Category Archives: Uncategorized

I hate to bust a myth: My Tintype Journey

January 17, 2012 Dave 4 Comments

I know so many of you are convinced I’m like a god of photography, capable of doing all sorts of magic with any camera, any process handed to me. I hate to dispel the myth, but here it is. Maybe you should sit down and take a few deep breaths.

I know it’s shocking to hear, but, sometimes I miss. I’m not always perfect as a photographer. There, I said it.

Case in point: Tintypes. I wanted to try out making some tintype photos using a kit from Rockland Colloid. They sell a kit with the plates and some gelatin you put on the plates in a darkroom. Then you expose the plates and develop the plates in a darkroom again. Coating the plates was a lot messier than you might have thought. I was concerned I got too much gel on the plates, but stopped while I was ahead with trying to fix them.

I shot a photo of Tim using my Holga for about a second with one of the plates installed. I also did a shot of the water tower and factories on the west side of Dover, using a pinhole camera for the 4inx5in plate for a one minute exposure. Lets just say that developing the photos was much less exciting than coating the plates. I’m showing the scans I did of the plates, which I converted to black and white. I’d say both techniques “show potential”. I sent an email to Rockland tonight, asking for their expertise. I hope to have something to show in the next few weeks that looks a lot better!

Try to recover from the shock, and carry on as you were before this shocking admission! LOL

Uncategorized

Photos from a Chinese Folding Camera

January 16, 2012 Dave 2 Comments

I read about a Chinese folding camera, the Hongmei HG1, that shoots 6×6 negatives (the same as my beloved Holga) on the “from digital to analogue” blog. The difference between this camera and the Holga is that it uses a glass lens and gives you some control over the shutter speed and aperture. What it doesn’t give you is a view thru the lens so you can tell if it’s in focus or not. Instead it has a dial you can change the focus distance on and hope it’s pretty close, which this camera seems to be. Anyways, I picked one up on Ebay and paid $34 for it and the shipping to come here to Slower Delaware. Think about that for a minute. Whoda thunk you could by something from a flea market half way around the globe and have it delivered in a few weeks, 30 years ago. I digress.
I took it out shooting the other day and had fun with it. You really have to slow down with these cameras. You have to set the shutter speed and aperture, then set the focus, then cock the shutter and fire it. So, it takes a little more to shoot with it.

I had an issue with the film not rolling onto the take up spool as tightly as it should and a few scratches on the negatives that I’ll have to work out, but overall, I’m pretty happy with it.
And, for the record, I hate the Arista.edu premium film I used for this roll. It’s a cheap, relabeled film made for the Freestylephoto.com and well… it’s a pain in the butt. After developing it re-winds itself nice and tight again. Most films will lay pretty flat after developing and drying. Not this stuff.

I digress, again.
Here are a few photos from the first roll through it here in the US.