LF mistakes made so far [Archive] - Large Format Photography Forum

Mark Pope

5-Aug-2006, 07:13

It's confession time...

During my brief time as a LF camera user, I've made the following mistakes...

- Taken the dark slide out before closing the lens
- Loading film in the lolder the wrong way around. Very frustrating when I'd spent ages preflashing the film and stuff to get the image I wanted :o
- Placing my shadows on zone VII instead of Zone III
- forgetting to reset the camera's movements
- watching the image jump out of focus because I hadn't locked the front standard when I opened the camera up.

I wonder how many more mistakes are out there just waiting to trip me up...:D
This doesn't include the unmitigated disaster casued by attempts to use a Paterson Orbital print processor to develop my first set of negs.

Bruce Watson

5-Aug-2006, 07:33

I wonder how many more mistakes are out there just waiting to trip me up...:D
There are a bunch, just with film holders. My favorite is loading the film in the darkslide guide rails (so you can't push the darkslide back in after the shot). And of course finger printing the film as you load the holder when you are hot, tired, and working with a changing tent on a table that's just too small for it. There's the ever popular turning on the darkroom light after loading holders to see the film box still open. And the reverse - turning on the light after unloading holders with the film box full of your exposed but unprocessed film still open. Then you can always load two sheets into one side of a holder. You only use that holder for the shot where focus accuracy is critical ;-) Then there's forgetting to flip the darkslide when you put it back in after an exposure resulting in those lovely double exposures where you kill two setups for the cost of one sheet of film. And forgetting to shield the darkslide from the sun when you pull it or push it in resulting in lightseal light leaks. And setting a holder down on a surface that you didn't check for cleanliness. And...

I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface here.

Leonard Evens

5-Aug-2006, 07:40

Here are some you others you may find yourself doing in the future.

Forgetting to put the film holder in the camera.

Forgetting to take out the darkslide altogether.

Forgetting to replace the darkslide before removing the film holder from the camera. This is hard to do if you hold the darkslide while taking the picture, but sometimes you have to put it down.

Forgetting to put a filter on the lens.

Forgetting to set the ISO setting on your exposure meter to match your film.

Shooting wide open because you forgot to set the lens to the shooting aperture.

Forgetting to set the shutter speed.

Putting film in a film holder so one side rests on top of the groove instead of in the groove. You can avoid this by remembering to check with your fingernail on both sides.

In case you are compulsive like me about keeping records, forgetting to record the focal length, aperture and shutter speed.

In case you have put something in the scene to help in focusing, composition, or determining exposure, forgetting to remove it before taking the picture.

I'm sure there are some other mistakes I've made which don't come to mind right now.

Ole Tjugen

5-Aug-2006, 08:04

Loading film in the holders, complete with the interleaf paper.

Pulling the wrong slide, thus exposing the other film through the ground glass.

Loading 5x7" film in a 13x18cm holder and hearing it fall out of the holder and flop down in the bellows-

Loading 13x18cm film in a 5x7" holder, and realising you can't get the dark slide back in because the film is bowing out from the too narrow film slot.

Jorge Gasteazoro

5-Aug-2006, 08:17

Finishing the shot and getting ready to fold the camera, removing the lens and then remembering you have not put the dark slide on the film holder yet......do this with a 12x20 so it really hurts... :)

Try to focus with the film holder in place and wondering why you cant see a thing... :D

Going from a B&W shot to a color shot and forgetting to remove the red filter.....

The possibilities to do something stupid are endless........ :p

snuck

5-Aug-2006, 09:08

my favorite mistake is with the grafmatics that I use. Namely, forgetting to push the darkslide back in after the spring pushes the next plate up, and exposing -thereby burning all six sheets of film in the grafmatic through the notch in the septums. On really bright days, the first 3 sheets tend to be writeoffs. Then there's the infamous removing the darkslide before closing the shutter. yeesh. These days I've developed the habit of glancing quickly at the front of the lense before removing the darkslide. Has worked wonders.

Mark Pope

5-Aug-2006, 11:21

So many mistakes and so little time...:)
I had a close call in the darkroom this afternoon. I loaded my combiplan and when I'd switched the light on, I noticed that the lid wasn't quite seated properly. Fortunately, it wasn't bad enough to fog the sheets of film. Phew!

Actually looking at the list so far, there are quite a few on there that I've already done! Its a wonder how any of us actually get anything to print!
This thread has given my wife a good laugh!

