Clunky Pinhole focus and tilt/shift test - and additional photos

When I went out to do my first field test of the Kodak Six-20, I also brought along Clunky, the Graflex pinhole, to do a little testing and shooting.  All of my pinhole images thus far have been on the soft side, and while I enjoy the dreamy look I'm getting, I was curious to see if adjusting the focus might make a difference on sharpness.  Up until now I had been shooting with the lens set to the infinity stops, and the infinity symbols lined up on the rails:

The next image was shot with the above infinity setting, and the image below that was shot with the arrow at the top pointing to the number 10.

Shot at infinity

Shot at "10"

While the second image is zoomed in slightly compared to the first, I didn't see any significant difference in the overall focus.  Here is a side-by-side comparison of a section of each image.

As I don't see a hugely significant difference, I will likely stick with the infinity setting in future shooting.

In addition to the focus, I was curious to see what result I might get from using the tilt-shift features on the camera.  I set the camera in a static position with my tripod and made three exposures of the same scene using each of the possible settings on the camera;

Straight shot

Shifted shot

Tilted shot

Shifting the lensboard to the highest position brought the view much higher, but it also cut the corners of the bottom of the film frame slightly.  The shot also came out lighter, which could either be because I lifted the pinhole out of the shade into more direct light, or the light reflects differently inside the camera body at this angle.

The tilted shot did not change the framing significantly, but it does seem like the foreground is in slightly sharper focus in the tilted shot as compared to the straight shot.

Beyond the focus testing, this outing was also an opportunity for me to run a roll of B&W through the new film back for the Graflex to see if the spacing on the winder is accurate.  I did get 8 evenly spaced shots on my roll, with a good lead on the film that would allow for color rolls to be loaded into a C-41 without fogging the first shot.  So this camera back is now designated as my color film back.

With the testing done, I used the rest of the film, along with a color roll, to capture some scenes around the gardens.  

Packing Christmas and more photography

I  missed last week's update due to my work schedule invading my normally quiet Friday morning.  Yesterday I had a migraine and napped through my blog time, so here I am... coffee in hand on Saturday.

Roughly 17 years ago I got it in my head that I would have an expansive Christmas village for the holidays, and I would - of course - paint all the individual pieces myself.  The original "plan" had been to pick up one new building a year, paint it over Thanksgiving weekend, and add it to the village.  A couple years into the project, the company making my brand of houses went out of business, so I bought up all that I could at the craft store.  Then I found leftover inventory online, so I bought that too.  Some years I manage to paint a new whole piece, some years I can only sneak in a small villager to add... most years I start the pieces prior to Thanksgiving with the intention of adding them for the season, but they end up sitting to the side until New Years due to travel or gift projects taking up time... or both.  This year was both, plus we traveled for New Years, so my partly-done village pieces were not completed until the end of January.  Upon confirming the final coat of gloss was dry on the pieces last weekend, I set to work to pack them up... failing to get a photo of the 5 villager pieces that I painted this year.  For what it's worth, here is my 17 year old village as of this season (minus the 5 new additions, which I'll have to photograph next year)

The train is a new addition this year.  It is not to scale, and it is made of plastic instead of plaster, but they were on sale at the local craft store and I couldn't resist.  We haven't set up the big train set in years, and I enjoy a bit of choo-choo whimsy over the holidays.

In sewing, I'm nearing the end of my sea-turtle wall hanging which I'd started last spring, just stitching the sleeve to the back now and it will be ready to hang (once I buy a dowel for it)  I have not made it to a neighborhood craft club meeting in nearly a year, December's was scheduled on a band concert night, and January was cancelled due to the hostess getting a stomach flu.  I am hosting this month, and a fellow crafter has asked to learn needle felting so I'm currently working on a couple of examples for that night.  This - and the Christmas village delay - has helped me to procrastinate on the epic bird quilt plan of mine, however just this morning I'm thinking I might pull out the fabric for the embroidered squares and begin cutting those down to size.

