New York Greetings From Hill-Billy Calvin, AKA Augie

Cal,

Swiss Disease...... I bought another 4x5 Norma last month from KEH, it was only $250. So now I have six Normas in the studio. A 4x5 for wide shooting, another 4x5 set up for telephotos, a 5x7 Norma, this 8x10, one permanently mounted to my Norma copy stand, and finally, my 4x5 Norma Handy.

8x10 Sinar Norma Long Apo Ronar 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

I've been configuring this 8x10 Sinar Norma to use out in the field for up to 4x telephoto photography. I have long Rodenstock Apo Ronar barrel dialyte type telephotos right now up to 790mm F14. They made a 1070mm f14 same era and style looking for one but not as expensive as a car. This is all original Sinar Norma 100% except for the clamping plate which was made for me by a machinist friend. I have never seen the original Norma one available. Basically I used this camera for B&w studio portraiture and I am taking the old concept which worked very well for me and scaling it up.
 
MrFujicaman said:
Oh..and if you do want cast-iron cooking gear, I live 30 miles from the Lodge cast iron outlet store.
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MFM,

I was thinking I would want another large cast iron skillet, but of course "woman-factor" eliminated the nicely seasoned one I owned for a long time in a cull down.

No real need for one because late last year "Maggie" had a case of "C-diff" and was ill for about 3 months. Her case was rather serious and required a visit to the E.R.

"C-diff" can kill you, and for over twenty years I told her about my friend Joan who suffered a compromised immune system due to overuse of antibiotics.

One of the reasons why I changed to a plant based diet was because of Maggie's current health needs. She has a PhD and should sometimes listen.

So no reason to have a large cast iron skillet to sear a nice steak in my future.

My concerns are that she can't really relax and be happy. She is behind on her posting for paying gigs and is stressed because of her lack of planning. Last night she forgot to coat a baking tray with olive oil before baking our dinner.

For some reason I love crazy women.

Cal
 
Nokton48 said:
Cal,

Swiss Disease...... I bought another 4x5 Norma last month from KEH, it was only $250. So now I have six Normas in the studio. A 4x5 for wide shooting, another 4x5 set up for telephotos, a 5x7 Norma, this 8x10, one permanently mounted to my Norma copy stand, and finally, my 4x5 Norma Handy.

8x10 Sinar Norma Long Apo Ronar 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

I've been configuring this 8x10 Sinar Norma to use out in the field for up to 4x telephoto photography. I have long Rodenstock Apo Ronar barrel dialyte type telephotos right now up to 790mm F14. They made a 1070mm f14 same era and style looking for one but not as expensive as a car. This is all original Sinar Norma 100% except for the clamping plate which was made for me by a machinist friend. I have never seen the original Norma one available. Basically I used this camera for B&w studio portraiture and I am taking the old concept which worked very well for me and scaling it up.
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Devil Dan,

"Brutal," I say. That is crazy-good.

This morning on the train the tops of west cliffs of the Hudson were illuminated, but a shadow that was a sill-O-WET of the east side of the Hudson was cast onto the base of these western cliffs.

The light was beautiful. So this is a shot to stalk with a large format camera and tripod with a somewhat long lens. The contrast was really nice, but also since it was dusky it glowed.

So I can see getting up early, using the A4 like a pack mule, and setting up in the dark waiting for great light.

I can see cropping a panorama from an 8x10. Also know that the clouds were another element that added to the composition.

The time was around 6:15-6:30 AM. I'm sure the light would be fleeting.

Cal
 
Cal,
What would the grip on your 8x10 look like? You might try to find one of those shoulder brackets that bass drummers in marching bands use. :D

Phil Forrest
 
Phil_F_NM said:
Cal,
What would the grip on your 8x10 look like? You might try to find one of those shoulder brackets that bass drummers in marching bands use. :D

Phil Forrest
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Phil,

Devil Christian has a Linhof 5x7 with the Linhof grip. That seems to be maxing out on handheld, but it likely is too much for a skinny bitch like me.

Call me a wimp, but I like tripods too. LOL.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Phil,

Devil Christian has a Linhof 5x7 with the Linhof grip. That seems to be maxing out on handheld, but it likely is too much for a skinny bitch like me.

Call me a wimp, but I like tripods too. LOL.

Cal
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You buy a house out in the 'burbs and now you use tripods? You feeling ok? :D

Phil Forrest
 
I just got my FED tax return directly deposited.

One of the things on my list is to buy empty cassettes to bulk load the 400 feet of 5222 that Phil got me at a discount.

Daylight savings time begins in a little more than a week.

I have a lot of Acros still, the old stuff that is not available anymore, in 135 and 120. I think I will reserve this film for shooting at night and developing using Diafine.

Acros and Diafine is magic for shooting at night using bulb exposures with a tripod. The profound compensating effect makes great negatives with a range of mids.

This should be an interesting body of work of just long bulb exposures on a tripod.

