Ed Bray
11-Nov-2012, 15:38
I recently bought an 8x10 Plaubel Monorail camera from a member on this forum. I took the opportunity this morning to take a couple of head & shoulders shots (not the shampoo) using my wife as the 'not too keen' subject matter.
For this image I set up the camera about 4 foot from the subject position and focused my 450mm f9 Nikkor lens, I was using Adox 25 and rated it at ISO50, exposure was 1/15 sec at f16 and this included a stop for bellows draw. I then rotary processed the film using Caffenol CM for 8 minutes at 24 degrees Centigrade and after fixing and drying I scanned the neg with my V750 at 1200dpi. I just put the neg on the platen and the heat during the scan caused the edges to curl a little and this can be seen in the slight blur and distortion in the corners.
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m338/EdBray/Nik450Nikkor.jpg
What I am really concerned about though is what looks like light leakage or possibly processing issues across the image which also seems to have crept into the rebates, this is definitely on the negative and not on the scanner glass.
I had a good look at the film holders, they are Fidelity Elites and in very good condition, I was doubtful that if light leaks they would have been caused there. I then investigated further and had a look where you insert the film holder into the camera behind the ground glass and it looked like there had previously been some foam or felt there in the past but had perished or been removed. I decided to have a further look and took the back apart removing both the ground glass and also the outer ground glass frame. I then discovered that there had been something there in the past as some form of light trap on three of the four sides of the inner frame, see image below:
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m338/EdBray/8x10back.jpg
So now for my questions, what would have been the likely light trap material? I have a large sheet of 1mm self adhesive felt, but would rather use the correct material so if it is foam could you give me an idea if it is 1.5mm or 2mm or open cell or closed please? Once I have added whatever is required to the other 3 sides, would adding a strip of 1mm felt to the fourth side help too or cause problems?
Is it likely the issue could have been from the processing? The other sheet didn't suffer from this and I have never had any other issues using Caffenol before when rotary processing, I make the developer up fresh about 15 minutes before use using distilled water, all volumes are weighed out using a 0.01g scale and I mix them fully before introducing the next ingredient.
TIA for your help.
Eddie.
For this image I set up the camera about 4 foot from the subject position and focused my 450mm f9 Nikkor lens, I was using Adox 25 and rated it at ISO50, exposure was 1/15 sec at f16 and this included a stop for bellows draw. I then rotary processed the film using Caffenol CM for 8 minutes at 24 degrees Centigrade and after fixing and drying I scanned the neg with my V750 at 1200dpi. I just put the neg on the platen and the heat during the scan caused the edges to curl a little and this can be seen in the slight blur and distortion in the corners.
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m338/EdBray/Nik450Nikkor.jpg
What I am really concerned about though is what looks like light leakage or possibly processing issues across the image which also seems to have crept into the rebates, this is definitely on the negative and not on the scanner glass.
I had a good look at the film holders, they are Fidelity Elites and in very good condition, I was doubtful that if light leaks they would have been caused there. I then investigated further and had a look where you insert the film holder into the camera behind the ground glass and it looked like there had previously been some foam or felt there in the past but had perished or been removed. I decided to have a further look and took the back apart removing both the ground glass and also the outer ground glass frame. I then discovered that there had been something there in the past as some form of light trap on three of the four sides of the inner frame, see image below:
http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m338/EdBray/8x10back.jpg
So now for my questions, what would have been the likely light trap material? I have a large sheet of 1mm self adhesive felt, but would rather use the correct material so if it is foam could you give me an idea if it is 1.5mm or 2mm or open cell or closed please? Once I have added whatever is required to the other 3 sides, would adding a strip of 1mm felt to the fourth side help too or cause problems?
Is it likely the issue could have been from the processing? The other sheet didn't suffer from this and I have never had any other issues using Caffenol before when rotary processing, I make the developer up fresh about 15 minutes before use using distilled water, all volumes are weighed out using a 0.01g scale and I mix them fully before introducing the next ingredient.
TIA for your help.
Eddie.