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Thread: what is old is new is old, is new again....

  1. #1

    what is old is new is old, is new again....

    Hi, ive known about this forum for a good 10 years now since i started shooting 4x5 and really had no intention to join it.... seems like times have changed and this format wont die but theres fewer and fewer people who know about maintaining this gear and where to buy more new pieces. So here i am.

    I probably started shooting LF around 2011/2010, buying a toyo g monorail from ebay and a cheap (?) rodenstock 150 from a local guy who was "getting into 8x10 from 4x5". he rightfully warned me not to look into it (fast forward to now, we have the intrepid 8x10 and paper negatives are a thing, which is very interesting). i bought a field camera a few years later after realizing it was not really viable to carry my toyo in a duffel bag and gitzo on public transit...

    i stopped photography altogether in around 2015 and shelved my gear. most of the web places i had posted photography (tumblr, deviantart) i let the accounts slide into obscurity. i deleted my flickr account when yahoo became mad with power.

    come this year, for whatever reason after talking to a few people on various discord channels, i decided to pull out my field camera and finish off a box of harman DP paper and delta 100. i even discovered the D76 concentrate i mixed and left in a closet to rot in 2013 still worked... apparently d76 is hard to get now? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ with nothing much else to do ive been riding my bicycle into places void of people (as much as i can) and shooting 4x5 again. this is a rather long intro... i still might continue to lurk here, i dont know, well see.

  2. #2
    Vaughn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Humboldt County, CA
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    9,211

    Re: what is old is new is old, is new again....

    Cool! Welcome!

    My ride loaded up with 5x7!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails BikeLoad2.jpg  
    "Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 1999
    Location
    Forest Grove, Ore.
    Posts
    4,675

    Re: what is old is new is old, is new again....

    What's motivating your interest in photography? What are you after?

    Actually, D76 is being provided by another supplier, but under the same name. Ditto Dektol.

    https://www.freestylephoto.biz/categ...s?mfg%5B%5D=63

    There's been some problems with the first packages. The powder is darkening in some of the product. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved. There's also the option of mixing one's own.

    It's hard to say what's going to happen with LF color photography. There are only a couple of films remaining. As examples, Provia transparency and Kodak Portra color negative. For this reason, and the difficulty of scanning color negatives, all my color is in digital.

    By contrast, I feel comfortable that black and white silver product will be around for quite some time.

  4. #4

    Re: what is old is new is old, is new again....

    Vaughn: someday, i will have to concede and use a rear rack for my camera, for now im one of the cool kids riding a "gravel bike" with a front rack.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    riding a loaded 5x7 and all the associated gear i would imagine is no trivial thing, depending on where you are riding. i really do prefer this method of transportation though as i loathe hiking and driving you end up having to park in a non ideal place.

    Niel: i suppose thats part of the reason for the 5 year pause. i was doing a lot of portraits with a friend and that turned into many projects with different people so there was a drive there. i think one of the reasons at the time for lf is i had borrowed a friends RB67 and was so blown away by the enlargements, i just wanted bigger negatives for black and white portraiture. then she moved away and things happened in life. just around when i stopped i started looking into edward burtinskys "landscape" work and i had considered doing more abstract compositions and photographs, i might pick up off there. at the moment im just rediscovering and catching up with this format. theres a lot more resources now with YouTube and reddit, though i think photrio and this forum probably have the most accumulated knowledge however.

    my local pro shops actually still carry D76 powder i was just puzzled to see online stores seemingly not stocking it. ive started doing c41 development at home since its more convenient than to drop off at a lab. we have two local labs that still do e6, c41 and black and white, i just cant be bothered to drop off at the moment. i hear you on the color though, at least WRT to 35mm film. i have a rangefinder i dont shoot anymore cause scanning roll film is a pain. im still experimenting with the best color conversion workflow with c41 and slr capture. it does make me wonder if anyone will bother making a modern reversal film where the film base isnt for tungsten lamp enlargers.... im also hoping cinestill will do sheet film someday...
    2020, year of the revived flickr account: https://flic.kr/ps/3UDNGR

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