Louie Powell

5-Aug-2006, 12:22

Part of the fun of LF is that it is totally manual, and there are SO many more ways to screw up.

Eric Leppanen

5-Aug-2006, 12:44

These few just scratch the surface....

- Pulling the dark slide while the shutter is still open. Always test fire the shutter before pulling the dark slide!
- Failure to properly stabilize the camera to withstand a slight breeze (images come out soft), this is a big problem when shooting 8x10.
- Forgot to put on the center filter when using a wide-angle lens.
- Forgot to exposure compensate for said center filter, in cases where I do remember to put it on.
- Waste film by accidentally loading two sheets of film into the same film holder slot.
- Ruin the top sheet or two of exposed film (and singe the edges of the rest of my exposed film pile) by absent-mindedly opening the changing bag before my exposed film box was closed. I've actually managed to do this more than once.
- Drive hours to reach my shooting location, and then realize I forgot to bring my tripod or focusing loupe.
- Drive hours to reach the trailhead, then hike more hours to reach my shooting location, only to realize that the knob which tightens/loosens my tripod head's quick-release clamp had fallen off and disappeared, leaving me with no way to attach my camera to the tripod.

Alan Davenport

5-Aug-2006, 14:19

Surely, I'm not the only one who has forgotten to check for vignetting due to excessive movements? (and paid the predictable price!)

Amund BLix Aaeng

5-Aug-2006, 14:25

Surely, I'm not the only one who has forgotten to check for vignetting due to excessive movements? (and paid the predictable price!)

Yep, been there...

Or how bout` the 6 amazing 8x10 shots I did today without film in my holders... :(
And I found out after setting up my bathroom for development, mixing developer ect.... Ahhrgg! :)

cyrus

5-Aug-2006, 14:51

Using grafmatics with two different film speeds, and not remembering which grafmatic is holding which speed film.

Using grafmatics with two different film speeds, and not remembering to change ISO setting on lightmeter when switching from one speed film to another.

Putting yellow post-it notes on grafmatic holder slides to remind me of the film speed and to change the lightmeter setting -- then forgetting to remove the post-it notes when using the grafmatic, resulting in nice little rectangular blank spots on the negatives.

Rick Haug

5-Aug-2006, 15:53

I think the chance of making some of these errors greatly increases if the photographer is distracted, say by a talkative onlooker. While making a close-up photo of some outdoor plants I had an unwanted vocal "companion" who just couldn't take my hints that I needed to concentrate on what I was doing and couldn't carry on a conversation. After a long wait for the wind to subside I clicked the shutter only to discover I hadn't pulled the darkslide!:o Then I had to wait an equally long while for another lull in the wind to make the shot (with darkslide removed) while this guy stood there, this time with a smirk on his face.:mad:

Slade Zumhofe

5-Aug-2006, 22:47

Well, I have a ton but the one that REALLY urks me is---when I first started LF many years ago i was having trouble getting absolutely everything sharp from edge to edge no matter how hard I tried---I had HORRIBLE cheap dark lenses at the time. I took a week long trip to the Oregon Coast (top to bottom) and thought I would play it safe by shooting everything at f/64 or greater--depending on the lens whichever was the smallest lens opening. Well, had more success with the increased DOF but every single shot is ruined with defraction!!! Did I mention how old my lenses were? I can print a single image without it looking like my eyesight is going bad! Everything is sharp.....but not sharp.

This was a costly error for a beginner!! Boy did I learn about optics very quickly after that!

JBrunner

5-Aug-2006, 22:55

You have six holders. You decide to load three of them. You do this, and put the film away. The phone rings. You are distracted. You pick up the wrong three holders, label them, pack them, and then go out and merrily shoot six great shots with your empty film holders for an afternoons worth of (in retrospect) comedy.....

now i leave them black side out, but pull the label tape. This is my symbol for an empty holder. Silver sides out are loaded and labeled . Blacks with a label are of course, exposed. It's all about having systems.

Leonard Metcalf

6-Aug-2006, 01:39

Leaving both of my light meters at home.

Capocheny

6-Aug-2006, 02:51

So many mistakes and so little time...:)

Hi Mark,

LOL... I suspect there's still a LOT of time to do some of the above gaffers that you've not done yet! :)

So, your wife will have lots of laughs coming down the turnpike!

My favorite one is forgetting which holders have already been exposed. Been there, done that! :)

Good luck.

cheers

Donald Qualls

6-Aug-2006, 15:24

Leaving both of my light meters at home.

