Back Into 4x5

As a long-time photographer, I’ve had some experience with everything from subminiature cameras to large format.  From the 7x11mm of a Minox spy camera to 8x10 and everything in between is quite a swath of cameras and films.  When I first got into photography in a big way in 2000, it was primarily with the Pentax MG that I’d been using for nearly 20 years and a switch to another 35mm SLR system - mostly Nikon.  It was about a year or two later that I was gifted an RB Graflex 3 1/4 x 4 1/4.  I had a 120 6x9 roll film back for it, so I never shot it with sheet film.  That was quite a camera, for sure, and at some point in the following decade, I sold it.  However, in the early 2000s I also received a Crown Graphic 4x5 camera that I used occasionally.  That was followed by a Calumet 4x5 monorail camera - not something that you would tote around.  At the time, shooting large format just did not fit into my shooting “style” and while I did use those 4x5 cameras, I was never really serious about them.  Then, in 2016 or 2017, I sold all my large format equipment, including an Ansco 8x10 that had been given to me.  Developing tanks, film holders, cameras, lenses, film, etc.  All gone. 

Calumet 4x5 monorail

In the subsequent years after moving to North Carolina in 2019, I think I found that I was missing something in my photography practice that I could not quite put my finger on.  While the majority of my film use was 35mm and some medium format, something in my nature photography was eluding me.  Something was nagging at my subconscious that there were more things to be discovered and revealed and a different voice given to my subject matter.  What was it? I think the more that I used my Pentax 6x7, I loved the results even more, but why stop there?  Going larger might be the answer, but I hadn’t thought of large format.

Me, with Crown Graphic, 2012.

Photography isn’t just simply pointing a camera at something and pressing the shutter button. For some people that’s actually true.  But there are so many variables that go into making a photograph - lens, film, format, focal length, etc., that one generally assumes that the photographer has figured them out to his or her types of photography.  On top of that is composition and intent.  A view camera slows down all of that and makes you more aware of the intent of your image-making.  Not that one needs to think of such photography as a laborious process. Yes, there are steps that one must follow, but it’s perhaps that purposeful chain of events that results in a single image that makes one think more about that image.

Over the years of my photography, I thought of using large format as merely another avenue of photography that was there if I wanted to use it.  I did, but not with the rigor that it requires.  For me, 35mm and medium format were enough to keep me busy.  That 4x5 stuff was just for the occasional foray.  On top of that, developing the film was a pain in the butt. Zone system? What?  That’s for the super photo nerds.  My Crown Graphic was there when I wanted to use it, but I rarely did.  

Taken with Crown Graphic on Arista 100, 2015.

Going to the Photostock events hosted by Bill Schwab did expose me to a group of large-format enthusiasts, as well as those practicing alternative processes, such as tintypes.  I was more than happy to shoot with my 35mm and medium format cameras, because I was proficient with them.  I did appreciate the work that went into large format photography, but mentally, I just was not ready to fully embrace it in my own work.

Harman Direct Positive Paper, Crown Graphic, 2012.

After I moved to NC, I almost immediately met a few other photographers, most notably Susan Patrice, whose usage of  large-format in her practice led her to produce beautiful circular images of the natural world.  My own work on the trees of the area was done with 35mm and some medium format, but it was the 35mm cameras that allowed me the greatest freedom to walk the trails and get the images that I wanted.   

My friend Russ Young in Floyd, Virginia is an accomplished photographer, photography teacher, and a polymath that I wish I’d gotten to know about 20 years ago.  He’s been generous with his time and photo equipment, and one of his passions is what I call “neopictorialism.”  He and I are working on a new issue of Monochrome Mania, and his images are fantastic.  Anyhow, in a visit last November, he gave me his Intrepid 4x5 field camera, which he felt was far inferior to any of his other large-format cameras.  Challenge accepted, I took it home and found lenses for it, film holders, etc.  However, before I shot a single sheet of film, I needed to figure out how I was going to develop the film without a real darkroom like I had in Ann Arbor.  That’s when I found out about the Stearman 4x5 daylight tank, which has been a complete game-changer.  I can develop up to 4 sheets of film at once, using the same techniques that I use for roll film.  That is the one aspect of the process that really made large-format accessible to me.  I am never going to be one of the zone-system people, developing each sheet of film according to the exposure.  I do use a Pentax Spotmeter V, which allows me to accurately meter the scene and evaluate what kind of exposure that I’m going to make.  

The Stearman 4x5 tank is great!

So, I really have just started this foray back to 4x5, and one of the first things I wanted was to get a modern lens, which I obtained from Ball Photo in Asheville.  The 210mm Rodenstock lens is really nice, and has a 49mm filter ring, making the use of filters and lens hoods far easier than the old 135mm Graflex Optar that came off an old 3x4 Speed Graphic that my buddy Bill Pivetta gave me a couple of years ago.  

