My journey back to large format.

This post as the title suggests is about my return to large format photography.

First a little background information to set the scene.

When I first started in professional photography more than a good few years ago! I was introduced to the world of large format photography in the form of the MPP 5×4 Micro Technical camera – it was a solid piece of kit. As well as a ground glass rear focusing screen the camera was equipped with a range finder focusing capability, although this only worked properly if the correct cam linkages were fitted for the relevant lenses.

Whilst I was at college I had access to a Sinar monorail camera, this in turn had a greater amount of lens and film plane movements available to it due to the design.

Fast forward to the early 21st Century.

Having over the years changed employer several times and finally set up a retouching studio within the offices of Protech Repairs, I was in conversation with Kelvin from Protech about the joys of large format photography. This in turn got me thinking about making a return to large format photography.

Initially I considered the idea of making a 5×4 camera from scratch, but this was soon decided against due to the cost of the component parts – focus bellows, making a focusing rack, film back and of course material to make the camera body. Enter that well known auction site eBay. I was browsing on day when I came across a gentleman selling a almost complete homemade 5×4 camera, minus lens. I bought it, having worked out that it would be a lot less expensive for me to finish building the camera myself.

Views of underside of camera – note how well engineered it is.

                       Underside view                                                     Side view                                                            Rear view

Once I got the camera I set about making some changes – firstly I reduced the size of the camera body (it was constructed from aluminium), this involved dismantling the camera body which was beautifully drilled and bolted together and cutting the framework down to about half the initial length. The next step was to make some changes to how the focusing rack assembly was fixed to the camera body, as you can see by the photograph there was a lot of aluminium used! My original plan was to attempt to make an adjustable rail assembly, although it worked in a fashion it was not wholly ideal. Several attempts later a fixed arrangement was decided on. Following on from this I constructed a pan and tilt/rise and fall lens mechanism, for this I used a camera flash bracket bolted onto the focus rail and the lens panel. Finally came the most challenging part; the building of the film back – this consisted of a focusing screen and dark slide holder. The film back was required to rotate through 90 degrees to enable both vertical and horizontal photographs to be taken and at the same time the screen had to move backwards to enable the dark slide to sit in the focus plane to take the photograph.

As chance would have it I had an old studio camera in my loft that had such an assembly on it, this was used as a donor to make the 5×4 film back, whilst it worked in a basic way, there were subsequent problems with keeping the dark slide in place whilst taking a photograph (the dark slide would sometimes slip out of position causing an alignment issue and on occasion fogging).

Early focus rail support and film back

The lens board was of a unique size and whilst one came with the camera, extra ones were needed for additional lenses. I made several boards including a recessed board for use with a wide angle lens from thin plywood and heavyweight card – these in turn were sprayed matt black to prevent reflections.

A completely redesigned film back was created to prevent dark slide alignment problems and this has proved to be very satisfactory.

                                                                                                  Final focus rail design and redesigned film back

The camera is not without flaws these primarily – the weight, it weighs in at 3 kilos, (quite a chunk to carry around for a day) and in addition the lack of compactability – the focus rack not folding up as the MPP camera does, makes quite cumbersome. On the plus side the camera is very solid in construction.

Subsequently I have purchased an Intrepid mk4 camera, this is quite considerably lighter since it is primarily constructed from marine ply, it also folds down thus taking up a lot less space. The Intrepid is not without a few flaws, although most of these have been rectified either by me or Intrepid Cameras thanks to their lifetime guarantee.

Intrepid Mk4  5×4 camera

This may sound as though I have given up on my original camera, although I have not. I still use it on occasion and I still have further ideas on how to make it lighter and more compact, it’s just a matter of finding the time!

Processing 5×4 sheet film

I originally processed my sheet film in a standard Patterson 120 sized film processing tank using what is called the ‘Tapas Method’ – this entails curving the film with emulsion side inward and securing with an elastic band, using this method 4 sheets of film can be processed at one time. If using this method remember to still use the centre column that normally supports the processing reel otherwise the film will be fogged. I have now moved on and use MOD54  processing reels for sheet film, these however require a larger processing tank to be used but I can process 6 sheets of film at once.

        Single sheet – Tapas Method                4 sheets in processing tank – Tapas Method                   Patterson tank with MOD54 film holder

 

Why do I enjoy large format photography?

The reason I enjoy taking large format photgraphy is because, it makes one slow down and consider the view and composition of the photograph before making the exposure rather than taking a bunch of frames on a digital camera and later editing them down to the best frame, this in turn leads to taking more meaningful photographs due to the constraint of how many photographs can be taken in on session rather than what has euphemistically become known as ‘spray and pray’ with digital. Add to this the ability to control the plane of focus combined with perspective control, all this and amount of detail that can be captured on a large sheet of film, sheer bliss!

Sample photographs

 

I should like to extend my thanks to the following people without whom this article would not have happened:

George P King Ltd – My first employer who introduced me to large format photography.
Cliff for making the original camera in this article.
Mark for his encouragement and badgering to get the project finished.
My wife Sara who puts up with me lugging bags of camera kit around when we go out for the day
Kelvin and Jo at Protech Repairs for the generous supply of donor material and encouragement to ensure the project did actually get finished.