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Mike Mahoney
10-Jan-2002, 21:06
Some of the previous threads have got me thinking just how digital are we here. I?d like this thread to be a small survey of our processes and markets.

I?ll jump first ? I use a LF camera for transparencies which I then scan myself and either size for client web use, or work the file in PS to outsource for digi tal printing. I e-mail proofs to clients, webmasters, and print house, with fin al file burned to CD.

We?ve already been treated to a number of digital vs. traditional threads recent ly, so as that famous inspector said ? Just the facts, please? . Thanks in advan ce to all respondents - traditional, digital, and hybrids.

Jeff Scott
10-Jan-2002, 22:01
I shoot black & white 4x5 film exclusively and do all traditional processing and printing to both RC and Fiberbase paper. Labwork is a custom b&w lab that I run in Cleveland, Ohio. We do quite a bit of work for clients internationally so I do see that there is a demand for traditional processes.

Labwork 216/621-7567

echard wheeler
10-Jan-2002, 22:13
no digital C1 8x10 with Ilford HP5 processed with a Jobo CPA for contact prints on Azo #2 and pt/pd

I pay for this by shooting weddings and a few portraits. I use Canon Eos's mostly and some Bronica 6x6.

and of course, my trusty and beloved fleet of Holgas

fishfish
10-Jan-2002, 22:33
Toy 8x10G, B+W all the way, RC proofs and fibre prints. Some 120 colour, 35mm B+W IR. Scan the work for the web, sell from the net, and through local galleries. Will someday (I am sure) end up printing digitally, but hold out small hope that companies like Berger will fill the niche when the big-boys (Kodak, Agfa, Ilford) pack it in for the digital dollar.

jnantz
10-Jan-2002, 22:39
habs/haer work, japanese bound books of streetscapes and portraiture all in 4x5 and 5x7. i do custom b/w processing and printing mostly on rc and fiber paper. i do have a scanner & digital camera 35mm and it is pretty much only used for family snapshots or when i sell some junque on ebay. - - - john

Matt_1193
10-Jan-2002, 22:47
4x5, 6x7, 35mm B&W neg and Color transparencies - roller processed. Scanned, stored and printed - all with Epson's best. I guess that makes me a hybrid!

Jeff Buckels
10-Jan-2002, 22:57
5x7s and 8x10s with Deardorff. Mostly portraits and still lifes. Ilford FP4+ in pyro. Silver contact prints on Azo in amidol. Platinum and palladium prints on Arches Platine.... I use a little Sony digital camera sometimes to capture an object I want to sell on ebay and, very rarely, to make a picture of one of my traditional prints to email to somebody. -jeff buckels

Ellis Vener
10-Jan-2002, 23:11
i make photographs for advertising, architectural, industrial, and editorial clients. For large format work I shoot film and have it scanned on a high end scanner.

If I shot catalogs, there is no question it would mostly if not totally be on digital media.

David G Hall
10-Jan-2002, 23:30
4x5 and 6x7 work. Velvia for color. HP5+, Acros in XTOL or Pyro, then scanned.

Ted Harris
10-Jan-2002, 23:49
Color landscapes are shot on film (usually Velvia or Provia) ranginf rom 6x9 through 8x10 and then most usually drum scanned and printed 16 x20 on an iris Giclee printer by my fine art lab, ej arts. Some are also scanned and printed as lightjet prints, depends ont eh subject matter.

B&W is processed conventionally in my lab and printed on fiber paper.

Animal portraits are shot both 6x9 and digital and printed on lightjet printer.

Catalogue work for craftsmen is done digitally for their website use.

abiggs
11-Jan-2002, 00:07
4x5 Canham, shooting primarily landscapes for personal pleasure. Color work is either Velvia or Provia, drum scanned, and LightJet output up to 20"x30". Few sales so far, only my own walls have my work on them. B&W is Tri-X, Jobo processor, HC-110 developer. Still learning, but getting better.....

Andre Noble
11-Jan-2002, 00:17
Bear in mind that respondants here will not be a representative sample of all LF photographers. Why? Most pertinent to the survey topic is the fact that by finding this question and responding to it online, we are all significant for a likely predisposition to computer usage.

Jim Chinn
11-Jan-2002, 00:20
Older 8x10 and 4x5 Calumets, and a Speed Graphic, for large format with 8x10 B&W printed with both contact printed for platinum and silver. Traditional developers, Pyro, D-23, Xtol, HC-110. Traditional papers, Ilford VC, Forte, and Oriental. Traditional post printing techniques with Ferri, Thiocarbamide, selenium and gold toners. Print sizes range from 8x10 to 20x24. Market is myself, and any prints sold from those I provide to local businesses for art work on the walls and some architectural and interior consignments. I also work with all other formats , with my latest rebellion to technology being the use of a HOLGA camera.

