Almost ready to load my first Sheet Film set.

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Pirate

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All tips/tricks/hints/ and general yelling about "DON'T DO THAT!" welcome.

Over the next couple days I'll be reading through the manuals and surfing the net on the proper ways to load the film holders for my little 3x4 (thank you James!), and looking for proper storage after I've shot them until I can develop them.

I'd like to take this out and start shooting by this next weekend, grabbing a shot here and there between Leica M3 shots, so anything you guys have to say to a first timer here are welcome.

Thanks,
Chris
 
A few years ago I had the chance to look through a copy of 'Using the View Camera' by Steve Simmons, which seemed to me to provide a very good introduction. Might be worth having a look for it?

John
 
Thanks guys. The books I'll keep an eye out for but I won't be picking any up soon because I'll be moving again in a couple months.

That Roger and Frances link has a lot of good stuff. Someone linked me to one of their pages recently and I was very impressed with the amount of info. Thanks.
 
If you have read Mr. Hick's site, there is nothing I can add except expect to make a mistake now and then no matter. Other than that, enjoy, as I know you will, even with the occasional mis-steps. It is great to see those larger negatives. Contact prints are a joy as well.
 
When you're happy with what you see on the ground glass:
1. Close the shutter
2. Insert the film holder into the back
3. Set the shutter speed and aperture
4. Pull the darkslide
5. Click! (you are using a cable release, yes?)
6. Put the darkslide back in
7. Release the film holder

Print, read it like a mantra.
I always forget no.1 then proceed to flip the order of 3 and 4, as the result, a nice, fully exposed blank sheet.
 
"5. Click! (you are using a cable release, yes?)"

Yes! I just today found the port for threading in my cable. I will be getting a better cable though as the one I have is from ..... 1970, the flimsy metal type, but for the moment, it works.

No Sneezing!! Mine is the Press model so I won't be using the ground glass, but I still don't want to sneeze like that!
 
Will summarized perfectly. I still remember how I forgot the first step the first time.
To balance things, I obtained a sheet to practice loading procedures on the developing
tank.

Best,
Pau
 
I've got a pack of .... well, I don't know what I have as I can't find it right now amongst the clutter that is my room. Anyway, I have 50 of them so I was thinking of taking the first one out and using it as a test dummy. I think that would be worth the loss since I'm a beginner at large format stuff.

I'll find it when the sun comes up tomorrow.
 
And the next stage is finding out which film holders have light leaks in the hinged corners! 😀

There are a couple in my set of twelve holders and I never remember to identify and mark them ... I figure it adds to the excitement of shooting LF! 😛
 
I can honestly see me writing things down and taking the list into a darkroom with me thinking I'm going to read the instructions as I load the film. I'm that blond.

Found the film, it was in the fridge were it should have been. I've got a pack of 50, efke PL 100 M Black and White negative sheets. The box says to develop before Oct 2011 so it should be good for a while. Need to buy more of this stuff and stock up.

Yeah, about putting the lid back on... When this arrived in the mail, I cut the tape on the lid and started to pull the top off the box, then hesitated, thinking... what if I shouldn't do this in the light?? Sure enough, turn the box over and there's the warning label.

This should be fun.
 
shadowfox said:
When you're happy with what you see on the ground glass:
1. Close the shutter
2. Insert the film holder into the back
3. Set the shutter speed and aperture
4. Pull the darkslide
5. Click! (you are using a cable release, yes?)
6. Put the darkslide back in
7. Release the film holder

Print, read it like a mantra.
I always forget no.1 then proceed to flip the order of 3 and 4, as the result, a nice, fully exposed blank sheet.
Click to expand...
Something I learned from a wise member of another forum. A slight variation on the above:
1a. Set aperture & shutter speed. Cock and fire the shutter while looking through the ground glass.
1b. Repeat 1a.
Proceed to #2.
Mistakes I have made:
1. Failure to load film on both sides of the holder.
2. Failure to get the film under the rails. Mentioned above.
3. Two sheets of film on one side of the holder.
4. No doubt other mistakes I tried to forget.
Good luck.
 
Rayt said:
3x4? Very interesting. For what camera and why is it better than roll film?
Click to expand...
Dear Ray,

Quarter plate, true dimensions 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inch; '3x4' is the (somewhat sloppy, but widely used) American term for the same size. In the UK, many years ago,this used to be the biggest 'amateur' size, attracting purchase tax. The next size up, 5x4 inch, was 'professional' and therefore tax exempt.

Cheers,

R.
 
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