only just found your channel now in 2023, but I really enjoyed watching this and felt that it was one of the better "year in review" videos I had seen, on any topic.
Wow, has it really been a year 😲.... Blimey. I like your take on Digital, very dry, very funny. A YEAR.... crikey. Going back a week, my wife presented me an absolute mint Mamiya six Automat, and I've just developed it's first roll from today's 9 mile hike up our local river..... drum roll....12 nicely exposed negatives yeay😊😊😊. A YEAR, bloody hell.😂😂. Joking apart, you have made some beautiful images this past year, and have entertained all of us with your humour. Keep em coming mate. Good luck for 22.
Man, Redwoods no. 2 is absolutely beautiful. The others are too, but when you put that slide up, I loudly said some accidental f-words in front of myself. Thanks for showing them to us!
Afternoon CD. Fun episode, thanks. I started in printing in 1972, and I eventually worked my way into being a scanner operator during most of the 1980's (I left the industry in 1990). We used to do weekly ads for MayCo, Bullocks, and a bunch of other fashion/garment industry printing. Almost everything with a model was shot with a 2 1/4 and all the static stuff was 4x5 or 8x10 (I guess tilts and swings are important)... Drum scanning an 8x10 was usually pretty fast, as nothing needed full resolution scanning when it was reduced to fit a 2" window on an 8.5x11 product flyer...
Man, I'd sure love to find a good condition drum scanner on my front door one day, haha. Strange that they'd shoot such a big negative just to down-res it so far, but yeah if they needed the movements that makes sense I suppose. Super interesting!
Hi Chris, enjoy your videos and all your content. I just got at auction an Omega View 45C (like your Toyo 45). Been following your Toyo 45 adventures. I am a 77-year-old who works out of my car mostly, but anxious to learn to use the Omega. Do you still have the Toyo? I don't see it anymore. Keep up the videos.
Happy new year Chris! Glad I found your channel; it's very "no nonsense" with a great calmness that suits the topic well. Also great images! One tip though: The audio is great, but there's a smidge too much bottom end IMO.
Just subscribed to your channel. I can only dream of taking pictures with a VC, so I'm really envious! I found your pictures simply AMAZING! The colors, the details, the careful composition, those are the reasons for large format in the first place. Have fun with your journey!
I have really enjoyed following your videos Chris. Looks like you captured a nice crop of images in 2021. I very much like the photograph the of lone tree in Bryce and the first image of the redwoods. Keep up the great work, thank you for sharing, and I look forward to your future videos.
You had a great 1st year of large format, just starting my journey and hoping to have your level of success. Thanks for sharing your journey, I'm learning alot!
It's been a good journey so far and quite enjoyable to tag along and a fine set of images. The little tree in #2 did not escape my attention when I was there as well, although your image is much nicer one. Happy New Year and all the best as the adventure continues.
Hi Chris, your comment re exposure highlights one of the issues I struggle with on large format...there is no "correct" exposure. It's completely dependant how you render it...and while some suggest you should get "exposure right the first time", on every single shoot I see from all you tubers, and my own work, there is a huge difference between images with even 1/3 stop difference. Bracketing is pretty important and it gets expensive. I've e enjoyed all your work over the last year. I shorty first large format when I was 16, now I'm 41, and I picked up x4 completely black shots from the lab a few days ago...it's unforgiving when it fails, but amazing when the shots are good. Keep it up!
Thanks Phil! I can definitely relate with the exposure thing. I think it’s human nature to look for known constants while learning something like film exposure, a sort of standard candle that tells us “do this and the exposure will be correct”. I’m still going through this myself after having learned that a correct exposure is a completely relative concept, depending on multiple factors such as creative vision and post processing intent. What looks perfect on a light table might not always scan the best, or even produce the best prints. Add to that the variable characteristics of the different types of film and you get a pretty crazy mix of things to juggle in the field while making your creative decisions.. I totally feel your pain, haha.
Happened across your channel some time ago during your view camera journey. It has been an absolute joy to watch your view camera journey and how you've gone up the VC learning curve. What is not often appreciated is how much using a view camera and that image making method-tradition can teach about Photography and about the Visual Creative arts. There is FAR more than just the technical-technique aspects to Photographic image making, there is the entire world of creative artistic image making that so many photographers are not aware of.. This long art history of painters, sculptors, weavers and more can apply to Photography in ways that is not always apparent. Continue and enjoy this view camera journey as there is much more to discover and experience ahead for you and your view camera in the future. There will come a time when the mechanics and technical aspects of all involved with view camera image making has been achieved, that is them when creative artistic expression can become the primary motive force for image making... regardless of the image making tool-device applied.
