Lighting for a Graflex... indoors?

[Oren Grad]

Picking up on the continuous lighting theme... I'm interested in what kind of lighting you use to shoot your Graflex indoors. I guess this could be either a "Gear" or a "Technique" question, but I've put it here because I'm interested in particulars about the hardware as well as the methods.

The basic problem is that the Graflexes that I own have instantaneous speeds that go only to 1/30 (Super D) or 1/10 (older models), and the lenses I have mounted for them are only as fast as f/4.5 or f/5.6 - and sometimes I don't want to work wide open anyway. Taking my 4x5 Super D with stock Ektar as an example, 1/30 at f/5.6 is several stops short of the brightest ambient light around my house. Also, I prefer to use diffused light most of the time - my strobe heads live in softboxes for the most part - which doesn't help with the intensity.

I'm aware of the possibility of drop-curtain sync with strobe. I suppose I could also try the ~1/5 second of the drop-curtain setting without strobe. I could experiment with harder light and try to get more comfortable with that.

I did dust off my Tota kit to play with it a bit yesterday evening - did a fine job warming the house on a cold December night! But the pair of them got me just to the edge for my 4x5 Super D exposure-wise, assuming my usual HP5 Plus, when set up with umbrella and reflector.

I've been doing some homework on other continuous lighting sources. Those available without breaking the bank seem unlikely to be able to do better than the Totas in terms of quantity of light, though having cooler lights to keep the subject comfortable and avoid the risk of burning down the house would be an advantage.

Anyway, I'm looking for some inspiration as I think this through. I'd welcome any observations on how you use your Graflex indoors - what kind of lighting, at what kinds of exposures, with what films.

[Bill_1856]

Oren, it's a great question!
In retrospect, I just realized that I've never used my Super D indoors. I wonder how/if old Edward Weston did it? (Many of his portraits with the hand-held 3x4 were terrific, which can't be said when he switched to the 4x5 and a tripod.)

[Jim Noel]

What kind of images are you trying to make in the house? That makes a difference. If there is no movement involved, you can get by with less light, or a Time exposure.
Work lights from Home Depot or similar stores produce a large quantity of light, and they are much less expensive than Tota's, etc. YOU might pair a few of them with your Tota's if you must have alot of light. I have one pair which came with it's own stand and if I remember correctly cost me about $25. Look around the thrift stores and you might find them cheaper.
Clamp on reflectors are also available at these stores and are very inexpensive.
You can also open the curtain to "T" and leave it there while you pop the soft-boxed strobes as many times as necessary if the subject is not likely to move.

[Jim Noel]

EW's portraits were made with natural light and an occasional reflector.

[mdarnton]

Not doable now with the death of Polaroid, but I used to shoot Polaroid 57, 30cm Heliar wide open, at the Super D's drop curtain speed, which is around 1/5 at low tension, or a bit higher at high tension, or at the native 1/30, in available light. That was a combination that worked anywhere that my Leica and Tri-X would go. Taking a hint from Hugo's trip to Tibet, I recently added a monopod to my Super-D kit, and that's a confidence builder for slow speeds. Here's Super-D at 1/5, with the 15" Tele-Raptar wide open, on x-ray film, at about EI 80. Lighting is only a parallel arm desk lamp about two or three feet away:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7510/15646511680_729b91d403_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pQCsNL)

Heide (https://flic.kr/p/pQCsNL)
by michael.darnton (https://www.flickr.com/people/118045067@N03/), on Flickr

[Oren Grad]

What kind of images are you trying to make in the house?

Thanks for asking - I should have stated that up front. In this context I'm interested in people pictures - formal portraits or more casual snapshots. For inanimate objects I'd use a regular view camera and have no problem with either long time exposures or strobe sync'ed to my lenses in leaf shutter.

Anyway, thanks all - this is a great start!

[jp]

I've used hardware store worklights with 100-150w bulbs.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13759696@N02/8404328620/in/photostream/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13759696@N02/8412162681/in/photostream/

[mdarnton]

The other thing I have done is use bounced flash, with the drop shutter speed, high tension. You could spot a light on a stand in the corner and remote it with radio synch. I do that a lot with 35mm at parties, etc. People really do not seem to notice the flash.

[Bill_1856]

That's amazing! A 15" Tele-Optar only focuses as close as 20+ feet on my Graflex.

