Topic: First attempts using SpeedGraphic

[Mike (happyforest)]

I have had this camera for sometime and finally worked up the courage to load some expire Tri-X pan 320 into the film back and took it on a walk yesterday.

The attached is a scan of one of the four frames exposed.   Not brilliant but enough to make me want to try it again sometime.

I found the focusing difficult with reflections on the screen, hence the foreground being sharper than the rest.  Will have to practice more before I take it on a outing again.

Mike

[Sorry, image deleted during forum software upgrade. Please re-upload if so inclined.]

[Ed Wenn]

I have a lovely Graflex RB 5x4 (see snap below) that I bought cheaply on evilBay and had high hopes for. I used it a few times, but I had to give up on it eventually due to not really being able to tell what was in focus and what wasn't...a bit like you. Really frustrating. It once took me 45 minutes to take a terribly average flower shot and that's currently time I don't have.

Here's one of my father-in-law that worked out really well. He'd just helped rig up a mod to make the camera take a 545 Polaroid back which is why he's looking quietly pleased with himself.

[Heather]

Ahh you need a darkcloth! and possibly a low magnification loupe (loop). My 8x for viewing negatives is a little strong, ideally you should have less magnification than that so you're enlarging the image on the glass not the "grain" of the ground glass.
A darkcloth can be almost anything in the short term, you don't have to spend a lot. Apparently lots of people like to use a big black t-shirt - stick the neck hole around the camera and peek through the waist-hole (hah, er wait that's not the right name for that part of the tshirt but bottom sounded wrong too) and you can stick your hands through the armholes to use your loupe. I'm just using a big scrap of denim(jeans) fabric I had left over from a sewing project, it helps a lot and you can focus even at smaller apertures, not just with the lens wide open.
I like the river all "soft focus" with the grasses being strong and framing the image.

I got a box of expired (in the 80s) tri-x 320 ortho with my "speed graphic" (it's a bit older than a speed graphic but same design). I've only used a few sheets, it's more like 100-200 ISO now with pretty heavy basefog.

[Ed Wenn]

You know this seems so obvious now that I wonder why I haven't tried it before, but a dark cloth sounds like a good call...worth a pop anyway. The RB has the pop up 'viewing hood' which is designed to be used without one, but the glass and mirror inside are so old and dusty/corroded that even wide open it's not easy to see....not really worth mentioning that the shutter mechanism is so old that exposure times are almost entirely random. Old cameras eh, gotta love 'em.

 

[Mike (happyforest)]

I did try and use my coat as a dark cloth and this did remove some of the reflections but I still struggled.  However it may have been a little easier if I'd hadn't had the lens stopped down whilst I was focusing.  I didn't even think about this, so used to younger cameras viewing at maximum apeature and stopping down automatically for you.

I did also manage to remove the dark slide whilst the shutter was still open on one sheet.

Thanks for your comments

Mike

[Francois]

Does the speed graphic have a fresnel lens on the ground glass?
I know it helps a lot on my crown graphic. It's part of the Graflock back.

[traskblueribbon]

I'll take the speed graphic off your hands if you two don't get along.   

[Mike (happyforest)]

Francois unfortunately it is just a plain ground glass.

I do have another screen which for some reason has a diagonal strip of plain glass,  I don't know if this would be any better, I suppose I will just have to try it out and try again.

Mike