4x5 Camera + paper?

[Daniel W.]

All this talk of turning a camera into an enlarger and turning a this into that has me thinking.

We've got a 4x5 camera at the school, really... no plans to use it and no reason to buy film for it. We do have plenty of 8x10 paper though. What would happen if I quartered the paper up into (presumably 4x5?) and loaded it into the holders?

The concept strikes me because we've done pinhole cameras with the paper in the past,would this work? Ideally I'd be doing it in a week that we already have the wet print process running anyway, and loading would be easier since it can be done with the safelights on.

I'm curious as to the exposure, as far as what ISO I would rate the paper at and whatnot, would definitely have to experiment.

Thoughts? Concerns?

[johnastovall]

Here's a thread at photo.net on how to.

[Daniel W.]

Brilliant, thanks!

Assuming it's ISO5 or 6, I get 1/60 at 2.8, ISO400 indoors regularly. The lens on the 4x5 is a 4.9 (between friends let's calculate at f/5.)

ISO200 = 1/15@ f/5
ISO100 = 1/8@ f/5
ISO50 = 1/4@ f/5
ISO25 = 1/2@ f/5
ISO12 = 1s @ f/5
ISO6 = 2s @ f/5 - starting point.
ISO6 = 4s @ f/8 - (if 2s @f/5 works, this will be the operating point)
ISO6 = 8s @ f/11 - for sharpness naturally.

Sunny 16 says 1/100@f/16 at ISO100
which means:
ISO50: 1/60@f/16
ISO25: 1/25@f/16
ISO12: 1/12 (1/15) @ f/16
ISO6: 1/6 (1/8) @ f/16
ISO6: 1/15 @f/8
ISO6: 1/25 @f11
ISO6: 1/60 @f/8
ISO5: 1/125 @f/5.6 (roughly f/5)

[venchka]

Valerie does it in her 8x10 camera. As I recall, she said ISO 5-6 also. You will get a negative which you then scan or, MAYBE, contact print. Freestyle sells a direct positive B&W paper. I see examples at the Large Format Forum. Go for it. Report back.

[Valerie]

Paper negs are fun.. and cheap! They tend to be quite contrasty, so fog the paper a tad first. Also develop in dilute or old developer. I exposed Ilford RC MG at ISO 6.

I contact print the paper negs (lots faster than me trying to do that scanning stuff)...

[Daniel W.]

Definitely looking forward to it! I've got half days the week after we get back, so it should kill the time (until my 30 rolls of Neopan come in from Freestyle).

Will scan and post when done!

[venchka]

30 rolls of Neopan? I am tres jealous! Enjoy.

[Daniel W.]

Well I was lamenting to staff adviser about the Arista EDU being out of stock and he asks "well what's the next cheapest thing and how many do you think we'll need" - ta da. We're having a couple of kids come in this semester with Holgas and whatnot, it'll be fun.

[venchka]

Thinking out loud........

Weekend field trip for the kids. Old geezers with multiple medium format platforms. Kids get some hands on time. Fuji rangefinder. Agfa folder. Bronica. Hasselblad. Pentax 6x7. Mamiya 645. Mamiya RB67. Bring film. Glenwood cemetery? Japanese Garden? Downtown? Your 'Hood? It could work.

[Daniel W.]

There are only 2-3 right now and most of em' like the whole lomo flash color crosspross thing, not sure how they'd get along with guys who dig toning for more than "that cool color thing" but the upcoming months may prove me wrong. I'll let you know how things go we may have something yet.

[venchka]

Got it. Real film and real cameras don't always POP loud enough for kids.

[tropicpine]

If there is intrest in a camera petting zoo, I'll be glad to help out.

[Daniel W.]

Originally Posted by venchka

Got it. Real film and real cameras don't always POP loud enough for kids.

That's pretty much it. We'll see how they like BW self process, the latest person I got a "real" vibe was a gal who wanted to do a heavy experiment with some T64.

T64 (tungsten slide)+ 1/2 tungsten light (orange on the Lomo colorsplash wheel)+1/2 daylight (flash bare on the Lomo flash) + C41?

Result: The lomo flash didn't quite pack enough wallop to expose for the "64" part of T64 and the Walgreens minilab thought it was bad enough when prints came out to give her a free 3-pack of Kodak Gold "Ultra." I gave her an old half green half blue effects filter and it was shot with a flash+purple gel... that's the coolest thing that's happened in that class all year. This is all getting a bit OT. I'll make sure to post results from the paper camera trails in a few weeks when things get rolling print wise.

[Valerie]

I will likely have students interested in this.....

[Daniel W.]

Well after searching the Large Format forum (thanks Wayne!) I found out that my plans are nothing new or different at all - it's more Fox Talbot/Deguerre than shooting film!

And for future reference, the "official name" being "paper negatives." I feel dumb. But in an excited way, to shoot with a 4x5. A year ago the idea of shooting medium format was out of my mind and now...holy smokes! I've played with loads of 120 (and more to come), got my hands on some pull apart Fuji film that make me want to try Polaroid, and now this large format fooling around!

On contact printing, from what I read it's either wet or dry? Wet - soak both the developer negative paper from the camera and the receiving sheet of paper, sandwhich and expose; or dry - sandwich both like I would be making a contact sheet regularly from a neg sheet; Right? Any particular advantage to either?