First crack at 5x4

Speed Graphic, 127mm Ektar, Tmax 100, 1/25th @ f5.6

If you've got a long memory, you'll maybe recall that I bought a 5x4 Speed Graphic way back in May. Well, these are the first two pics from the camera and you've only had to wait five months for them! I won't go into all the reasons for the delay but Phil Rogers recently sent me some sheets of 5x4 so I no longer had a viable excuse.

Being the shy, retiring type, I didn't have the bottle to bolt the Speed Graphic to my tripod, throw it over my shoulder and go walking through town to the shore for some seascapes so I wimped out, jumped in the car and went inland instead for some peace and quiet.

The camera has a 127mm Kodak Ektar lens which is roughly equivalent to a 40mm on the 35mm format, an ideal focal length for me. I took my Nikon D700 along as an expensive exposure meter and to see what the scene would look like before committing a sheet of 5x4. And here's the thing: I only had two sheets with me. I only have the one double dark slide so I slipped Tmax 100 into it hoping that would do me. I suppose I could have taken a changing bag along and reloaded in the field but that sounded like too much bother and it was enough just getting into the LF routine.

I'm not a complete LF virgin. About 20 years ago I had a Speed Graphic but - a bit weird this - only ever exposed two sheets of film. Hope it's not the same this time round! Anyway, I can remember virtually nothing about the earlier camera or the shooting procedure so it was like starting over again. Taking Phil's advise, I drew up a numbered list for the shooting order in case I forgot something. What I forgot to add to the list was to give a bit extra exposure when shooting close-ups to make up for the bellows extension. Thankfully, when it came to shooting the photograph above, I somehow managed to remember.

Speed Graphic, 127mm Ektar, Tmax 100, 1/25th @ f16

My first exposure was the picture immediately above. It's quite a simple scene and I would't have bothered had the sun not been in the frame. It looks like it's only just made it into view here but that's because I cocked up the processing - more on that later. An infinity shot like this is nice and straightforward - no complications. Just stick to the shooting list.

The second was shot in the churchyard of an abandoned church. This is the shot that needed extra exposure to take account of the bellows extension. I couldn't remember what the rule of thumb is for this sort of thing so I just gave it an extra stop. This was taken at f5.6, just a half stop down from wide open, and the sharpness in the centre is very high. Focus was on the tiny feather on the gate lock. I used a wide aperture to throw the background ivy out of focus. The OOF areas are nice.

Both of these were scanned and given a levels correction in Lightroom where I also added the slight warm tone. The photographs were taken yesterday and developed today but I've run out of darkroom paper so I won't be able to print from them until I order some more.

And so onto the developing. From some research on the net and from speaking to Phil, developing the negatives one at a time in a tray two sizes bigger seems to be the safest and most reliable method. However, it means spending about half-an-hour in the dark shoogling trays which isn't the most appealing thing in the world. Another recommended method is to develop them one at a time in a Paterson tank. Leaving the central tube in place, you simply let the film curl around the inside of the tank emulsion side in. Processing is then just like 35mm or 120.

Not a bad way to spend a few hours.

I opted for the latter, using a tank that normally accommodates two 35mm reels. Since about 600ml would be enough for two 35mm rolls, I thought I'd be OK mixing up 600mls of Rodinal, 1+50. What a sublime moment of idiocy that was. It actually takes around 800mls to completely cover the 5x4 film. Of course, I should have checked but brainfarts come without warning, otherwise we'd never have them. Anyway, as I said to Phil, three quarters of the negative was fine! That explains why the sun is so near the top of the frame in the landscape shot: beyond it is a broad strip of featureless black!

There are also a few marks on the negative from careless handling but I'll get better. I used Rodinal at 1+50 for its compensating effect, given that the sun was in the shot. It did a good job in that regard but the negative is quite flat and would need a grade five exposure under the enlarger for the foreground. Fortunately, it will be easy enough to burn in the sky at a softer grade. The ivy and gate photograph was taken in full shade so I developed it at 1+25 for 20% longer than the recommended time on the massive dev chart. It's OK but would have benefitted from an extra 30%.

I think the key to success with large format is to restrict the variables. It's one slice of life where getting into a rut is a good thing. Pick a film, choose a versatile developer and a consistent processing method and stick to the shooting list until it becomes second nature. It's too early yet to say if I'm going to get the LF bug in a big way. It's a lot of trouble and I'd need to see something special in the prints to stick with it but you never know. At the moment, I'm using the pop out viewing hood on the 5x4 back but I might have to go all the way to the good old black cloth or t-shirt to give me a brighter and contrastier view of the focusing screen.

Since I promised to show my cock-ups as well as any successes on this website, below is the full frame scan of the landscape neg, processing error included. I could almost get away with that!