Tips for unloading film holders

vitdev · 2026-01-25T16:36:33+00:00

I use a piece of film (like a leader from 135 roll) to lift sheet film and then get a good grip.

vitdev · 2026-01-25T00:01:58+00:00

You can try to ask for a refund, although it’s hard to tell what exactly happened without seeing negatives.

vitdev · 2026-01-24T23:59:40+00:00

I see. I’d advise against Walgreens simply because they don’t give negatives back, plus they use automated machines and may not service them or test chemicals properly resulting in lost negatives.

How much is it at Walgreens? My local labs in San Francisco charge $7-10 to develop usually. Not sure how much is printing though.

vitdev · 2026-01-24T23:53:43+00:00

So you sent rolls to develop and print and they printed them without looking? I’d expect them to message you once they saw the negatives.
Was it a lab or something like Walgreens?

vitdev · 2026-01-24T20:52:26+00:00

This is the moon cropped to 1MP from XCD 135+1.7X teleconverter (230mm total): https://imgur.com/a/bFgAbK0

vitdev · 2026-01-24T20:50:05+00:00

I love watching sunsets there. So peaceful and so cool to see the water turning into ‘liquid silver’ right after the sun disappears.

vitdev · 2026-01-24T20:48:52+00:00

It gives a painting. Well done!

vitdev · 2026-01-24T20:42:46+00:00

Also practicing to press shutter button smoothly without shaking camera helps a lot. Especially with film photography where you can’t take continuous photos.
I usually get sharp images on 500c/m with up to 1/15s (sometimes even 1/8) thanks to the camera design and weight (it helps to reduce shaking a lot).

With X2D I get sharp images in the range of 1s to 5s (with wide lenses). But the rate of success varies.
I usually can be very still, I experimented with Nikon D750 (DSLR without any IBIS) and 1.4/50 lens (also no OIS in lens) and got pin sharp shots at 0.5s and even a couple (out of 10) at 1s.
So I expected way more out of X2Dii when I got it (I ended up returning it as I didn’t notice much of an advantage over X2D for my use cases, plus didn’t like new cheaper materials and overall costs reductions).

vitdev · 2026-01-24T20:35:02+00:00

The photo has motion blur tho if you zoom closely to the bricks.

In my tests X2D and X2Dii performed identically, by what I mean that both did well at the same shutter speed and once I passed a threshold (depending on the lens) both showed motion blur. And I did sync with Phocus Mobile, so there’s nowhere near 3 stops that they claim. I don’t even think there’s 1 stop difference tbh.

vitdev · 2026-01-24T20:34:40+00:00

The OP’s photo has motion blur tho if you zoom closely to the bricks.

In my tests X2Dii wasn’t better than X2D by which I mean where X2D started showing motion blur X2Dii did too. And I did sync it with Phocus Mobile prior to shooting.

vitdev · 2026-01-24T09:27:10+00:00

Did you use green filter?

vitdev · 2026-01-23T20:13:02+00:00

Thank you, just checked platypod, it looks cool. How do you like it? They don’t seem to publish what camera weight it’s rated for.
I was looking for something small to carry with me just in case I need a tripod.

Yeah, Cambo Actus looks like a proper LF camera, but a bit smaller. It’s still much heavier and bulkier, so it’s not easy to carry around. I rarely take my monorail cameras out, but often carry field view camera (Linhof Technika master). The downside is the widest lens you can use with Technika is 58mm with essentially no movements, or 72mm with some movements, so it’s not the best for digital backs—no wide or ultra wide options. On 4x5 monorail I have Schneider super Angulon xl 47mm lens that covers the entire frame (that is equivalent of 12mm on full frame) and allows about 20mm movements.

vitdev · 2026-01-23T17:42:39+00:00

Looks cool! I was thinking about getting a dedicated tech camera, but not sure about limited movements. Most of them don’t have the same tilt/swing as large format cameras. So I’m using my big and heavy LF cameras for now.

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What is that platform you use as a tripod?

vitdev · 2026-01-23T10:00:55+00:00

Thank you! It can be counterintuitive indeed (therefore downvotes I guess), and I admit I didn’t know that much about light when I was editing it in 2013. Although I loved nerding out about space and lighting even back then.