Thank you for watching and for the wisdom as always! I've appreciated the time you've taken to comment over the year and offer insight. There's been a lot in there so thank you, and happy new year!
That's a good set for the year and the second is spectacular. Enjoyed following your adventures this year and looking forward to the next. All the best for 22
Great images!! Yeah I’m amazed at how many images I shoot with large format. I think I have shot about 30 images this year. It really slows one down, definitely not like shooting through a roll of film. Great pics and thanks for sharing!!!!
Thank you! The slower nature of LF has been quite an adjustment for me this year but I think I'm starting to really appreciate it as well. Seems like my satisfaction rate is higher too!
"one thing I grossly underestimated when I first got my view camera, was how much it would teach me about photography"... I'm not sure if I quoted you exactly correct, but you are so correct. I'm on year 3 shooting 4x5. It has taught me so much about composition, light, time, moment, perspective. It's hard to describe how much it can teach you in you take the time to learn. I absolutely have fallen in love with 4x5, and I'm happy to see you progressing on your journey. Large format is a learning curve, but that's the fun IMO.
Thanks Bryce! Totally agree, the learning curve is steep but it’s also rewarding to see improvement in the results. Also agree it’s hard to describe, I realized while making this video just how hard it was to put into words how much I’ve learned in the process without going off on an hours long tangent, ha. I hope to share smaller chunks of that on the channel in the coming months and perhaps I’ll have a new list of lessons learned for next year’s wrap up video!
Happy New Year and congratulations on your first year shooting large format. I enjoyed both the insights into your first year and also your favourite images of the year. I absolutely love the redwood images. I’m looking forward to seeing your work from 2022 and beyond.
Espectacular photos! I truly have enjoyed your journey in LF this past year Chris, may 2022 bring many more photography adventures for you to share with us. Look forward to what’s to come!
Some wonderful points in this, reciprocity failure and just what a 4x5 image offers. Nice images, love the lone tree on the earth wall. Good call on the 'blue' one, there-in lays the unpredictable magic in process. I too took plunge into large format during the pandemic. Still plunging and got sidetracked by doing pinhole homemade style but echo how the mediums teach one a lot. Subscribing.
Thanks Jim! It's a little funny because I've been toying around with some homemade ideas myself. The pinhole stuff seems like a common place to get started, I just need to find time for that and all the other projects I'd like to do, ha!
@@ChrisDarnell you’re welcome and glad you are thinking about experimenting with pinhole! I have and continue to really enjoy. I have built 5 homemade and reinvented a Cameradactyl kit. As crazy ass as it is I got into pinhole to have a wide angle 4x5 option in that I only had a standard 150 for my view camera and at the time I didn’t want to spend the cash on a 90mill. Anyhow pinhole is a good journey filled with magic when it’s right! Loved your stuff in the redwoods. In my retirement I hope to return to Death Valley for photography where I’ve been for a number of charity bike events.
Terrific stuff, Chis, well done indeed. There definitely is a steep learning curve with LF, but you've picked it up really quickly and are doing fantastic work. Looking forward to seeing what you see this year.
I’ve really, really enjoyed your journey. Nice recap. I kept waiting for 2021 to be better. I know 2022 will be better because I’m going to make it better- photography included.
Thanks Jim! Agreed, it seemed like 2021 was just a bad sequel to 2020.. haha. I like your optimism and I share your resolution; I really hope to get out to more places in 2022 so we'll see how I do!
Happy New Year!!! you made a magnificent photographic selection, each one of them is wonderful. Congratulations on this first year of large format and many more to come.
Happy New Year! Thanks for sharing your 2021 favorites. FYI - in the Capitol Reef shot with coal seams, the texture seen on the base of the overlying sandstone are trace fossils which represent burrows of deposit feeding organisms - most commonly crustaceans. The sandstones and shales in this area are upper Cretaceous (100 to 66 mya). If you are lucky, you might even find a dinosaur track.
Thanks Bill and Happy New Year! That's awesome! Those squiggly textures were one of the main reasons I set up on this particular spot because I found them so interesting. That just amplifies it for me so thank you!
Very enjoyable video Chris. Both informative and inspirational as the images were reviewed. No I want to go out. Winter here in the southeast is unattractive but perhaps if I look closer....
