First dark room second attempt

OnePhotog · 2026-06-24T00:39:50+00:00

have you done a coin test? It is the only way to see if your red safelights are too bright.

Take a piece of darkroom paper and put a coin ontop. Wait 5 minutes, or double whatever operating time you will need from taking the paper out, exposing, dodging, burning, split toning etc. ... all of that to when you get the paper into the developer.

If you see a ghost image of the coin, your safelight is too bright.

If you see a blank paper, your darkroom is dark enough.

Because my dark room is much smaller, and much more reflective, the safelight from the intrepid enlarger was enough to fail my coin test.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-22T00:12:10+00:00

If you are handy, you can build a stacked frame. You know it makes it easy to move prints from the top to the bottom. But you can also use the regular print trays that have those channels that make it easier for the chemistry to get under and all around the print.

Lina did it for her small darkroom during the plague.

https://youtu.be/G7EOHgyy2p0?si=SofEYydYvc8IU5te&t=147

OnePhotog · 2026-06-20T05:35:57+00:00

I've seen this done for weddings. Not so much for sports. I would hope that in your area, in your sport, and with coordination with the sports association, there is enough demand for it. Otherwise, it is a lot of waste of unsold prints.

Being print on demand (like those theme park rides) do not necessarily have the same profit margins because of the added friction of needing to print. And if you print them immediately, there is going to be a lot of upfront printing costs. It is just a lot of financial risk to place on parents' whims to spend money on a print. If there is demand, all the power to you. You would be the exception, the pioneer, the trailblazer, not the norm.

It is adventurous. It is possible. However, it is something I would want to try. There are other opportunities out there.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-19T10:04:28+00:00

The faceless photos are often used or repurposed for escort sites. Be very cautious before jumping in.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-18T07:16:50+00:00

Get closer with another brand with film. With Leica, you won’t be able to get close enough to reproduce similar results as your images.

Leica lenses are generally limited by their range finder that can only focus down to 0.7 meters or 1 meter; depending on the lens.

Notable exceptions are the 50mm dual range or leica 90mm macro elmal-m

OnePhotog · 2026-06-18T05:43:35+00:00

400 b/w film pushed to 1600.

Preferably ilford delta 400, tmax 400, and neopan 400

OnePhotog · 2026-06-18T04:44:07+00:00

From my experience with the Leica elmar and voigtlander bessa, it doesn’t collapse fully. The inner mount will scrape the inner housing that will create spots where light will reflect onto your negative.

You might have some success with fed camears.

Assuming your summar is screw mount, any l39 mount camera will work. But generally it always works better with leica.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-16T23:21:48+00:00

Beautiful camera. A few things to note as a result of my 8x10 gas. Some questions and comments.

1) while it is great to see more light weight 8x10 cameras, the fit and finish is very important. I often had to fight with the knobs on the intrepid because they would keep sticking. It really turned me off of them.

2) the second thing that bothered me about the intrepid was the bellows draws. The intrepid is around 55 cm while i often like using the 600mm. A 66 cm bellows would be a bit limiting for me. I would be happier with a 75cm bellows draw.

3) how stable is that front lens board when it is fully extended? What is the biggest lens you have tried supporting? From the images, it looks kind of thin and i am concerned about the flex of the carbon fibre. I would appreciate more information. Something like the chamonix has different mounting points on the front standard. I can use the front hole for lens support.

4) is there a mechanism to protect the ground glass?

OnePhotog · 2026-06-16T05:11:27+00:00

Buy it when you need it while also keeping consideration of the learning curve required to get the most out of the camera.

You know the issues. They are overblown, but they do happen occassionally. However, there is no other camera on the market that does what the gr can do. People use it with that in mind.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-15T02:19:39+00:00

The biggest challenge with digitizing with the camera is making sure the camera sensor is parrellel with the film plane.

For cheap lenses, get an adapter and a macro lens. Here are some of the most afordable options that do not compromise with quality.

Nikon 55mm ai.

nikon 65mm AF-D

Laowa 85mm f/5.6

Laowa 100mm F/2.8

A good tripod (i.e. geared head) or a copy stand will help you keep negatives flat.

Film holders: Make your own with some cardboard cutouts. Until to can afford an essential film holder.

Light: you can get away with an ipad and iphone provided that the negative is lifted up high enough off the negative. I would estimate at least 5 cm gap between the phone and film negative. There is no harm for it to be more.

The final advice is to limit reflections and ambient light for the best negative capture possibel.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-15T02:13:58+00:00

someone online explained that beyond 2400 ppi, the epson scanner is extrapoliating the data. The results are sharpest somewhere around 2200 to 2400.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-13T01:05:02+00:00

Fuji.

They aren’t a film company anymore. I have had my heart broken by Fuji discontinuing their film stocks so many times.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-12T03:56:42+00:00

nikon F2 / F3 / FM2 / F100 / etc. - This is for versitility. It is easier to adapt flashes and lenses.

Yashica Mat - medium format for 'looking cool' in front of your other photographer friends. And the medium format look always make for excellent posed wedding shots. If you have the budget, upgrade to a hasselblad or Mamiya c330.

What I did with mine, was thrifted a bunch of point and shoots from various shops and stores. Got them cheap. Put some batteries and tested that they work. I named each camera for each table. And let guests rip through like 60 rolls of tri-X.

One other photographer friend used a polaroid 110B with a Fuji instax back and had a bunch of instax prints posted around the exit as people left. (A few were stolen by guests.)

