My Ermanox Journey

Vince Lupo said:
Thanks for the feedback - what I could try to do is reduce the contrast on the left and darken it down, or maybe just darken the highlights down. Unfortunately I can't really stop down the lens to reduce the out of focus effect in a low light situation like that, as then I'd be into a 10 second exposure or more (It's about 3 seconds in those last two shots at f/2, exposing the 'speed' plate at ISO 12). And I have no firm idea how the background is going to look in the final result until I see the developed plate - it's a bit hard to tell how crazy it might get at the time I'm taking the shot. Personally it doesn't bother me and my eye goes right to my loving wife first (yes I'm slightly biased!), but I could see how that area on the left could be a distraction.

As an aside, I'd be really curious to know what the fastest glass plates were back in the 1920's. If ASA/ISO 25 was about it, I have a hard time understanding how Erich Salomon managed to get some of the photos he did, particularly without setting up any additional lights. Handheld would have been a real challenge, even with the f/2 (and later f/1.8) lens. Maybe with ASA/ISO 100 it might have been possible, at least as far as I can see it. Of course like everything else in life I could be wrong about this!
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I'd just push that bright area down a stop or so. Just enough to keep a viewer's eye from drifting there... The blur/bokeh itself won't be as much of a distraction. 🙂

And yes: we always have to work within the limitations of the equipment and the recording medium. No idea how fast glass plates in that day were, but I suspect in difficult light a lot of photographers just put up with significant underexposure and worked in the darkroom to overcome the negatives' deficiencies. The funny thing is that they produced some lovely "looks" to their prints this way, which take work to replicate with todays incredibly sensitive digital cameras ... LOL! Photography can be a funny game this way.

G
 
I finally shipped seven prints and six glass plate negatives to the Technical Museum in Dresden today. They probably won't get there for a few weeks, but hopefully they'll be a worthwhile addition to their Ermanox display!
 
A few new ones from last weekend. All taken on 127 film with either Ilford Pan F or Rerapan 100. As you can see from the photos I still have some scratching on the film from the backs -- I've cleaned the backs as best I could, so I'm not sure what else I can do. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd welcome them!


Cool Springs1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Cool Springs2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Cool Springs3 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Cool Springs4 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Vinny With the Ermanox by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
 
Those are wonderful, Vince. The first one makes me think of Sally Mann's southern landscapes that I like so much. I just read her autobiography, which I recommend.

John
 
JohnWolf said:
Those are wonderful, Vince. The first one makes me think of Sally Mann's southern landscapes that I like so much. I just read her autobiography, which I recommend.

John
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Many thanks John - actually you've given me an idea, since you mentioned southern landscapes. I think perhaps I've been going about this Ermanox journey with a mind to 'continue' the work that Erich Salomon did, but maybe I shouldn't be thinking that way at all.

I'll have a look at Sally's southern landscape work -- incidentally I did meet her back in 1996 when she came to my grad school class in Savannah, GA, and then I had another occasion to talk with her on the phone a number of years later. As you may or may not know, Frank Marshman repairs all my cameras and repairs Sally's as well. One day Frank and I were talking on the phone and he said "You know a lot about old Leica lenses. Would you mind giving Sally Mann a call? She has an old M3 and she was asking me about Leica lenses that would give her that 'dreamy' look, and I know nothing about that." So Frank gave me her number and I called her up. We spoke for about 1/2 hour about old Leica lenses that might give her that 'dreamy' look -- Thambars, Summars, 73mm Hektors, you get the idea. Plus we looked on eBay and KEH together at lenses that were available there and I gave her my thoughts about the various avenues she might take.

I don't know if Sally ever took my advice and put it into practice, but perhaps I should add a line in my CV stating that I was 'once a technical advisor to Sally Mann' 🙂
 
Vince, those 127 shots are great with the Ermanox - looks like a fun set-up - very unique look! All I can contribute about the scratching of the ReraPan is that it is a soft and easy to scratch emulsion - based on my experience with the Rollei baby and the Primo Jr TLR...
 
cassel said:
Vince, those 127 shots are great with the Ermanox - looks like a fun set-up - very unique look! All I can contribute about the scratching of the ReraPan is that it is a soft and easy to scratch emulsion - based on my experience with the Rollei baby and the Primo Jr TLR...
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Many thanks - so is there anything you do which helps reduce the possibility of the scratches? Or is it something that’s pretty much unavoidable?
 