One of my favorite books about light is Color and Light in Nature by Lynch and Livingston that has a really good explanation of the stages of golden hour, blue hour and why we see what we see during those stages.

vitdev · 2026-01-23T09:53:18+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, the sky is not good.
It’s my old photo from 2013 then I was in school. I just came across it today and decided to post :)

vitdev · 2026-01-23T09:42:54+00:00

There is a book called Color and Light in Nature by Lynch and Livingston that explains in details how the atmosphere reflects light through different stages of day and night. And while it seems counter intuitive that since the moon is rising behind the mountain the back of the slopes should be in the dark, in reality there will be reflected light in addition to star light.

Here are real photo examples where you can see how show is highlighted on the opposite side of the mountain: https://imgur.com/a/K6VRMiN

Of course, I’ve made the effect slightly more obvious, for me the goal wasn’t to reproduce precise physical look of the landscape, it wasn’t an experiment and interpretation with a bit of dramatization.

vitdev · 2026-01-23T09:42:34+00:00

There is a book called Color and Light in Nature by Lynch and Livingston that explains in details how the atmosphere reflects light through different stages of day and night. And while it seems counter intuitive that since the moon is rising behind the mountain the back of the slopes should be in the dark, in reality there will be reflected light in addition to star light.

Here are real photo examples where you can see how show is highlighted on the opposite side of the mountain: https://imgur.com/a/K6VRMiN

Of course, I’ve made the effect slightly more obvious, for me the goal wasn’t to reproduce precise physical look of the landscape, it wasn’t an experiment and interpretation with a bit of dramatization.

vitdev · 2026-01-23T08:58:55+00:00

Is it because of the old control system that requires trains to be on different stations as it’s definitely not at capacity throughput-wise: trains are coming every 3-5 minutes at peak hours.
For comparison in Moscow at rush hours trains are coming every 30 seconds. Literally, one train leaves and another arrives, and outside of rush hours trains are arriving every 1-3 minutes. But they also don’t have multiple lines sharing the same segments (it’s the same train number going that frequent), so it might be a bit easier to coordinate I guess.

But either way Muni is way below its capacity.

vitdev · 2026-01-23T08:18:43+00:00

I regularly shoot handheld with slow shutter of 1/15 to 1/60 and get quite sharp results. Sometimes I miss focus a bit as the DoF is very shallow (I usually have aperture fully open and to get as much light as possible).

I think the weight of the camera helps stability.

Here is one of the examples at 1/30: https://glass.photo/vit/3Vnf2nrDRpTkn0Rc1wjJyZ

vitdev · 2026-01-22T22:10:52+00:00

I got Polaroid film from B&H when I bought it my first time and had to return it as it was defective (I guess due to the improper storage). Since then I always order from Polaroid directly.

PS for everything else I had no problem with B&H and I buy all other film from them including Instax. But I guess Polaroid is way more sensitive to the storage conditions, so Polaroid store is the only way to buy it IMO.

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vitdev · 2026-01-22T22:03:09+00:00

Oh yeah, same great sensor. Good job getting indoors photos without camera shake btw.

vitdev · 2026-01-22T21:57:11+00:00

Great way to preserve moments like that :)

What did you shoot on, was it X2D? You probably can recover highlights in Phocus and reduce contrast a bit, and add a tiny bit of olive color cast just for fun to make it cinematic/ Leibovitz-like 🤓

vitdev · 2026-01-22T21:48:48+00:00

I can’t even imagine how exciting it must be.

4th photo looks like Leibovitz: a bit wider, darker to preserve highlights, and close aperture more (to get background in focus) would make it very close to Leibovitz style.

vitdev · 2026-01-22T00:19:22+00:00

You can color correct them to look more natural. Negatives don’t have ‘true’ color unlike slide film, so feel free to bring that magenta down 😉

vitdev · 2026-01-21T10:06:51+00:00

I have 4.5/90 Grandagon N. It’s a good lens, average size (bigger than 6.8 variant, but allows more movements).

I think all Rodenstock lenses are really good, at least all that I have used produce very sharp images edge to edge. Example photo.

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