I recently purchased a 7x17 Folmer & Schwing. It's in customs now and will be delivered on Monday. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! However, I've encountered a slight misfortune with the ground glass.
Needs:
Ground Glass - The ground glass was shattered during shipment. Where could I get good quality ground glass of this size? I think I'd like one with the grid lines.
Tripod - I have limited access (maybe overnight and weekend usage only and not all of them are functioning) to a large Gitzo at the university I'm employed at. I'm seriously looking into a Berlebach 3032 for personal use. Yeas or Nays on that one? Seems affordable and could potentially support this camera. Might be interested in shooting a few 7x17 vertical with the FS. Would a tripod head be helpful or necessary?
Film Holders: The camera includes one holder. I'm eyeballing one or two additional S&S film holders.
Focusing Cloth: There's a cloth market very near. I'm thinking about having one made. What would be a large enough size for this 7x17 monster camera?
Have:
Film: I've purchased the last box of HP5+ in 7x17 from Midwest Photo. 25 sheets should be enough to do me until Ilford's ULF 2013 order. Even if it doesn't I've got some tricks up my sleeves for some possibly interesting alternatives.
Film Sleeves: 100 7x17 from Climax Photo
Film Processing: Recently purchased a Jobo 2850 to use with the university's Jobo CPP-2. Tank says it only needs 200 ml of developer. Seems very low. Any suggestions on how to process the film flawlessly?
Developer: For the majority of my 35mm and 120 work, I've been using Diafine and Rodinal using agitation. Now I'm trying to use the university's CPP-2 for rotary development. I tried using both Diafine (Tri-X @ 1200) and Rodinal 1:50 (Fomapan 100) for 4x5 and it appears to be ok. Anyone objections to using Diafine or Rodinal with HP5 as rotary development in the Jobo 2850? I've seen some beautiful scans of FP4+ in X-tol. I might consider this in the future. I have access to D-76 (loved it with Ilford Pan 100) and have some of Sandy King's Pyro PMK, that has yet to be used. On the bottle it says not to use it in Print Drums.
I think that's about it.
Overall, I'm really excited to be joining the crowd of ULF users.
Lee
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