John Kasaian
11-Jan-2002, 00:24
I shoot 8x10s with a Deardorff and aerial 8x10s with a Gowland. Mostly landscapes and whatever else strikes my interest. I use Tri-x and tray develop in HC110 or D-76. Mostly contact prints or enlargements on an old,old Elwood using fiber based graded paper--- I'm currently experimenting with different brands. Ilford seems the easiest to obtain. Kodak AZO for contacts.

David R Munson
11-Jan-2002, 00:33
Color and B&W using 2 Nikons, 35mm Canon VT (rangefinder), Mamiya RB67, Linhof Kardan 4x5, and Deardorff 8x10. Much of my work is scanned for various web, manipulative, and digital output purposes. HP5, Bergger BPF, TMX, RDP III, Polaroid 54 & 79, PMK, Azo, etc. Still doing all analog as a starting point, but doing progressively more with digital as a second part of the process.

Nigel Turner
11-Jan-2002, 00:54
8x10 and 4x5 transparencies... both Velvia and 100VS. Landscapes only. Drum scanned on a Heidelberg Tango and output to Lightjet on Fuji Crystal Archive. Sole purpose is fine prints for the gallery market. 'RIP' Ilfochrome.

Kevin J. Kolosky
11-Jan-2002, 01:39
I shoot a few weddings each year on the hasselblad 503cw so that I don't have to raid the regular bank account in order to have fun with the Sinar F1 8 x 10 with 300 and 480 lenses. Process black and white with a Jobo. No digital yet. As an attorney I know how to use word processors but other than that I am computer illiterate. Kevin

neil poulsen
11-Jan-2002, 01:50
Photography for personal pleasure. Shoot 2.25 (old Bronica S2a & 6x9 on 4x5 Arca-Swiss camera) B&W and color 4x5. Getting stronger into 4x5 black and white. Just starting 8x10 B&W contact and enlarging.

Totally traditional silver media. I want to enjoy silver now and get more into digital later. (By that time, prices will have come down a lot.) I think I'm more the settler than the explorer.

scott jones
11-Jan-2002, 02:00
Exclusively 4x5 B&W, Toyo VX125 w/ 90SAXL, 150APO, 240 APO, folding Horseman viewer, Tri-x @ EI 160, Hc110, JOBO film development, all prints (proofs and final) on Ilford MGIV FB paper processed in a JOBO CPP-2 processor (yes, really!), selenium toned. Scan final print on flat bed for web use on personal site or for personal web-based projects for fun. Use Photoshop for any tweeking of these simple web only images. No plans for any digital output. Committed to silver based photography for one reason only, I love it and the hand skills that go with it.

Scott

Tony Karnezis
11-Jan-2002, 05:12
All film, then scanned. 4x5, 35mm, and until recently, MF. Landscape and macro with Velvia, sometimes Provia or E100VS. Scan with SprintScan or flatbed, print on Epson 870 or 1280. Occasional Ilfochrome. Starting 8x10 B&W. I shoot as a hobby with an occasional sale.

Riaan Lombard
11-Jan-2002, 05:54
Landscapes/portraits in 6x6(old hass MF) and 5x7 techIII, FP4 and HP5 in id11 or HC, FB(some RC) selenium toned. I work enough every day in software def. to believe that art isn't art if it is too easy.

jim_2073
11-Jan-2002, 06:45
Kodak film loaded in old 8x10 and 4x5 cameras, wet dark room using kodak chemistry, contact prints and small enlargements. beautiful fiber based prints very small fine art market. I don't even scan for the web and our christmas cards have tipped in silver prints. the only thing digital is this message.

fw
11-Jan-2002, 06:59
4x5 and 6x17 ;

Black and white ; mainly TMX, Delta 100 and Pan F+, developed in PMK Pyro or Rodinal, scanned using an Agfa Duoscan HiD, and printed on an Epson 1160 with Lyson inks on Lyson soft fine art paper. Still working on getting decent 6x17 scans.

Colour ; mainly Astia and sometimes Velvia, normally sent to a lab for enlargements.

Chad Jarvis
11-Jan-2002, 07:42
8x10 and 5x7, black and white only, using Kodak Plus-X developed in open trays in D-76 and printed (straight) on either Agfa MC Classic FB, Chicago Albumen Works Centennial POP or handmade albumen. I scan prints using an HP desktop scanner for reference, web display and email purposes.