Thanks Philip! Thats another reason I like to shoot tighter, smaller compositions as well; sometimes the greater landscape is just plain uninspiring but often I can find a detail to zoom in on.
You could scan a 4x6 filing card and get a hundred megapixel file. More informative would be to shoot the same thing on 4x5 and on digital, and enlarge both images until you started losing detail (empty magnification). Then you could calculate an equivalent megapixel rating for the 4x5 that would have some validity. I would be very interested to see this. Shooting large format makes one more deliberate. This alone can improve one's photography.
Thanks for the idea Alec, perhaps one day. Although I should have mentioned in the video that my intention wasn't to scientifically invalidate digital as a medium, rather to point out that I had learned this last year that the potential for large format was a lot higher than I had realized initially. It would be interesting to see how far I can push enlargements on each; I'll have to mull that over a bit and see if I can come up with something fun to do. Totally agree on the deliberate nature of LF, that perhaps would have been a better talking point for this video.
Thanks Jonathan! I've just been using the Fidelity Elite / Lisco Regal II plastic holders so far. Mostly because they're really cost effective to buy in bulk so I can dedicate sets of holders to specific film types. The stickers you see are color coded to indicate the film emulsion (Velvia, Provia, Ektar, TMax, etc) as well as a holder number and side A/B designation so I can keep notes on what I've loaded and exposed.. although I've been terrible at taking field notes, haha.
I've enjoyed the years journey with you, Chris! Your videos have given me wonderful insight into large format photography. Also, what a pleasure seeing your sense of humor in this video. May you & your loved ones have a wondeful & healthy New Year.
I think my favorite that you shot this year was the first sun coming right at the camera through the redwoods scene. Really nice mood in that one. I'm curious how you feel about the G monorail at this point? I think I've decided to dump my CX monorail for a 45A field camera.
Thanks Jason, I very nearly put that one in as well. Not really sure why I didn't.. I suppose I had to make a call somewhere as they can't ALL be my favorites, haha. Honestly, the 45G has been outstanding to make images with, but it's been a real pain (literally) to carry on the back. I have to admit I've also shopped around for a 45A, and a few others too.
Really liked that last one. The Toyo is certainly serving you well. Any thoughts about using a field camera rather than a monorail? Would it change your approach at all?
Thanks Bernard! Honestly, it probably would change things somewhat. Depending on the field camera I suspect that significantly lightening the load on my back would enable me to push a lot further, or at least miss less opportunities. I see a bit of a trade off there though, since having the monorail with all its geared adjustments and super rigid frame makes it a joy to shoot closeup subjects on the ground. Truth is I’ve begun exploring the field camera route and a couple future videos should shed some light on this as well 😉
@@ChrisDarnell I love monorails for that very reason. They’re infinitely adaptable and rarely let you down. All the same, I look forward to seeing whatever other options you’ve been exploring.
Chris, Do you process your negatives or send them off? Great video, and you're 100% correct on learning manual/"M" setting before jumping into large format film first is very true.
Thanks Greg, for the most part if it's something mission-critical I still send them off to the lab, but I've been doing a bit of black and white at home lately and it's been a lot of fun to experiment!
Then there is darkroom enlarging. The 5x4 enlargers are too large for my little bathroom darkroom. I use a 100mm Schneider Enlarging lens to print 120 negatives. I have an Epson V600 scanner for colour negatives. You should comment on lens coverage and the schempflug principle using movements. So much more for you to learn. Good luck on your photography journey
And then there is the darkroom.. very true haha. It really would be fun to try some darkroom printing in the future but I don't know.. we'll see how things go. I seem to find myself waist-deep in new enterprises all the time so I won't say never.. I can neither confirm nor deny plans for an upcoming video on lens coverage and / or camera movements.. 😉
When you started 2021 with your new view camera, I started 2021 with a new medium format film camera and although I have many images I like from it, my success rate has not been as good as yours (jealous! LoL).
Wow, I've been shooting large format (in low volume, as a frequently broke amateur) for about nineteen years -- but I've never done a *test shot* on reversal film...
Haha it was a very intentional photograph, I just meant the reason for being out with the camera was to try a new lens I just bought. Thanks for watching!
@@ChrisDarnell Yeah, I thought it was more like that -- at the least, you'd want to be pretty confident the shutter is accurate (or at least have a corrected speed scale) for reversal. Confession: I've never shot any sort of color in large format, except 4x5 Polaroids (and now Instax with my LomoGraflok). That's something I want to try this year -- get a box of Portra and shoot some negatives (I process my own C-41, so not as expensive as all that), before I try Provia or Velvia.
