New York February NYC Meet-Up/ Tenth Annual Camera Beauty Contest

[Calzone]

Cal, you'd best keep Maggie out of Alabama! The way the locals around me mangle the English language would send her postal. The use of "them" for "those" and the use of the word "tooken" for took drives me crazy.

MFM,

Did you go to Catholic schools and get beat up by nuns? LOL.

Don't forget that my dad was a Chinese immigrant. He would scream at me all the time. Now my ears are kinda dead from his yelling. I was a horrible kid.

I was reminded of how I was when my daughter was born. My ex use to threaten to leave me with my daughter. It seems personality is innate.

It was in first grade that I got called into school to see a psycologist. Evidently they discovered a learning disability in her that I also have, a kind of dyslexia but instead of being visual it is like slurred hearing. Words and sounds get processed out of order, also sounds are not perceived or cut. This also deals with processing linear and serial processing. The result is a lot of jumbled thinking.

Not uncommon for very smart people to have learning disabilities. So like me my daughter displayed not only a difficult personality, a bad fierce temper, below average language skills, but also the advantage of advanced dexterity, an abstract mind, three dimensional reasoning, and advanced motor skills.

Note that ampidexterity runs in my family. I can box as a righty or a lefty, although my right arm is about an inch longer and has more power. My second oldest brother can write both lefty and righty.

Out in the Long Island suburbs when she was in first grade some third grade boy was picking on an other girl in her class who happened to also be the smallest girl in her class. Kia threw the boy to the ground a beat the piss out of him.

There were reports that when a teacher tried to break up the fight/beating that like fly paper she jumped on top of him again to beat him some more.

In third grade they begin teaching kids to write in script, but in first grade Kia could forge my signature on her homework. Note the criminal element. LOL.

Perhaps it was in kindergarden she asked me if the world is round why does it appear to be flat? I drew a circle on some paper, then I drew a larger circle, then an arc to explain that the planet is so big that we only see part of the circle. Pretty advanced abstract thinking for perhaps a 4 year old.

Kia also enjoyed good looks. Her mother was a bit of a trophy, a real stunning beauty. People would gawk at her and stare, both mother and daughter. At times this was a problem, but that's another bunch of stories.

So two other things in common. She was a great visual artist and was even given a full scholarship to the "Warburg Institute" in London. This is a school where if accepted you pay no tuition and go for free.

The last thing in common is that as kids and early adults we suffered from a certain amount of impulse control. In other words we were kinda crazy and hard to deal with.

Cal

 

[Particular]

Norma Handy Stuff 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

First test 4x5 Sinar Norma Handy 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Hey Cal,
This is my new playtoy. Notice the 4x5" Graphmatic; I just bought two more over the holidays. Thanks for sending me the original literature.

So now I am renovating three Graphmatics, have you ever used the ten shot Kinematic? I'd like to have a few of those 🙂

This looks suspiciously like a Sinar version of the Linhof Technar that I assembled from parts. I currently have it set up with a 47/5.6 Super Angulon and a 6x9 back and a leitz 21mm finder. At some point I’ll mount my 58/5.6 XL which on 4x5 is even wider.
I have a couple of grafmatics. I had 2 more in lesser conditions that I sold, but immediately regretted it. They are a lot of fun. For convenience I like to used a horseman 6x12 back a lot of the time though.

 

[Nokton48]

Dan, I've owned 2 Kinematic's over the years-they are problem children. They are very bad to jam.

MFM,

OK so will pass unless no-money.

Thnks

 

[Phil_F_NM]

Phil, go get some WonTon soup...won't cure you, but it will make you feel better.

I'm gonna get a bowl of matzo ball soup after class ends tonight.
Phil Forrest

 

[Nokton48]

"Since you too are a "Clever Devil" I now will call you "Devil Dan" in the same tradition that I named Christian".

-A badge of honor, thank you. A co-worker once described me as "An Angel With Devil Horns". I liked that and still do. Wasn't that a movie? LOL Micheal.

"Jim Marshall used Tri-X at 800 and Acufine for 5 1/2 minutes for all his work".

