Film washer to accompanion Stearman Press SP-445
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- Category: Odds and ends
The 'SP-445' is a compact 4x5 sheet film processing system from 'Stearman Press LLC'.
https://shop.stearmanpress.com/products/sp-445-compact-4x5-film-processing-system
The tank can develop 4 sheets at a time and after development and fixation, the films can be washed inside the SP-445 tank.
To accompanion this tank development system, I decided to make a DIY force film washer. The washer allow me to conveniently transfer the SP-445 sheet film holders directly from the dev tank and into the film washer. Assuming you have spare film holders, the dev tank can then be given a quick rinse in order to be ready for developing a next batch of films (while the first batch is still in the film washing tank).
My camera collection
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- Category: Equipment
Bronica ETRS-i
A Bronica ETRS-i was my first medium-format camera. The camera has been my No 1. work-horse for a number of years; it is relatively convenient to bring along and it produces very sharp and crisp negatives. I very much enjoy using this one. Unfortunately, it has been sitting for a while now in favor to my other cameras.
Pentax 67ii
The second medium-format camera to come into my possession was a Pentax 67ii. I could not resist to get me this one since P67ii have such a reputation for being a great camera for landscape photography. Also, I was excited working with 6x7 cm negatives. Nowdays, this is the camera I use most.
Zeiss Ikon - Ikonta M
I bought an Ikonta M for two reasons: I was charmed by the simplicity of a vintage range-finder such as this one, and I wanted to have a compact camera to bring on trips. It is great fun to use this one, everything is so basic and completely manual.
Wista Field 45 DX
Trying to convince myself for years that I should not get into large format, an offer eventually came up that I could not resists. The Wista Field 45DX is a 4x5" cherry wood filed camera that is very nice to look at and very fun to operate. Certainly, nothing is for free operating this camera and it is very slow to make a photograph, but I like it.
Darkroom chemicals
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- Category: Darkroom
For darkroom enthusiasts that wishes to experiment a little bit, mixing their own chemicals is perhaps one route to explore.
To begin with, the No 1 resource of information on this topic is 'The Darkroom Cookbook' by Stephen G. Anchell. A short review of this book (in Swedish) can be found here and on many other places on Internet. To find general information on a chemical, I have found that Wikipedia is an excellent choice, or perhaps http://webapps.kemi.se/amnesregistret/.
However, getting hold on the chemicals that is needed is not as easy (any longer).
And if you are living in Sweden...
From my experience, getting hold on raw chemicals is not straight forward if you are living in Sweden. There are some major providers such as e.g. Sigma-Aldrich and Merck, but they only accept orders from organizations. There are also companies such as Sagitta, but they also do not sell chemicals to private persons (Although they do have other nice lab equipments which you can buy from there) .
The best option seems to be to buy from e-bay. There are several traders within EU that sell chemicals in small amount and to private persons. Some e-bay stores even specialize in chemistry for photography. Be aware though, there might be import- or other restrictions on the chemical you are looking for. Swedish official sources to find more information on this include www.tullverket.se and www.kemi.se (Kemikalieinspektionen). Kemikalieinspektionen also provide a list of usefull databases, see http://www.kemi.se/hitta-direkt/databaser.
Depending on the chemical you are looking for, I have found that your ordinary grocery- or hardware- store might be an option. Through some detective work I have been able to identify the following chemicals (in "pure" form") in ordinary daily use products.
| Name (EN) | Name (SE) | CAS | Trade Name | Where to find | For use in |
| Acetic acid | Ättika | Perstorps ättika | grocery stores | Stop bath | |
| Sodium thiosulfate | Natriumtiosulfat | 7772-98-7 | Nitor sänker klor (#226844) | hardware store | Plain hypo (i.e. fixer) |
| Sodium bisulfate | Natriumvätesulfat (=natriumbisulfat, NaHSO_4) | 7681-38-1 | Nitor sänker pH (#290205) | hardware store | e.g. in stop baths |
| Sodium carbonate | Natriumkarbonat | 497-19-8 | Nitor höjer pH (#290208), also as ordinary washing soda (SE "målarsoda") |
hardware store | Accelerator for use in developer |
Bronica ETRSi
- Details
- Category: Equipment
Bronica ETRSi är den sista modellen i en serie av SLR-kameror tillverkade av 'Zenza Bronica Industries Ltd' (Japan). Modellen introducerades 1989. Modellen är relativt liten och kompakt och enkel att bära med sig. Bronica var populär i b.la. USA och ansågs vara ett prisvärt alternativ till Hasselblad. I Sverige verkar Bronica inte haft lika stor spridning. Zenza Bronica ägdes mot slutet av 'Tamron Industries Ltd' och de sista serierna av objektiv är designade av just Tamron. Optiken anses vara skarptecknande och av god kvalitet.
Några tekniska kortfakta:
- Filmformat: 120, 6cm x 4.5cm
- Spegeluppfällning
- Bulb-läge
- Möjlighet till TTL-mätning (med AI-prisma: spot/snitt/matris)
- All optik har elektronisk centralslutare med slutarhastighet ner till 1/500 sek.
- Möjlighet till TTL-OTF mätning vid blixtfotografering.
Mer information finns att hämta exv via:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronica
http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Zenza_Bronica_ETR
En användarmanual för ETRSi finns för nedladdning, se nedan:
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