[mdarnton]

I built a wooden tube extension board for it of the right length so that when the front is racked back all the way it's about 2mm behind infinity. That makes it so that you aren't wasting all that bellows compression room back past infinity, you can see and move the f-stops without reaching/looking down into a hole, you don't run afoul of the mirror, and it will focus up close to a reasonable distance. Most of us have no need to focus way past infinity, as you can do by putting it on a normal flat board.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Hi Oren,

I use banks of PL55 fluorescent bulbs. These are 55W 22" bulbs that are usually used for aquariums and grow lights, and are also used by some high end video lights. I have two banks of four tubes (220 watts each) which gives me enough light with HP5 to do head and shoulders at f8 at a 1/50 of a second. I have banks of 16 compact fluorescent bulbs (~30 watt), but prefer the PL55 banks as they are a little brighter, and produce less heat. The PL55 bulbs and fittings used to be quite expensive, but have gotten notably cheaper. I saw some Chinese made banks with four tubes in a local "indoor garden store" for $130.

I also use strobe with a Super-D and drop shutter. This works just fine, but you have to dial up the power of the strobe to prevent ghosting from the 1/5 second exposure.

[Oren Grad]

I use banks of PL55 fluorescent bulbs. These are 55W 22" bulbs that are usually used for aquariums and grow lights, and are also used by some high end video lights. I have two banks of four tubes (220 watts each) which gives me enough light with HP5 to do head and shoulders at f8 at a 1/50 of a second. I have banks of 16 compact fluorescent bulbs (~30 watt), but prefer the PL55 banks as they are a little brighter, and produce less heat. The PL55 bulbs and fittings used to be quite expensive, but have gotten notably cheaper. I saw some Chinese made banks with four tubes in a local "indoor garden store" for $130.

Thanks, sounds promising. Are you using any diffusers or other modifiers?

I also use strobe with a Super-D and drop shutter. This works just fine, but you have to dial up the power of the strobe to prevent ghosting from the 1/5 second exposure.[/QUOTE]

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I have an opaque film that I can put in front of the PL55 banks to diffuse it a bit. It reduces the light by about a stop, and makes it much easier on the sitter's eyes, but it doesn't do much to the quality of the light. Looking around a bit more, I see that there are many different Chinese made PL55 banks on Amazon and elsewhere, but I am not sure about the quality of the build, reflectors, tubes or ballasts (these appear to be ok (http://www.coollights.biz/cl655-cool-lights-watt-fluorescent-video-soft-light-p-32.html)).

[Sirius Glass]

That's amazing! A 15" Tele-Optar only focuses as close as 20+ feet on my Graflex.

I have to check mine but I am sure that I can focus closer than that with my Model D.

[mdarnton]

Here's my camera from the bottom, with the lens mounted on my extension box. The box sticks out exactly 5mm from the front of the camera. The sides are as wide as they can be to fit. The top is low enough so that I can raise the box to get the lens in and locked, and is tilted downward somewhat so that the "board" can be tipped upwards to put the upper lip in place first, against the spring. The bottom of the box is basically as low as I can still fit. I put lips on the top and bottom to act as the lens board--the upper lip is taller to fit in against the spring. The bottom lip only needs to be a bump to lock the box in at the bottom.

http://i.minus.com/j0ti66WlbohMV.jpg

Here it is out of the camera. The top of the box is on the right, slanted so that the front of the box is lower at the top in the front than at the back. On the right you can see the small locking bump just peeking out. The top of the board flange is the rib on the bottom right. I covered the whole thing with bookbinding tape (had lots left after rebuilding all my film holder hinges). The whole thing looks cattywampus because I shot it with my cell phone:

http://i.minus.com/jgQBxkP2TK1ql.jpg

No fancy light locks or seals are needed because the shutter's in the back of the camera. Just make it fit well and everything will be OK. I put the top lip on oversized, and then just started planing it off until I liked the fit. The whole thing was made of 3mm plywood from The Art Store, assembled with lots of superglue. It wasn't a fancy production. I knew the basic idea would work because I'd done it before with my 30cm Heliar, which I stupidly sold and you can now buy from gokevincamera on Ebay. :-( You will know it by the side of the flange I had to cut off to fit under the hood on the top side. That was a great lens, and I was an idiot to sell it. Worked great on the Super D, too: item5651767f8f

[Bill_1856]

There are some of the 10" and 15" Tele-Optars which have the aperture scales moved to the front of the lens so it can be seen with the camera's flip-up lens shade hiding it.

[Sirius Glass]

My 15" Tele-Optar had the aperture scales nicely buried in the back. With a flashlight and a crowbar I can just barely read them.