One remark: The pixel calculation you did has some problems. The resolution of the file doesn‘t matter, when the camera can‘t resolve the subject at that level. You would need to do some resolution test targets, which would give you the ‚real‘ resolution of your camera/lens/ISO/etc. combo. This is always significantly less than the nominal resolution of a digital camera. The same for the scans: The Epson 850 PRO e.g. delivers an max. effective resolution of around 2300 DPI. There is a whole science around this topic. For practical purposes you could just do a comparison (same subject, same composition, lighting etc.) and then do a pixelpeep. I have not seen a comparison of a 4x5 with a 150 Mpix Phase One, but I would be surprised if the 4x5 would win (and that is after using the sharpest film, perfect development and drum scanning). On a smaller level my Fuji GX 680 looses against my Nikon D850 every time ( normal conditions with 400 ISO film, normal development and flatbed scanning). … and still I just ordered a 4x5 camera. ;-)
Thanks Jan. Seems I opened a door I really didn't mean to with that segment of the video. I really just wanted to illustrate that I'd learned the potential of LF was a lot higher than I'd realized in the beginning and that it has impacted my workflow, although I did a terrible job at communicating that in the video so apologies for that. To be honest objectively measuring how much better one format is than another is the opposite of what I enjoy about photography so I'm not sure why I even approached the topic. Congrats on the 4x5, I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it!
Great photos and review of the year. You put a lot of work into your videos, put me to shame. I see you have been haunted by the phantom 👻 of reciprocity law failure of low light conditions 🌄 and the cost of a mistake $. Look forward to your other videos and your posts in 2022 😀
Much of view camera images is NOT about "sharpness-resolution" and those overly commonly obsessed monikers circulated among Photography media and it's audience. While sheet film can and does offer very high image quality, there is FAR more to sheet film image excellence than these technical and image making methods. There is depth and subtleties excellent view camera sheet film images can offer other image recording methods cannot. These image subtleties are not always appreciated by the viewing audience as their values might not be same as those of the Photographer_creative artistic image maker. Don't obsess too much with the technical and related aspects of Photography, in the finished print, it is much about what the print has to say to it's viewer and the viewer's emotional response to the image in their eyes and mind.
only just found your channel now in 2023, but I really enjoyed watching this and felt that it was one of the better "year in review" videos I had seen, on any topic.
Thanks so much Ryan!
Picture of the lonesome tree is awesome.
Thank you!
Great images, Chris. There is nothing like a big, bright chrome on a light table. Keep up the good work.
So much agree, thanks Tim!
Love your videos. What a great selections of images. Inspiring, and a wonderful contrast to the depressing news of the world.
Thanks Jack for the kind words! Photography has been a great escape for me from all of that and I'm honored to share it!
Wow, has it really been a year 😲.... Blimey. I like your take on Digital, very dry, very funny. A YEAR.... crikey. Going back a week, my wife presented me an absolute mint Mamiya six Automat, and I've just developed it's first roll from today's 9 mile hike up our local river..... drum roll....12 nicely exposed negatives yeay😊😊😊.
A YEAR, bloody hell.😂😂.
Joking apart, you have made some beautiful images this past year, and have entertained all of us with your humour. Keep em coming mate. Good luck for 22.
Thanks Kit! The years just keep piling up, huh? Congrats on the Mamiya.. I'm a bit jealous 😒 haha. Enjoy the new camera and happy new year!
Brilliant! I love the textures.... Thank you for sharing your work and your journey.
Thank you and thanks for watching!
Man, Redwoods no. 2 is absolutely beautiful. The others are too, but when you put that slide up, I loudly said some accidental f-words in front of myself. Thanks for showing them to us!
That’s very kind of you Zoltan, haha. Thanks for watching!
Wonderful images. I really like the narration about your journey into large format photography. Very inspirational.
Thanks for watching Mike!
Afternoon CD. Fun episode, thanks. I started in printing in 1972, and I eventually worked my way into being a scanner operator during most of the 1980's (I left the industry in 1990). We used to do weekly ads for MayCo, Bullocks, and a bunch of other fashion/garment industry printing. Almost everything with a model was shot with a 2 1/4 and all the static stuff was 4x5 or 8x10 (I guess tilts and swings are important)... Drum scanning an 8x10 was usually pretty fast, as nothing needed full resolution scanning when it was reduced to fit a 2" window on an 8.5x11 product flyer...
