Hello from Almelo, The Netherlands

Hello,

My name is RoLF Koster and unlike most introduction posts I am not new to LF land, so here's a short introduction.

I am a 32 year old dutch man who works as an electrical engineer. In 2008 I started with a canon 500D out of frustration with my digital compact camera. Within a week I had bought an extra lens and was sold to photography. During this time I also liked to visit thrift shops, where I regularly came across old 35mm lenses. These lenses were of course not as "good" as the lenses I bought new, but I still enjoyed them much more than all the canon glass. Gradually I found out that I found the technique most intriguing and I would like to use a large format camera, but as a student I had little money and space available. Because of these limitations, I had an idea not to use film in this large format camera, but to photograph the ground glass with a DSLR. And so it happened, the beginning of a fantastic adventure!

https://live.staticflickr.com/8020/7...66b25612_b.jpgIMG_1171 by Rolf Koster, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/7442/1...0c3b33b6_b.jpgScannercam by Rolf Koster, on Flickr

Fast forward to 2017: I finally got my own house with space for a darkroom :O. In the beginning this darkroom was mostly used to wind up the 120 film for development, but not for long. On a beautiful sunny day I came across a wooden camera with three glass plate holders at the local market place for next to nothing. However, this travel camera didn't have a shutter, so how are you going to get good exposures on film when the sun is out? Yes of course, paper negatives!
Even though I now have the means to shoot on film instead of paper, I continue to use the paper. Why am I so mad about that? I think it's a combination of the low sensitivity (so no shutter needed), the look (the photos look very old) and yet secretly the low cost.
Like many here on this forum I also suffer from GAS, but I often have a few standard lenses with me:
- Voigtlander Heliar 30cm from 1912, who is not in love with that wonderfully soft bokeh.
- Eagle regular quick worker +/-27cm F3,3 Petzval (I will start a thread soon about its sun hood)
- Hermagis Dellor F4.5 27cm, a moderate wide angle drawing pictorial.
- Dallmeyer Rectilinear patent 1 178mm F16, nice and dreamy because of some dirt inside :P

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...286f230c_b.jpgLenses September 2021 by Rolf Koster, on Flickr

Nowadays I take pictures with different cameras, mainly with:
- Eastman view camera No. 8x10 in absolute new condition (except the bellows)
- Burke & James view 5x7
- Graflex 4x5 with focal plane shutter
What I tend to take pictures of:
- Landscapes
- Ancient architecture
- Scenes that look >100 years old

As described above, my main motivation is technology, which is why I am always working on a project. An example of a few completed projects: DIY lewis style camera (5x7), Sinar shutter adapted to fit the Eastman view and Seneca, 8x10 camera for a 340mm F2.4 (12Kg / 26.5 lbs) lens and more pinhole cameras than is healthy for a person. The following projects are still ongoing: bellows for a 12x15 studio camera, 5x7 SLR camera, improved Seneca 8x10 restoration and a paper negative night camera. In the near future I will start some posts with the most interesting projects that may also help others.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...99b6f929_b.jpgDIY camera's crude example by Rolf Koster, on Flickr

I've had an account for a while but I'm not joining the discussion because I'm not someone who likes to write texts. I am also often much too critical of myself, which means that I spend too much time in a simple text (this story is a good example :P) and I don’t think my photographs are good enough to upload. Because I don't have a fixed setup to scan, I save this work, so the photos always come with a whole group and not to often.
I probably won't talk all that much, but hopefully I'll get around to doing a few reports of fun projects. Thanks in advance for all the valuable information that you have all archived here in recent years! This is really extremely valuable for beginners and pros and a mayor reason to join the forum.

Happy shooting/crafting!!!

Welcome! I like your collection of lenses.

Welcome!

Greetings, and thanks for the text and images both. Since you enjoy photography, not just cameras, it would be a shame not to post any images. We're all learning here.