Finally got some time outside with the 8×10 and Polaroid 809. I think I have my three 8×10’s ready for the APUG Ode To Polaroid print exchange. Next up is to mount them and prep for shipping.
Student sculpture at The University of Kansas, Murphy Hall courtyard
Finally, a reasonably decent day with enough sunshine to go try my Polaroid 809. What is Polaroid 809 you ask? It is 8×10 color instant film. Requires a special holder and processor to pull the negative, positive receptor sheet and chemical pod through the rollers. I have on loan from Alex Hawley a holder and tabletop processor. Thanks Alex.
Loaded up the Seneca Improved View 8×10, installed the Leclair 13″ brass lens and with the judicious use of rubber bands and a Lee filter holder I can put the Packard shutter on the front of the lens. With the camera racked out to about 20″ and some quick calculations, 1/3 second exposure is called for. Except I can’t really guarantee anything that quick with the Packard. Mine doesn’t have the “instantaneous” mode so best I can hope for is something under 1/2 second.
Not bad, a bit over exposed but what the hell, it worked! Only screwed up twice getting to this point. 27 more sheets to go!
OK, so how does a 3 month exposure grab you?
(the”negative”)
(the “positive”).
Step 1: Stumble across interesting site where a woman has gathered lots and lots of 3 to 12 month exposure pinhole pictures and decide to try it. Also be sure to loose track of the link so you can’t find it again later… (Found it! http://www.solargraphy.com)
Step 2: Put a sheet of black and white photo paper into a pinhole camera made from a clean quart paint can.
Step 3: Strap said camera to side of deck, facing out across the back yard and to the west.
Step 4: Wait three months.
Step 5: Retrieve camera and remove “film”.
Step 6: Straight to the scanner, no developer bath (it would go black after all).
Step 7: Admire the pretty colors that appeared in the negative and the resulting “positive” made from the scan.
I’ve done a little bit of fooling around with extreme overexposure of B&W paper to produce a print from a large negative. Works pretty well but it will bleach back quite a bit in the fixer, even plain hypo. So I’m not going to run this one through the fixer. Just make a good scan and then store the negative in an envelope in the filing cabinet. It will eventually turn a uniform purple-gray color and be lost forever.
So I get my hands on some Polaroid 809 8×10 color print film. And Alex Hawley loans me an 8×10 Polaroid holder and processor. Great, other than crummy weather, I’m all set.
Hmm, maybe I should double check that the camera is in good shape and ready to go. How about we check the bellows for pinoles? OK, sounds great. You turn out the light and I’ll shine a flashlight inside the camera. Hey, look at that, it is just like going to the planetarium! Crap! 80+ year old bellows plus use of the camera has started the dissentrigration of the bellows! I knew this would start but so soon?
Time to gather the bits to make a new one I suppose. I love the smell of contact cement in the morning. Smells like victory…
Mean time, I have a spare dark cloth I can drape over the bellows. Must make some test exposures out in bright sun to be sure the pinholes aren’t going to light-strike the film.
http://www.lawrenceartscenter.com/Auction/index.html
Lots of representation by the Lawrence Photo Alliance (www.lawrencephotoalliance.org) again this year.
Two pieces went in, one B&W contact print from 8×10 negative 
and one color print made by scanning a pinhole picture made on Fuji instant film.
Silent Auction begins March 17th, 2008.
Modify cameras!
Good ole’ Ebay coughed up a 6×7 roll film back to fit my Pacemaker Graphic. Then raid the matteboard scrap pile and fabricate a new lensboard for the Graphic. Add a pinhole and shutter. Last thing it to make a focal length ruler and tape it to the camera bed. Now you have a multi-shot, variable focal length, medium format pinhole camera!
I don’t have (yet) a 6×7 negative carrier for my enlarger so I’m cropping to square by using my 6×6 carrier.
Samples - (Fomapan 100 film, developed in Pyrocat-HD, printed on Ilford MGIV RC for scanning)
Went out yesterday afternoon to the KU Campus. Becky has her new pinhole cap for her 35mm (but didn’t find anything she was excited to shoot with it 
) and I brought along FrankenRoid and a second pinhole camera I made from cherry wood several years ago but recently modified. Bender Photographic, Inc (http://www.benderphoto.com/) has at least three different kit cameras (4×5 monorail, 8×10 monorail and 4×5 pinhole box). I got started in large format by building one of their 4×5 monorail cameras. I like it a lot. The 4×5 box pinhole isn’t (in my opinion) quite as well designed so I’ve modified it slightly for a shutter and less problems with vignetting. I also need to modify the back so it will hold more securely the film holder.
Two shots with FrankenRoid and two shots with the Bender pinhole. Using 4×5 sheet film in the Bender so it was developed last night and hanging to dry. I’ll work on printing it tonight. I did something you aren’t supposed to do and this is make two major changes at the same time. First was new pinhole for the Bender, second was a completely different formulation of developer. Normally I use either Rodinal or D76 but I want to start working with Pyro based developers so these sheets were done in Pyrocat-HD. And one other boo-boo, looks like I miss-loaded the reel before putting it into the tank because two sheets were touching. Oh well, not like I was taking pictures to prove extraterrestrial life or ‘Nessie!
And I found a pretty good price for Fuji FP-100C (and -100B but not from the same seller) on Amazon.com. You can also go to eBay and find it from UltrafineDirect but his is going to be about 6 months expired, cold-stored. The Amazon.com one claimed to be fresh date for about $0.50 more per box. We shall see…
FrankenRoid Shot on the left (doorway of the Campanile is not as over exposed as the scan looks, need to rework the scan and add it later). On the right is the result from my modified Bender Pinhole. Shot on Foma 100, f230, 9 seconds, developed in Pyrocat-HD and printed on Ilford MGIV RC.
Fuji FP-100C, 8 seconds and armpit development (cold outside). Tab slipped out of my glove at the start of the pull so I ended up with a little uneven development. Mistake or charming?
Been a while since I could do much except play Engineer all day and get prints ready for LPA show at night. But before it turned cold I spend an afternoon back on the KU Campus with the Seneca 8×10 and experimented some more with the last of my J&C Classic 100 film and Ilex lens. Only a few more sheets of the J&C left so I’m not investing a lot of time into speed and developer testing.
Anyway, I noticed they had finally removed the sheets of plywood from the front of Spooner Hall (oldest building on the campus) and I’ve always liked the stone work and quote above the door. “Whoso Findeth Wisdom Findeth Life”. I guess this is from Proverbs but a quick check with Google and I find it also as “Whoso findeth me findeth life”.
Not a bad exposure but I am still having trouble learning to see the whole image. Otherwise I would have noticed that entry-way rug was all bunched up!
It won’t be possible to see in this scanned copy, but in the print, because it is a contact print from an 8×10 negative, the detail is fantastic. At least to me as I’m still used to seeing 8×10’s that are enlargements from 35mm negs. The text carved below the center opening is crystal clear. And I can see minute detail in the surface of the limestone. And I can see that stupid rug has a “fuzzy side” and a rubber backing!
Proof prints from November 10th’s negatives:
Seneca Improved View 8×10
Ilex 14 3/4″ Paragon Anastigmat w/ #5 shutter
J&C Pan 100 @ 80
Rodinal (R09) 1+40, 13:30, Jobo CPE2
Proofed on Arista EDU.Ultra VCRC, #2, Dektol 1+2 1:30
