My new Bender is assembled with an eBay-snatched Schneider 180mm Convertible Symmar attached and I've taken the outfit into the backyard to capture the soul and character of my wife's ancient garden gnome.
The shoot was uneventful, but the film processing was not. In my excitement, I metered the scene for ASA 100 but was using Ilford HP5+ film (400). Ooops. I attempted to compensate somewhat in developing, but the negative was less than optimal (luckily it was monochrome). No matter -- I dropped it from my Yankee daylight tank straight onto the basement floor anyway and spotting it would take as much time as building a new camera. At any rate, here's the result of my first large format shoot:
http://upload.pbase.com/image/69141093/large
I must admit that the Bender is great fun and I'll enjoy playing with it for awhile - but I'm already getting restless for a "real" camera. Fortunately, my starter lens is just fine and should make the upgrade transition well. A Shen Hao in a few months, perhaps?
I'll shoot some more interesting subjects with the proper exposure on Delta 100 this weekend and let you see the results.
All the best,
Craig Roberts
Washington, Dc
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