ducque
8-Apr-2007, 17:56
I've lurked here for some time ...
I feel like I'm a real newbie to LF, but I really have been shooting LF for about 8 or 9 years. In previous lives, I was shooting 35mm and MF.
I started with a B&J "Saturn 75" camera with a 4x5 back which I was carrying into the field. What a pain that was! I decided, in 2000, to build a field camera. It took me some time, but you can see the results in my article in View Camera in Sept 2001.
Since then, I've built a second folding 4x5.
I shoot about 60% LF, and about 40% MF today. I like to think of myself as a B&W photographer, but the fact is that I do shoot about 75% color. I do all my own darkroom work; I have developed a pretty good formulary over the years, and I mix all my chemistry from bulk.
I'm an inveterate builder. Not only have I built the cameras and the darkroom, but also a lot of processing equipment, etc. -- for example, a film processor which works much like a Jobo, and uses Jobo tanks, but is equipped with my microprocessor-based controller. I've also done a pin-registration setup for unsharp masking.
Perhaps my most ambitious project was to build a 24" intaglio press, for printing large digital negatives using traditional "print pulling" techniques.
I feel like I'm a real newbie to LF, but I really have been shooting LF for about 8 or 9 years. In previous lives, I was shooting 35mm and MF.
I started with a B&J "Saturn 75" camera with a 4x5 back which I was carrying into the field. What a pain that was! I decided, in 2000, to build a field camera. It took me some time, but you can see the results in my article in View Camera in Sept 2001.
Since then, I've built a second folding 4x5.
I shoot about 60% LF, and about 40% MF today. I like to think of myself as a B&W photographer, but the fact is that I do shoot about 75% color. I do all my own darkroom work; I have developed a pretty good formulary over the years, and I mix all my chemistry from bulk.
I'm an inveterate builder. Not only have I built the cameras and the darkroom, but also a lot of processing equipment, etc. -- for example, a film processor which works much like a Jobo, and uses Jobo tanks, but is equipped with my microprocessor-based controller. I've also done a pin-registration setup for unsharp masking.
Perhaps my most ambitious project was to build a 24" intaglio press, for printing large digital negatives using traditional "print pulling" techniques.