First & second 5x7 images:

**Ed Bray** · 22-Jul-2012, 12:36

After having my new to me Plaubel Peco Profia 5"x7" monorail for over a week and not being able to use it due to a) the poor weather, b) not having any film holders and c) only having one lensboard (although I could have used up to a 150mm in it's Copal 0 sized hole).

I decided to spend the evening on Friday adapting the single lensboard that came with the camera to take a Linhof to Horseman adapter that I had ordered from ebay and that had arrived that morning. I discovered that the adapter had an additional square flange on it's rear which was 110mm square, this meant that if I could fashion a 110mm square hole on the Plaubel lens board, a combination of some super glue (to hold it in position) and some pop rivets to give a mechanical joint should see me alright. I used a Fein Multimaster to cut the square hole and finished it off with a file, although it took a hell of a lot longer to do that than it has to type about it.

This now meant I could use all my lenses on the Plaubel as I already had them all mounted into Linhof Technica plates to enable their use on my Walker SF45, my Horseman Woodman and also my Horseman LX (with another Linhof to Horseman adapter).

Whan my Grandchildren arrived on Saturday, I suggested that Lucas pose with his new glasses on, he is very proud of them for some reason unfathomable to me (as when I was a kid no one wanted to have to wear glasses), and he sees himself either as the Milky-Bar Kid or Harry Potter depending on when you ask him (strangely enough no one wanted to be known as the Milky-Bar kid when I was a youngster either).

I shot this image on a 360mm Rodagon Apo-Ronar from about 8 feet away and at 1/30th @ f11 on Arista Edu 100 which I had ordered from the US. The film was processed in a Jobo processor using Prescysol EF.

After fixing and drying it was scanned at 2400dpi on an Epson V750 Pro scanner and a minimal amount of PP (cropping and spotting) was done in CS5 before some localised burning/dodging was done in Nik Silver EFEX Pro 2 before being toned and a vignette added.

A tale of two firsts: 1st 5"x7" negative, 1st Image with the 360mm Apo-Ronar. by Ed Bray, on Flickr

The second image and much more my favourite is better as the eyes have opened up and Lucas is engaging in conversation with me.

Lucus 2nd 5x7 by Ed Bray, on Flickr

**Andrew O'Neill** · 22-Jul-2012, 13:15

I prefer the second image, Ed. You've captured that mischievous look for a boy of his age. Nicely done.

**Ed Bray** · 22-Jul-2012, 13:24

Thank you Andrew, he is a right little character, he was more at ease for the second and it shows.

Bit miffed though, the images are not supposed to be mono/magenta, they are supposed to have a copper toned look. it may be something to do with the colour space?