I have managed to make good progress in photography.  I've caught up on editing/uploading the random "in between long vacation" DSLR photos that I've collected over the past couple of years.  I was a harsher critic on myself this time, which is especially difficult when it comes to the bird photos.  I have many "snaps" of birds which I enjoy only because of the species of bird in the shot, but in terms of a piece of art on the wall, they are not that great.  Cutting out the shots that I was emotionally attached to in that way, and only posting what I thought were also good compositions, greatly reduced the volume I had to upload.  I've also meandered through my growing backlog of uploaded images and reduced or removed many images that I now look back on and have decided are not up to par.  Perhaps someday I'll scale back a larger portion of the site - things I shot on the older lower MP camera - but for now I see little harm in leaving the older stuff up.

We had snow last week, and as I had some film to burn in my Graflex pinhole, I decided to set it up near my bird feeders and take some long exposures.  Calculating the exposure for snow was tricky, I took several meter reads off of surrounding mid-tone objects, made my calculations, and took 30-45 second exposures.  The best image out of the lot was this:

This is heavily cropped in, though I set the camera up at the edge of the porch it captured quite a lot more landscape than I wanted.  There are 3 birds which stood still long enough to show up on the film, although there were about 8 birds fluttering through this image throughout the exposure.

The first half of the roll of film were the shots I'd exposed in January during our visit to Fort Worden.  I'm very happy with this shot for several reasons:

I'm happy with the composition of this shot.  I knew I needed to get closer to my subject with this camera, and I managed to do just that, the camera was wedged between the boulders right at the water's edge.

I aimed the camera down and put the sky's horizon line right along the top of the view finder, figuring the film plane would end up capturing more than I could see, and I was correct.  

I timed the exposure to capture one good wave coming up over the rocks, which gave me the white ghostly mist over the dark boulders, but smoothed out the otherwise rough water.

I calculated the exposure correctly - always a challenge!

And lastly... when I loaded the film I turned the dial an extra half turn before setting the film counter - this did give the lab enough film to load without fogging my first frame, but I still had plenty of space at the end of the roll for the last frame.

I am itching to get out and get more shots with this camera, but the weather lately is working against me.  I'm not opposed to heading out in misty/soggy conditions myself, but given the age of this camera I don't want to risk damage to it.  So for now, I have to be patient.

Graflex Second Test and brief update on Viddy

I realize I'm overdue for an entry here... too much experimenting, projects with the house, and travel and not enough time to sit and analyze.  In short, I did finally resolve the light leak on the Viddy and took it with me on a vacation to California.  I discovered new quirks with the camera, however, and have overall felt more frustration than accomplishment in my shooting with that particular box.  It was certainly fun to build, and I'll do full write up some day when I reach that mythical land of "having time on my hands".  Until that day, however, I have my second test of the Graflex.

I loaded a roll of Ilford HP5 400 speed in the converted Graflex (now nick-named "Clunky" due to the relatively cumbersome shape) back in May and headed out for some photography time.  Unfortunately we drove around for so long that by the time we found a location, the light was fading and my calculations with the meter reading and reciprocity failure gave me a 15 minute exposure... which was all the time I had that evening.  After that outing I shelved Clunky while seeking the resolution to the Viddy Light Leak.  My logic was that the Viddy, made of cardboard, would be lighter and easier to bring on the airplane to California, so that is where my concentration centered.  I'm now prepping for a road trip to the lovely Olympic Peninsula, and after the shady results from the Viddy I'm circling back around to the Clunky Project.

One thing I learned along the Viddy trail, however, was to switch my DSLR to spot metering, so that I could better target my photo subject for a light reading (as opposed to the entire scene) and then in theory I would target the specific area I wanted for "middle grey".  This is one of those steps I've lost over the years of the instant feedback of digital.  My next adventure will be in the forest, and since I have one quite literally out my back door, I decided to burn up the rest of my roll this evening practicing exposure readings on Clunky.

