Large Format — Xavier Iafrate

The Camera

I’m using an Intrepid 4x5 Mk.5 with a Schnieder 150mm f/5.6 lens - a focal equivalent to 40mm for my digital camera. This should be a good all-rounder for landscape photography and many of my images use something in this ballpark when not shooting telephoto.

My film choice is Ilford HP5+ as a starting point. Being black & white film it’s more economical to learn with and weighs in at appx. £2 per slide whereas colour is appx. £7 per slide. When I am comfortable with large format I intend to transfer over to colour slides.

Attempt No. 1

My first time exposing film except a disposable camera last year- as you would expect it ended in disaster!

I was too eager and went out in light rain which is not what you need if you’re trying to be calm and precise;

From a previous walk I had known of a woodland on the Goodwood estate which had a blanket of leaves on the ground. I normally avoid woodland as I don’t like forest floors covered in brambles and debris - too much chaos. The leaves are light and uniform enough to give good contrast so this seemed like the ideal place for a test shot.

Slide A : Exposed as well as I could, on re-installing the dark slide it becomes evident that I haven’t loaded the film holder correctly and it doesn’t go in properly and I hear the film crinkling…. Slide ruined.
Slide B : Exposed perfectly as far as I know. Slide A, however, had popped out of the film holder and into the camera so after I removed Slide B I realised that the slide was also ruined.
Slide C : Exactly the same thing as Slide A - the rain is not helping as I was concentrating on keeping the film holders dry and not the overall process.
Slide D : The only slide that actually worked as intended.

My developing tank can accommodate four slides at once, so there was no point wasting the chemicals for a single slide. When I got back I left Slide D in situ, practiced loading the holders with the slides I had just ruined, and then reloaded for Attempt No. 2.

Attempt No. 2

With clearer weather and three slides readied, I went to the same location:

I don’t have a light meter which would be ideal for woodland as the brightness of the sky tends to make getting detail from the trees difficult. The light meter app (which allegedly can work quite well!) gave a few different readings, so my plan for the three slides was to take the nominal reading, and then two slides +/- 1 stop to see the difference.

Slide A : 1/8s @ f/16 (matches the app reading)
Slide B : 1/15s @ f/16 (-1 stop)
Slide C : 1/4s @ f/16 (+1 stop)

Fortunately there weren’t any practical errors in taking the images - the next hurdle to overcome is developing the film!