Fresh from the darkroom.

[480sparky]

Spent half an hour in Ye Olde-Fashioned Darkroom tonight, making a wet print of one of the negatives from last weekend's photo outing with the Shen Hao.

I was getting way too much contrast shooting Ilford Delta 100 at factory specs, so I dropped it to ISO 50 and cut developing from 12:00 to 9:30. Now I'm seeing much better mid-tones.

Data for this image:
Camera: Shen Hao HZX45 IIA
Lens: Caltar II-S 210mm/5.6
Film: Ilford Delta 100
Shot at: N-1
13s at f/16
Lighting was open garage door to left and Nikon Speedlight SB600 fired from right at ¼ power about 12 times.
Processing: Ilford DD-X @1+4, 68°F, 9m30s, 60s agitation
Printed with: Beseler 45MXT, Nikkor 135/5.6 at f/22 for 18s on Ilford Multigrade (no filter)
Developed in Ilford Multrigrade Developer 60s.

 

[UncleSteve]

who would have thought bottle jacks could be so interesting. the rope in the background almost looks like a handle for the jack on the right.

 

[timor]

Great work. A bit complicated, nevertheless successful.
BTW what was bellow extension compared to normal ?
Now, this print looks like 8x10, is that the whole negative ? And did you try to go for max enlargement ? To see, how your negative processing is holding ?
The only thing I don't like is this 60' in developer. Even Ilford RC paper will respond with longer scale in weaker developer. I know, it is fast developing paper, but mostly cause emulsion contains own developing agents, that's why lowering the pH of developer might help.

 

[480sparky]

Here's the neg in the carrier:

 

[unpopular]

How do you like your Shen Hao? When I got my Wista DX I was thinking about getting a Shen Hao. Never much cared for the DX much. Always seemed fragile.

 

[480sparky]

How do you like your Shen Hao? When I got my Wista DX I was thinking about getting a Shen Hao. Never much cared for the DX much. Always seemed fragile.

So far it's more than I needed, but I may eventually 'outgrow' it. Who knows. I wish it had a few more movements, but I'm already thinking of a monorail 4x5. All I'd need is a lensboard adapter and I'm good to go when I need those extra movements.

 

[unpopular]

Short of spending a LOT on a field camera, they tend to be pretty limited. The DX had a drop bed, which helped.

I bought a monorail thinking I'd like it better. I think it was a Calumet D. Ended up weighing too much and traded it in.

If you do a lot in the field, definitely keep this in mind, and get a short rail if your working distance and minimum focus permit it.

 

[480sparky]

I can drop (as well as incline) the bed with this one. I'm thinking of a monorail for studio work, as well as the occasional field shot.