Augie
 
Tripods are necessary. Outside I will use two identical front and back with "The Monster". In the studio I like the ease in changing viewpoint that comes with the double clamps and rail with one tripod or stand
 
Phil_F_NM said:
You buy a house out in the 'burbs and now you use tripods? You feeling ok? :D

Phil Forrest
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Phil,

I think my anti-social behavior encourages more landscape shooting and perhaps larger formats.

In NYC I liked having my hands free, but if I had something in my hand I liked it to be like holding a weapon in plain sight.

I am pleased that we moved out of NYC, and I am happy for all the photography I performed there, but now life is different. Somehow I feel more peaceful and relaxed.

With some of my tax return I will get a 24 inch rear wheel built so I can load an XTR cassette onto either of my IBIS's for off road use. I already have a few rims.

Cal
 
Nokton48 said:
Tripods are necessary. Outside I will use two identical front and back with "The Monster". In the studio I like the ease in changing viewpoint that comes with the double clamps and rail with one tripod or stand
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Dan,

Snarky Joe gave me a Linhof Color Kardan car-cuss. I can easily use this for 4x5.

Likely will have to get a heavier tropod.

My thinking is 8x10 contact prints are wonderful, but 4x5 might be the sweet spot for me.

While I am not "Crazy Dan" I also have a little "crazy" in me: I developed lots of skill using Piezography and with the new Piezography Pro all I need to do is download some curves and I can print digital negatives for contact printing.

So how crazy would it be to contact print negatives that I can perfect using Lightroom and then contact print them. This seems ideal for printing editions.

Over a century ago there was the Hudson River School of painting, and now I'm in a prime location for a Hudson River School of photography.

Cal
 
Nice! Does the Kardan Color take boards you already have? If not I'm sure they made an adapter, they were noted for making crazy one-off stuff. The Kardan Color is a tank and a very stable platform without much vibration, which is what you want.

Keith at Custom Bellows is a speedy delight to deal with, should you want to put in new bellows. Send him the frames attached to the bellows and he will install it for you. 360mm Tele-Xenar and Tele-Arton are good tele choices
 
Nokton48 said:
Tripods are necessary. Outside I will use two identical front and back with "The Monster". In the studio I like the ease in changing viewpoint that comes with the double clamps and rail with one tripod or stand
Click to expand...

Devil Dan,

I kinda have the term "Monster" trade marked. LOL.

I cite no N-fringe-ment though because not only is that rig crazy, but it also is truely a "MONSTER." Perhaps to distinguish your rig use only upper case letters.

On my wanderings I found a supersized rubberband that is black that has the word "Monster" marked on it. I use this for a lens protector on my 50 Lux SL wich is supersized.

The original coining of the phrase "Monster" was by John who coined the term "Monster" when referring to how I add a TA Rapidgrip, TA Rapidwinder, and mucho accesories to an small M-body to make my rigs kinda big and heavy.

So even though I own a patent on a 3-D binocular optical coorelator and was Grumman Aerospace Inventor of the Year for the space and electronics division, I hold no patent for crazy.

Humbly I con-seed that I am not the only crazy here on RFF, and in fact you might be crazier. LOL. "Crazy is good," I say.

Cal
 
Nokton48 said:
Nice! Does the Kardan Color take boards you already have? If not I'm sure they made an adapter, they were noted for making crazy one-off stuff. The Kardan Color is a tank and a very stable platform without much vibration, which is what you want.

Keith at Custom Bellows is a speedy delight to deal with, should you want to put in new bellows. Send him the frames attached to the bellows and he will install it for you. 360mm Tele-Xenar and Tele-Arton are good tele choices
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Crazy Dan,

Devil Christian, the person, not the camera has lens boards laser cut. I'm sure I can get more.

Then I can scale up 4x5 to 8x10 by adding a bellows.

Also the Devil Christian (The Camera) uses a Linhof Kardan bellows frame to essenctually recreate one of your "Handy's."

I have a 90/5.6 Linhof Select Schnieder SA lens that I'm going to light seal this weekend. I use a Linhof grip on this rig, and the back from Christian's old 1956 Tech IV-V.

Calvin the Skinny Bitch
 
Calzone said:
Devil Dan,

I kinda have the term "Monster" trade marked. LOL.

I cite no N-fringe-ment though because not only is that rig crazy, but it also is truely a "MONSTER." Perhaps to distinguish your rig use only upper case letters.

On my wanderings I found a supersized rubberband that is black that has the word "Monster" marked on it. I use this for a lens protector on my 50 Lux SL wich is supersized.

The original coining of the phrase "Monster" was by John who coined the term "Monster" when referring to how I add a TA Rapidgrip, TA Rapidwinder, and mucho accesories to an small M-body to make my rigs kinda big and heavy.

So even though I own a patent on a 3-D binocular optical coorelator and was Grumman Aerospace Inventor of the Year for the space and electronics division, I hold no patent for crazy.

Humbly I con-seed that I am not the only crazy here on RFF, and in fact you might be crazier. LOL. "Crazy is good," I say.