The Intrepid 4x5 with a 7" Rapid Rectilinear from
 an old Kodak Model 3A

The Intrepid 4x5 IS pretty fiddly, unlike using a Crown Graphic which pops open like a jack-in-the box to a rigid metal frame.  So, I’m getting used to setting it up, and while it is not exactly a precise instrument, I’ve grown accustomed to to it. For one, it’s very lightweight, and once I have it set up on the tripod, it does not take me long to make an image.   Again, in large format, you need to be methodical in your procedures and mentally check off the steps.  Even as a long-time photographer, I’m not immune to silly mistakes, and with large-format, there’s lots of ways to screw up.  

So, here I am with lots of film and film holders, thinking about what I want to shoot with the Intrepid. Thanks to the Stearman developing tank, I have had no problems developing the film, and my results have been good.  I’m looking forward to seeing what inspires me to use the camera over the next few months.   I have some specific themes that I want to explore, and I think it will be interesting using the Intrepid 4x5 to try and achieve my goals. 

My very first 4x5 taken with the Intrepid. Graflex Optar 135mm lens, FPP Mummy film

Intrepid 4x5, Mummy 400, 210mm Rodenstock lens, March, 2026.

TESTING…TESTING

I recently acquired a pretty nice example of a Pentax K2, a member of the first generation of Pentax’s K-mount SLRs. I paid about $80 including shipping for it, and it’s the black paint version, which looks really nice.  The price was below what most of these go for online, and I was assured by the seller that the meter worked.  Well, after it arrived I found that it was good electronically, but the ASA ring was not turning. After doing a little research, I put a few drops of light oil around the base of the lens mount/ASA ring, and it then moved like it was supposed to.  The K2 is an aperture-priority and manual exposure camera, so I still needed to test it with film before I used it seriously.  

I loaded a 24 exposure roll of the FPP’s She-Wolf 100 black and white film (it’s Fomapan 100) and spent a few days shooting with the camera.  After I developed the film, I scanned it with my Epson V700, and I’m very pleased with the results. The metering is very accurate, and I know that I can trust the camera to expose properly.  Here are a few unedited images from the roll so that you can see.

This brings me back to the title.  A used film camera today is likely to be at least 20 years old, and more often than not, over 40 years.  The K2 came out in 1975, which makes it 51 years old.  Now, for me, 1975 was the year I graduated high school and started college.  It’s not ancient history to me, because I lived it. However, to a lot of young adopters of film cameras, it IS ancient history.  All too often I see people on Reddit asking if a certain camera is okay to use, or “what is the best camera?” or “is this any good?”  Some cameras have aged better than others, and so much depends upon the brand, the way it was used and stored, and whether the new owner knows what they are doing.  Old cameras that have been well-kept and stored properly are great. Old cameras that have sat in damp basements, storage units, or dusty hot attics may have a whole slew of problems, or they may not. You won't know for sure until you have the camera in your hands.  

To test a camera:

Find out if it requires a battery to operate the shutter.  Cameras like the Canon AE-1, Pentax ME, Nikon FE, Minolta X series, all require a battery to operate the shutter and the light meter.  If a camera’s shutter is independent of the light meter, all the better.  However, that’s not so much an endorsement of those camera as it is a basic step that you should know before using any camera.  

The Spotmatic only needs a battery for the TTL meter. 

Don’t have a manual?  Go to www.butkus.org and you should be able to download a manual.  Want to know more about the camera? Go to camera-wiki.org

The Minolta X7A requires a battery to operate at all.

If the shutter works without a battery, then dry-fire the shutter at the various speeds and listen to the sound at each speed.  If the shutter is working properly, you’ll discern the different shutter speeds as you change them.  If you can open the back of the camera and look through it, you’ll see the shutter curtain (if it’s an SLR) open and close for each setting, which ought to be obviously different at low and high speeds.

Find the proper battery to test your camera, and see if the light meter works. Depending on the camera, you’ll see a +/- display, differently colored LEDs, or a small pointer at different shutter speeds.  This is why it is important to have the manual, so you will know if things are working properly.  If the meter is not working, check the battery contacts in the camera and clean them with a pencil eraser.  If you see corrosion, then, you'll need to clean that off.  Make sure that you have inserted the battery with the + side facing the proper direction.

I keep an old roll of film that’s been exposed many, many times as a test roll to see if the film transport works properly as well as the rewind.

Does the self-timer work (if it has one)?  I know people get caught up in the “Pentax K1000” for a basic camera, but the K1000 does not even have a self-timer!  There are better all-manual SLRs out there at a lower price, such as the Vivitar V2000 or V3800, both of which use K-mount lenses.

Are the lenses clear? Is there dirt in the viewfinder? Older SLRs are prone to having a bunch of dust on the ground glass of the focus screen from the decomposing foam of the mirror bumper.  Lenses may have a haze inside, dust, or fungus. You may need to remove the lens and hold it up to the light to see that.