I only own one light meter, not counting the one in my head. Fortunately, that latter one can't be left behind. ;) When shooting negatives, Sunny 16 and a few rules about compensation for things like backlight, shade, etc. is more than good enough for 95% of scenes -- and a little thought about what zone those rules apply to will cover about another 4%, leaving only 1% of outdoor scenes that you *really* can't expose correctly without a meter (and more than half of those will be dark enough the meter won't work anyway).

Sad to say, however, the meter in my head won't compensate for weak, almost-dead developer (I now have a policy of simply discarding the last quarter inch of liquid in the bottom of the jar of Parodinal, and I won't try to use two-year-old HC-110 stock solution no matter *how* good it looks). Nor will it help light fogging of the negatives by the luminous hands and number of the darkroom timer, standing about a foot from where the negatives were stacked while holders were unloaded, and less than that from the clear plastic food containers that serve as 5x7 trays for 4x5 film processing.

I think everyone misloads a holder or two while learning LF techniques. So far, I've only gotten two film sheets (loaded at the same time) backward in the holder, and I caught the error in time to salvage the image on one by pushing development beyond all belief. I've also had two film sheets that popped out inside the camera when I tried to reinsert the dark slide, and one holder flap that didn't quite stay closed and blocked the dark slide from fully reinserting, resulting in some fogging. Several old 9x12 cm plate holders have been demonstrated to fog film if direct sunlight falls on the dark slide slot with the slide out, however, and I pulled a couple partly opened 4x5 holders right out of the camera before I graphite lubricated the dark slides in the old wooden Graflex holders in my bag and started pulling the slide with a little offset toward the camera front, to keep the ridge in the groove.

Other than that, I *never* screw up... ;)

chris jordan

6-Aug-2006, 15:58

--I get everything all set up, composed, focussed, adjusted, etc., pull the slide, then kick the tripod while stepping arond to the front to cock the shutter. How many times have I done that? I ran out of toes and fingers a loooong time ago...

--Arrive in a far-away place with all equipment ready to go, and the first time I get my camera all set up for a photo I discover that I had packed my light meter in such a way that its trigger was pulled for the entire trip, and the batteries are dead.

--Set the 8x10 up on the tripod, hoist the whole thing onto a shoulder to walk around, and suddenly the tripod feels much lighter just as I hear a loud crunching smash right behind me.

--All set up on a small bridge over a rushing creek, just hung my bag of lenses on the tripod crank arm, and I bump bag with my elbow, oh, the memory is just too painful...

Kirk Gittings

6-Aug-2006, 16:21

I once drove 4 hours to a shoot in Tohajali on the Navajo Reservation, did a walk around with the client, went back to the car to get camera and oops!!! I had left the tripod in Albuquerque, I tell the client "geez I really don't like the light today (for no good reason), we'll come back tomorrow", I drove back to Albuquerque, picked up the tripod and turned around and drove back.

I once grabbed the wrong stack of film holders, the ones that were not loaded, and went off for a weekend of shooting. I missed some great images.

Michael Kadillak

6-Aug-2006, 17:36

I recently loaded two sheets of 8x20 into the same side of the holder. Very interesting double imaging there if you want to be unique.

But IMHO the most offending "mistake" in LF I continue to see particularly among part time LF photographers is "Overexposing and Overdeveloping"

Cheers!

Ed K.

7-Aug-2006, 01:24

You haven't lived unless you've found a creative way to do those mentioned in this thread, however just for safety, go ahead and do all the ones already listed on this very site:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/mistakes.html

Don't be timid about it - just go down the list and do them!

Ole - I've done that one - ( pull the rear dark slide, ouch! ) and too little sleep the night before helps one really feel dumb about it. That sickening feeling knowing that even the 1/8th to 1/4 inch it came out before noticing what was going on was enough to ruin the film. Seems like once is enough to cure it though.

raucousimages

7-Aug-2006, 15:33

Shoot went great. No mistakes! Loading/unloading, travel, shoot, everything perfect. Got to darkroom, load 10 film hangers dunk in developer, move to fixer. Cant find fixer tank. Reach to other side and find the developer tank. Thats right the best moonset/sunrise I have ever seen went right into the fix. I now have a small notch in the edge of the darkroom sink where the doveloper tank sits. Feel the notch-find the right tank.

poco

8-Aug-2006, 03:57

I've made all these mistakes mentioned, but the one that sticks with me because it had me stymied for so long was getting ghosting on long exposures due to film settling or even shrinking (during winter) while the shutter was open. It took about a year's worth of occasionally ruined shots to finally figure out what was going on. I kept thinking I'd knocked the camera during exposure or something. Finally the light clicked on.

