... and if the camera from #2 stops serving your needs, buy another that does.
... and if the cost/quality of processing from #3 stops serving your needs, implement step 4.
... and if you have leftover money from step 5, take your wife out to dinner.
... and if you make either errors or good images from step 6, start a thread so we can all laugh/cry/celebrate together!
Your headed in a great direction! LF, no matter how you want to do it is a great photographic experience!
This is hilarious!Originally Posted by BrianShaw
If I sent my stuff out for processing, I'd be broke long before I learned anything. Developing is dead easy and you can shoot 5 times as much for the same costs. You'll learn much quicker.
Agree that processing is easy but then you need to have the equipment to scan it. That's going to cost hundreds more. I suggest starting simple to see if you like it and spreading out the costs more.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
I will add that there are some very old cameras on Ebay at the moment. A couple don't use modern film holders. The wista, shen hao, tachichara are nice because they take modern holders and easy to find technika metal lens boards.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
Kent, you have my situation dialed in. That's exactly how I see it. I might get started and shoot a whole bunch, ship it off and come back with a few keepers. Then, it will sit for a few months when it gets hot in Arizona, then then what? Do I keep shooting? If I do, then spending more money on more equipment and get into the development and processing will be easy to flip the bill. But all now???? First things first.
Right now I'm struggling to settle in on a few target cameras to track on eBay. I'm looking for a complete set of gear so I don't have to worry about not getting matched equipment.
I actually like the idea of a monorail even for field work. Reality is, I will NOT be back packing this thing anywhere far from the car or home, and if I can fit it into a backpack and I can ride my bike with all of it, then a few extra pounds is not going to break me.
I need to go back and re-read this thread for the recommendations.
Why not get a Crown graphic and a 135mm press lens to start? They're fine cameras, sturdy and easy to use. Cheap. Not a lot of movements, but then landscapes usually don't take all that much. If you find you like LF but want a more flexible camera, then you can always sell the Crown, or you can keep it as a throw in the car type of camera. Any older lens you buy will probably need a CLA (clean, lube, adjust).
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
The most valuable investment for a novice in a new area of photography is knowledge. Adam is getting some of that here. Books and YouTube are other sources. A good manual on photography covers aspects of it that a novice might not think to ask about. Over many decades I've accumulated more than a hundred books on photography and photographers. They inform, entertain, and inspire me. Only by seeing what other photographers have produced and how they did it could I plan my own venture into photography.
Watch videos This one is simple, but I can do it even simpler as i eliminate 2 of the packets of chems and use old free trays. That Ilford kit could process 8-4x5 negs as that is the same as 2 rolls of 35mm
Many discussions here on the 'right way' to process film. People love to try every developer, every temp...etc, many mix their own special good one!
The best advice I got here 8 years ago was to just pick one developer and use it until you know it very very well
I still use that same developer and no I won't share as that just starts arguments. It is one of the oldest developers, cheap and liquid. I don't like powder chems, me lungs hate them...I do use special water, aka distilled water 80 cents a gallon. I wash with tap water that i won't drink. Sometimes i use my fingers as thermometers, of course we all advise to not touch any chem.
ILFORD SIMPLICITY Film Processing Photo Chemicals
Tin Can
I get ya!
You want prints to enjoy looking at on the wall.
If you're a computer guy, that appears as the way to go.
Folks here apparently receive a great deal of joy from tweaking images on monitors, and that's fine.
Others go some kind of hybrid or wet darkroom.
I prefer a wet darkroom and contact printing, but I shoot 8x10 and some 5x7. While I have an 8x10 enlarger, I no longer use it because I enjoy contact printing those formats.
If being limited to 4x5 prints sound good to you, go for it but don't be put off by that "limitation". You could always have it scanned and enlarge on a computer and sent off to a printer(you'll find plenty of opinions here on which is best as well as learning some funky sounding words like Heidelberg and Gliclee ) or set up an enlarger and go fully traditional, whichever way your muse leads you.
I'll recommend starting with contact printing---it's both economical to get into and when done well has a charming, intimate quality I think you may enjoy.
It is also helpful for understanding the differences between handling sheet film vs. roll film.
That way you'll begin learning how to operate your camera and composing your shots---arguably the most intensive part of the learning process.
Then you're on your own.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
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