My Ermanox Journey

[farlymac]

Flickr just added this shot to 'Explore', which I guess means something in Flickr World!


Culps Hill2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Only if you are obsessed with "Faves". I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out why my photos were going into Explore. I know they used to manually curate them, but now they probably use an algorithm like every other site.

PF

 

[Vince Lupo]

Only if you are obsessed with "Faves". I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out why my photos were going into Explore. I know they used to manually curate them, but now they probably use an algorithm like every other site.
PF

At times they pick the most peculiar things. A few years ago they chose a picture of my 1980 Checker Marathon that I took with my phone - that photo has among the most ‘faves’ of any of my photos on Flickr. Sometimes it defies logic.

BTW I’ll make your print this week!

 

[Vince Lupo]

Vince your portraits are always exceptional. And you find such great subjects to shoot. I'm guessing this was a civil war reenactment at Gettysburg?

The images have a softer look than the Mapping the West stuff done with the M9, but makes pictures like this especially look more "vintage."

The other evening I was going to ask you to talk about how you work with your subjects and get such good images, but after listening to you talk for a while I realized I didn't need to. You're a natural with people.

My wife doesn’t call me a Chatty Cathy for nothing 🙂

Yes this was a Gettysburg reenactment. The images (the ones in focus, anyways) have a ‘sharpness’, but it’s a different kind of sharpness, and I’m totally fine with that. Despite its inherent ‘imperfections’, I’m actually preferring the glass plate images over the film images. For example, I love that one photo of the fellow amongst all the tents. It has a hazy kind of quality that wouldn’t be completely out of place with other vintage photos of the late 19th-early 20th century. And one of the big reasons why I go back to Gettysburg time and again is that it has subject matter that I think ‘matches’ the materials I’m using - if not with the Ermanox, then with my glass plate stereo cameras (which I need to put back into regular use!). I kinda feel the same way about New Mexico, but obviously it’s totally different. Just goes to show that despite being involved in photography for over 40 years and a commercial photographer for 25 there is still so much left for me to learn.

Just placed an order for another 70 glass plates - hopefully I'll get my 'system' figured out this time around.

 

[Vince Lupo]

A little camera repair bird told me that it's possible to adapt anything to anything -- hmm wonder if this is possible???


Possible? by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Possible? by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

 

[Vince Lupo]

A slight re-work of an image I previously posted. I think I like this version better.


Culps Hill1a by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

 

[Dralowid]

Great portrait!

To misquote someone:

'Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.'

Alternatively:

'Quiet woman, I'm digesting.'

 

[Vince Lupo]

Great portrait!

To misquote someone:

'Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits.'

Alternatively:

'Quiet woman, I'm digesting.'

Ha good ones!

Speaking of 'just sits', sometimes I confuse people when I want to take their photo and they ask "What should I do?" and my response is usually 'Just Be!"

BTW there's another Civil War encampment coming up next weekend and hopefully I'll be able to get more (and better!) photos. Stay tuned!

 

[Vince Lupo]

Can't just let it sit in an envelope unframed now can we?


Framed KIPHO by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

 

[Evergreen States]

Vince, are you going to try mounting your Hasselblad 907X to this?

 

[Vince Lupo]

Vince, are you going to try mounting your Hasselblad 907X to this?

Hmm hadn’t thought of that. I don’t think so, but it’s an interesting idea. If I can get the ‘Wiz’ to adapt the Graflex back to it, that would be super. Otherwise as long as I can exorcise all the various light leak issues with the Rollex 127 back, that will be good enough for me.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Two more from a roll of Pan F.


Sunday Morning Trees by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


John Poole House by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

I'm still dealing with a bit of a light leak from the left red window on the back of the film holder. I may have to go after it from the inside, as I need to remove the little cover every time I have to advance the film. Thankfully I don't see any other light leaks - I'm being a bit more diligent in replacing the dark slide after every exposure, plus using a slower film helps.

This weekend is another Civil War 'encampment', so I'm planning to shoot more glass plate and hoping I have better luck this time.

 

[Nokton48]

Pan F+ can be a cantankerous film to deal with, but I do think films around the speed of what was available at the time, make sense to from the standpoint of how you approach the limitations of the camera.


Otherwise, Enjoy! I'm looking forward to running more film and plates through my period Plaubel Makinas, and looking forward to running some Hp5+. But that is not really what those cameras were about.

Hooray for Jason Lane! 🙂

Everything looks great.

 

[Vince Lupo]

I’ve never really had any issues with Pan F - I usually expose at ISO 25, then develop in D76 1:3. Dumb luck I suppose.

 

[JeffS7444]

If the camera will handle the weight, I wonder how a Hasselblad #16 (not A16) back would work on that camera? Common, relatively cheap, and it has a peephole allowing you to see the numbering on the 120 rollfilm paper backing. You'd need to advance film via the winding key, but I figure that's the least of your inconveniences.

 

[Vince Lupo]

If the camera will handle the weight, I wonder how a Hasselblad #16 (not A16) back would work on that camera? Common, relatively cheap, and it has a peephole allowing you to see the numbering on the 120 rollfilm paper backing. You'd need to advance film via the winding key, but I figure that's the least of your inconveniences.

I just got a Graflex 22 back (6x6) and am going to send it along with the camera to the ‘Wiz’ and see if he can make that work. Part of the challenge is making sure the film plane is where it’s supposed to be.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Adding to the efficiencies of my system....


Cutplate Developing Tank by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

Found this offered by a UK eBay seller. The nice thing is that it will work with both the 4.5x6cm glass plates as well as my 6x13cm stereo/panoramic glass plates. It will only process six plates at a time, but it will certainly be a lot less fiddly than the modified Kodak hangers I've been using so far.

 

[farlymac]

That should reduce your darkroom time.


PF

 

[Vince Lupo]

That should reduce your darkroom time.


PF

I think so, although I’ll be processing fewer plates at a time. But my hope is that it will make the loading of the plates in the tank less of an ordeal than with the method I’m presently using, not that it’s been a major problem. I do know that this method is much better (to me anyways) than tray developing these.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Starts to look like a professional set-up.

The results look fine, are these scans of the negatives? The lens is super.

Erik.

 

[Vince Lupo]

Starts to look like a professional set-up.

The results look fine, are these scans of the negatives? The lens is super.

Erik.

Scans of sorts - taken with my Hasselblad 907x back on a 500c/m body. I was using the 120/4 Makro-Planar with the automatic bellows on a copy stand, but I’ve just switched to the 80/2.8 Planar with the bellows/copy stand which puts the camera much closer to the negative, plus now it’s a bit easier to focus. The nice thing is that the 907x is the same format as the negatives.