Beautiful Image Oscar! I was going to ask about which film and developer you'd start with as its been many years. I'm just setting up my darkroom for film and have a Zone VI field camera, Rodenstock 210 5.6 and wooden tripod (only 8 pounds). I was also wondering if you'd recommend a back pack for my camera and accessories. It's probably a little larger folded up but not by much:). I'm going to look at upgraded the ground glass to a fresnel as you recommend. I remember my old Calumet 8 X 10 was fairly dim and my eyes are as good when in my twenties! Thanks for all the help! Stephen Newfoundland PS This area looks a lot like the part of Newfoundland we live in as we are on the N. Atlantic in a fishing community.
Thanks for the encouragement! I'm heading back to the same area in about a week, for a short phototrip. Ohh man the Zone VI field cameras are beautiful! And a wooden tripod to go with that, such a great combo! Pretty much the pinnacle of field camera setups of what I've heard. Would love to try one out someday. I use a Mindshift Backlight 45l bag. Simply because it was on sale and looked like a decent bag. I've been happy with it. It holds my large format camera as well as my video-kit, with some room over for snacks and some waterproofs. It's a good construction, and not far off a proper hiking bag. It's fairly expensive though (when not on sale). Other bags I had on my shortlist before buying the mindshift were Schimoda, Atlas Bags, F-stop, and Lowpro Whistler. Haven't tried any of them, but they look nice and I've heard good things about them. For me 45l is a good size, but I'm able to squeeze in my kit in my old 35l Lowpro Flip side Trek 350. That bag isn't nearly as comfortable to carry on longer hikes, and was the main reason why I upgraded. But it feels like I'm on a constant lookout for that perfect camera bag. When it comes to developers, it comes down to personal taste. I would suggest starting with one of the classic developers, as it's easy to find developing times for most films. Something like Xtol, Rodinal, ID-11/D-76, or HC-110 are all good general film developers. But I must say I am a bit of a Rodinal fan, as it has a shelf life of a lifetime and then some. But I did start with Kodak T-max dev., and have been using that for the majority of my images. It's been giving me decent results, but I've never been a huge fan of it. It supposedly has a shelf life of ~6 months concentrated chemicals in an open container. But I've had mine for >2 years and just about finished the bottle now, without any issues. My point being, don't overthink it. Buy one and start, it will probably be fine. Film is easier, I always suggest starting with the cheapest you can get hold of. At least for a start, to learn on. If you're anything like me you'll soon enough be locking at the exotic stuff, like nocolorstudio, Washi, Dry plates etc. But for a start go with something simple, a nice classic grain, panchromatic film at ASA 100 - 400. Something like Fomapan 100 or 400 (dirt cheap, at least here in the EU), and there's always Illford FP4 or HP5. Best of luck to you!
Beautiful Image Oscar!
I was going to ask about which film and developer you'd start with as its been many years. I'm just setting up my darkroom for film and have a Zone VI field camera, Rodenstock 210 5.6 and wooden tripod (only 8 pounds). I was also wondering if you'd recommend a back pack for my camera and accessories. It's probably a little larger folded up but not by much:). I'm going to look at upgraded the ground glass to a fresnel as you recommend. I remember my old Calumet 8 X 10 was fairly dim and my eyes are as good when in my twenties!
Thanks for all the help!
Stephen
Newfoundland
PS This area looks a lot like the part of Newfoundland we live in as we are on the N. Atlantic in a fishing community.
Thanks for the encouragement!
I'm heading back to the same area in about a week, for a short phototrip.
Ohh man the Zone VI field cameras are beautiful! And a wooden tripod to go with that, such a great combo! Pretty much the pinnacle of field camera setups of what I've heard. Would love to try one out someday.
I use a Mindshift Backlight 45l bag. Simply because it was on sale and looked like a decent bag. I've been happy with it. It holds my large format camera as well as my video-kit, with some room over for snacks and some waterproofs.
It's a good construction, and not far off a proper hiking bag. It's fairly expensive though (when not on sale).
Other bags I had on my shortlist before buying the mindshift were Schimoda, Atlas Bags, F-stop, and Lowpro Whistler. Haven't tried any of them, but they look nice and I've heard good things about them.
For me 45l is a good size, but I'm able to squeeze in my kit in my old 35l Lowpro Flip side Trek 350. That bag isn't nearly as comfortable to carry on longer hikes, and was the main reason why I upgraded.
But it feels like I'm on a constant lookout for that perfect camera bag.
When it comes to developers, it comes down to personal taste. I would suggest starting with one of the classic developers, as it's easy to find developing times for most films. Something like Xtol, Rodinal, ID-11/D-76, or HC-110 are all good general film developers. But I must say I am a bit of a Rodinal fan, as it has a shelf life of a lifetime and then some.
But I did start with Kodak T-max dev., and have been using that for the majority of my images. It's been giving me decent results, but I've never been a huge fan of it. It supposedly has a shelf life of ~6 months concentrated chemicals in an open container. But I've had mine for >2 years and just about finished the bottle now, without any issues.
My point being, don't overthink it. Buy one and start, it will probably be fine.
Film is easier, I always suggest starting with the cheapest you can get hold of. At least for a start, to learn on. If you're anything like me you'll soon enough be locking at the exotic stuff, like nocolorstudio, Washi, Dry plates etc.
But for a start go with something simple, a nice classic grain, panchromatic film at ASA 100 - 400. Something like Fomapan 100 or 400 (dirt cheap, at least here in the EU), and there's always Illford FP4 or HP5.
Best of luck to you!