a lazy black and white version scanned, no editing

Guess what happens when you use Kodak Ektar 100 film when you want to take a late afternoon super back-lit shot at the beach? It turns purple. Kodak Ektar does not like to be over exposed, even a little, or it will turn your lovely blue sky purple. 

Well, actually I have yet to find anything on any forums that look quite as purple as this, they usually just have a purple tint. Of course, when I do things wrong I don’t mess around!! 

I do want to point out that I did not develop this at home being that it’s color film. While it is purple, the negative is clean and free of weird chemical marks, water spots and scratches. This is both great and depressing because I still am struggling to get a nice clean negative from my home batches…..

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This is an overexposed image of Xander shot on tri-x 320 using my 4x5. I sent this out to be processed and scanned the negative with my Epson V700.  One of the draw backs to my 4x5 is that the lens has no shutter, so all exposures are manual. Actually, I think I should rephrase that and say the draw back is that I’m not experienced enough with the lens/camera combo to know what I’m doing…yet :) This was taken in the middle of the afternoon under the shade of many trees. At the moment I have a box of tri-x 320 and so I set the aperture to f/11 and metered for those setting. Of course the suggestion was about 1/36 which is not possible without a shutter. At the time I had completely forgotten about pushing/pulling film so I just used my hand and covered/uncovered the lens as quickly as I could and sent it out to be processed fully expecting total failure. Results?  You guessed it, way over exposed.  I still think it’s lovely. It has that antique glow to it doesn’t it? Most importantly I knew what I was doing wrong and I know how to fix it. I think a slower speed film is in order as well as testing out some filters. While I’m waiting for my order of t-max 100 to come in I’m going to try pulling the 320. *fingers crossed* 

This is an overexposed image of Xander shot on tri-x 320 using my 4x5. I sent this out to be processed and scanned the negative with my Epson V700. 

One of the draw backs to my 4x5 is that the lens has no shutter, so all exposures are manual. Actually, I think I should rephrase that and say the draw back is that I’m not experienced enough with the lens/camera combo to know what I’m doing…yet :)

This was taken in the middle of the afternoon under the shade of many trees. At the moment I have a box of tri-x 320 and so I set the aperture to f/11 and metered for those setting. Of course the suggestion was about 1/36 which is not possible without a shutter. At the time I had completely forgotten about pushing/pulling film so I just used my hand and covered/uncovered the lens as quickly as I could and sent it out to be processed fully expecting total failure. Results?  You guessed it, way over exposed. 

I still think it’s lovely. It has that antique glow to it doesn’t it? Most importantly I knew what I was doing wrong and I know how to fix it. I think a slower speed film is in order as well as testing out some filters. While I’m waiting for my order of t-max 100 to come in I’m going to try pulling the 320. *fingers crossed* 

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I’ve posted a few images and talked about my 4x5 camera and how much I love it, but I’ve never talked specifically about the camera itself. I wanted to share some images and my experience with the camera for a few reasons; one, I have no idea what kind of camera it is, where it was made or who made it; two, I’ve only used a large format camera a few times in college and I’m super excited to learn all I can about this contraption and share my mistakes and successes as I go.

As you can see it’s quite a clunky looking thing. Some knobs are missing and others have been replaced with hardware store finds. The rails look new but everything else has signs of much love. There was a hole drilled into the bottom left of the front plate. I stuffed it and wrapped it in black electrical tape. I’m handy like that.

It has a metal frame, not wooden. Looking through antique turn of the century cameras showed all wooden frames. The bellows seem to be made of the same material that the bellows in my Pocket Kodak Jr, which was made in the late 20’s. Even with that information I have no idea what to even guess the manufacture date is on this thing. If you have any ideas, please share :)

There are no serial numbers or manufacturers names on any part of the camera. And the lens, seems to me to be quite old. The only thing printed on the lens is the aperture settings of 4, 5.6, 8 and 11 and REF. No14A/1101. There is no shutter.

I’m super in love with the lens and the unique quality it gives to the images. I love the antique portrait glow that they have. I’ve always wanted to recreate it somehow and now I have that ability. I may not know much about where the lens came from or who made it but I love it just the same.

So far the camera and lens have worked great. Any issues where determined to be user error - in other words I need to work on my metering. I am planning on purchasing a modern lens with a shutter, just to have something around with more control. But, I’m not in a hurry….

I just  received my order of darkroom supplies today. I have everything I need to process my own film which will save me tons of money. Also, Mike bought me a scanner for christmas so I can scan my own negatives. This feels good, it feels like the right place to start again :)

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