Robert A. Zeichner
11-Jan-2002, 08:22
4x5 mostly, but some 8x10. TMY & TMX are my standard films, tray processed in Ilfotec HC. Once in while I'll expose a 4x5 chrome. I do have an MF backup camera or two which I take on trips where weather or wind could impede LF work.

Robert A. Zeichner
11-Jan-2002, 08:24
I neglected to mention that I print on conventional double weight photographic paper.

David A. Goldfarb
11-Jan-2002, 10:12
8x10", 6x6cm, and 35mm, B&W silver processes and color transparency (C-41 infrequently). I print all my own B&W conventionally and have little interest in the current digital alternatives for B&W, have done Cibachrome and C-printing in the past, but now looking to drum scanning and Lightjet for printing from chromes. I own a 35mm film scanner and an old flatbed scanner, mostly for putting images on the web, infrequently for printing using online digital printing services like Ofoto. I don't own a color inkjet printer. I also have a Coolpix 990, which I use for snapshots, text scanning and image archiving related to my academic research, and with a copystand and lightbox for digitizing medium and large format negs/chromes for the web.

Andrew Cole
11-Jan-2002, 10:23
Mostly pleasure shooting, some freebie promotional shots for charitable organizations that I'm involved with (generally for magazine story illustration).

Scan only to sell on ebay or to put together website (which I plan to do shortly).

Large Format - 8x10, 4x5, black and white traditional process only, FB and RC paper, have not scanned any yet (actually, scanned one to send to another large format guy for comments once).

Medium Format - black and white with some color, process and print B&W myself as with LF, send out color for process and print. very little scanned so far.

35mm - mostly color with some black and white. Send out all color, do own black and white. Have scanned several for various purposes. No manipulation other than simple overall brightness, contrast and color balance.

Joe Lipka
11-Jan-2002, 10:24
My film is TMAX 400 in 4 x 5 and 5 x 7 developed in split D-23. Camera is Wista 4 x 5 with a 5 x 7 expander back, too. I print almost exclusively in pt/pd in camera film sizes. I am using photoshop, pagemaker and acrobat to create enlarged digital negatives (up to 10 x 12)for pt/pd printing.

I try to use whatever works best for the image I want to produce.

Graeme
11-Jan-2002, 10:51
Film capture of the image (Velvia and FP4 for LF, Fuji Press 400 & 800 for 35mm) then scanned and printed on Lambda 2 printer. Most dollar value sales come from the 35mm horse race finish photos, while the LF stuff sells in galleries and market stalls.

Scott Walton
11-Jan-2002, 10:54
I shoot corporate and use RB's and 4x5. Pleasure shooting, B/W and some color is done with my personal Linhof III and Bronica's. Alot of the B/ W is printed fiber but I always scan and archive both for work and play. I am in the (slowly) process of getting into platinum and Kallitypes but it is taking me longer than I want on those...

Hugo J. Zhang
11-Jan-2002, 11:19
Old wooden 8x10 Deardorff. Bergger 200 film in ABC Pyro. Contact printing with AZO+Amidol, getting into Pt/Pd. NO DIGITAL!

N Dhananjay
11-Jan-2002, 11:55
5x7 and 8x10. B&W almost to exclusion. Shot on Arista film. Printed on Azo. Cheers, DJ.

Dominique Labrosse
11-Jan-2002, 12:58
Shoot B&W, Colour chrome and some neg, with 35mm, RB67 and my Graphic View II. I shoot some location commercial work for my day job, some freelance wedding and portraiture work, and to keep access to a studio and darkroom for personal work (people and still life) I am enrolled in a Continuing Ed photography prgramme at a local community college. I work as a production artist on a computer and when it comes to photography we are strictly slide to drum scanner to photoshop to Quark Express when building ads. Similarly with my personal work anything colour is now scanned (drum scanned for large outputs) and output on a lightjet. B&W is printed myself at the local community college darkroom. No digital capture yet.

howard singer
11-Jan-2002, 13:16
graphic view II & crown graphic for 4x5 b&w, rolleiflex 3.5e for b&w; contax rx for b&w; do all my own darkroom work mostly 11x14 ilford warmtone fb; am very computer literate and at this point have no interest in digital photography; no professional need, no interest in spending more time staring into a monitor

Bruce Wehman
11-Jan-2002, 15:49
4x5 and 8x10 black and white shot with either a modified Super Speed or a Wehman Field camera respectively, T-Max 400&100 and any outdated B&W flm I can buy cheap, printed on Seagull and Forte VC and souped in Dektol.