Oh, and here's another related one: discovering 5x7 film is too big to shoot with the camera pointing straight down -- the film sags out of focus position.

Michael Kadillak

8-Aug-2006, 07:05

Oh, and here's another related one: discovering 5x7 film is too big to shoot with the camera pointing straight down -- the film sags out of focus position.

5x7 sheet film is not to big to cause a problem with film sag when you are shooting straight down. Something else is going on to cause this problem for you. I have shot 8x10 and 8x20 straight down and never had a film "sag" problem.

Cheers!

poco

8-Aug-2006, 11:49

DrPablo

8-Aug-2006, 12:06

My favorite is loading the film in the darkslide guide rails (so you can't push the darkslide back in after the shot).

I've been lucky so far in my 1 month old fledgeling LF career, but the above quoted gaff is one I've made a number of times (to my complete horror). I'm still trying to decide whether I prefer to load the film from the top or bottom of the holder.

Michael Kadillak

8-Aug-2006, 13:12

<I have shot 8x10 and 8x20 straight down and never had a film "sag" problem.>

Likely at f45 or better. I was shooting at f11 because it was very dim and the film sagged too much. Put a developed piece of film into a 5x7 holder without the darkslide, hold it upside down and tap the middle of the sheet -- it'll bow up and down about 2 mm or so. That was enough to throw off critical focus for me.

I performed this "test" with modern Fidelity Holders as stated above. I put developed sheets of FP4+, T Max 100 and 400 into them and with the dark slide removed and the flap closed and a strong light to observe the situation and I could not see any obvious film sag present. I was very careful to use a sharp pointed stylus into the center of the film as the test probe. Even a couple of mm's of movement to the back against the sheet film holder should be capable of being observed if it was there but the film to me appears perfectly flat as a pancake against the back of the holder when facing straight down.

Maybe someone else can shed some light on this when you try this for yourself. I shoot down fairly regularly and have never give it a second thought. Maybe a thinner film than I am using is more prone to this situation. Just my $0.02.

poco

8-Aug-2006, 14:08

<Maybe a thinner film than I am using >

That might be the key. I was shooting Ilford which has a thinner base than Kodak. Anyway, not sure what to say but that my film sagged. I schlepped the camera out into the field two days running and got soft negs both times. Luckily I doubled up with a 4x5 on the second day and that gave me a sharp shot. It wasn't until I got the second set of soft 5x7's out of the soup that I tried the test as described and spotted the problem.

Linhof

16-Aug-2006, 19:59

1. Don't talk to others when shooting, even wife or kids, except police
2. Shoot 2 films for one scene if film available
3. perform shutter test before actual fire
4. before going to shooting location, simulate the setting up procedure in mind to check equipment in bag
5. stay calm during the course of shooting
6. don't change film loading procedure once you get used to one

KenM

17-Aug-2006, 05:50

4. before going to shooting location, simulate the setting up procedure in mind to check equipment in bag

That alone is one of the best pieces of advice for a field photographer. I do it all the time, and I never (ok, almost never) forget a piece of gear. I open my camera back, and mentally go through the process, checking for each piece of gear in the bag. Works for me!

Charles

17-Aug-2006, 06:27

[QUOTE=Linhof] 3. perform shutter test before actual fire

I've measured shutter speeds and found that with older shutters it's helpful to fire the shutter several times to stabilize the speed, especially in colder weather. I learned this tip from a now deceased, long time LF photographer.

As for the worst mistake I've made, how does backpacking seven miles into a canyon and then remembering you left the film in the truck rank? It wound up being a very long day.

Sheldon N

17-Aug-2006, 09:33

Ok, this wasn't my mistake, but it's bad enough to share with you all. :)

A good friend of mine took an extended road trip from the Pacific NW down through Utah/Arizona/Nevada, hitting all the highlights (Canyonlands, Arches NP, etc). On his first or second shot of the trip, his Quickload holder jammed and the metal clip got stuck inside. He yanked the film out but didn't notice that the metal clip stayed behind. So, on every shot thereafter when he would insert the Quickload film packet it wouldn't catch or open the sleeve to expose the film - but it felt like it was. He didn't notice that something was wrong until several weeks later (after getting home) when the lab called to say that the stack of film that they developed for him was all blank.

Talk about painful!