Godfrey said:
Lovely work with this camera, Vince!
I can't help with the scratching issues, but have to say I generally don't care much if there are scratches with an antique camera. 🙂

G
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I'm going to have to go through these two roll film back again and see what's going on -- one suggestion to me was to put the processed film in the camera and compare the location of the scratches with the back. The unfortunate thing is that these Rollex-Patent 127 backs are so scarce and not especially well-made that I don't have a whole lot of options as far as roll film backs go. I have seen photos online of what look to be a Rada back, but so far I haven't come across one. I'm just lucky that I've been able to find two 127 backs that fit!

One bit of good news -- I had an issue with trying to find the right kind of light trap 'felt' for my glass plate holders, and mostly I'd been scavenging good vintage felt from other plate holders that I wasn't using. Well I finally found a source for new felt and it's exactly as the old felt. A place called Decorative Fabrics Direct has it -- it's Mohair Velvet fabric that's used for upholstery and it's perfect. Nice thing is that I can buy a 3"x8" sample for $2.75 shipped. They don't offer it in black, but they have a 'Pomegranate' that's exactly the same as the red that was used in some of the vintage plate holders. Very relieved to have found this source at an inexpensive price!
 
That felt may have other uses too. I wonder how thick it is? My Bellows II flares badly from internal reflections, it needs some flocking on those surfaces. Felt from astronomy supply houses, sold for this purpose, is crazy expensive for what you receive. Always looking for the less expensive sources... I'll check out this one.
 
rfaspen said:
That felt may have other uses too. I wonder how thick it is? My Bellows II flares badly from internal reflections, it needs some flocking on those surfaces. Felt from astronomy supply houses, sold for this purpose, is crazy expensive for what you receive. Always looking for the less expensive sources... I'll check out this one.
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Including the backing it's about 3mm thick. This is the specific stuff I ordered: https://www.decorativefabricsdirect....-p/6645834.htm

If you search 'mohair velvet', other colours will pop up. Here again they don't seem to offer it in black, though 'Flanders Caspian' looks pretty dark. Thankfully you don't have to order an entire yard of the fabric to see if it will work for you, and of course they do have other fabrics you can try. This mohair velvet might be too thick for your bellows.
 
Vince Lupo said:
Including the backing it's about 3mm thick. This is the specific stuff I ordered: https://www.decorativefabricsdirect....-p/6645834.htm

If you search 'mohair velvet', other colours will pop up. Here again they don't seem to offer it in black, though 'Flanders Caspian' looks pretty dark. Thankfully you don't have to order an entire yard of the fabric to see if it will work for you, and of course they do have other fabrics you can try. This mohair velvet might be too thick for your bellows.
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Thanks Vince. At least the cost of experimentation is pretty darn low -- $2.75
 
I think that optimizing the work flow with 127 film roll film adapters is a great project - the film plates are cool, just harder and more expensive. I think the quality FELT route is the trick but man, B&W 127 film is fragile and scratch-prone throughout the process - have you considered trying color 127? I know it is VERY scarce or obsolete - BUT ReraChrome and Kodak c-41 127 is tougher and harder to scratch - I get that you are chasing the classic B&W Ermanox look, though....

Random side note- Always thought a 127 roll adapter on a baby Makina would be super cool
 
cassel said:
I think that optimizing the work flow with 127 film roll film adapters is a great project - the film plates are cool, just harder and more expensive. I think the quality FELT route is the trick but man, B&W 127 film is fragile and scratch-prone throughout the process - have you considered trying color 127? I know it is VERY scarce or obsolete - BUT ReraChrome and Kodak c-41 127 is tougher and harder to scratch - I get that you are chasing the classic B&W Ermanox look, though....

Random side note- Always thought a 127 roll adapter on a baby Makina would be super cool
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply -- what I had been preferring to use was Ilford Pan F 120 cut down to 127, but boy that's a real pain to do. I'm using that Camerhack 120-127 cutting contraption and I gotta tell you it ain't easy, at least for me. Some of it has to take place in a darkroom/changing bag, but having said that I think it's a much better film to use than the Rerapan, plus the per-roll cost is less. However I still find the horizontal scratches. I did go through the 127 back I use for the Rerapan and I did find a couple tiny little 'bumps' in the metal right by the frame opening. So I took some steel wool and some polish and smoothed it out (of course I removed some black paint in the process - now I'll probably have reflections with my luck) and I'm going to try some film again tomorrow morning.

I would like to try some colour film - I don't have any 120 format colour neg but I wouldn't mind giving it a try.

Never seen a 127 back for a Makina, but I've seen two 35mm backs for a Makina on eBay for sale right now.
 
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