Newbie from Australia

[Jasko]

Hi all! I've been a long term lurker of the LF forum, and have finally been convinced to sign up by a friend user Stef. I'm a little out of place here as I don't yet actually have a LF cam - I'm hoping to have my bits & pieces sorted within a few months though, so In the mean time I thought I'd join, peruse the forum some more and take advantage of the huge knowledge base here!

In the grand scheme I'm relatively new to photography. I started shooting in the digital age, shot some film about 18 months ago and have been shooting only medium format for the last 6 months. The limitations of 6x7 (RB67) are becoming apparent, and I'm looking for that extra neg real estate 4x5 offers along with experimenting with movements. When I get my cam of course.

A friend (Stef, not sure of his actual username actually) posted on behalf of me here a couple of months ago regarding some bad B&W negative development - having not been a member at the time I never thanked the posters for their advice, so if any of you happen to stumble across this here introduction... thanks!

That's enough for now.. if you managed to read this post without immense boredom setting in, I salute you!

[SMBooth]

Welcome Jason, sheet film opens up a whole lot of possibles (and mistakes) that roll film doesn't although don't expect much better prints unless your printing big.

[Jasko]

Thanks for the welcome Shane I've been looking at doing some 30x24's from the 6x7's so I think the extra res from LF would certainly be welcome

[zachary12]

Another Brisbane LF photographer! Welcome mate, enjoy your stay, plenty to see and do on here. Give me a shout if you need a hand with anything (I'm bris based too).

[cosmicexplosion]

well the journey of a thousand dollars i mean miles begins with the first photo, i mean step.

welcome to the for...um.

this places is for umming.

so umm out loud.

my advice, is buy a cheap, lens and a cheap camera, and put all your hard ones in film.

then go out and shoot the place up.

ANdruskiba

[Jasko]

Cheers guys! Yep am hoping for something cheap but not too cheap, will be keeping an eye on the trading section in a couple of months. I've got an exhibition and a holiday I need to fund before I can get the LF gear, and I also need to learn E6 beforehand - but have got the same mate from here who I can hassle about showing me the rope with that one Good to see another Brissie guy here Zach! I'm sure i'll be throwing 20 (thousand) questions your way at some point mate

[Michael Wynd]

Welcome to the forum Jason. Once you get a 4x5 you won't shoot as many, but you will shoot better.
Mike

[alexn]

Hey Jason! good to see you here mate.

As Michael just said, with 4x5 be prepared to shoot less, but because of the extra time you spend getting the shot, it will almost always be better... Slow and methodical is the way with LF.. compose, focus, apply movements, refocus if needed, stop lens down and find how much DOF you need, close shutter, meter scene, set shutter speed, load film holder, **REMOVE DARK SLIDE** (I forgot this a few times..) cock shutter, visually check the scene for the right clouds or wave movements etc, fire shutter, **REPLACE DARK SLIDE** (I forgot that a few times too) and move to the next shot or reload another film holder and bracket a few shots. I find 4x5 too pricey to bracket all shots so unless the shot is likely to make good money I tend to ever so slightly underexpose the shot and run... With my 6x12 and 6x17 holders I am more than happy to bracket 3 or 4 shots because its cheap...

[Jasko]

Thanks again for the tips Alexo! I'm already pretty selective with my shooting, many shoots I'll only fire 1 or 2 frames and probably just as well with the added cost of sheet film upon me Will certainly be getting perhaps a 612 or 69 holder as well though. I'm also anticipating looooots of mistakes. I made a few when I started medium format even, so I'm sure I'll have my fair share of changing bag mishaps or "have I exposed this holder?!" moments! I'm fairly confident with my spot metering I don't bother with bracketing, usually only if the lighting in the scene has dramatically changed for a long exposure and I'm not sure if I compensated enough "mid-shot" for it.

Either way I'm a bit unco, will anticipate lots of mistakes - and I'll make sure I'm pretty practiced with it before I take it on a long trip

[alexn]

I may well have a 6x12 holder if you are keen... Will see how I go.. I am on the brink of selling up 4x5 and buying a 6x17 folding camera... lighter, smaller, easier to load and I shoot panoramic images 90% of the time anyway... Just makes sense... Having said that I might not.. Just have to see how I go with my new lens on the 6x17 film back on 4x5..