-Back in my 70's photoj days Acufine was the BOMB. Yes I know Jim Marshall used it exclusively, I'm a huge fan and have every book I could find by him. I'd have loved to meet him, I guess he either loved you or hated you. I tried to emulate his work when I chased my younger Son around at Rock Shows. A highlight was at the RockNRoll Hall of Fame, we had backstage all access. Leica Days. I have an original Marshall print hanging right here.

"Pretty much I'm cutting out all the noise and will be concentrating on mastering just the above".

-Sounds great! Sure you need digital for work, I prefer film for personal expression. Just the craftsmen aspect of it, and of course the results.

 

[Nokton48]

This looks suspiciously like a Sinar version of the Linhof Technar that I assembled from parts. I currently have it set up with a 47/5.6 Super Angulon and a 6x9 back and a leitz 21mm finder. At some point I’ll mount my 58/5.6 XL which on 4x5 is even wider.
I have a couple of grafmatics. I had 2 more in lesser conditions that I sold, but immediately regretted it. They are a lot of fun. For convenience I like to used a horseman 6x12 back a lot of the time though.

Hello Christian,

Yes this is a homemade "Norma Sinar Handy". Back in the fifties and sixties Sinar had the Norma, and I've been buying pieces for it since I was age 25. Sinar at that time did not offer any Handys, but they did offer a green Norma board with extruded nosecone, and Schneider helical, specifically for the 65mm F8 Schneider Super Angulon. So being a Norma purist, I decided to build the camera that they did not offer until much later, when the Norma was replaced by the F, C, and P Sinars (late sixties).

I took an auxiliary Norma standard and turned it at 45 degrees, and removed the staked rods, and drilled and tapped both ends of the standard. The top holds a Mamiya 43mm finder for the Mamiya 7, (cold shoe from China holds it) which has nice bubble levels and great eye relief.

The key component of the Grip to Standard interface, is an old thick brass door latch plate, which I shaped to proper size. JB Weld helps to hold it all together. The Grip came from Glenn Evans, a Graflex XL grip, which is what Sinar utilized at the time and later on too. The Grip and standard are attached with a quick release tripod adapter from China.

I'm just waiting for it to warm up so that I can play with this outside. As you know it takes a lot of film speed (really as much as possible) with these handheld SW cameras. I like B&W so I am investigating using 4x5 TX400 souped in straight Acufine.

It was terribly important to me that the camera is made from all original Norma parts, so it fits right into my collection.

Norma Handy Stuff 3 by Nokton48, on Flickr

-"Devil Dan"

 

[Particular]

“Devil”
If Sinar made the Handy in the late 60’s, then they were ahead of Linhof developing a similar concept. The idea to take a single frame from their 4x5 rail cameras to make a compact wide handheld 4x5 is great. I love the modularity of the concept. Most Linhof Technars have a 65/5.6 Super Angulon, but they offered them with 135mm and other focal lengths as well. They have the Linhof grip on the left side. I had a grip set aside for it, but I decided not to use it and just add a strap on the side instead. That keeps the overall size compact, especially with the 47mm lens. I have noticed that it is easy to introduce camera shake. I shot a bunch of frames where I was perhaps a bit ‘loose’, and they have motion blur. A grip does help with that.
The lens board that I’m using is one I had laser cut to standard kardan size. I also had one cut so I can mount technika boards on the Technar. Ultimately it can have an array of configurations.
In the mean time I bought a second frame and another kardan graflok back. Modularity quickly becomes a form of duplication.

 

[Nokton48]

Christian,
I have many Norma standards around my studio, I did very recently buy another Norma Graflok Back with GG frame, so I can view on the Handy groundglass. The Norma takes the same black popup hood for the 4x5 Speed Graphics, the hood helps a bit viewing in bright sun. I've even use the Sinar reflex viewfinder on it, it looks humungeous but it works very well.

Sinar Handy Brochure circa 1972:

https://www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/01448/01448.pdf

I tried the Grip on the side, didn't like it. I think Sinar got it right putting it underneath. Easy to carry around with wide Domke Gripper Strap; strap lugs are from Pentax 6x7; Calzone sent me some bolts from his work 🙂

 

[Calzone]

"Since you too are a "Clever Devil" I now will call you "Devil Dan" in the same tradition that I named Christian".