Ron Marshall

17-Aug-2006, 10:11

John Powers

17-Aug-2006, 15:21

Then comes a time when you realize you have made many of these mistakes. You have learned much from them. You have practiced and developed procedures. You will make many more, but you will learn from them. Along the way your pictures become better as you practice, improve and practice.

The old cliché comes to mind about measuring twice and cutting once. You still make mistakes, but the ratio of good to bad gets better or you quit and take up golf.

John Powers

Donald Qualls

18-Aug-2006, 12:05

the ratio of good to bad gets better or you quit and take up golf.

Good grief! I've played golf, still own a set of clubs and a pair of shoes, though I haven't been on a course in years; still love the game, but my lifetime best score is 101 (29 over par). Large format is *much* easier to do competently; I *never* made as many "duffer errors" with 4x5 or 9x12 cm film as I do every time I drop a little white dimpled ball on turf.

Andrew O'Neill

18-Aug-2006, 12:52

having my light metre's battery die leaving me to "guess" the exposures.
making an exposure, being distracted by someone then removing the lens before placing slide back in.
thinking I made an exposure but not quite sure...
exposing four holders of 8x10...literally. (no film inside)
exposing without removing the slide
attaching an umbrella to my tripod to keep glaring sun off only to have a gust of wind "lift" my camera out of position.
Driving 35km to destination with the 4x5 reducer on the back of my 8x10 intending to shoot 8x10
stuffing some of my lenses in my backpack for the Canham forgetting to first remove them from Linhof boards
forgetting to apply filter factors
applying the factor but forgetting the filter
forgetting filter holder and having to hold with fingers...which get in the picture.

Mark Pope

18-Aug-2006, 13:33

Reading this lot makes me think that maybe a 126 camera with 'flower' and 'mountain' symbols would be a good way to go :)
I can see how it's easy to be distracted when someone talks to you. The problem with LF is that it's not exactly inconspicuous. When I was taking shots at the Gt Coxwell Tithe barn, I was under the focusing cloth and I could feel a presence to my left...to be fair, he didn't say anything when I was under the cloth (I would have jumped out of my skin!), but it was very distracting. Still, I did get the shot, although I now know the limits of my 75mm lens before vignetting becomes a problem. Ho Hum.

A.C.

18-Aug-2006, 23:47

The only thing that I can add to this fabulous record of, well, "technical errors" (you just have to pass them off as something!) is - I'm glad its not just me!!

photographs42

25-Aug-2006, 13:49

About 10 years ago I was photographing a hotel in Mobile, AL and I needed a long lens to get the view I wanted. I was on the roof of the pilothouse of a tugboat, which was sitting in a salvage yard about a block from the hotel. In between were a street intersection and a railroad track. I had a newly acquired Nikon 360/500 T lens for my Linhof but I couldn’t use it on the company owned Sinar F1 because, at the time, I didn’t have an extension rail. So I used my Tech IV with the 500mm (first time to use the 500) and made several images over about two hours. It was tricky because I had to stop down quite a ways to get adequate DOF and with the resulting long exposure I needed everything stopped. So I made my exposures just as the light changed and cars from both directions were stopped. Additionally, the trains were coming through every few minutes (there were 3 tracks) and the semaphores kept going up and down.

When an opportunity presented itself, I had only a split second to react, so I pulled the dark slide and waited, sometimes for several minutes. I got some really great stuff except for the secondary image from the pinhole in my bellows.:( I had never had that problem because I hadn’t used that much bellow extension before. I think the worst part was that the Hotel’s General Manager was with me on the tug boat and seamed to be impressed with my equipment and expertise; that is until he saw the results. :o

Enrico Faini

26-Aug-2006, 15:54

so far I have managed to forget to compensate for bellows' extension, to forget to set my lightmeter's iso setting to match my film, to forget to check for vignetting after using extensive movements, and to forget my darkcloth at home

Leonard Metcalf

27-Aug-2006, 05:58

Today I took a photograph with my lovely new Fotoman PS45. Forgot to focus it didn't I. My mate 'Wazza' made a point of welcoming me to 'Leica-itest', and the joys of photography with a viewfinder.

