Large format

 

My plan for the past year was to eventually make my way to large format photography.  I’ve been slowly acquiring gear when the opportunities have arisen: filmholders on eBay going for a song, a spot meter on Marketplace, a couple of lenses at a swap meet.  All that was missing was the camera.

 

Through my favourite podcast, Classic Camera Revival, I found videos by one of the CCR crew, Jess Hobbs, who posted a series on YouTube of the Intrepid camera, a very interesting, relatively inexpensive large format field camera.  It’s made of plywood, so it’s light for a large format camera, and while it has cut some corners to hit its price point, it looked like a great place to start. As a plus, Jess Hobbs likes to photograph trees, too; they are the subject of many of her photographs.

 

I had only used a large format rig once before.  In about 1986, I took a continuing education course at the Dawson Institute of Photography, which ran on Saturday mornings, on portraiture.  And while I did most of my shooting at that time on my Contax 139 Quartz, we did have the option of trying our hand at large format.  We had use of 4x5 studio cameras, and while I did get the chance to load my film into a film holder, the development was done by folks in another ContEd course, presumably something to do with darkroom technique.

 

So, come October of this year; my mind was pretty much made up: once Black Friday rolled around, I would see what kind of deals the folks at Intrepid Camera would have on offer.  However, at the Montreal Camera Show, a great buy/sell/trade event that bills itself as a place for “Great Bargains & Unusual Finds,” discussing my plan for acquiring an Intrepid with one of the attendees, I was told they had a great field camera for sale, a Tachihara…so that sent me down the Tachihara rabbit hole.

 

The first stop, as it often is when looking for camera information, thanks to a recommendation years ago from my friend Ross, was Ken Rockwell’s review page for the Tachihara. Rockwell says the following: “It has been one of the most popular cameras for decades for serious landscape and outdoor photography because of its ultra light weight, ability to fold up about as big as a book, its ample set of movements, and great screen.” How high does he rate these cameras? He reports that he has bought THREE of them over the years.

 

The next stop was Youtube, where there are plenty of videos of these cameras in action…and they look great. One poster described them as the finest example of Japanese cabinetry, with a bellows and a lens attached.

 

So, yes, I bought the Tachihara.

 

But how about developing? My Paterson tank is great for 35mm and 120 film, and while it seems there is an adapted reel for 4x5 film, I was not reading great things online.  All recommendations pointed to a developing tank designed for 4x5 film, the Stearman SP-445 Compact 4x5 Film Processing System. Only problem? I could not find a Canadian retailer at a reasonable price, and the shipping and duties from the US were prohibitive. But given that we visit family for US Thanksgiving in upstate NY, I was able to order from B&H Photo in NYC and ship it (free shipping!) to my brother’s.

 

Last week, we visited for Thanksgiving, picked up the Stearman while we were there, and I used the trip as an opportunity to take my first shots with the Tachihara.

 

A note about the lens: I got a good deal on a 135 mm Schneider Kreuznach Linhof Symmar-S, but it did not have a lensboard to mount it to the camera.  EBay led me to a great deal on a 3D-printed board for $11.

 

The first shot is of the memorial to a local who died several years ago in a car accident: the bench and plaque were placed here by the family in commemoration of the victim that I photographed last year. The picture was taken late afternoon, on Ilford FP4 @100 ISO, F32 for ¼ second.

 

The second shot is of these chairs on the side of the Roeliff Jansen Kill (Dutch for creek), just before sunset on Ilford FP4 @100 ISO, F22 for 1 second.

 

The third shot is of the Roe Jan Brewing Company, the pub in the middle of Hilsdale, in direct sun just after sunrise, on Ilford FP4 @100 ISO, F32 for ¼ second.

 

This last shot is at sunrise, but we are in the valley so no direct sun, of the Book Barn, a favourite spot in Hillsdale. This was a tricky exposure, as the indicated time was 60 seconds, so taking into consideration reciprocity failure, I had to adjust the exposure: F22 for 2 minutes, 54 seconds.

 

Why four shots? That’s the capacity of the Stearman tank: I can develop maximum of four at a time.

 

These were home-developed in the Stearman, and the developer was once again the Rollei Supergrain. These were scanned with an Epson Perfection V850 Pro Photo Scanner and processed with SilverFast.

 

I’m looking forward to experimenting more with the Tachihara: I have both Ilford FP4 and HP5 sheet film, and a dozen film holders. I just have to figure out which developer I will try out next.  There are many options, and again, I will rely on the great reviews put together by Alex Lyuckx.

 

 

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Previous Posts: 

• Quebec City photowalk on a cloudy morning

• Garden, at home, in bloom, shot on a really nice budget film
• Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens
• Ottawa, at Night, in Winter, on Cinestill 800T
• Supply Ship Visit to Remote Québec (and Labrador) Villages
• Mamiya RB67, Egypt and Mount Sinai
• Paris: One week, one camera, one lens, and whole lot of film
• Nikon F4 (F4S)
• Nikon F4, part 2: Fall Colours
• Classic folding cameras capture Thanksgiving in Upstate NY
• San Diego, February 2023, Nikon F4, Tri-X
• Washington DC, Feb 2023
• Voigtländer Perkeo 1
• Voigtländer Vito II
• The beginning of a blog...