first 4x5 shots with my 57year old speedgraphic!

[Michael Campbell]

I'm washing the first 4 shots taken with my "new" speedgraphic. I did clean it up a bit and checked the bellows for leaks, but that's all I did. The negs look a little thin, I'll post one after they dry and I get them scanned.

WAY COOL!!!

[matthew blais]

Ahh...and so it begins.

[Michael Campbell]

how do I post a photo on here?

[Michael Campbell]

I can see I need to be more careful with my film holders in direct sun. I shot fp4+ at asa200 developed in a yankee tank with d76 1:3 at 70 degrees for 16 mins. The braceted shots (+1,-1) were all printable if not for the fogging from exposure of my holders to direct sun, but didn't seem to have as much contrast as I thought they would. I don't see any problems with the yankee tank....it worked fine for me.

This is going to be fun shooting handheld 4x5's!

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Michael,

If you want to post a photo, click on the "Formatting Quick Reference" link at the bottom of the form where you make a posting or reply to a posting, and that will take you through the process. You must have the image allready uploaded onto another website or server that will host it. Then use the HTML [img] tags to insert the picture into your posting, as described on the formating quick reference page.

[Denis Pleic]

Congratulations, Michael!

I'm fairly new to Speed Graphic (at least in 4x5 format!), and have only shot a couple of negs so far.

What I've gotten really amazes me.

You can se some of the stuff I'm into with a few quick scans of otherwise banal shots (my kids are always available, although it's hard to keep them still!) here (http://www.hrtranslations.com/photo/funky2/).

Regards,

Denis

[J. P. Mose]

Michael,

Make sure you always use a lens shade! This is especially important with a single coated lens. Plus, the reflection of light off the bellows can cause a lot of internal reflections. If you are not using movements (then a compendium shade is recommended), the right size shade will cut the image circle down to around 160mm diameter. This is the approximate image circle required to cover a 4"x5" area. Many large format lenses project a much larger image circle -- all the extra area is reflected off the bellows. Of course, most of this will be absorbed by the dull black surface.....but some will be reflected onto the film and will reduce contrast.

Let us know what lens you are shooting with. GOOD LUCK AND WELCOME!

JP Mose

[Michael Campbell]

Thanks for all the good information.

I have an old 1948 speedgraphic with a 135mm optar lens on a grafex shutter. It has a 3 cell selonoid it that I want to hook up with a battery pack for use as a cable release.

My first idea for lf photography was to make a pinhole camera so I ordered 4x5 film holders. Then I saw all these 4x5" cameras on ebay .... This is more fun! I can still do pinholes with a pinhole lens board.

Right now I have HP4 using d76 at 1:3 for about 20 mins, depending on temp. I want to get HP5 and HC11o also.

I read this forum a lot before getting started so I had a good idea of what I was getting into, the internet is so cool!!

[Michael Campbell]

I forgot to add that I'm using a Weston MasterII light meter of about the same vintage as the camera. That is one very nice light meter in my opinion.