Mark Pope

27-Aug-2006, 06:15

Thursday I had a day off and ventured out with my Shen-Hao. I set the camera up to photograph an ancient gnarled beech tree in Savernake forest. The light kept changing and by the time I had metered, the sun had gone in. Then it came out for a few tantalising seconds....you all know the sort of thing.
Well, a break finally appeared in the clouds and I made my first exposure. "Great!" I thought. Then realised that I hadn't removed the dark slide. Muttering dark thoughts under my breath, I resigned myself to waiting for another fleeting appearance by the sun.
Eventually, another break appeared in the clouds. I took out the darkslide, made my exposure and replaced it. I took the film holder out of the camera and as I wandered the few steps to my camera bag and notebook, I remember sort of turning the film holder over a couple (or was it three?) times in my hands. As I went to write the shot details on the film holder, I realised that I had managed to replace the darkslide with the white side out and I couldn't remember which side of the film holder was exposed:o . By this time, I was in no mood to try anything else, so packed my bag and stomped back to the car.
On the plus side, earlier on in the day I did get a bunch of images that *should* be OK...

When I got home, my wife gave me a gift: a copy of Ansel Adams' "Examples" book. I took great delight in reading the first few pages over a cuppa. I took even greater delight in reading that the Maestro himself ruined shots by not stopping the lens down and other things. So there IS hope for us all:D !

Donald Qualls

27-Aug-2006, 09:44

When I got home, my wife gave me a gift: a copy of Ansel Adams' "Examples" book. I took great delight in reading the first few pages over a cuppa. I took even greater delight in reading that the Maestro himself ruined shots by not stopping the lens down and other things. So there IS hope for us all:D !

Not only did Saint Ansel make a lot of the same newbie errors many of us have made, he made a fair number of them well into the 1950s, when he'd been photographing professionally for 20+ years (and probably later than that -- I recall reading of an incident where he dropped a wooden 8x10 film holder into a creek and watched it float away, another where he double exposed his next-to-last film, after lugging an 8x10 camera several miles and up a couple thousand feet, because he missed the marking on the holder; one of those incidents, at least, was written by an assistant who I believe worked with Adams in the 1970s).

If I ever get my good negatives to look like his, I won't mind the snarl-ups so much...

Steve Bell

31-Aug-2006, 13:29

Going from a B&W shot to a color shot and forgetting to remove the red filter.....

Just got some film back today and found a very deep red provia shot, must have done as you mentioned, left the 25A red filter on. First time I've done this.

JW Dewdney

31-Aug-2006, 16:02

I've generally done really well in terms of not making egregious errors lately (in the last 15 years or so!). But when I've failed, it's been catastrophically. Like the time I did a GRUELLING 15 hour 4x5 expedition, exposing 30-40 sheets of film, and having walked several miles through wrecking yards, only to find out I forgot to load film in the holders (!!). Things like that tend to make an impression - you tend to make sure you don't do that again!

Michael Graves

31-Aug-2006, 16:16

JW Dewdney

31-Aug-2006, 16:24

I just made the biggest mistake I've EVER made in large format this past weekend. I double exposed a sheet of film.

Now I know what you're thinking....everybody's double-exposed a sheet of film at one time or the other.

But did you double expose over one of the photos your WIFE took? One that she can't get back to shoot again? Haven't told her yet. Anybody got a place I can stay for a while?

I'm thinking - the very best thing you can do in that situation - is to make another exposure in the same spot (as long as you realize what you've done at the time, of course). But if you do (or if you take doubles of everything - which is sometimes really good insurance) - you COULD, conceivably, salvage the first image somewhat by subtracting the extra image in photoshop. It probably won't be perfect - but you might be surprised how well it works.

Ralph Barker

31-Aug-2006, 16:53

. . . But did you double expose over one of the photos your WIFE took? . . .

Your best bet might be to ask your local florist if they give quantity discounts. Even if the wrong side of the dark slide was showing, that wouldn't be a viable defense. ;)

Michael Graves

31-Aug-2006, 17:03

Your best bet might be to ask your local florist if they give quantity discounts. Even if the wrong side of the dark slide was showing, that wouldn't be a viable defense. ;)

She didn't turn the dark slide over on either side of the film holder. But I'm not EVEN going there. And the last time I bought her flowers, I tried to tell her it was because I had been seeing another woman. But she saw right through my blatant lie. The ^%$%%%% UPS guy delivered the Toyo while she was home for lunch.