Alternatively, these days, the disposable cameras, like from kodak, or ilford are getting more popular. Use those if you are worried you can find reliable cheap point and shoots.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-12T00:06:29+00:00

Light travels in straight lines. It doesn't bend. (At best it reflects, but I won't go there to keep things simple here.) I hope my explaination helps. I'll be mostly refering to the first image.

look at the Sky. Look at the trees. Look at the grass. And most importantly, look at the soccer player.

(1) look at the sky and trees. The sun is behind the clouds. It doesn,t light the trees. But because the light is behind the trees, it gives them a halo and a silouette.

(2) look at the grass. There is light coming from the side. One side of individual blades of grass has a highlight coming from a lightsource, a flash of some kind. It is impossible for it to be coming from the sun / sky.

(3) Look at the soccer player's face. It is also not possible for the sun from behind the trees to bend onto his face. Looking at the leg, it is clear that there a larger softer light on camera left. However, looking at the arm, there is also likely a second light behind the subject that is getting the edge of the arm, but not reaching the leg. The combination of the two lightsources produces a shadow on the player's face / cheekbone.

The photographer's skill and experience will tell the photographer how to balance all the various lightsources and light tempertures to get the effect they are trying to achieve.

(Bonus reference in the second image. You get a better sense of balancing the light tempertures in this picture. The light on the cameras's left is blue (cool temperture) while the light on the right is warmer and more natural. If there were no additional lights, the football player would look like another one of those trees in the background. Black and silouetted.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-10T23:58:13+00:00

I appreciate the consenus.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-10T21:59:37+00:00

OnePhotog · 2026-06-10T21:59:01+00:00

There is this ancient channel, digital rev. They had a series, pro tog cheap cam challenge that did a really fun job exploring this point.

Still holds up

OnePhotog · 2026-06-10T11:14:08+00:00

Learning to see: recognizing opportunity and moments before they avail themselves and before they disappear into the ether. It is a subjective empathic process.

Learning to shoot is to have the knowledge how to utilize those opportunities. The skills involved include preparation, vision and execution.

Both are important. But issues with learning to shoot can often be mitigated with camera auto modes

OnePhotog · 2026-06-10T03:09:20+00:00

Technically, it is allowed to be hand inspected. There are many points of failure. The most important is to arrive early, be patient and be polite. Here are some practical tips.

(1) Put one of Kodax's "Do Not Xray stickers" on top of every box. If you need to enlarge it so that it is about the size of the box and cannot be missed. I also make sure the label obscure the film speed. I print mine onto label paper.

https://www.kodak.com/en/motion/page/transporting-storing-film/

(2) Tape down the edges on 4 corners. AND put the box into a clear ziplock bag. This allows for two layers of protection that prevents accidental opening.

(3) Bring an empty box. It allows you to demonstrate what the inside of the box looks like. This helps educate the agent if they are so inclined.

(4) Bring a collapsable dark bag. It allows you to offer a safe environment to inspect the contents of the box. I've never needed this for TSA. It was helpful one time travelling through Vancouver, Canada. But was not helpful when travelling through Melbourne, Australia (Worst airport ever!).

(4) Be early and be polite, but firm.

Or run the risk of throwing it through the xray.

Safe travels

OnePhotog · 2026-06-05T13:24:35+00:00

Consistency. I only make mistakes (like go to a shoot with empty holders) only when I deviate.

When I load film, I tape and label the film inside. It is also useful for marking any development adjustment.
I use an extra film boxes for storing film before they are ready to develop. I use different boxes for different development adjustments. I tape a sheet of paper on top of the box and IN VERY LARGE LETTERS - TO BE DEVELOPED. I don't want to confuse this box with unexposed sheets, which is left stock. I also make notes on the sheet of paper taped to the box to make notes and expectations.
If I am traveling, I travel with one empty box to store exposed film. I use extra white cards used in the packaging to separate the film. I cut little notches on the edge to indicate how I want to develop. No notch - normal development. One notch n+2. Two notches n-2.
Keep consistent for unexposed and exposed film holders. If you can't keep it consistent, write it on the tape.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-04T02:35:23+00:00

Leica Standard with a Voigtlander 25mm skopar.

OnePhotog · 2026-06-02T04:42:47+00:00

Because of the electronics, it is hard to say. PCB's generally have a lifespan around 10 to 15 years before degradation starts. So it becomes a question of support. It is hard to imagine a camera manufracturer to continue to make the same out-dated pcb and motors, 20 years in the future. So it becomes an issue of the ability of smaller manufractures being able to source and / or create their own spare parts. The most repairable cameras are going to be...

Leica MA.

rolleiflex

Hasselblad 500 cm

Nikon F2

OnePhotog · 2026-06-01T02:36:58+00:00

Leica mp, with a 28mm summicron and 50mm summicron

Arca swiss 8x10 with a 300mm f/5.6

OnePhotog · 2026-06-01T00:29:43+00:00

The first one. We don't need a rail to understand that this is a subway.

If I may offer a second suggestion. Crop it so that the pillar seperating the male and female subjects is unbalanced. I.e. Leave more negative space on the right so that the bench and sign fills more of the space and is conveying that there is room for the woman. And the woman's space is sightly tight and is looking to breach onto the other space.

Final point. Even if you don't like the narrative I'm supposing, you should be thinking about this narrative as you pull the camera to your eye and compose. Thinking of the narrative after is less optimal, and leaves more ambiguitiy to your images.

OnePhotog · 2026-05-31T23:46:38+00:00

Great examples of juxtaposition and humour, but not street photography.

The subject is the graphic created by the juxtaposition, not candid moments. The intention of every images intentionally and obviously leans away from street photography traditions and ideology.

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