a series of increasingly poor decisions
May 4, 2018 9:57 AM Subscribe
So I finished shooting with an SLR and put film away. Then I picked up a twin lens reflex camera from an estate sale for very cheap. Initial inspection and test shots show its in good working order. What do I need to know about 120 film stock, 6x6 composition, TLR quirks, and the film-digital hybrid workflow? (I'm using GIMP)
I'm not telling what kind of tlr exactly for privacy reasons. It came with a eye-level viewfinder (useful!) but not the waist-level one - I still can see the image on the ground glass, but have to shade with my hand.
I'm not telling what kind of tlr exactly for privacy reasons. It came with a eye-level viewfinder (useful!) but not the waist-level one - I still can see the image on the ground glass, but have to shade with my hand.
Hmm.
Film. If I had seen your previous question, I would have recommended dev and printing your own, with black and white film/chemistry, and using Ilford products. And maybe thinking about a darkroom? You could try looking for a community or local arts center that has a darkroom you can book, and use that a bit, to see if it grabs you, before you decide to invest in anything.
I liked Ilford mainly because Ilford have a lot of integration between their products, and you know that the various times for dev and processing will be consistent across combinations of film/paper/chemicals. I used to use Ilford a lot. I'm sure Kodak products are equally integrated, but I just have not used them.
Anyway if you buy B+W (e.g. Ilford) you will have generally have a trade-off between film speed, and film grain/contrast. Higher film speed and lower light capability = more grain and contrast. This can also be affected by the developer you use, etc.
6x6 composition: There are many ways to approach this. Best bet maybe is to look online for photographers using this format, who shoot stuff you like. Then try and figure out what they are doing. Your local library may have photographer monographs as well.
TLR: I don't know about this.
Film to Digital. You'll need a scanner. I have no experience with 6x6 negs, however, it seems to me in general that scanning tech is just getting better and cheaper. I would just start by asking around for a scanner that makes nice files from 6x6 - maybe in RAW? then you can import them into GIMP? Again I have no real experience here.
IMO by far the best way to learn about composition and light etc. is to shoot (probably b+w) and then develop and print. This brings you very close to the different ways in which light, lenses, apertures, papers, etc., can all be manipulated to ideally get the image that you want. It can also make you very judicious in what you shoot and why.
posted by carter at 10:31 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Film. If I had seen your previous question, I would have recommended dev and printing your own, with black and white film/chemistry, and using Ilford products. And maybe thinking about a darkroom? You could try looking for a community or local arts center that has a darkroom you can book, and use that a bit, to see if it grabs you, before you decide to invest in anything.
I liked Ilford mainly because Ilford have a lot of integration between their products, and you know that the various times for dev and processing will be consistent across combinations of film/paper/chemicals. I used to use Ilford a lot. I'm sure Kodak products are equally integrated, but I just have not used them.
Anyway if you buy B+W (e.g. Ilford) you will have generally have a trade-off between film speed, and film grain/contrast. Higher film speed and lower light capability = more grain and contrast. This can also be affected by the developer you use, etc.
6x6 composition: There are many ways to approach this. Best bet maybe is to look online for photographers using this format, who shoot stuff you like. Then try and figure out what they are doing. Your local library may have photographer monographs as well.
TLR: I don't know about this.
Film to Digital. You'll need a scanner. I have no experience with 6x6 negs, however, it seems to me in general that scanning tech is just getting better and cheaper. I would just start by asking around for a scanner that makes nice files from 6x6 - maybe in RAW? then you can import them into GIMP? Again I have no real experience here.
IMO by far the best way to learn about composition and light etc. is to shoot (probably b+w) and then develop and print. This brings you very close to the different ways in which light, lenses, apertures, papers, etc., can all be manipulated to ideally get the image that you want. It can also make you very judicious in what you shoot and why.
posted by carter at 10:31 AM on May 4, 2018 [1 favorite]
Biggest TLR quirk is parallax errors, but they're only a problem up close. Basically what your viewfinder sees is not exactly what gets printed to film, due to the twin lenses.
120 film is absolutely my favorite, and 6x6 makes for some cool composition choices. Your camera MIGHT be able to shoot non-square, too. The downside is that there's not many exposures to each roll, so buy a lot of film once you find some that you like.
As for digital workflow, you'll probably want to scan at higher res because there's so much more detail than 35mm. I found that finding a scanner that has a large enough transparency adapter for 120 was a bit more difficult, at least in my price range.
posted by destructive cactus at 10:32 AM on May 4, 2018
120 film is absolutely my favorite, and 6x6 makes for some cool composition choices. Your camera MIGHT be able to shoot non-square, too. The downside is that there's not many exposures to each roll, so buy a lot of film once you find some that you like.
As for digital workflow, you'll probably want to scan at higher res because there's so much more detail than 35mm. I found that finding a scanner that has a large enough transparency adapter for 120 was a bit more difficult, at least in my price range.
posted by destructive cactus at 10:32 AM on May 4, 2018
Yes, higher res is better, and there are also various software plugins that should come with scanners that help to automatically remove dust and scratches, etc. Good point too about price, 120 film is a step up, the negs are large and so they need to be held flat and firm to keep them in focus, without causing any damage.
posted by carter at 10:44 AM on May 4, 2018
posted by carter at 10:44 AM on May 4, 2018
120 film stock tends to be the same as 35mm film, so if you have a 35mm film you love use the 120 version. Lately I've been shooting Ultrafine Xtreme 400; it produces nice negatives and pushes nicely. You can get it for ~$4/roll, which is cheaper than any other 120 400 iso film. I really like developing it with Diafine using the standard development times when shot at box speed 400 iso. When I push the film to 3200 iso I use the Arista Liquid developer at the 1+9 dilution for 17.5 minutes with 10 seconds agitation per minute at 84F.
