Crop of the image above. Focus is a smidge off but the grain hides it well and I really like the tonality.
Well it’s been a minute since I’ve played around with the 4x5 and even longer since I tried to develop it. The last couple times I developed 4x5 I had huge issues with uneven development with chemical spots and streaks. This time around though I’m quite happy with the results and hopefully I will be sharing more of them with you.
So what did I do differently? Well not much, I did everything the same except I used Rodonal to develop as opposed to the monobath (Df96) I used the first time. I even used the somewhat sketchy methods of folding my film into my Paterson tank. When using the other chemistry I thought this method was the problem but it turns out the internet is right sometimes and it actually works in a pinch. I also agitated the entire time during development and fixing because I wasn’t sure there was enough fluid in my tank. This will be something I play around with in the future because inverting a tank for 13 minutes straight was a real bummer.
Now that I’m having success with my 4x5 process I think it’s time to buy a couple more holders. Currently I have only one holder (2 shots at a time) and as you can see from the top photo one side of my current holder seems to have a light leak. So hopefully I will get something a bit more dependable in the future, though I really don’t mind the little bit of bleed for some images.
One of the other things that I’m trying hard to do is upgrade my optics. I’m currently shooting on a lens from the period my camera was made which was somewhere around the 1940s. For black and white film especially grainy the Arista EDU 400, this doesn’t bother me much but eventually I would love to get shooting color slide film. Not only does my lens lack current coatings that increase contrast and color accuracy but the shutter speeds are less then dependable. Though given the current success I feel pretty confident now to shoot whatever cheap 4x5 film I can get my hands on!
This is definitely an entirely new realm of film photography for me so if anyone has tips, tricks, or leads on large format gear let me know.
Stanley Idaho, summer 2020. Graflex Speed Graphic Anniversary, 127mm Optar F4.5, Arista EDU 400 4x5.