The above is paid for with a Day Job as a corporate staff Photog. Here I use digital capture exclusively....DCS-460, and spend a lot of time gazing into a monitor. Output to clients is mostly electronic.

Trevor Crone
11-Jan-2002, 16:07
Only 'traditional' B/W, 5x4, 6x12cm, 6x9cm. Films Delta 100, SFX200/120, 55P/N, 35mm Kodak IR. Developer Pyro. I use fibre and RC papers usually warm toned and all exhibition prints are selenium toned. I process and print all my own films a nd prints in my home dark room.

Regards,

Michael Chmilar
11-Jan-2002, 16:34
Landscape on 4x5 transparency.

Color:

For rough proofs: scan on Heidelberg LinoScan 1450, Photoshop on Mac, print on Epson 1280. Soon to try some 3rd party inks.

For final work: drum scan by West Coast Imaging using Tango, Photoshop on Mac, print on LightJet (at Calypso).

B&W: scan color trans on LinoScan 1450, Photoshop channel mixer to B&W, print using PiezographyBW on Epson 1160 with CIS. Soon to try Polaroid Type 55.

Doug Paramore
11-Jan-2002, 22:59
No digital, 4x5 and some 8x10, strictly traditional processes. All personal work is B&W. Use scanner for scanning prints to make business cards, getting used to it so I can send prints by e-mail.

Regards,

Mark Gilles
12-Jan-2002, 10:31
I use real nice Crown Graphic with a 127mm Ektar (1961) mounted in a new Copal shutter. Gitzo 1359 CF with a 1370M head. I use Ilford HP5+, which I tray process in Ilfosol hunched over my bathtub at night. I make cyanotype contact proofs on my balcony with 4x4 Sunprint Kits and an old printing frame. I print on fiber papers only, Bregger and Agfa MC Classic using a rental darkroom in town. I plan to eventually move up to an 8x10 camera and contact print exclusively. I like the simplicity making contacts prints and look forward to exploring alternative processes. Digital image making just doesn't fascinate or inspire me like capturing light on film and paper.

marcel
12-Jan-2002, 14:47
I use a Sinar P2, FP4, PMK, process and print all my negs.

Scott F. Feighner
23-Jul-2002, 13:08
I shoot primarily B/W with a Pentax 645n and a Wisner 5x7 with a 4x5 reducing back. I shoot old barns, collapsing houses, portraits, and what I like to call; "things invisible to see" Film choice is Ilford PanF 50 for the 645 & Ilford HP5+ for the Large Format. Pan F developed with Ilford DD-X. 5x7 or 4x5 processed in Ilford ID-11.

Prints made with a Saunders 4550 Dichroic Enlarger on Forte Glossy VC paper, souped in Dektol. 5x7 work is usually portrait work that I print as a contact print.....

Scoot

Fudge
14-Jun-2004, 16:46
If every company in the world stopped making film and paper, I would never go digital. If this happened it would be time to go back and make my own glass plate and contact it as a cyanotype. I shoot with a Cambo 4x5 onto HP5 or FP4 developed in HC110. Enlarging onto ortho film to make cyanotype contacts. Or enlarge onto Oriental Seagull, developed in stock LPD for normal prints. About once a year I get the urge to shoot some Velvia, it has nice colors.

Frank Petronio
14-Jun-2004, 19:37
Shoot mostly 4x5 chromes and scan them on my Epson 3200, or sometimes an Imacon. Print 8x10s at home on my Epson inkjet, or I get bigger prints from a Epson 9600. I often convert color to B&W, and print only on matte papers. I don't try to make my inkjets look like silver prints - that is a fool's game. But they do look good as prints unto themselves (matte color is very rare with chemical prints.) I no longer shoot 35mm or 120 film as my DSLR is at least as good as roll film. When I can get close to 4x5 quality from digital at a reasonable price and size, then it's game over for film. To me, it is the image that is important.

That said, I really like the process and using good equipment. Sometimes I get nostaglic for the darkroom (I was a decent fine art B&W printer) but the smell of fixer and acetic acid cures that. If I get really nostalgic, I could read the warnings on a bottle of Selenium toner.

RichSBV
14-Jun-2004, 19:55
No digital! All B&W silver. 4x5 with Graphic Crowns, Speeds and GVII's. 8x10 with Century Universals and 80 year old glass. I now like Ilford HP5 and FP4. Print on Centennial POP paper and looking into other alternative processes and still like Polaroids...