6x6 is pretty easy to figure out composition wise; just put things on the rule of thirds lines; it works better than on the 35mm frame. Also, give your subjects a little more breathing room because you can crop more with the larger negative and get a landscape or a portrait framing if you feel like it.
I scan all of my film on an Epson V700; it's a nice scanner for medium format because you can scan six frames of 6x6 in one go. I would turn off all of the presets on your scanner and deal with all the image manipulation in post. Set the scanner for low flat contrast. You really should use Photoshop; GIMP is slower and worse at everything. Photoshop is $10/month and you shouldn't burden yourself with bad software for the cost of a couple of rolls/development of film a month. In Photoshop use the camera raw filter to tweak your scan. The auto buttons tend to do a pretty amazing job and it'll just require you to do a little bit of unsharp mask at about 3px to really bring out the full detail of your scans.
posted by gregr at 6:47 PM on May 4, 2018
6x6 is pretty easy to figure out composition wise; just put things on the rule of thirds lines; it works better than on the 35mm frame. Also, give your subjects a little more breathing room because you can crop more with the larger negative and get a landscape or a portrait framing if you feel like it.
I scan all of my film on an Epson V700; it's a nice scanner for medium format because you can scan six frames of 6x6 in one go. I would turn off all of the presets on your scanner and deal with all the image manipulation in post. Set the scanner for low flat contrast. You really should use Photoshop; GIMP is slower and worse at everything. Photoshop is $10/month and you shouldn't burden yourself with bad software for the cost of a couple of rolls/development of film a month. In Photoshop use the camera raw filter to tweak your scan. The auto buttons tend to do a pretty amazing job and it'll just require you to do a little bit of unsharp mask at about 3px to really bring out the full detail of your scans.
posted by gregr at 6:47 PM on May 4, 2018
The Epson V series has a few scanners under $200 That work very well at a high resolution and come with compatible inserts for most all film types and sizes. It also allows you to make adjustments for color filters and under/over exposure. You'll need your own photo editing software from there though, because the built in editing software leaves a lot to be desired.
I second the Ilford products for film, processing and development, they have a huge variety at decent prices and I haven't had any issues or complaints with using them for years now.
posted by OnefortheLast at 6:50 PM on May 4, 2018
I second the Ilford products for film, processing and development, they have a huge variety at decent prices and I haven't had any issues or complaints with using them for years now.
posted by OnefortheLast at 6:50 PM on May 4, 2018
Your depth of field at 6x6 is going to be much shallower than at 35mm for the same f-stop. Half as deep, more or less.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:25 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:25 PM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Hey, I've just gotten into shooting film too, and am leaning towards medium format (well, at least until I get a large format view camera).
Are you shooting color or black and white? And how are you scanning the negatives? I'm planning to "scan" with a digital camera, macro lens, copy stand, and light table. This should work great for black and white, but color is trickier because the negatives have an orange cast that needs to be removed and from what I can tell that's tricky without affecting the colors of the film stock.
Speaking of film stocks with great colors - get some Kodak Portra. The colors for portraits are amazing.
I find square composition to be pretty straightforward. You can put subjects in the middle of the frame and it doesn't look bad.
posted by unix at 9:35 PM on May 4, 2018
Are you shooting color or black and white? And how are you scanning the negatives? I'm planning to "scan" with a digital camera, macro lens, copy stand, and light table. This should work great for black and white, but color is trickier because the negatives have an orange cast that needs to be removed and from what I can tell that's tricky without affecting the colors of the film stock.
Speaking of film stocks with great colors - get some Kodak Portra. The colors for portraits are amazing.
I find square composition to be pretty straightforward. You can put subjects in the middle of the frame and it doesn't look bad.
posted by unix at 9:35 PM on May 4, 2018
I like to shoot color reversal velvia and mailers from B&H. I also use an epson perfection scanner. The 120 film is returned whole which is lovely to look at.
posted by JohnR at 11:11 AM on May 5, 2018
posted by JohnR at 11:11 AM on May 5, 2018
The biggest thing that impacts my ability to work with 120 is scanning the developed film. There's so much detail in a 6x6 negative that not pulling the highest resolution out seems ... wasteful, almost? Since the scanning pipeline is going to be the biggest constraint, you're probably going to want A Very Expensive Scanner, or to find a local lab that will do good contact sheets and knows how to scan properly. (My local ones don't (grumble)).
If you really want to get silly with it, you'd want to look into your Friendly Neighboorhood Person who is super into this stuff and see if they know where to find a wet scanner. It's the highest quality scan of 120, but also super annoying to work with and if you can get someone else to deal with it, all the better.
There's also guides on the Internet on making a makeshift scanning system with a macro lens, a 35mm dslr and a white light. It gives you a high-resolution image, without the faff of a flatbed. Downsides are that 35mm is a crop and you lose detail, but that might not matter to your needs.
I generally shoot on Velvia 50, since the saturation is so delightful.
Hope you have a great time with it! 🙂
posted by aurynn at 3:23 PM on May 6, 2018
If you really want to get silly with it, you'd want to look into your Friendly Neighboorhood Person who is super into this stuff and see if they know where to find a wet scanner. It's the highest quality scan of 120, but also super annoying to work with and if you can get someone else to deal with it, all the better.
There's also guides on the Internet on making a makeshift scanning system with a macro lens, a 35mm dslr and a white light. It gives you a high-resolution image, without the faff of a flatbed. Downsides are that 35mm is a crop and you lose detail, but that might not matter to your needs.
I generally shoot on Velvia 50, since the saturation is so delightful.
Hope you have a great time with it! 🙂
posted by aurynn at 3:23 PM on May 6, 2018
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posted by elsietheeel at 10:30 AM on May 4, 2018