Film changing bag or tent

[Dwarak Calayampundi]

New to large format photography I just purchased a Chamonix 4x5 F1 camera and building up my kit. I do not have a darkroom at home or access to it. I will not be doing any developing myself at this stage. I only intend to shoot with a 4x5 camera dont want to go bigger. The bag or tent is intended for use at home or while doing some light travel I do not intend to use it on field.

I want to know what is more usable and pro's and con's while the bag is a lot cheaper and more portable is there a clear advantage of using a tent. Are the bags on ebay from countries like china etc any good.

[lenser]

The bags are a huge PITA as they are good for almost nothing but having the fabric collapse all over your hands, the holders and film boxes while you try to work. They will only expand your vocabulary in not so pleasant ways. They are light tight, but a constant war. If you are going for a tent, by far the best is the Harrison and you want the medium for plenty of open space to work in.

However, do you have a bathroom that is windowless? If so, it is simple to make them light tight by shoving a towel across the floor at the base of the door and then taping the edges all around with duct tape. Working at night with the lights in the next room off, you can almost certainly get by with just the towel. If the counter doesn't have much space, work on the floor or get a large enough sheet of plywood to span part of the tub and make that a table.

[Dwarak Calayampundi]

Thanks for the advice and taking he time to explain I think even if the tent costs a bit more I think is worth an investment I guess will save me from first buying the bag only to find out it is inconvenient.

[RawheaD]

Here's something I was told about by Bob Crowley over at New55

http://pics.lockerz.com/s/185467801

It's a "dark box", in that it's a large UPS carboard box with a couple holes in the front, to which I attached the "sleeve" parts of a used dark bag, then made a an openable lid on top with some duct tape to provide extra light sealing properties, then coverd with a spare dark cloth that came with one of the cameras I bought, and finally, equipped the inside with a very cheap Chinese infrared camera, which is connected to, again, a very cheap 3.5in monitor mounted on top of the box.

With this, I have plenty of room inside the box for loading and unloading 4x5 film (8x10 is a push, but can be done), and best of all, I get to "watch" everything as I do it.

http://pics.lockerz.com/s/185469459

The only downfall with the setup is that I can't use it for infrared film Partially because the dark bag and dark cloth were already lying around, the total cost for me to build this was like $35. Very very convenient

Great thing about this is that it's not only good for loading and unloading film, but also for minor operations, like getting inside a polaroid holder with stuck film, releasing *stuck* 4x5 Polaroid film from the paper & envelope

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=medFz...&feature=g-upl

cutting sheet film, and all sorts of other stuff. Any case you'd think "Gee, I wish I could conduct a surgery, in the dark, and be able to see it all, this box comes in super handy

[Light Guru]

I changing tent is definitely the better choice.

I use one of these.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...g_Room_25.html

[paulr]

I got my tent used from B+H for not a lot. It's cramped but workable. A bag would be more of an emergency measure. You may be able to find a used one without too much trouble.

Lenser's bathroom idea is a good one. Motel bathrooms are workable too. Sometimes a closet can be good. You just need a clean surface. If using a bathroom, steaming it up with the shower several minute before working with film helps pull dust and static out of the air. If using a closet or other room you can do the same thing with a spray bottle of water ... then wipe down the surfaces.

[BrianShaw]

I must be the oddball of this group -- I have no problems with changing bags and prefer them over tents. If I can't get it done in a changing bag then a darkroom is the only suitable substitute.

[Vaughn]

An internal frame made of thin plastic pipe can change a changing bag into a tent.

[sully75]

When I made this box I thought it would set the world on fire but no one seemed very excited. I still use it now, 3 years later. I've never had a darkroom. Works great. I'd go with a bigger box next time.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...%28bag-tent%29

[lenser]

Of course, that's right, Vaughn, but doesn't that pull up half the floor space into becoming sides?