Ballpark Exposure 105mm Nikkor enlarging lens 4x5 format

[patric contway]

Hello, I am using the four by five inch format to photograph indian corn. My problem is that I don't own a meter. I am using bright really bright, fall sunlight from an open window. I inherited a Nikkor enlarging lens. I have read that the exposures can be quite long, but haven't come across any numbers. I will develop today (using 125 film and dx developer in daylight lab) and have been keeping notes. I am just curious about what is "long?" First two exposures were 1min, and 2min. Then I double that 4min to 8min. I will go from there, but thought people here could give me some estimates concerning fstops and time. Another question is: what stop is recommended for good all around shooting to start with? f11, f8, f5.6? I know shooting this way (blindly) has alot of pitfalls, but am anxious and am learning alot while I go, also if anyone has pages that I should see please post them. Thank you and have a good day. patrick ps just switched the lens around and was able to get approxmately full bellows extension which if i remember is 20-30inches, can someone also comment on the effect of lengthening bellows and the exposure time needed to compensate. Something like: for every x inches add Y time. I know it wont be that easy but ball park is what I am looking for. Also, I have 35 mm pentax super me, any possibility this could work as meter? Thank you for your help!

[Bill_1856]

Yes; use your Pentax as a meter.

[patric contway]

Ok, did some more surfing and was able to find this site which is very detailed: <http://www.largeformatphotography.info/bellows-factor.html>

Still wondering how long is long for a starting point for exposure, for macro.

[Bob._3483]

Having used your Pentax as a meter (just set the f-stop to that which you are going to use in 5x4), you may then have to take in to account bellows extension if, as I assume from your post, you are doing closeup work.

Choice of f-stop depends on the Depth of Field you want. In 5x4, DoF in closeup work is at a premium so you will probably want to stop down as far as your lens will allow, unless you deliberately want to throw most of your subject out of focus - there are tables or simple equations that can help.

I think you have a lot of reading to do which will save you a lot of wasted film... Start at the home page of this forum: www.largeformatphotography.info and/or your local library.

Good luck,

[Alan Davenport]

As was already said, your Pentax will do the metering just fine. Remember that any lens, at a given f/stop, will produce the same intensity of illumination on the film as will any other lens at the same f/stop. In other words, f/8 is always f/8, regardless of the lens.

Since you're working in the macro realm you'll also need to compensate for the bellows extension, something your 35mm camera's meter will only do if you set it up at the same magnification ratio as you are using on the 4x5. Easier just to do the math, IMO. You also mentioned that you "switched the lens around?" If you reversed the lens, the f/stops may or may not be accurate as marked (though large format lenses might tend to be more symmetrical than smaller formats -- anyone?)

[Jim Galli]

You can take the lens off the ME and the ground glass off the back of the 4X5 and put the lenseless ME right up to the back of the 4X5 where the ground glass was. Look in your eyepiece and you'll see a little piece of your picture and more importantly you'll see (I hope? I used a Nikon FE-2 which does this like a charm and also has a meter that goes out to 8 secs.) what the ME calculates it would need for the exposure. Use that number with no further math! It just did the bellows draw etc. etc. for you through the lens (TTL). If you adjust the focus to make it sharp in the ME don't forget to re-adjust when you put the "real" groundglass back on. There may be about an inch of difference from where the ME's groundglass (yes it has one too) is compared to where the 4X5's is because you won't be able to get it at exactly the same place. For this kind of pic (most actually) it won't make any difference.

[Jim Galli]

Forgot the obvious. You'll have to tell the ME it has the same film as the 4X5. ie. set it for 125 asa. if that's what you're using in the 4X5. BTW this isn't ballpark. If you've picked a mid zone in the 4X5 picture it should be dead on.

[patric contway]

Wow, that'd fantastic! I can't wait to get home and try this. patrick

[patric contway]

Hello Jim, When you state: "If you adjust the focus to make it sharp in the ME don't forget to re-adjust when you put the "real" groundglass back on. There may be about an inch of difference from where the ME's groundglass (yes it has one too) is compared to where the 4X5's is because you won't be able to get it at exactly the same place." My ? is: How can I focus when using the me lensless? thanks for the help. patrick

[Jim Galli]

Patrick, You hold the camera up against the back of the 4X5 and you focus the 4X5 front or rear standard in or out until the image gets sharp in the ME. You'll see it coming into focus or going out of focus as the standard moves just like on the big ground glass. Jim

[patric contway]

Worked like a charm!! Thanks to all. patrick