My process is this:  Set my camera to aperture priority, F/5.6, ISO to the film speed.  Get the reading, convert it to the camera's F/stop via pinhole calculator (app on my phone), then calculate the reciprocity failure for the film... this equals the actual exposure.

In my first roll test I'd had my DSLR set to full scene metering, however on my last trip I switched it to center point spot metering instead.  This made my experiment easier to control... for my first example here I was exploring the light and dark textures of the woods.  I metered the fern for middle grey and based my exposure on that reading.

For my second example, I turned the camera slightly to the left and up, the sun became obscured by clouds, and I took a meter of the main moss-covered tree (roughly down the left 1/3d line of the image) to make that middle grey.

Overall I'm very happy with the results... neither of these scans were edited in Photoshop beyond blocking out a couple of dust spots.  No contrast or exposure adjustments at all.  The spots I metered did, indeed, come out middle grey and the surrounding foliage exposed as it appeared.  The focus of this camera is quite nice as well, even with the slight motion from the wind with the fern.  Clunky is going on my road trip for certain!

Viddy Test 2 and Graflex Test 1

Yesterday I carved out a bit of time for myself to run my initial test on the Graflex Pinhole and a second "did I fix the light leak?" test on my Viddy, and "can I get the correct exposure with my pinhole calculator?" test for both.  I wanted some wide open spaces so that I could see just how wide the Graflex would shoot, so I headed to a birding meadow in a nearby park.

The short answer on the Viddy is, no... I did not correct the light leak.

Here you can see the streaks across the negatives, the light was still leaking in one of the chambers that holds the film rolls.

The camera's design should not allow light leaks from the door side anyway, but I had triple taped it just in case and still had the light leak.  After much poking and prodding with my flashlight and a dummy roll of film, I determined that that the only other place for light to leak in would be where the handles hold the rolls.  I realized that when I turn the knob to advance the film, I loosened up the knob, which meant light could get where the knob turns.  In case anyone out there decided to google Viddy light leak, here is what I'm talking about:

The round cardboard on the knob is supposed to sandwich against the camera body, however I pulled the knob while the film was loaded and loosened it up.  The top knob is sandwiched properly, the bottom knob is loos and you can see my finger through the other side.  For anyone out there with a Viddy, make sure the rounds are sandwiched tightly when you load the film!

The light leak did not ruin the entire roll of film, but several images do have streaks across them, and it is difficult to be 100% sure if my exposure calculations were correct, or if they are fogged by the light too much to know.  I can say that my exposures are at least much closer to correct than they were on my first outing, so I'll continue with how I have the calculator set up.

Some examples from the Viddy, second test, all shot on Ilford IP5 400, and using a pinhole exposure calculator plus compensating for reciprocity failure.

35 second exposure, I was hoping to see a bird land on the house during the exposure, but no such luck.

97 second exposure - the wind picked up during my outing so I decided to use it for effect, this is mountain bluet blowing in the breeze on the border of the meadow.

97 second exposure - this is the most properly exposed looking shot on my roll, and the lease fogged, so I believe the calculations I'm using are decently accurate.  The meadow is quite fuzzy due in part to the wind.  Also there were actually several swifts flying through the frame during the exposure, however they were too fast to show up on my film.

And now onto the Graflex!

Upon arriving home, I headed straight to the laundryroom/darkroom to develop the Graflex roll.  I was absolutely thrilled to see perfect rectangles of nicely exposed negatives, and then I had to wait (im)patiently for the negs to dry before I could scan them.  Overall I think the exposures are pretty close to properly exposed, although they are all a bit dark even with my calculations compensating for reciprocity failure. Many of these exposures were done with just counting in my head rather than using a timer... in future shooting, I suppose I can err on the side of longer exposures.  (Again I shot on Ilford XP5 400)

5 Seconds (or so)  Here are the swift houses in the meadow, again I was hoping for a bird to land on the house while exposing the film.  They landed before and after, but not during.  Pesky buggers.