Man, I'd sure love to find a good condition drum scanner on my front door one day, haha. Strange that they'd shoot such a big negative just to down-res it so far, but yeah if they needed the movements that makes sense I suppose. Super interesting!
Happy New Year! ❤️ Greetings from Poland! 😉 Marcin
Thanks Marcin, Happy New Year!
Hi Chris, enjoy your videos and all your content. I just got at auction an Omega View 45C (like your Toyo 45). Been following your Toyo 45 adventures. I am a 77-year-old who works out of my car mostly, but anxious to learn to use the Omega. Do you still have the Toyo? I don't see it anymore. Keep up the videos.
I enjoyed your photos a lot and look forward to see more of them. All of the photos had very peaceful feel. Keep it up.
Thank you for watching and for the kind words!
Happy new year Chris! Glad I found your channel; it's very "no nonsense" with a great calmness that suits the topic well. Also great images!
One tip though: The audio is great, but there's a smidge too much bottom end IMO.
Thanks Martin, happy new year! I'll revisit the EQ curve, thanks for the feedback!
Just subscribed to your channel. I can only dream of taking pictures with a VC, so I'm really envious! I found your pictures simply AMAZING! The colors, the details, the careful composition, those are the reasons for large format in the first place. Have fun with your journey!
Thanks Davide for the kind words! Truthfully, getting started with a view camera might be easier than you think…
I have really enjoyed following your videos Chris. Looks like you captured a nice crop of images in 2021. I very much like the photograph the of lone tree in Bryce and the first image of the redwoods. Keep up the great work, thank you for sharing, and I look forward to your future videos.
Thanks Rene! I'm hopeful for a productive 2022, fingers crossed🤞🏻
You had a great 1st year of large format, just starting my journey and hoping to have your level of success. Thanks for sharing your journey, I'm learning alot!
Thank you! Congrats on getting into LF, best of luck and conditions!
Well-done and well narrated!
Thank you!
Happy New Year to You, too ! Let the glasses always be half filled :-)
Thanks Rolf!
Happy new year to you Chris, no 9 the foggy forest is my favorite, you caught the light and the fog very well
Thanks Nelson!
A great first year 😎
Thanks Ken!
Happy New Year Chris. Looking forward to more images and travels in 2022. All the best to you and family...
Thanks Wayne, happy new year to you and yours as well!
It's been a good journey so far and quite enjoyable to tag along and a fine set of images. The little tree in #2 did not escape my attention when I was there as well, although your image is much nicer one. Happy New Year and all the best as the adventure continues.
Thanks Frank! Happy new year and here's to a productive 2022 for both of us!
Hi Chris, your comment re exposure highlights one of the issues I struggle with on large format...there is no "correct" exposure. It's completely dependant how you render it...and while some suggest you should get "exposure right the first time", on every single shoot I see from all you tubers, and my own work, there is a huge difference between images with even 1/3 stop difference. Bracketing is pretty important and it gets expensive.
I've e enjoyed all your work over the last year. I shorty first large format when I was 16, now I'm 41, and I picked up x4 completely black shots from the lab a few days ago...it's unforgiving when it fails, but amazing when the shots are good. Keep it up!
Thanks Phil! I can definitely relate with the exposure thing. I think it’s human nature to look for known constants while learning something like film exposure, a sort of standard candle that tells us “do this and the exposure will be correct”. I’m still going through this myself after having learned that a correct exposure is a completely relative concept, depending on multiple factors such as creative vision and post processing intent. What looks perfect on a light table might not always scan the best, or even produce the best prints. Add to that the variable characteristics of the different types of film and you get a pretty crazy mix of things to juggle in the field while making your creative decisions.. I totally feel your pain, haha.
All amazing images!!! ver insigtful video again!
Thanks Carlos!
Happened across your channel some time ago during your view camera journey. It has been an absolute joy to watch your view camera journey and how you've gone up the VC learning curve. What is not often appreciated is how much using a view camera and that image making method-tradition can teach about Photography and about the Visual Creative arts. There is FAR more than just the technical-technique aspects to Photographic image making, there is the entire world of creative artistic image making that so many photographers are not aware of.. This long art history of painters, sculptors, weavers and more can apply to Photography in ways that is not always apparent.