Ralph Barker

31-Aug-2006, 17:11

Well, if flowers won't work, you might have to consider a new Mercedes for her. (Long term, it's cheaper than a divorce.) ;)

Chris Strobel

31-Aug-2006, 18:54

Well this one wasn't really my fault but cost me my job anyway.I was running the E6 machine at a local pro photo lab, we had three boxes for film, one for all the normal runs, another for push and another for pull.Well the owner had shot his folks 50th wedding anniversary and given the sheets to the front desk people, who placed the film in the wrong box (push or pull, can't remember) and I proceded to run it with all the other normal film.Next day I came into work and guess who the owners frustration was taken out on :(

Donald Qualls

2-Sep-2006, 19:38

Well, if flowers won't work, you might have to consider a new Mercedes for her. (Long term, it's cheaper than a divorce.) ;)

Well, I guess it depends on the divorce. I've been through two of 'em, and still don't have the price of a Mercedes into the process...

Diane Maher

4-Sep-2006, 08:57

How's this for a mistake? I was making a pd contact print and when I was inspecting the print I noticed a little something on the neg. I went to blow it off the neg and wound up spitting on the neg. AACK! However, I had a cotton glove and a hairdryer nearby, so I dabbed off the worst of the spit and dried the neg, or I tried to, since it was still in the frame and I wasn't done exposing yet. Anyway, it's now in the clearing bath and looks like it made it okay. Even the neg, which is 5x12, seems to be okay. I think I'll stop for a while and eat lunch.

Patrik Roseen

4-Sep-2006, 09:14

I was out on a two day photo journey shooting mainly B&W, but also did my only two chrome sheets I had with me. I had saved these chromes for the 'best' sceneries of the trip.
When I got home I handed the holder with the two chromes to the lab for processing. When I got the result back there was only one processed sheet (?). Strange I thought...maybe there was only one sheet in the holder...so I just had to pull the darkslides to check...and ofcourse there it was...too late, bummer!

Donald Qualls

4-Sep-2006, 09:20

When I got home I handed the holder with the two chromes to the lab for processing. When I got the result back there was only one processed sheet (?). Strange I thought...maybe there was only one sheet in the holder...so I just had to pull the darkslides to check...and ofcourse there it was...too late, bummer!

Sounds like you get to split that one with your lab... :(

Patrik Roseen

4-Sep-2006, 10:16

Sounds like you get to split that one with your lab... :(

Donald, I forgot to mention I use the black side of the darkslide to indicate it's unexposed and the white side that it has received light...so this tells me I need to adjust to the normal meaning of black and white...come to think of it, maybe that is actually my first and biggest LF-mistake ;-)

Donald Qualls

5-Sep-2006, 15:25

Patrick, I do it the same way you do -- I couldn't find any real consensus on this when I was learning this stuff, so I chose a method that would be mnemonic for me: black, ready to absorb light, white/silver, rejecting/reflecting light. Now folks are telling me (and I'm gathering from other things, like the row of bumps on the silver side of the darkslide on some holders) that most folks do in fact put the silver/white side out for unexposed. I guess I could go in the darkroom and reverse all of mine, but since a) I'm the only one who uses them (I don't shoot LF color, no money for processing) and b) I'm used to doing it this way, I won't...

Ralph Barker

5-Sep-2006, 16:27

Psssst. Don't tell anyone, but I use black=unexposed, white=exposed, too.

SAShruby

5-Sep-2006, 20:17

Pssssst. Me too.;)

Kirk Fry

5-Sep-2006, 22:03

I wrote "Unexposed with a black sharpie on the White Side of my dark slides" I'm dyslexic. And yet another way to screw up, forget to turn the little wire hanger hooks to lock the dark slide after exposure, then yanking the next older out and pulling the dark slide of the one you just shot.

Patrik Roseen

6-Sep-2006, 04:57

Psssst. Don't tell anyone, but I use black=unexposed, white=exposed, too.
Donald, Ralph and SAShruby, you make me feel like being in nice company...

Maybe this issue is worth a poll, if anyone cares to start one? (Polls seem to be popular these days...)

Geert

6-Sep-2006, 05:06

Big mistake?

Well, I ruined 8 shots while being in France in july.
The bellows on my 4x5 got partially unattached at the front standard and I did not notice it untill I was setting up for some lilly shots at the hotel the same evening.
First thing the next morning, I ran to a shop to buy some superglue.

When coming back home after the same trip and taking out the filmholders to unload them, I managed to pull out one darkslide while taking out the holders from a protective bag.

G

Thalmees

14-Sep-2006, 18:12

Hi all.
Several months ago, while a photographic trip few hours from home, I forgot the cable release in one of the locations I passed by. I did not realised that I missed it.
That cable release is for the behined the lens shutter, BTW.
And ONLY, in the Next week end, I noticed that I missed the cable release & I have to stay for the whole two days unable to take one shot.
That cable release is costing around 270$ Only :) .
Three weeks later, I found a replacement.
Next time, I'll make sure not to forget the camera in the location.