Keith S. Walklet
14-Jun-2004, 22:59
4x5, 6x7, 35mm, all color trans (typically Provia pushed two stops). All early work scanned on a TANGO. Presently, all but 4x5 scanned on my own Nikon 8000. 4x5 sent to West Coast Imaging. Output (customer request) either from my own Epson 9600 (Premium Luster or Textured Fine Art) or Calypso's Lightjet 5000 on Fuji Matte. Also manipulated SX-70 scanned on a LinoColor Ultra Saphir and output with 9600 or Lightjet. DSLR (Digital Rebel) now used for metering exposures and "happy snaps." Having a darkroom in employee housing in Yosemite was impractical, so I always relied on labs to print my work. In 1996 Bill Atkinson and Charlie Cramer introduced me to TANGO scans and Lightjet output so that finally, I could completely control my results from start to finish.

Ole Tjugen
15-Jun-2004, 00:52
All "traditional" - 9x12cm, 4x5", 5x7", 13x18cm, 18x25cm. 99% BW, mostly FP4+ and EFKE. Smaller sizes get enlarged, 18x25cm only contact printed. Use all traditional methods including gelatin/silver, cyanotype, POP, van Dyke, lith printing.

Dan Fromm
15-Jun-2004, 08:34
All chemical.

35 mm still mainly with Nikons. KM until the freezer is empty, EB, and TMX. When the EB runs out, will probably switch to EPP or EPN. Have to do some high res work soon, will use TP for it.

2.25 x 3.25 mainly with 2x3 Graphics. EPP and TMX. When the EPP runs out will probably switch to EPN.

I send all film out for processing.

Cheers,

Dan

Jim Galli
15-Jun-2004, 10:15
The gamit. From Fuji S7000 6.3 mega pix P&S to 8X20 film / contacts, and everything in between. Right tool for the job. I will add that when shooting for pure enjoyment it is 100% analog. Digital is work, film and all it's host is play.

Richard Fenner
15-Jun-2004, 14:10
8x10 E100VS although I still have some RVP I'm running down. Processing outsourced. Toyo 810M. Lenses: 150mm; 240mm; 450mm; 600mm. Most used 240mm and 450mm. Have an 11x14 and a good stock of film, but don't use it much - should get a lighter camera!

Up to now, prints up to 20x24 on Cibachrome, all outsourced. Am going to go the digital route, so am stockpiling trannys. All work for myself.

Favourite photographers include Burkett, Sternfeld, Simon Norfolk (mainly because of one book, Afghanistan), Michael Kenna, some Struth (but don't push it...), Wim Wenders (still and motion-picture photography).

Live in the UK, and 30 years old.

Carry it all in a Super Trekker II, with typically 8 film holders, Gitzo 1548 and 1570M; Sekonic L508; BZTS dark cloth; Muesli bars in one side pocket, water in the other.

Lose lots of spirit levels in the field, and some adaptor rings;
Day to day, typically carry at least a Konica Hexar AF with me, and sometimes a Minolta Dynax 9 with 100-400. Have started taking a Canon Powershot on 'proper' holidays (rather than photographic 'holidays').

I crop if I feel the need - cropping is NOT 'an admission of failure to see creatively'.

Motto: 'Too much talk; not enough photography' (been saying that a bit much lately).

Biggest mistake? Didn't pay enough attention to tripod when leaving a scene: result: one lost 1548/1570M south of San Quirico d'Orcia, and a trip cut short...last month.

Tired of photographers esp. LF photographers, relying on the use of recondite or archaic processes/techniques to convince people their work is of value; equally tired of overly-florid speech to achieve same end.

invisibleflash
9-Jun-2019, 08:42
Current personal work is 100% digital

Early personal work 100% film, then digitized.

Archival work is 99% film, then digitized.

Tin Can
9-Jun-2019, 08:52
I use every method of image capture, that I can afford and do.

My favorite is mind eye memory (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mind's%20eye) which I use when trying to remember a place 1 will never see again.

I take my time to gather an image by looking slowing and carefully at the object, perhaps a home, a building, anything visible. Almost a meditation.

I moved often from birth, but didn't start doing mind's eye until end of 9th grade, when I took a memory shot of the school I would never see again.

No, I don't have a photographic memory, this is intentional capture.

Vaughn
9-Jun-2019, 10:19
Non-digital except to get images onto the web.

Jim Noel
9-Jun-2019, 10:32
I'm with Vaughn. Non-digital includes many of the antique processes.

Vaughn
9-Jun-2019, 10:48
I'm with Vaughn. Non-digital includes many of the antique processes.
Does that make us antiques, too? LOL! Sheet film exposed and processed for specific 19th century processes.