I've been a LF user since around 2005, however as often happens life got in the way and as a result I've barely done any photography since 2013 with my equipment being resigned to a cupboard and forgotten about after a few job changes, marriage and a house move.
I started doing a little bit of digital work early this year when we got an Olympus OMD for product shots for our part time business, but I have to say I find digital 'impressive' and 'convenient' more than I find it 'rewarding' if you get my meaning, but it did rekindle my love for photography.
This year hasn't been great as I've been unwell for most of it, but the silver lining has been more time at home, during which I've done some sorting out and tidying up, and in the process unearthed all my film gear. I was all set to get it all photographed and sold on as I felt it was dead money, and the cost of film and processing was prohibitive these days, and my better half kept asking me "are you sure you want to sell it?". Regardless I dug it all out and set it up expecting the bellows to tear when I opened up the camera (Shen Hao), but it didn't and I was pleasantly surprised how much muscle memory I had in setting the camera up. Then I came across a very dusty Jobo CPE2 which I'd completely forgotten about! I'd bought it but never actually used it, so now the prospect of using LF again is very much back on the cards. I've a lot to learn as I've never done any film processing other than a single roll of 35mm decades ago with my Dad, but I've acquired B&W chemicals to at least give it a go in the coming weeks.
Which leads me on to a potential issue. As the camera and all it's accessories were put in a cupboard and forgotten about 8 years ago, all the film I had was just left and not frozen or refrigerated. There are exposed sheets of both B&W and E6, along with a reasonable amount of unexposed sheets of both, dated around 2009 (process by). The cupboard it was in is fairly temperature stable, but will generally have been in the 15 - 20 degrees range (celcius!), is the film still usable at all? And as for the exposed sheets, are they worth developing at all?
I'm looking forward to getting back out with the camera once I'm fit enough and sharing some images on this forum.
Cheers, Chris.
I started doing a little bit of digital work early this year when we got an Olympus OMD for product shots for our part time business, but I have to say I find digital 'impressive' and 'convenient' more than I find it 'rewarding' if you get my meaning, but it did rekindle my love for photography.
This year hasn't been great as I've been unwell for most of it, but the silver lining has been more time at home, during which I've done some sorting out and tidying up, and in the process unearthed all my film gear. I was all set to get it all photographed and sold on as I felt it was dead money, and the cost of film and processing was prohibitive these days, and my better half kept asking me "are you sure you want to sell it?". Regardless I dug it all out and set it up expecting the bellows to tear when I opened up the camera (Shen Hao), but it didn't and I was pleasantly surprised how much muscle memory I had in setting the camera up. Then I came across a very dusty Jobo CPE2 which I'd completely forgotten about! I'd bought it but never actually used it, so now the prospect of using LF again is very much back on the cards. I've a lot to learn as I've never done any film processing other than a single roll of 35mm decades ago with my Dad, but I've acquired B&W chemicals to at least give it a go in the coming weeks.
Which leads me on to a potential issue. As the camera and all it's accessories were put in a cupboard and forgotten about 8 years ago, all the film I had was just left and not frozen or refrigerated. There are exposed sheets of both B&W and E6, along with a reasonable amount of unexposed sheets of both, dated around 2009 (process by). The cupboard it was in is fairly temperature stable, but will generally have been in the 15 - 20 degrees range (celcius!), is the film still usable at all? And as for the exposed sheets, are they worth developing at all?
I'm looking forward to getting back out with the camera once I'm fit enough and sharing some images on this forum.
Cheers, Chris.