piece together my LF rig and do some shooting. I bought a Sinar F body and lens board from a pro photographer here in Boston, but had to gather the additional pieces over time. KEH for a "bargain" Caltar 135mm f/5.6 (an older S-II MC) that's in fantastic shape, eBay for film holders, and B&H and a local camera store for some Fuji Velvia 100 and Ilford HP5+.
I got all the pieces together just in time for the rainy season to start here, and it seemed like every weekend was worse than the one before. Finally, this past weekend was absolutely beautiful, and the world was looking a little more green and a little less brown and grey, so I figured it was time to get out and shoot.
First I had to go through the nerve racking task of loading the film for the first time. It went mostly fine, but when I was done, I looked outside and realized I had only about an hour or so of daylight left. I hustled to a local park that I know has some picturesque areas, as well as a very high hill that would give me a few more minutes of light. I metered with my Luna Pro and sometimes with my Olympus OM-4 and a 50mm lens (for its excellent multi-spot metering), and shot all ten sheets I had with me.
I didn't go nuts with any camera movements, as I just wanted to make sure I used it properly in its most basic setup, but I plan on experimenting a bit more next time. I know for a fact that at least one image is double exposed (somewhat intentionally), one is grossly underexposed, and I'm hoping the rest are OK. I'll be developing the HP5+ shots tonight, so my fingers are crossed.
So, after years of working my way up to larger and larger formats, I'm really happy with my current setup and can't wait to get out and shoot even more. Everything is so different from all my other camera setups, it really feels like starting over a bit, but it's nice to have some of that initial sense of wonder and curiosity about photography back. When I get the film back and scanned, I'll post the results.
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You'll find that LF shooting is slow and methodical and lots of fun! Can't believe you managed to get 10 shots in one late afternoon session...I often don't take that many in a whole day's shooting!
Originally Posted by Vick Vickery
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