Continue and enjoy this view camera journey as there is much more to discover and experience ahead for you and your view camera in the future. There will come a time when the mechanics and technical aspects of all involved with view camera image making has been achieved, that is them when creative artistic expression can become the primary motive force for image making... regardless of the image making tool-device applied.
Thank you for watching and for the wisdom as always! I've appreciated the time you've taken to comment over the year and offer insight. There's been a lot in there so thank you, and happy new year!
That's a good set for the year and the second is spectacular.
Enjoyed following your adventures this year and looking forward to the next.
All the best for 22
Thanks for watching Andrew and happy 2022!
Great images!! Yeah I’m amazed at how many images I shoot with large format. I think I have shot about 30 images this year. It really slows one down, definitely not like shooting through a roll of film. Great pics and thanks for sharing!!!!
Thank you! The slower nature of LF has been quite an adjustment for me this year but I think I'm starting to really appreciate it as well. Seems like my satisfaction rate is higher too!
Great choices Chris. Happy New Year!!
Thanks Peter, Happy New Year!
"one thing I grossly underestimated when I first got my view camera, was how much it would teach me about photography"... I'm not sure if I quoted you exactly correct, but you are so correct. I'm on year 3 shooting 4x5. It has taught me so much about composition, light, time, moment, perspective. It's hard to describe how much it can teach you in you take the time to learn. I absolutely have fallen in love with 4x5, and I'm happy to see you progressing on your journey. Large format is a learning curve, but that's the fun IMO.
Thanks Bryce! Totally agree, the learning curve is steep but it’s also rewarding to see improvement in the results. Also agree it’s hard to describe, I realized while making this video just how hard it was to put into words how much I’ve learned in the process without going off on an hours long tangent, ha. I hope to share smaller chunks of that on the channel in the coming months and perhaps I’ll have a new list of lessons learned for next year’s wrap up video!
Thanks these are great, my favorite was the lone tree. Happy New Year.
Thanks Michael! Happy new year to you as well.
Happy New Year and congratulations on your first year shooting large format. I enjoyed both the insights into your first year and also your favourite images of the year. I absolutely love the redwood images. I’m looking forward to seeing your work from 2022 and beyond.
Thanks Matt! Hopefully if I can get things to line up it'll be a strong year ;)
Espectacular photos! I truly have enjoyed your journey in LF this past year Chris, may 2022 bring many more photography adventures for you to share with us. Look forward to what’s to come!
Thanks Edwin! I'm hopeful I'll manage to venture to some new places this year and optimistic that it'll be productive!
Some wonderful points in this, reciprocity failure and just what a 4x5 image offers. Nice images, love the lone tree on the earth wall. Good call on the 'blue' one, there-in lays the unpredictable magic in process. I too took plunge into large format during the pandemic. Still plunging and got sidetracked by doing pinhole homemade style but echo how the mediums teach one a lot. Subscribing.
Thanks Jim! It's a little funny because I've been toying around with some homemade ideas myself. The pinhole stuff seems like a common place to get started, I just need to find time for that and all the other projects I'd like to do, ha!
@@ChrisDarnell you’re welcome and glad you are thinking about experimenting with pinhole! I have and continue to really enjoy. I have built 5 homemade and reinvented a Cameradactyl kit. As crazy ass as it is I got into pinhole to have a wide angle 4x5 option in that I only had a standard 150 for my view camera and at the time I didn’t want to spend the cash on a 90mill. Anyhow pinhole is a good journey filled with magic when it’s right! Loved your stuff in the redwoods. In my retirement I hope to return to Death Valley for photography where I’ve been for a number of charity bike events.
Terrific stuff, Chis, well done indeed. There definitely is a steep learning curve with LF, but you've picked it up really quickly and are doing fantastic work. Looking forward to seeing what you see this year.
Thanks Bruce! I'm optimistic 2022 will be a strong year ✊🏻
I’ve really, really enjoyed your journey. Nice recap. I kept waiting for 2021 to be better. I know 2022 will be better because I’m going to make it better- photography included.
Thanks Jim! Agreed, it seemed like 2021 was just a bad sequel to 2020.. haha. I like your optimism and I share your resolution; I really hope to get out to more places in 2022 so we'll see how I do!
Very nice. Thanks.
Thanks for watching Sidney!
Really enjoyed this video Chris!
Thanks Tony!
Hi Chris, Love your work! is there any resources/books you'd recommend to get up to speed with Large format?
These are amazing
Thanks Spencer!
