MorseBlog

I contribute occasionally on Reddit and offer my opinions and experience. There are occasionally times when someone asks about large format recommendations. (I should probably declare that I can be cheap and shop for value/bang for the buck.) I have my own experience and journey that has not been particularly long but as with any journey insights are gained. Reflecting on this I can now look back at how ones choice in equipment influences subsequent choices.  Now my viewpoint is specifically as a hobbyist photographer who enjoys landscape film photography. With respect to the Intrepid camera it meets certain needs such as cost and low weight that have meaning for me. If you work in a studio weight will have little meaning in your choice.  When Intrepid first launched they got a few YouTube reviews/endorsements from the likes of Ben Horne, Alex Burke, Steve Onion’s, and Justin Lowry. I have noticed a number of them stopped using the Intrepid in their more recent videos. Returni...

I was out again last week at Woodwalton Fen in the early morning as there was a forecast of some fog. I wasn’t disappointed as I walked in the pre-dawn darkness. I stopped in the middle of the reserve where a bench is located by a small pond. I sat and sipped coffee and ate my breakfast while I waited for the light to come up. When the light and color saturated I picked up my equipment and walked on.  I headed down a track I last travelled last summer along a line of oak trees. This lead to a little used trail and I found my first photo. Three interesting shaped trees in the mist. I setup first with my 150mm lens but needed the 90mm lens to capture it. This lens does not get much use. It is difficult to see the image on the ground glass because of the way the light disperses.  I was using my SINAR Zoom film back exclusively today and had loaded a roll of Fuji Provia 100. My limited experience with shooting in mist in fog has me favoring Fuji Astia and Provia. I find that Fuji ...

Last year I was watching a Steve O'nions' video where he used a Horsman 6x12 roll filmback on his Intrepid 4x5. I had picked up years ago an old 6x9 MPP filmback that I have used on the Intrepid I have. I am a sucker for the panoramic format (I really enjoy shooting a Fuji G617.) so when I saw the 6x12 I thought that might be something I could use.  With rollfilm backs on a 4x5 the inevitable question why not just crop the 4x5 image? The usual response is economics. 120 film is cheaper than the 4x5 equivalent. Processing is easier to find as well and more affordable.  I researched 6x12 backs and stumbled across the SINAR film backs and the Zoom model in particular. These backs fit like a sheet film holder and so do not require the ground glass to be removed for each image. The Zoom model allows one to shoot a variety of formats on the same roll of film. This means 6x12, 6x9, 6x8, 6x6, and 6x4.5. I am a sucker for versatility and fortunately at the time I found one for sale fo...

I returned again this morning before dawn two weeks from my last visit. Even as I walked the trails by my headlamp I could see the place was radically different. Hardly a leaf left on a tree, though the aspen by the roadside is hanging in there. I had hoped for frost or mist or fog but misread the weather report and had instead a humid morning with light thin clouds and was entirely overdressed for the temperature.  I just bought a box of 48 sheets of expired Ektachrome 100S that the seller says was stored refrigerated so I decided to take the risk. Part of the reason to be out was to ascertain the quality of the film.  I walked a great distance in the dark and ended up on the western edge of one of the lakes. The sun was coming up through clouds and I thought I would try again a lake-side image again. I haven't had too much luck with these as it is difficult to find a place free enough of foliage to get a got composition.  As I set up fo...

Another technical topic and another camera hack.  This dive into landscape photography is a journey with a familiar pattern, learn, apply, repeat, master(?). I am by nature and background technical and photography (especially large format) is technical in the sense that one must understand and master a series of techniques to extract the most from the camera and film to perfect an image. This of course helps not the least in the artistic and aesthetic aspects of photography in general. I am of the conviction that a good creative outcome is not helped by a lack of good technique(s). Out of focus or poorly exposed images in my view do not a good image make. This is my own style. I don't really like expired film for this reason though there is a whole legitimate set of expressions involving expired film, cross processing, Lomography, etc. This goes way back to Man Ray and his solarization of black and white prints and perhaps even further. Nothing wrong with it; it just isn't my b...

Amongst the seemingly endless list of skills and tasks I need to understand and master is the subject of bellows extension compensation. This subject is covered in many places but I can summarize here.  On a camera with any kind of bellows one has to compensate for the extension of the bellows as one gets very close to the subject. Recall that the distance from the lens to the film plane is defined by its focal length when focused on a subject at infinity. (This gets more complicated with the compact retrofocus optical designs of 35mm lenses.) As the subject gets closer to the lens then the lens needs to move farther from the film plane. On large format cameras and many medium format cameras (like the Mamiya C220/330 TLRs) it is possible to extend the bellows very far to get very close to the subject. As the lens moves further from the film plane more of the light falls outside of the film plane. This means a correction of more exposure is required. (A readable paper on the subject...

The Intrepid large format camera is a capable but basic camera. As I have used it the low cost and basic build has encouraged me to make modifications. This started when I got my SINAR Zoom 6x12 film holder. It did not fit well so I made some modifications to make the fit much better. (These modifications are detailed at the end of the post linked above.)  Recently I bought a 'proper' darkcloth' having gotten by with bulldog clips and a microfiber towel. I wanted something waterproof and with some elastic. I had balked before at the cost but found one online for about £15.  Turns out this was a little too good to be true. First the Velcro closure was the wrong way around and so wouldn't hold the ends together. Second the elastic was too tight for my Intrepid.  I solved the first problem with some iron-on Velcro strips I attached to the ends of the dark cloth. I still however struggled with how tight the elastic section was around my camera, the Velcro often could not h...

Introduction I have not used my Intrepid 4x5 camera in quite a while. In my first use I tried our my MPP 6x9 film holder. Film holders of this type allow one to use 120/220 roll film with a large format camera. They are often referred to as ‘international’ or Graflok backs. They come in a number of fixed sizes such as 6x7, 6x8, 6x9, up to 6x12. 6x12 is the upper limit as 12 cm is the same as 5 inches the length of 4x5 film. (There are some more specialised 6x17 as well for the 3:1 aspect ratio. These work with their own ground glass and extend slightly beyond the normal film plane to achieve the greater than 12 cm film length.) MPP 6x9 Film Back These roll film holders usually require the ground glass to be removed owing to the thickness of the film back. This makes for some extra steps that goes like this. 1) Focus and compose on the ground glass (taking into account the smaller film format). 2) remove the ground glass, 3) place film back in place, 4) remove dark slid...