Accumulating a large format setup

[Alan Klein]

Well I'm moving along, having ordered a camera, a tripod, and narrowing down my choices on a lens (probably 150 mm), just to get things started. I'll be spending a while, and probably quite a long while, on going through the motions with the gear to get a feel for things before feeding any film into a camera. That brings me on to the question of developing. I have the bare essentials for 35 mm and 120 film, using a Paterson tank to develop in. I have next to no experience with developing, as the last time was nearly a year ago. I've only done a couple of medium format rolls. But at the time, the large format idea was germinating, and I think I was planning, if the day ever came, to use a Stearman Press tank for 4x5. So I'd like to hear some opinions on that, as I just found some references by people about problems with streaks caused by the holders. If I'd ever heard that before, I'd already forgotten.

All I need from the process is negatives. With those, for the time being, I will just rephotograph them with my digital camera to get files I can use for printing. I should mention that I'll probably shoot and develop a couple more rolls of 120 before I start developing large format.

Good luck with your new setup.

[Reverb]

Good luck with your new setup.

Thank you. Everyone has been most encouraging.

I just came home to the delivered gear (camera and tripod, lens coming tomorrow). All very exciting. I will open it later. That tripod is a substantial piece of kit! I see I won't be strapping that to a backpack.