benmoffat
30-Mar-2009, 14:42
Hi All,
I am a newbie to large format and pinhole photography, I've been shooting medium format on my Bronica happily for the last few years but have recently been interested in a change and getting more experimental (just got into Lomos also). I just bought a lovely wooden 4x5 pinhole camera that didnt come with a film back, so I bought a polaroid 545 land film holder and some Fuji film that turned out didnt fit. I am getting very confused with all the range of films and holders around and was after some advice please.
Basically I would like to be able to see how my pictures are going to come out as I am starting from scratch, which is why I though the Polaroid back option would be best. My question is which route do you think I should go down now? Cost being the main concern.
1.Keep the Polaroid 545 back, in which case what film can I use? The range of Polaroid film that is mentioned in the manual (Polaroid 51-59,64,72 and pro100) seems to be impossible to find apart from boxes selling into the hundreds of pounds!
2.Ditch the 545 back, see what I can get for it and get a Polaroid 405 back instead. Again not sure of the compatability of films with this one or availability.
3.Forget Polaroid backs altogether and get a fidelity or similar "plain" sheet film back and learn from my mistakes, using normal transparency or negative films.
I looked into Quickload and Readyload, but I cant afford either the cost of the holders or the £60 a pack of film.I would really like to start using this camera after seeing many pinhole gallerys so would appreciate any help anyone could give.
Thankyou.
Ben
I am a newbie to large format and pinhole photography, I've been shooting medium format on my Bronica happily for the last few years but have recently been interested in a change and getting more experimental (just got into Lomos also). I just bought a lovely wooden 4x5 pinhole camera that didnt come with a film back, so I bought a polaroid 545 land film holder and some Fuji film that turned out didnt fit. I am getting very confused with all the range of films and holders around and was after some advice please.
Basically I would like to be able to see how my pictures are going to come out as I am starting from scratch, which is why I though the Polaroid back option would be best. My question is which route do you think I should go down now? Cost being the main concern.
1.Keep the Polaroid 545 back, in which case what film can I use? The range of Polaroid film that is mentioned in the manual (Polaroid 51-59,64,72 and pro100) seems to be impossible to find apart from boxes selling into the hundreds of pounds!
2.Ditch the 545 back, see what I can get for it and get a Polaroid 405 back instead. Again not sure of the compatability of films with this one or availability.
3.Forget Polaroid backs altogether and get a fidelity or similar "plain" sheet film back and learn from my mistakes, using normal transparency or negative films.
I looked into Quickload and Readyload, but I cant afford either the cost of the holders or the £60 a pack of film.I would really like to start using this camera after seeing many pinhole gallerys so would appreciate any help anyone could give.
Thankyou.
Ben