5 or 14 seconds ? (I missed writing one exposure in my notebook, so I don't know which time goes with which frame)  - I lowered the camera angle to catch the long blades of grass blowing in the wind.

14 seconds - This is the mountain bluet blowing in the breeze.

5 Seconds - Though it is small in the frame, I did manage to photograph a bird with a pinhole camera.

The negatives from the Graflex show little to know signs of light leaks, though the edges of all the negs had little "hairs", which tells me I need to clean the dust out of the roll back before I load the next roll of film.  The exposures are pretty close to perfect, and the clarity is relatively good.  All in all, I call the pinhole conversion project a success, and I'm looking forward to lugging this beast along with me on more outings.

Pinhole Conversion

Over the last month I have attended a couple of shows at a local art gallery... the first was the opening of a pinhole photography show called "Slowing the Selfie", the second was a talk/lecture/informative meeting about pinhole photography in general, and how to create a pinhole camera with a 3D printer.  I've met some friendly and enthusiastic local film photographers through these shows... I can't really describe how nice it is to babble openly about shooting film and have the response be "I totally get it!" smiles instead of "Oh... isn't that nice for you..." wary glances.

For a few years now I've had this idea simmering in the back of my mind to convert my grandfather's Graflex Century Graphic camera into a pinhole camera.  The bellows are light tight, I have a back for it that takes 120 film, and I'd end up with relatively large negatives (2.25" x 3.25").  The lens that came with it still works, so I didn't want to take that apart, and I decided to keep my eyes out for a replacement lensboard.  This project was not always on the forefront of my mind, but every few months I would poke around Ebay, not see what I was looking for, and wander off to a different project instead.  It was my frustration with not finding the lensboard that originally prompted me to buy the Viddy kit to build - that camera also takes 120 film, although the format is square and the negatives are therefore smaller.  After the first pinhole photography show I searched Ebay and found a lensboard that I thought would work, however it turns out it is far too large.  (Anybody need a lensboard for a Speedgraphic?)

I brainstormed a bit with some of the folks at the pinhole talk, and considered maybe using a 3D printer to just make a lensboard, but the edge has a flange that would be too thin for a 3D printer to create. Someone suggested I just cut one out of foam core.  I have plenty of that laying around in my craft room, but the foam core is too thick and also white.  Then I was chatting about options with my husband one evening, and the conversation went like this...

"Foam core is too thick, I need something thinner.  I could use poster board but it would be too flimsy.  Maybe I could make it out of fimo clay?  But that probably wouldn't end up being perfectly flat.  What I need is something about as thick as a photo matboard.
...
...
...
I suppose I could just use some photo matboard."

The funny thing is, I have GOBS of photo matboard scraps stuffed in my craft closet.

The only other thing I was missing was a pinhole.  In theory a pinhole is easy to make, people make them out of foil, beer cans, whatever scrap of tin/brass/etc... one can find.  I understand the concept of making one, but I also know that I wanted one drilled to a precise measurement so that I can make sure the image fills the frame of the negative, and so that I can calculate the exposure properly... and I knew I would be able to do that on my very first try.  Thankfully the inventor who gave the pinhole talk happens to make pinholes in batches, and has extra large ones sitting around his lab, so he was kind enough to pop one in the mail to me.

From there, the conversion was simple:

The Tools: Camera, matboard, opaque tape, pinhole, x-acto knife, pencil, ruler from my sewing gear.

Remove the lensboard, set on matboard trace, and cut out

Place matboard on camera and check to see the sides are light-tight

Cut hole in center of matboard and center the pinhole 

check to make sure the pinhole is centered

Tape pinhole on the backside of lensboard with opaque tape, covering all shiny brass parts

Attach new lensboard to front of camera

DONE!

I will probably tape the outer edges of the lensboard just to ensure that there is absolutely no chance of light leaks around the sides, but from all my flashlight tests it seems to be really secure.  Now I just need time and a place to run a test roll... perhaps this weekend.