Happy New Year!!! you made a magnificent photographic selection, each one of them is wonderful. Congratulations on this first year of large format and many more to come.
Thanks Bruno! Hopefully things line up and this next year will be a good one!
Happy New Year! Thanks for sharing your 2021 favorites. FYI - in the Capitol Reef shot with coal seams, the texture seen on the base of the overlying sandstone are trace fossils which represent burrows of deposit feeding organisms - most commonly crustaceans. The sandstones and shales in this area are upper Cretaceous (100 to 66 mya). If you are lucky, you might even find a dinosaur track.
Thanks Bill and Happy New Year! That's awesome! Those squiggly textures were one of the main reasons I set up on this particular spot because I found them so interesting. That just amplifies it for me so thank you!
Very enjoyable video Chris. Both informative and inspirational as the images were reviewed. No I want to go out. Winter here in the southeast is unattractive but perhaps if I look closer....
Thanks Philip! Thats another reason I like to shoot tighter, smaller compositions as well; sometimes the greater landscape is just plain uninspiring but often I can find a detail to zoom in on.
You could scan a 4x6 filing card and get a hundred megapixel file. More informative would be to shoot the same thing on 4x5 and on digital, and enlarge both images until you started losing detail (empty magnification). Then you could calculate an equivalent megapixel rating for the 4x5 that would have some validity. I would be very interested to see this.
Shooting large format makes one more deliberate. This alone can improve one's photography.
Thanks for the idea Alec, perhaps one day. Although I should have mentioned in the video that my intention wasn't to scientifically invalidate digital as a medium, rather to point out that I had learned this last year that the potential for large format was a lot higher than I had realized initially. It would be interesting to see how far I can push enlargements on each; I'll have to mull that over a bit and see if I can come up with something fun to do.
Totally agree on the deliberate nature of LF, that perhaps would have been a better talking point for this video.
@@ChrisDarnell I wasn't implying any invalidation of anything. I am just curious about the real rating of 4x5 as compared to digital.
wondered what holders you use, looks like there are some markers indicating sheet number? Great channel by the way, enjoying your journey.
Thanks Jonathan! I've just been using the Fidelity Elite / Lisco Regal II plastic holders so far. Mostly because they're really cost effective to buy in bulk so I can dedicate sets of holders to specific film types. The stickers you see are color coded to indicate the film emulsion (Velvia, Provia, Ektar, TMax, etc) as well as a holder number and side A/B designation so I can keep notes on what I've loaded and exposed.. although I've been terrible at taking field notes, haha.
I've enjoyed the years journey with you, Chris! Your videos have given me wonderful insight into large format photography. Also, what a pleasure seeing your sense of humor in this video. May you & your loved ones have a wondeful & healthy New Year.
Thanks Jay, happy new year and likewise!
I think my favorite that you shot this year was the first sun coming right at the camera through the redwoods scene. Really nice mood in that one. I'm curious how you feel about the G monorail at this point? I think I've decided to dump my CX monorail for a 45A field camera.
Thanks Jason, I very nearly put that one in as well. Not really sure why I didn't.. I suppose I had to make a call somewhere as they can't ALL be my favorites, haha. Honestly, the 45G has been outstanding to make images with, but it's been a real pain (literally) to carry on the back. I have to admit I've also shopped around for a 45A, and a few others too.
Really liked that last one. The Toyo is certainly serving you well. Any thoughts about using a field camera rather than a monorail? Would it change your approach at all?
Thanks Bernard! Honestly, it probably would change things somewhat. Depending on the field camera I suspect that significantly lightening the load on my back would enable me to push a lot further, or at least miss less opportunities. I see a bit of a trade off there though, since having the monorail with all its geared adjustments and super rigid frame makes it a joy to shoot closeup subjects on the ground. Truth is I’ve begun exploring the field camera route and a couple future videos should shed some light on this as well 😉
@@ChrisDarnell I love monorails for that very reason. They’re infinitely adaptable and rarely let you down. All the same, I look forward to seeing whatever other options you’ve been exploring.
Chris,
Do you process your negatives or send them off?
Great video, and you're 100% correct on learning manual/"M" setting before jumping into large format film first is very true.
Thanks Greg, for the most part if it's something mission-critical I still send them off to the lab, but I've been doing a bit of black and white at home lately and it's been a lot of fun to experiment!
@Chris Darnell
I process mine as well.
I do enjoy my time in the lab, aka spare bathroom.
Then there is darkroom enlarging.