-A badge of honor, thank you. A co-worker once described me as "An Angel With Devil Horns". I liked that and still do. Wasn't that a movie? LOL Micheal.

"Jim Marshall used Tri-X at 800 and Acufine for 5 1/2 minutes for all his work".

-Back in my 70's photoj days Acufine was the BOMB. Yes I know Jim Marshall used it exclusively, I'm a huge fan and have every book I could find by him. I'd have loved to meet him, I guess he either loved you or hated you. I tried to emulate his work when I chased my younger Son around at Rock Shows. A highlight was at the RockNRoll Hall of Fame, we had backstage all access. Leica Days. I have an original Marshall print hanging right here.

"Pretty much I'm cutting out all the noise and will be concentrating on mastering just the above".

-Sounds great! Sure you need digital for work, I prefer film for personal expression. Just the craftsmen aspect of it, and of course the results.

Devil Dan,

Last night because of you I was obsessing over films and developers again studying negatives, and I noticed an error. Jim Marshall's time for Tri-X at 800 ISO was 5 3/4 minutes and NOT 5 1/2. Pardon my error.

Pretty much I'm trying to cull things down so I can not be so crazy. Pretty much I want ideally to be like Jim Marshall and pretty much use only one film and one developer to master like a deadly Kung-Fu move.

So of my experiments are kinda out there. I took notice of how there are groupings of time across different films so I got mucho crazy with the idea of using one developer and doing a "mixed tank."

So using Ilford DDX, a liquid developer of high strength for short development times and high IQ and small grain, I added a twist of minimizing aggitation a bit and used 9 minutes to standardize this developer where I could shoot, Delta 400, FP4, Delta 3200, Tri-X, and HP5 all in one tank.

Note that I use a stainless steel 2 liter tank, but I also have 3 1/2 gallon Kodak hard rubber dip and dunk tanks and of course a full rack of reels where I can process mucho film like a true crazy.

Anyways, if I can publically masturbate, I too am a "Clever Devil." LOL.

Crazy is good I say.

Also know that my retirement is looking mighty good. Looks like I can have a darkroom in the future. Surely I'll be a new-sense and annoy people with my impulsive, obsessive, annoying behavior. Why do people love me?

I also saw an exhibition of Jim Marshall's prints. He also was skilled as a printer. BTW he liked to print big to display his skill. I recognized that. I once had a gallerist and art dealer ask me, "Why are your prints so big." Kinda funny that this dealer and art gallery owner was also a professor at a major NYC art college and once was the Editor of PDN (Photo District News). Pretty much had no idea of how hard and how much skill is required.

"Big prints don't lie," I say.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

I have many Norma frames around my studio, I did very recently buy another Norma Graflok Back with GG frame, so I can view on the groundglass. The Norma takes the popup hood for the Speed Graphics, which helps a bit in bright sun. I've even use the reflex viewfinder on it, it looks humungeous but it works very well.

Sinar Handy Brochure circa 1972:

https://www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/01448/01448.pdf

I tried the Grip on the side, didn't like it. I think Sinar got it right putting it underneath. Easy to carry around with wide Domke Gripper Strap; strap lugs are from Pentax 6x7; Calzone sent me some bolts from his work 🙂

Devil Dan,

While I love Linhof grips (I have a grip fetish), LOL, I kinda think the bottom mount on the handy makes it a weapon that reminds me of a hatch-it.

A funny story is when I was a Boy Scout, I was a hell raiser. Even back then I was a lazy slacker. For two years I remained a "Tenderfoot" the lowest ranking.

About a decade later when I worked at Grumman I went into this welding shop to inquire about getting some welding done, and this welder looked at me like I was a ghost.

He looked at my badge and said, "You are still alive," as if he expected that I had died. Pretty much he was beyond surprised: he was shocked.

Ends up it was Mr. McNaulty my old Troop Master. He was actually kinda horrorfied/traumatized seeing me.

BTW our Troop 451 was kind of a bunch of misfits and we were known to be F-Troop at summer camp. LOL.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

So I have a total of ten 2x3 Graphmatics, and I saw a thread inquiring abut Foma. So the jury says that Foma 100 is a good cheap film but bypass the 400 due to excessive grain.

So it seems that I will likely be doing Foma 100 for sheet film.