AnselAdamsX

19-Sep-2006, 13:03

Are these only newbie mistakes or are the experienced pros doing this as well?

Chris

Andrea

19-Sep-2006, 13:12

Don Wallace

19-Sep-2006, 13:37

Since we are all in confessional mode, I don't feel so bad admitting my faves. I have made many if not most of the gaffs listed, but sometimes I STILL do the following:

- try to focus with the film holder in place and wonder why the hell it is so dark
- forget to set the lightmeter to the CURRENT exposure index, not the film I used last week
- forget to tighten up a movement so, for example, when I actually shoot, my front standard no longer has any rise but has sloooooooooowly slid down like a loose pair of underwear
- shoot the same sheet twice, leave the other side of the holder blank

But this is my all time fave and is probably a function of age: walk around looking for the darkcloth when it is draped over your head so you look like monk. Nothing looks stupider than an old guy looking around for something that is actually on his head

Stan. L-B

19-Sep-2006, 13:49

When I first moved to LF I found I needed a check list for things to remember but in time I found I got complacent -not bothering quite often to go through the list resulting in a slip now and again. Now, I put a notice on the top of the list which reads: "Check, You are not that good" It seems to work!

Donald Qualls

19-Sep-2006, 14:05

I was using my FKD 'camera' at the weekend. The shutter, such as it is , works by blowing and sucking to open and shut barn doors within the bellows. This time, whilst trying to complete an exposure of around 1/10th [some home!], the tube flew out my mouth making the exposure around 5 secs as i scrambled to find it !!!

Um, Andrea, most folks use a rubber bulb to operate shutters of that type; you can still buy the bulbs and hoses for them (try Retro Photo in the UK, here I'd get that stuff from Freestyle).

Does, however, give new meaning to the phrase "that exposure sucks!"

David_Senesac

20-Sep-2006, 14:20

I've done quite a few of the film holder screw ups mostly as a novice. Most of the time after discovering such failures I'll brainstorm what I need to do to prevent such. The one I'd do most as a novice had to be pulling out the darkslide while the aperture was stilll open. Just a lack of concentration.

The next most frequent problem is probably controls, knobs, etc that are not tightened up including one's tripod legs and head. If so pushing in and out a film holder is likely to cause adjustments to move. One needs to develop a religion about it.

The one thing I've never done and am always very aware of is either destroying by light exposure, film in my new film box or exposed film box. To do so would be catastrophic for a whole trip. Thus am very methodical about how I deal with that during film unloading and loading and make sure the boxes stay shut with rubber bands. Of course while working in the change bag one must be careful to not get new and exposed film mixed up.

This year I thought I was doing really well through several field trips. However on one of my field trips this summer I somehow managed to load four holders backwards while mosquitoes were bothering me. At the time my hands were inside my change bag so I couldn't swat them. And I was thinking and daydreaming about moving my backpacking camp. Despite the fact I religiously feel the film edge for orientation, somehow I didn't that one time given the distractions and lost what were the best few shots out of about three dozen exposed sheets on that trip.

I've wasted a few sheets in noisy environments because after depressing the cable shutter release, could not hear the shutter and then wondered if I'd actually cocked it. So instead of double exposing the loaded sheet, I'll pull out and trash that sheet then expose a new sheet. These days am just well aware of such when setting up in loud places.

I've caused light leaks by missing the dark slide slot when pushing it back in after an exposure by instead wedging against where the holder rests against the camera body. That is because sometimes in the field in awkward tripod setups like on boulders it is difficult to view from the front. What happens is I'd quickly notice the extra force required to push it in. Oops too late! Never do that anymore.

Anyone that uses a bag bellows with wide angle lenses needs to be careful before each shot about the bag being pulled away from the optical paths else dim areas likely on the sides of exposures.

I've made a few bad exposures by accidentally bumping the aperture lever after having set it up. That mainly happens when one is tripoded in a precarious location like along a cliff and cannot easily get in front of the camera so instead do everything by feel. In some situations where clouds are moving across the sky changing light, one needs to frequently tweak the lever a bit up and down and in doing so need to be careful. I carry a little mirror that I can use to let me check what's going on up front while standing behind.

I've caused light leaks on Fidelity film holders by not religiously taking care of those poorly designed wire locks atop the dark slides. Today they all get a small piece of duct tape across the top to make sure they stay closed. ...David