Cal
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OK LOL

MONSTER it is.
 
Calzone said:
I just got my FED tax return directly deposited.

One of the things on my list is to buy empty cassettes to bulk load the 400 feet of 5222 that Phil got me at a discount.



I think I beat you on "cheap-cheap" on this one. In winter/spring of 1986, I worked part time at the film processing lab for Pathmark. I'd always offer to haul the trash bags of empty flim cassettes out to the dumpster . They went into my truck. I'd go through them at home, keep the reuseable ones and return the rest to the dumpster at work on my next shift. I walked away with about 200-250 cassettes.
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MrFujicaman said:
Calzone said:
I just got my FED tax return directly deposited.

One of the things on my list is to buy empty cassettes to bulk load the 400 feet of 5222 that Phil got me at a discount.



I think I beat you on "cheap-cheap" on this one. In winter/spring of 1986, I worked part time at the film processing lab for Pathmark. I'd always offer to haul the trash bags of empty flim cassettes out to the dumpster . They went into my truck. I'd go through them at home, keep the reuseable ones and return the rest to the dumpster at work on my next shift. I walked away with about 200-250 cassettes.
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MFM,

At one point I had a collection of old snap caps from Ilford. Might of had about 100-150, collected from my own use and also from the college darkroom garbage.

Back then I bulk loaded. "Cheap-cheap-cheap."

Sometimes it hurts moving around a lot, but even with my struggles I have had an interesting life. I have little regret.

Now that I own a house its time to get practical.

Seems like us older guys migrate to large format.

Anyways I'm glad that I blasted away doing the NYC street and urban landscape when film was still cheap. Now I'm stepping into the realm of the big boys it seems.

My guess is that I would end up here because I like high IQ and printing.

Old Augie
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Today a Victorian piano stool came that will be used for the secretary we bought from the seller of the Baby-Victorian. It is a padded squat round stool that has a ring of long fringe around the perimeter that looks kinda 1960 hippy. LOL.

Also today a news crew will be in my back-backyard to interview "Maggie" who has been hounded by all these news organizations because of some buzz created in England that got reprinted here in New York about "Instagram- Ma's."

So this article that got reprinted has a few blurbs about Maggie and some bad information that is incorrect. This annoyed Maggie, and also for her age-ism is something she tries to repress. So somehow her agent convinced her to be nice to this huge broadcast news agency because they have worked with her before.

So for me what is weird is having a news crew in my backyard. Anyways this is because of Covid that social distancing why the interview will be held outside.

Yesterday I was busy installing foam to light seal the camera known as "The Devil Christian."

This led me to go home and fondle and exercise all my gear, then I somehow jammed my Wetzlar M6 that is a prototype that has a Ti top plate with Wetzlar engravings that pre-dates the first Ti M6 by 5 years.

Oh-well. This M6 has seen mucho use and I was thinking of getting it freshened up anyways, no big deal since I have all these other cameras.

So in the 4x5 size I have two Schneider Super Agulons: one is a 90/6.8; and the other a 90/8.0. This is great since I love the 28mm FOV.

I have a 150/5.6 so basically I have what I need: a wide; and a normal that fold into a Linhof.

From what I remember the 90/8.0 has better corners, but the 90/6.8 has acute center sharpness with soft corners. Not bad having two 90's.

At work I'm doing research and pricing of films. I want to expend my stockpile of film by the end of the year, somewhat of a cull down, so I can focus on just a few films and developers. Right now I have all these different films that I bought to do testing and experimenting.

I think I will stick with Kodak 5222 for 135 and shoot it at 200 and 400. It is cheaper than Tri-X and I love-love the old school look. Ilford FP4 at 80-100 ISO could be my slow speed film.

So I started delving into Berger Panchro 400, not because it is cheap in 135 or 120, but because it is cheap in 4x5. Because it is a dual emulsion film they recommend a pre-soak, but with Diafine I never reached film speed.

Because I'm stubborn I figured that I would have to extend the soak on Part "A" where very little development happens, or none at all as my "pre-soak" to soften up the emulsion. I have to look back at my experiments, but my idea seems to be working. EZ-PZ, and I'm so clever.

So when I get things optimized I could be shooting 4x5 at $1.40 a sheet. Photowarehouse seems to have the best prices.

Another plan is to somehow get HP5 to work for me because in 4x5 Photowarehouse sells boxes of 100 sheets 4x5 HP5 for $109.95. Cheap-cheap-cheap.

The problem for me is I love Tri-X better.

So in looking at my gear I think I will mod the lensboard of my Zeiss 100/2.8 Planar so I can use it on my Baby Linhof Tech V because it is the smaller more compact rig and while I own the Zeiss 53/4.5 Biogon it will not fold like the 100 Planar.

I have 70mm 645, 6x7, and 6x9 backs and the cheap 70mm film is Rollie retro 400. This film has an IR sensitivity so loading outside has a high risk of fogging. Good thing the Linhof CINE's hold 15 feet of film.

Cal
 
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