Once you are sure that the camera works, shoot a 24 exposure roll of film with it, and it can be on as mundane subjects as you want. This is to test the camera.  Once you are satisfied that it works properly, you can take it on that trip that you planned to use it on.  Never bring an untested camera on a trip!  

Sometimes you only spot that something’s wrong until after you shoot a roll of film, so thtat’s why the test roll is important. If you are buying from a dealer, they should have tested the camera before they sold it.  If you bought it from someone on eBay, then you have to assume that no testing has been done unless it was explicitly stated in the description of the item.  Since way too many sellers now use eBay’s AI option to list, every camera is a tool to produce wonderful contemporary images that will delight you.  Buyer beware.

All-electronic point and shoots are always a gamble.

A well-maintained camera that is not fully electronic should last a long time.  Even now, the first DSLRs are over 20 years old, and by some standards they are e-waste.  Some people covet them because of the CCD imaging system.  The same rules apply to them - if they were well-cared for they should still work fine, but then you have the to find the batteries and in some cases, small enough capacity CF or SD cards that will work with them.  Unless your plan is to make prints larger than 8x12 inches, a 6 MP DSLR is certainly a capable camera.  In the case of any digital camera - you can only test them with a battery and a storage card, and again, buyer beware.

C-4 Yourself...the results are in.

 Results from the Argus C-4

Back in mid-February I wrote a little post on the Argus C-4, and I finally finished the roll of Eastman 5231 that I'd loaded.  It was great to give that camera some use, as I am pretty sure that I haven't used it in almost a decade. Here are a few examples of the scans from the roll.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results.  The Eastman 5231 is a great match for this camera.  While it's a cine film, it's pretty much the same as Plus-X.  Developed in D96.

Bill Pivetta outside of our local camera store.

People fishing below the destroyed Craig Lake Dam on the Swannanoa River in East Asheville.
Hurricane Helene's damage is still quite evident. 

Resilience of nature.

I-240 bridge over the French Broad River

Rail trestle over the French Broad river

Good results from one of the best cameras produced by Argus!

An Isolette, you say?

Over the years, I’ve used and handled a lot of Agfa Isolette folding cameras.  It’s been at least 20 years since I used my first one, and while these scale-focus cameras may not be to everyone’s taste, the 6x6 negatives on 120 film, made with a camera that can fit in a jacket pocket are something to be appreciated.  However, the problem with many of the Agfa/Ansco folding cameras is that the focus helical used a grease that in time, has solidified into something that is more like concrete.  In some, I have seen the focus ring turn, but with no connection with the helical.  On top of that, the paper bellows may have pinholes. So, yes  these cameras can have problems.

But not this one.

My friend Louise in New Hampshire sent me this lovely Agfa Isolette that looks as new as can possibly be.  It’s been CLA’d and checked over, and I have never seen an Isolette as nice as this.  I’m thankful that people think highly enough of me to send me such gifts.  Knowing that the camera was ready to use, I loaded a roll of expired Fuji Acros 100 film, and over the course of a few days, shot the 12 exposures.  

This is a fun camera to use.  It has B, 1/25, 1/50 and 1/200  sec shutter speeds with an Agnar 85mm f/4.5 lens. The smallest aperture is f/32! There is a PC flash sync port on the Vario Shutter, and the scale focus goes from about 1 meter to infinity.  You need to cock the shutter for each use, so it can make multiple exposures on a frame, if you so desire.  

In use, it’s pretty simple - frame your subject, cock the shutter, and press the shutter button, but only after you have figured out your exposure and distance.  I’m pretty good at estimating distances, as well as using sunny-16, so  I don’t need a rangefinder or a meter.  However, I dug out a shoe-mount rangefinder from my boxes of stuff, and it would be useful for anything under infinity.  So, I’ll try that out for the next roll.

This Isolette 1 was made from 1951-1958, so it’s a camera that is at least as old as I am.  I think that it’s probably in better shape than I am, too.  Maybe I can get a CLA for myself!

There is plenty of information about the Isolette series of cameras, so I suggest that you do some research before you go and buy one, because not all Isolette models have the same specifications.  Camera-wiki has a good bit of information.

The following images were shot on expired Fuji Acros 100, developed in Flic Film's Black White and Green developer for 12 min.  Scanned on my Epson V700.

Thank you, Louise!

Barns at Bailey Mountain Preserve, Mars Hill, NC

The I-240 bridge over the French Broad River

Rail trestle over the French Broad River - note the guy walking on it!

Nothing like being able to have a beer at 3 pm with friends at Hi-Wire Brewing in the River Arts District of Asheville

Half A Cookie Is Still A Cookie Zine

 

If you've been following this blog, then you know that I like using the Pentax 17, a half-frame 35mm camera that was introduced in 2024.  I've put together a zine that has my insights on using the Pentax 17 and other half-frame cameras.  It's 6x9 inches, with 40 pages, including the covers.  Full-color and black and white photographs showcase my results from this great compact camera from Pentax.

You can purchase it from my Etsy store for $7.50 + postage.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4459033552