What Is Most Missed From The Pratice of LF Back In The 1990's

[Bernice Loui]

It seems not too long ago when film was the only real image making means and the view camera was the main stay of serious commercial photography. Thinking back to the 1990's.. here are some of the things I miss about doing LF during that time.


*Visiting the local major camera store to purchase film in the fridge. It was all there, from roll film to sheet film. Color neg, Chrome, B&W.. even ortho or IR. Agfa, Fuji, Kodak, Ilford and others all on the shelf behind the cooler's door.

*Looking at and tinkering with the latest view camera offerings from Sinar, Toyo, Linhof and etc. Then going over to the used equipment counter and finding that bargain gem to take home, try it out and taking it back to return if it was a dud.

*Dropping off your E6 film at the local processing lab. Two or so later, the film is ready for pick up. You take the finished chrome over to the many rows of color correct light boxes to take a good long look at the results.. good or bad.

*Taking your 5x7 or 8x10 chrome to the local color print lab to make a 34x40_ish Cibachrome. chat with the print maker to convey what you would like and what is possible. You return to pick up the Cibachrome and go WOW! Even if the skin tone colors are off and the print contrast and color saturation a bit overly excessive.

*Dropping off your Kodak Kodachrome and getting back processed in the same day.

*These color labs were also hang outs for many artist, commercial photographers who used these spaces beyond getting their work done, they were places to meet and chat.. There was the for sale bulletin board too.

*Pondering if one should spring for that new lens announced by Nikkor, Fuji, Schneider or Rodenstock..

*Watching Fuji color film go from strange color rendition to one of the very best ever done.

*Watching Kodak Ektachrome go from fast fading bluish cast film to a lot less bluish cast with a greatly improved color stability.

*Using Kodak color neg film for their good skin tone rendition and good contrast for people pictures.

*Sticking with Agfa chrome for their neutral color and moderate contrast.

*How the photographic world went nuts when Fuji Velvia hit the market..

*Going to the local photo dark room supply store to purchase B&W fiber paper up to 20x24 from Oriental, Agfa, Ilford, Kodak, Zone VI, and others along with most any chemistry needed.


This list goes on and on..

It appears doing LF today has become much more difficult and limited.. Still, my hope is for those who have learned this craft to share and pass it on to those who are newly interested for as long as film and processing can be possible.



Bernice

[Mark Sawyer]

[QUOTE=Bernice Loui;985725*Pondering if one should spring for that new lens announced by Nikkor, Fuji, Schneider or Rodenstock...[/QUOTE]

Finding an old brass lens or two for peanuts...

[Vaughn]

Kodak Copy Film, even at the premium cost.

[Nathan Potter]

Bernice, things evolve at every level. Critters evolve, slowly; cultures evolve, less slowly; technology evolves quite quickly. Few of the wonders you cite were available when I first started photography. I used an old postcard size camera with, I think, 122 size roll film. I could take the film to the corner drugstore in Concord MA. to be developed. Printing was a headache - hard to find. Information about what I was using was non existent for me. On the other hand the whole image making experience was simple and my work was supreme over the pervasive box camera.

Then gradually there was a revolution in equipment and film technology. Lenses became extraordinary and SLRs' opened up some unusual opportunities. The growth of local camera stores engendered excitement for the medium and as you point out there were suddenly people to talk to about image making and gear. But somehow I missed working with the old postcard camera - maybe I missed the style of image, but the new equipment and films allowed me to take images far beyond what was previously possible.

Now recently the rise of the digital domain has eclipsed the film and analog equipment industry, again leaving me longing for the Kodachrome and Panatomic X era and the intimacy of the local camera shop.
But yet again, and gradually, I have embraced digital techniques which, once again allow me to make images far beyond what I once thought possible. The availability of information via internet is still sort of incomprehensible to me in its' depth. Sites like the LFF and similar, elsewhere, are gems of information.

But be patient the present will eventually disappear.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[E. von Hoegh]

Henry's Camera store on Saranac Ave. in Lake Placid.

The days when no one had heard of digital cameras.

Camera shows.

Kodachrome, Panatomic-X, Agfa E-6 films, mercuric oxide cells, the original (1987 or so) Efke films, Polaroid type 55 with which I learned to use my Linhof STIV.

[Brian C. Miller]

Thinking back to the 1990's..

But be patient the present will eventually disappear.

"No man ever steps in the same river twice." -- Heraclitus of Ephesus

[Vaughn]

"No man ever steps in the same river twice." -- Heraclitus of Ephesus

True -- and as long as one can tap the source, one is never thirsty.

Or as John Prine put it:

The water tastes funny
Far from one's home.
But it is only the thirsty
That hunger to roam.

[David Lobato]

I miss having a few guys at work who had LF cameras and we could talk extensively about photography. Now I'm the only one at work who uses film, much less large format. And the labs that excelled at customer service and E-6. I'd drop my box of 4x5 E-6 film in the night drop and pick it up after work. While walking through the door the staff would have their critiques ready for the transparencies I hadn't even seen yet. And get teased that my occasional roll of 35mm slides was "micro-film". The friendly manager liked my pictorial shots but his very high workload of commercial sheet film processing brought in the money (among other things, they processed 400 sheets of 8x10 E-6 per day). And the far away from home lab that let me use their darkroom to unload my film holders before their morning E-6 run. Those labs are long closed. The good old days seem not very long ago. I sure miss the camaraderie.

[SpeedGraphicMan]

Hmm... All of that processing stuff describes my darkroom perfectly!

Hated AgfaChrome... Worst life span in the history of color film!
Dark or Light it faded with a terrible shift!

I do miss the later breed of Plus-X however...

I think that LF has improved in many ways over the years... Only the serious attempt it today and the other users are weeded out!

[Brian Ellis]

The local drugstore that carried darkroom supplies and sold used enlarger lenses

The Calumet and Zone VI Studios catalogs