Cheap-cheap-cheap...

Will likely use Rodinal 1+50 as a one shot.

Cheap-cheap-cheap...

I guess I can blame all this on Devil Dan. LOL.

I have three rolls of Panchro 400 in 120 in the fridge. I will offer these rolls for exchange or barter at the Meet-Up. Will trade one roll for another film in 120. Prefer Tri-X, Acros, FP4, HP5, Rollie 400S, Delta 400, Delta 100.

Panchro 400 requires a presoak, and oddly the presoak also effects the film speed. Claimed to be a dual layer emulsion that used CNC machines to tightly control the layering. An interesting film, but I give up, and I want to explore and concentrate on other crazy things...

Cal

 

[Particular]

Cal,
I’ve used the foma/arista 100 in 120 quite a bit lately. I was alternating it with FP4. It has a different look, perhaps a little softer. Once scanned, I can’t tell which images were shot with which film. It is a film with nice tonality.
Be aware though that it releases a lot of green dye in developing. I suppose a presoak could clear most of that, but as I was using Xtol presoak is not recommended. As a result my stop and fix all were green too. I don’t think the dye has any effect on other films, but out of precaution I developed the Ilford films with separate chemical batches.

 

[Nokton48]

Devil Cal,

I have invested in "Pedro's Ice Wax Dry Bike Chain Lubricant" to lube the sliding interior rails on my Graphmatics. Don't get any on the septums at all! Simply remove the six screws and apart she comes in a couple of minutes. Over the Holidays I bought a Dyson V7 pistol vacuum to clean stuff around here, I love it. Take the Grafmatic and strip and vacuum the crap inside, maybe change the felt lighttrap? That's it and they should slide like butter.

Also "Renaissance Wax" to clean and lube all darkslides. Helps repel dust, too.

Freestyle has 2x3 Aristo in 125 and 400. I've got some 2x3 ADOX CHS 100 II I expensively ordered from Germany if you want to ever try it. No Money
Bartering?

FS 2x3 ADOX CHS 100 II by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[Calzone]

Devil Cal,

I have invested in "Pedro's Ice Wax Dry Bike Chain Lubricant" to lube the sliding interior rails on my Graphmatics. Don't get any on the septums at all! Simply remove the six screws and apart she comes in a couple of minutes. Over the Holidays I bought a Dyson V7 pistol vacuum to clean stuff around here, I love it. Take the Grafmatic and strip and vacuum the crap inside, maybe change the felt lighttrap? That's it and they should slide like butter.

Also "Renaissance Wax" to clean and lube all darkslides. Helps repel dust, too.

Freestyle has 2x3 Aristo in 125 and 400. I've got some 2x3 ADOX CHS 100 II I expensively ordered from Germany if you want to ever try it. No Money
Bartering?

FS 2x3 ADOX CHS 100 II by Nokton48, on Flickr

Crazy Devil Dan,

I'll compare Photo Warehouse with FreeStyle prices.

Cheap-cheap-cheap...

Let's do a deal. What is the smut on the 2x3 ADOX?

Pretty much I want to stop giving myself a head ache by doing all my tinkering and experimenting. You know me, you are crazy, but I'm the lazy slacker. I have a reputation to uphold.

So how about regressing to just my "Slacker's Brew," meaning Diafine which has the same kinda fine grain as Acufine. I figure since I minimize aggitation (2 inversions instead of 3) that instead of developing 3+3 I go 4+4.

The idea here is I love the compensating effect (unwinding of contrast), how highlights are never blown (nice and fluffy), the enhanced shadows that innately become pronounced because that is what Diafine does. The effect for me is like HDR analog film.

So in my obsessive manner, don't tell anyone, I can shoot Tri-X at 640 ISO, FP4 at box speed (125), and Kodak 5222 at 400 ISO and do a mixed tank using Diafine 4+4 two inversions per minute.

One developer, same process, three different films.

Bonus is that I use Diafine for Rollie 400S 5+5 for a 100 ISO (high contrast illumination) and it seems from my testing to avoid thin negatives I will have to drop the film speed to 50 ISO and over expose. This overexposure from my tests compares 10:00 AM harsh high-key summer direct sun verses a more diffused 4:00-5:00 PM lighting. In my test for the diffused lower key lighting the ISO was 60.

