my first 8*10 photo! And thanks for it!

[stehei]

Hello all,

After exploring the great bokeh of the Kodak Aero Ektar with great results,
I've been working on a budget 8*10 camera system,
I bought an old and badgered Burke and James, gaffered the pinholes,
and Jim Galli was kind enough to provide me with a 12 inch Wollensack
(losing the front plate of the shutter right before taking the first shot
was great fun, jim! But I got it reassembled the lot again!)

So, here is my first picture. Is it any good? Of course not!
the theme is rather dull (where are you from, the netherlands?
right!) , the light is without life, and I really
have to master movements, tilt, shift etc, because the focus-plane
makes a strange angle,

But then, this is the first shot with the system, and the detail in the
negative is what stunned me most. It's just terrific! And it makes me
want to go out and take more pictures! 8*10, here I come,

for all in here who never experienced the level of detail of a 8*10
negative, here is a 100% crop just below the axe of the windmill-blades,

Just wanted to thank you forum members getting me to this point!

regards

stefan

[Charles Carstensen]

Great fun, great photograph, composition excellent. Thanks, let us see more.

[Daniel_Buck]

I am diving in to 8x10 as well (just exposed my first batch of 8x10 negative over the past week or so), it's exciting to look at the large ground glass, and the large negatives! The only draw back I've seen as of yet, is the weight and possibly the notion that it makes my 4x5 seem small :-( Everything else seems to be a joy!

[John Kasaian]

You certainly caught the 8x10 flu! Thanks for sharing your photos. Rest assured that the 8x10 format only gets more....and more addictive! :)

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Congratulations on your new addiction. I remember when I met up with a photographer who was shooting 8x10 at Yosemite in California and I asked to take a look. He begged me not to. Man one look was all it took. Wait till you look at an 8x20 or 11x14. I now have the 8x20 and the 11x14 I'm building should be done in a couple of months. Welcome to the joy of big negatives and contact printing.


Jim

[Jim Galli]

Bravo! That first neg is a great hurdle to get over. Did you find the catch that keeps the face plate from turning and coming off.

BTW, that lens iirc is a Wollensak 12 1/2 inch Series 1 in an old Optimo shutter. Very funky but the negs are very sharp. Hope you have a lot of fun with it.

[stehei]

Thanks all!
I haven't found the catch yet, jim, beside 3 locking pins that
i can't seem to move in the wholes designed for it.
But the lens will be CLA'd soon, and indeed, it is very sharp
for an uncoated old beast!

I used ilford hp5+ for this picture , and I'm going to finish this
pack (24 to go!), but I'm wondering what 25 asa will do to
my addiction.

Didn't somebody on this forum state: It's just as addictive as
drugs, only it costs more!!

Tomorrow I'll be shooting some portraits (my core business in photography)
exciting!

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Thanks all!
I haven't found the catch yet, jim, beside 3 locking pins that
i can't seem to move in the wholes designed for it.
But the lens will be CLA'd soon, and indeed, it is very sharp
for an uncoated old beast!

I used ilford hp5+ for this picture , and I'm going to finish this
pack (24 to go!), but I'm wondering what 25 asa will do to
my addiction.

Didn't somebody on this forum state: It's just as addictive as
drugs, only it costs more!!

Tomorrow I'll be shooting some portraits (my core business in photography)
exciting!

I love the look of Efke-25 developed in Pyrocat-HD with minimal agitation. No need for shutters even in bright light.

Jim

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Stefan,

The catch in an Optimo shutter is hidden in the slot for the aperture control arm. Move the aperture to f/8 and look into the corner of the slot.

There is no 12 step program for 8x10, good luck with it.

[stehei]

Thanks, that was a hidden solution to my problem,
fixed!

regards

stefan

[MenacingTourist]

I'm right there with you. I haven't shot 4x5 much these last two years as the 5x7, 8x10 and 4x10 are (for me) so much more exciting. I haven't used a focusing loupe in ages :)

I first started contact printing with a bare bulb but when I switched to using a besler 23c and color head I found I could dial in the contrast and my prints really jumped up a few notches. I'm still a rank amatuer but I'm really having a lot of fun and for now that's all that matters.

You should joing a print exchange. Doing a couple of these really helped me to focus and I learned a lot from the doing and from looking at the work of others.

Good luck.

Alan.

[Mark Sawyer]

There is no 12 step program for 8x10, good luck with it.

There's a 12 step program for 11x14. If it's not within 12 steps of the truck, I don't bother. With 8x10, I think it's a 24 step program...

Congratulations, Stefan! Working with an 8x10 will change the way you see the world.

[Vaughn]

Nice image -- and one that is not as easy to get as it appears. The quickly receding foreground to the windmill (at about halfway up the scene) is easily enough handled by tilting the front lens, but the buildings create another plane that is vertical starting halfway up the negative. It can not be handled in a simple manner. A carefully placed plane of focus and some DOF to pull in the rest is needed...and a 12.5" lens does not have an over-abundance of DOF, but enough for most things (I use a 300mm for most my 8x10's).

Don't forget to come out from under the dark cloth occasionally...the view under there can be captivating!

Vaughn

[stehei]

Ok, one picture a day,
this is a friend that constructed the mounting flange for the wollensak,
just after taking this pictures (the sun just went behind a dark cloud)
we had to seek for shelter from heavy icerain!

Can't get over the quality. I scan these negs, but even printing
a2 with a epson 3800 seems rather, well, not doing justice to the
medium. And the level of detail doesn't seem to have limits, you can
just keep on zooming in, and there is another, and another level of
detail,

I'm addicted!

[Skorzen]

I picked up an old Agfa Ansco 8X10 when I was home on spring break, it needs a little work so I figured it would be best left for the summer... seeing this and thinking about shooting 8X10 is driving me crazy lol. I just cleaned up the lenses I got with it last night in anticipation of when I can finally use them (they were a little grundgy, but the whole setup was cheep :D). I really like that last shot by the way.

[stehei]

thanks!
use a sturdy tripod! I think that is half of all the trouble,

BTW, who on this forum stated: shooting LF is as addictive as drugs, and even more expensive? Remember reading it somewhere,
I think I'm starting to understand the truth of this statement,
tomorrow I'll experiment with some fresnel spots, let's see if I can
find some hollywood light!