The 5x4 enlargers are too large for my little bathroom darkroom.
I use a 100mm Schneider Enlarging lens to print 120 negatives.
I have an Epson V600 scanner for colour negatives.
You should comment on lens coverage and the schempflug principle using movements. So much more for you to learn. Good luck on your photography journey
And then there is the darkroom.. very true haha. It really would be fun to try some darkroom printing in the future but I don't know.. we'll see how things go. I seem to find myself waist-deep in new enterprises all the time so I won't say never..
I can neither confirm nor deny plans for an upcoming video on lens coverage and / or camera movements.. 😉
One day I might go with 4x5. For now ok with GFX100s.
Truthfully, that's more than overkill for almost any situation. I'm still considering upgrading my digital kit to the GFX series, we'll see...
When you started 2021 with your new view camera, I started 2021 with a new medium format film camera and although I have many images I like from it, my success rate has not been as good as yours (jealous! LoL).
Thanks Julian, that's really kind and congrats on the medium format camera!
Very interesting video. One question: what scanner do you use to scan your negatives?
Thanks Charly! I'm currently using an Epson Perfection V850 flatbed scanner and the supplied film holders
@@ChrisDarnell Many thanks for your response.
👍👍👍👍
Wow, I've been shooting large format (in low volume, as a frequently broke amateur) for about nineteen years -- but I've never done a *test shot* on reversal film...
Haha it was a very intentional photograph, I just meant the reason for being out with the camera was to try a new lens I just bought. Thanks for watching!
@@ChrisDarnell Yeah, I thought it was more like that -- at the least, you'd want to be pretty confident the shutter is accurate (or at least have a corrected speed scale) for reversal.
Confession: I've never shot any sort of color in large format, except 4x5 Polaroids (and now Instax with my LomoGraflok). That's something I want to try this year -- get a box of Portra and shoot some negatives (I process my own C-41, so not as expensive as all that), before I try Provia or Velvia.
One remark: The pixel calculation you did has some problems. The resolution of the file doesn‘t matter, when the camera can‘t resolve the subject at that level. You would need to do some resolution test targets, which would give you the ‚real‘ resolution of your camera/lens/ISO/etc. combo. This is always significantly less than the nominal resolution of a digital camera. The same for the scans: The Epson 850 PRO e.g. delivers an max. effective resolution of around 2300 DPI. There is a whole science around this topic.
For practical purposes you could just do a comparison (same subject, same composition, lighting etc.) and then do a pixelpeep. I have not seen a comparison of a 4x5 with a 150 Mpix Phase One, but I would be surprised if the 4x5 would win (and that is after using the sharpest film, perfect development and drum scanning). On a smaller level my Fuji GX 680 looses against my Nikon D850 every time ( normal conditions with 400 ISO film, normal development and flatbed scanning).
… and still I just ordered a 4x5 camera. ;-)
Thanks Jan. Seems I opened a door I really didn't mean to with that segment of the video. I really just wanted to illustrate that I'd learned the potential of LF was a lot higher than I'd realized in the beginning and that it has impacted my workflow, although I did a terrible job at communicating that in the video so apologies for that. To be honest objectively measuring how much better one format is than another is the opposite of what I enjoy about photography so I'm not sure why I even approached the topic. Congrats on the 4x5, I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it!
Great photos and review of the year. You put a lot of work into your videos, put me to shame. I see you have been haunted by the phantom 👻 of reciprocity law failure of low light conditions 🌄 and the cost of a mistake $. Look forward to your other videos and your posts in 2022 😀
Thanks Andrew! There's no shame in your videos at all; I enjoy them quite a bit! Thanks as always and I look forward to yours as well!
Much of view camera images is NOT about "sharpness-resolution" and those overly commonly obsessed monikers circulated among Photography media and it's audience. While sheet film can and does offer very high image quality, there is FAR more to sheet film image excellence than these technical and image making methods. There is depth and subtleties excellent view camera sheet film images can offer other image recording methods cannot. These image subtleties are not always appreciated by the viewing audience as their values might not be same as those of the Photographer_creative artistic image maker.
Don't obsess too much with the technical and related aspects of Photography, in the finished print, it is much about what the print has to say to it's viewer and the viewer's emotional response to the image in their eyes and mind.
Great points as always, I'm planning a future video that may touch on this a little as well. Thanks for the inspiration!
love the videos but the bass just booms in my headphones
Thanks for the feedback, I’ll get that fixed in future videos