In the above I can shoot 15 feet of 70 mm Rollie 400S under the two above senarios and adjust ISO for HDR like negatives that have a contrast for wet printing and a metalic sheen that I see in good negatives that are mighty easy to straight print.

How lazy is that? Bonus is that I don't have to mix or replenish developers all the time because Diafine gets reused. Also because I'm a lazy slacker I love that it is "Panthermic" meaning as long as its temperature is above 20 degrees C, who cares as Diafine is not temperature sensitive.

I call it "Slacker's Brew" for a reason... Also cheap-cheap-cheap...

But it gets better because I have a set of Kodak 3 1/2 gallon hard rubber tanks. Pretty much with these I can dip and dunk up to 24 reels of 120 or up to 36 reels of 135. Of course because I'm clever I can do a mixed batch of 120 and 135, and who says I have to fill the tank?

Almost as crazy as your mighty darkroom.

As far as barter goes, I have a supply of 1 gallon brown glass jugs. I only keep the ones that are filled with research grade alcohols because they are water soluable, and basically only a few water rinses are required to clean them.

Know that when I build out my darkroom that pretty much I have mucho lab equipment. People will think I'm crazy like you. LOL.

Cal

 

[Nokton48]

Let's do a deal. What is the smut on the 2x3 ADOX?

As far as barter goes, I have a supply of 1 gallon brown glass jugs. I only keep the ones that are filled with research grade alcohols because they are water soluable, and basically only a few water rinses are required to clean them.

Smut about ADOX CHS from Digital Truth:

https://www.digitaltruth.com/devcha...Developer=&mdc=Search&TempUnits=C&TimeUnits=D

I've not tried it yet. I have 2x3" HP5+ and FP4. As I recall I bought it from a UK Dealer, "right up the road from Ilford. Big Ilford truck comes by every morning"

 

[Calzone]

Smut about ADOX CHS from Digital Truth:

https://www.digitaltruth.com/devcha...Developer=&mdc=Search&TempUnits=C&TimeUnits=D

I've not tried it yet. I have 2x3" HP5+ and FP4. As I recall I bought it from a UK Dealer, "right up the road from Ilford. Big Ilford truck comes by every morning"

Crazy Devil Dan,

It seems ADOX II and Rodinal could be good for me.

I already printed out the Massive Development Chart.

The HP5 and especially FP4 is attractive but I don't like the costs for the custom orders. It is the same for 70mm HP5 anf FP4. Mucho expensive.

BTW PhotoWarehouse at times blows out the previous year's inventory, so if you want to buy in at a discount wait for the sale.

Also Devil Christian gave me his collection of Linhof CINE's. Several were working, but several needed repair. I ended up taking the bad ones apart. One for entertainment, but then again to cull down to the parts. I took notice that some spindles had only a single sproket and others had a double.

Hmmm... Might I be clever and convert a CINE or two to single perf? This not only opens up availability and choice of films, but also can save some money. If my memory is correct: single perf films sell at a discount.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

725K followers.

So tonight is an event that "Maggie" put together that involves 4 students from Parsons that were assigned a project as part of their coursework as designers.

Maggie is presenting the work that she collaborated with developing, and the space where it is being held is sponsored by some retired designer who set up this space on Wooster Street in SoHo to showcase talent, foster innovation, and be an incubator of sorts for all stuff fashion related.

I'm told there is a full blown photo studio in the basement that Maggie has access to, meaning that I might have access to. Also the relationship Maggie has with the owner is such that she can use the space to have events. Pretty much "free space" in a prime location in SoHo.

Tonight I will meet a designer who "dresses" Maggie during NYC Fashion Week. He is pretty big deal with showrooms in New York, L.A., London, and I think Paris. He also does menswear... Hmmm...

Am I a skinny muscular bitch? Might I get a gig? How about free clothes to fill my apartment? Could I walk a runway in the next NYC Fashion Week? Am I a delusional artist?

Anyways this could be another episode of "I was just minding my own business," when something crazy happens.

