Sprockets for Straddie

limr · Jan 18, 2015

A few weeks ago, Stradawhovious sent to me an adapter to use 35mm film in a medium-format camera. He printed the adapter on a 3D printer and only asked that pictures be posted. Here's the original thread:
35mm Film in a Medium Format Camera | Photography Forum

Well, I finally finished the roll of Kodak Gold 200 in my Lubitel 166B and got the film developed. I had just taken a few pictures before I left for vacation, so most of them were taken in Arizona. At one point, the back cracked opened when I pulled the camera out of the bag, so I ruined about 3-4 shots, but most of the roll was fine. I had to let the film sit under some heavy books for a couple of days to flatten it out enough for scanning. I couldn't use the scanning masks (they would have masked the sprocket holes, which kind of defeats the purpose) and had to lay them flat.

Here are three. There are a few more that I like but am still working on dust removal.

(I suspect the red flare in the middle of this one is because I sometimes forgot to close the thingy that covers the red window on the back.)

rs Cactus bush by limrodrigues, on Flickr

rs Road by limrodrigues, on Flickr

rs Road and shadow by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Ream · Jan 18, 2015

Wow! Even your mistakes are gorgeous!

Great work! I love it!

JustJazzie · Jan 18, 2015

What an interesting project! I like the results. Can't wait to see the rest.

limr · Jan 18, 2015

Ream said:
Wow! Even your mistakes are gorgeous! Great work! I love it!

Not all the mistakes, that's for sure!

Thanks!

JustJazzie said:
What an interesting project! I like the results. Can't wait to see the rest.

Thanks, Jazzie! Here are two more:

The guys who do my color film are usually really good about cutting the film, but for some reason, this time they messed up and a few of the frames were cut. I had to try to keep them together while scanning. Can't decide if I want to try to rescan this one or if I like it messed up. Kind of adds to the charm. After all, these pictures aren't exactly about perfection

rs Cactus tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr

It was nearly impossible to keep shadows out of the frame in this scene. Kinda wish I'd gotten a bit more than just my head :048:

But I just love these old rusted doors.

rs Doors by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Fred Berg · Jan 18, 2015

Very cool!

limr · Jan 18, 2015

Fred Berg said:
Very cool!

Thanks, Fred!

tirediron · Jan 18, 2015

Okay... WTF??? WHO is posting colour images from Lenore's profile?????

VERY nice!

limr · Jan 18, 2015

Three more:

rs Trees by limrodrigues, on Flickr

rs Grass and tree by limrodrigues, on Flickr

This one also got cut but I can't be bothered to clone out the line. I kind of like it - it sort of suits the picture in an odd way - and I'm in dust-removal hell anyway and don't have it in me to do the really tricky cloning:

rs Tree and wagon wheel by limrodrigues, on Flickr

limr · Jan 18, 2015

tirediron said:
Okay... WTF??? WHO is posting colour images from Lenore's profile?????

VERY nice!

I likes to keep 'em on their toes

Stradawhovious · Jan 18, 2015

One word.

Awesome.

minicoop1985 · Jan 18, 2015

Sweet! I tried doing this with my Hasselblad and... couldn't get the film to scan with my old scanner.

limr · Jan 18, 2015

minicoop1985 said:
Sweet! I tried doing this with my Hasselblad and... couldn't get the film to scan with my old scanner.

It took me a little research and a few minutes of poking around the software to figure it out. The trick is to turn off the thumbnail view and manually choose the crop. First, crop inside the sprocket holes, then lock the exposure settings (on the CanoScan 8800, this meant putting the exposure value at 100% and hitting Apply - not sure what you're using now. Tried downloading VueScan and hated it almost instantly.) Once this is done, you can adjust the crop to include the sprocket holes and it will scan just fine.

Oh, and I didn't use a mask obviously. Had to just carefully lay and arrange them directly on the glass.

limr · Jan 18, 2015

Stradawhovious said:
One word.

Awesome.

So glad you like them, since you made them possible. Thanks again for sending my new favorite doohickey!

Stradawhovious · Jan 19, 2015

limr said:
So glad you like them, since you made them possible. Thanks again for sending my new favorite doohickey!

Well, I didn't do much other than press a couple buttons on computer and scribble some letters on an envelope... you did all the REAL work.

Was it difficult anticipating where the image would fall on the film? I would imagine that the FOV through the viewfinder woul have been thrice the width of the emulsion give or take.

I'm kind of enamored by the cactus with the cut negative "rs Cactus tree". Don't you dare straighten that out. It's fantastic.

(well, do whatever you want... It's your poto. I prefer the bottom a little crooked.

)

limr · Jan 19, 2015

Stradawhovious said:
Well, I didn't do much other than press a couple buttons on computer and scribble some letters on an envelope... you did all the REAL work.

Was it difficult anticipating where the image would fall on the film? I would imagine that the FOV through the viewfinder woul have been thrice the width of the emulsion give or take.

I'm kind of enamored by the cactus with the cut negative "rs Cactus tree". Don't you dare straighten that out. It's fantastic.

(well, do whatever you want... It's your poto. I prefer the bottom a little crooked. )

It really wasn't that bad. I knew the film was centered, so I made sure I lined up the important stuff in the middle third of the viewfinder and then essentially ignored what was on the sides. I also knew that I was gaining a bit more space (apparently, almost 40% more space) than a typical 35mm frame since I now had all the way to the edges.

My Lubitel is an original one, but Lomography makes a fancy new (and waaaaaaay overpriced, natch) model that includes the adapter for 35mm. Here's a picture showing the back open with 35mm loaded to give a sense of how much space it covers:
New Features — The Lubitel 166+

I wouldn't bother using this in the Holga - the thing I love about that camera are the large 6x6 negatives with the soft vignetting around the edges, which wouldn't be there on 35mm, so it would kind of be defeating the purpose of the Holga. And I think it would be harder to compose in the little finder.

My other medium format cameras are mostly TLRs like the Lubitel and I think the waist-level finder makes it easier to compose vertically and in the middle.

And then there's the Mamiya 645, which might be really interesting, actually. Gotta fix the shutter on that first, though.

I was kind of annoyed when I realized the lab guys had cut through some frames, but I'm finding that I actually like the slight crookedness, too