Back on topic: I'm kind of excited to shoot the square tonight using my SL2. Pretty much the 47.3 MP sensor gets cropped to 31.5 MP and the EVF and rear screen display the square as shot, but know in Lightroom I can hit "reset" and I have the full frame 47.3 MP raw file without the crop.

Understand that Maggie mostly posts on Instagram, and the square format is best for her.

For me since the cropping lengthens the focal length I can use the APO 35 Cron as my normal FOV lens. Of course this makes for a smaller and more compact rig. "I love it," I say.

Also will be interesting because hidden in the wings of where the cropping masks the FF image might be buried treasure. If I recrop and add in a "wing" pretty much it is a 24 mm by 30 mm crop sensor which then translates into a 4x5 aspect ratio. How cool is that?

The owner of the space will have a crew for video, and I'm sure there will be mucho photographers. Some of our friends and creatures from the world of fashion already RSVP'ed. Should be a young and glamorous crowd. The response from Maggie's announcement has been big.

The space is called "Dream Works" or "Dream Factory" or something like that.

Cal

 

[Calzone]

Devil Christian,

You should check out Devil Dan's obsessive darkroom thread. Kind of over the top, mucho crazy, and on a scale that is a bit insane.

Definitely has "You suck factor."

Cal

 

[Prest_400]

Busy lately but I enjoy lurking while on the bus and sometimes chiming in. Can't miss the crazy stories.

Our photo club has a Durst enlarger that can enlarge 8x10" negs. Pretty much an invitation to climb up formats, except I live a lifestyle where even a carbon lightweight tripod stays at home. 6x9 Texas Leica is nice. Funnily, no one uses that enlarger.

I haven't shot any film for about a month but I've been printing in the darkroom quite a bit. Well, honestly, I haven't really shot anything relevant even with digital. The talk about the SL2 and Panny S1 reminds me that digitizing film with a camera is the future. Some day I'll delve into that.



Been exploiting the free rolls of Ilford RC in our darkroom from a gov't surplus donation. Upcoming local exhibition next month. President of the photo club says use it all before it goes bad. 😀

Our easels do not admit wider than 24" but I tried printing a panoramic crop (aka free Xpan from a Medium Format camera) from a 6x9 into a 9x24" print. Beautiful and I can easily see large prints something I will do more often.



We have tons of 50-100cm wide Ilfospeed, grade 2 and 3. Every so often I put my nose into the 9" prints so I guess I will enjoy that as a progression.



The talk about negatives makes me thing that I ought to mess with my HP5 regime. Currently doing EI320, HC110E 7.5min, seems to render Flat gray negatives that often need crunchy split grade to come alive. I purchased Foma's XTOL Copycat (Excel) which comes out in 1L and may try it when HC runs out.



Fomapan is good and makes sense in sheet film. The $. Foma 200 is supposed to be blended cubic and T grain, with similar granularity to the 100.

For some reason I've been seeing tiny defects and coating comets in some of the film I shot (100 and 200 in 120). If anything, it serves well in the Holga. I traded a few rolls for Vintage frozen Fuji Astia.
Beautiful "Gatorade Fomapan green" dyes come out of the film. I initially used a presoak to get rid of it but it's a nil point with one shot developing.

Noting Christian's point, presoak seems to be a big debate. I recall a fairly large thread about it either here or in APUG.

My friend Tim says that he presoaks with Foma when using Xtol as some of the green includes surfactants that could build up in the developer.



The recent price increase of Kodak, wow, has made it quite $$$ in Europe. $8 a 120 roll of anything B&W compared to the $5 of Ilford. Sorry Kodak.

 

[Calzone]

Jorde,

Thanks for reminding me about using my SL2 for digitizing negatives.

A few years ago I use to annoy both John and Pro-Mone by calling my M-Monochrom my "Hand scanner."

Pretty creative on my part. They found my phase mucho annoying and corrupt. Perhaps I'm morally bankrupt, but at least I find it funny.

I made my negatives with added density to both print big and for wet printing.

Like you I find HP5 to be kinda flat, even at 320 ISO. Not my favorite film.

I try to have nice contrast on the negative. The negatives that straight print well for me have this silver rich metalic sheen. Pretty much the punch in the contrast is on the negative.

Some films are easier to do this than others. Besides developer and film there is also lighting conditions.

Cal