# I think I've found my calling in life....



## JamesD (Sep 7, 2007)

4X5 pinhole IR.

To date, most of my work with pinholes (and yeah, sometimes it really is "work"... but that's another story) has been with paper negatives.  Matter of factly, I think all of it has.  But anyway...

I've been poking around f295.org, and there is some truly amazing stuff there, including pinhole IR.  I've honestly never seen anything like it.  Truly incredible.

I'm excited.  I also have no darkroom.  WTF am I gonna do until I can get around to doing some of this stuff?!

Life is cruel... :banghead:


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## Steph (Sep 7, 2007)

That's an alternative technique for sure! What film are you planning to use? Are there any IR films sold in 4x5 sheets? Also, pinhole+deep red filter+reciprocity law failure=massive exposure times... But I gues that's part of the fun. I am looking forward to seeing some of your pictures.


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## windrivermaiden (Sep 7, 2007)

JamesD said:


> 4X5 pinhole IR.
> 
> 
> I'm excited. I also have no darkroom. WTF am I gonna do until I can get around to doing some of this stuff?!
> ...


 
Ah, but for lots of free time, money with out working and :hail:a darkroom. Which is why I do all this UV alternative stuff. I was taking a materials practice class and was hoping to be able to machine a fine pinhole in the machine shop, but the class got cancelled. Wahhhhh!


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## terri (Sep 7, 2007)

Poor James! So many ideas, so little time..... :hug:: And I thought I was pushing my luck putting IR film in the Holga......  

You'll get there - and I can't wait to see what you get with this process. :thumbup:


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## Stillwater (Sep 7, 2007)

Rock the IR man, some of that stuff f295 is really awesome work. If I had a darkroom I'd probably go for it, but I'm pretty sure pinhole is the way to go for everything! haha post some results for sure!


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## JamesD (Sep 7, 2007)

Steph said:


> That's an alternative technique for sure! What film are you planning to use? Are there any IR films sold in 4x5 sheets? Also, pinhole+deep red filter+reciprocity law failure=massive exposure times... But I gues that's part of the fun. I am looking forward to seeing some of your pictures.



Yep yep.  There's a Rollei brand of IR film that comes in 35mm, 120, and 4X5; I'm not sure who makes it.  I've heard rumors, and thought I saw some Maco film once, but haven't found anyone who stocks it yet.  The Rollei 4X5 is seventy-five bucks a box, for 25 sheets... three dollars a sheet? Oh yeah.

The Rollei film is nominally rated at ISO 400 "for" IR at 720 nm, so with a #29 filter (+3 stops), exposure will still be 3 stops shorter than the ISO 6 I've been using for paper negatives--at least in theory.  It remains to actually be seen how it will _really_ work out, especially with an actual IR filter.

Still, at ISO 6 in bright sunlight, my exposures are typically on the order of one minute.  With a film, 15 seconds (bare uneducated estimate) shouldn't be too far into reciprocity failure.  So, it doesn't _sound_ too bad.  :lmao:


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## JamesD (Sep 7, 2007)

windrivermaiden said:


> Ah, but for lots of free time, money with out working and :hail:a darkroom. Which is why I do all this UV alternative stuff. I was taking a materials practice class and was hoping to be able to machine a fine pinhole in the machine shop, but the class got cancelled. Wahhhhh!



Actually, pinholes are pretty easy to manufacture.  This is a topic where I owe ::shifty, nervous eye toward Terri::.  I'll see if I can come up with some stuffs.

The UV alt procs sound interesting to me.  I'd certainly like to try them someday... I doubt it will become something I do a lot of, but I like to get my hands into a little bit of everything.  :mrgreen:

[tangent] Hey, who rearranged the smilies!  [/tangent]

My former darkroom was a 4X5 closet.  It was great.  Especially with a ginormous enlarger in there... 3-ft baseboard and 4-ft column... It was great


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## JamesD (Sep 7, 2007)

Oh, soon, you'll be seeing lots more from me.  I know I've been saying that since I joined the forum, and the actual number of posts from me has done nothing but decrease, but I've got plans, and nothing to interfere with them except cold, hard reality.

Everything should be _just_ fine! :mrgreen:


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## windrivermaiden (Sep 8, 2007)

JamesD said:


> Actually, pinholes are pretty easy to manufacture.


 
It was the part where I was going to get my hands on some pretty nifty :hail:micro milling machines...like they use to make watch and micro-electronic parts, that was getting me excited...a "perfect" .001 hole in nice brass or aluminum plate. Oooohhhhhh! The lux of it. OK, I confess to being a closet machinist.:blushing: might be why I'm working on my mechanical engineering degree. Canon-LA, do you need an intern?:lmao:

But, I love my little "pinprick" pinhole...I should whip it out today and take a few photos. Hummm. Sounds like a good project for a saturday morning!
Gesh! I love this place!


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## JamesD (Sep 8, 2007)

I was looking at tripods yesterday, and they had one heavy duty aluminum model on display that would put the groundglass exactly at eye level for me, all legs, no center column... No price tag on it, so I asked him how much it was and he went in the back.  When he came back, he said it was $129. So I snapped it up, naturally.

Well, it turns out that the one on display was not the one that was $129.  I got the smaller model from the same line, only about 4 ft high with a center column.  He got the price from the wrong model lol.  I was hoping to go out and expose some 4X5s today, but it doesn't look like I'm gonna get to.

Soon, though.  I'll borrow the surveyor's tripod from my mother's friend again, I suppose.  It's such a pain, though.  I've got the itch, you know?


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## Bobby Ironsights (Sep 11, 2007)

JamesD said:


> I'm excited. I also have no darkroom.


 

You have no darkroom????

For chrissakes man!, where in the hell do you go pee and brush your teeth:cry:??!?!!??!


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## JamesD (Sep 11, 2007)

Outside my cave entrance :mrgreen:

Actually, I've been staying with me mum in Colorado, and the bathroom is positively full of light leaks, starting with the window she had installed. :meh:

I could deal with that, if that were all.  Unfortunately, I sold my enlarger, trays, bottles, chemistry, tongs, timers, safelight bulbs, printing easle, and pretty much everything else (except some unopened chemistry packets and a few tins of Accufine) when I left Alabama.  It's possible to do, say, contact prints without all that stuff, and I've considered it, but I haven't gotten anywhere with it yet.  I'm pretty muchly just waiting to get back to Alaska before I start acquiring equipment again.

OTOH, I exchanged the tripod today, so there's a good chance I'll mix up some dektol tomorrow and have at with some paper negatives in the view camera.  If I do, most likely I'll just scan and invert, but it's vaguely possible that I'll try some contact prints if I can find a suitable light source and a photo frame.  We shall see.


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## windrivermaiden (Sep 12, 2007)

Go for it man! I know where you can get a nice piece of glass for your contact printing...that lovely bathroom window. Everyone knows that bathrooms are only put in a house to double as  darkrooms! Didn't you teach your mom Anything?:lmao::lmao:

Dude! you traveling man...Alabama, Colorado, Alaska! Maybe convert a van to a traveling darkroom and take it with you. Better yet... I once met a man (who I greatly envied) who converted his van to a :hailinhole camera!


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## shorty6049 (Sep 12, 2007)

i'm a mechanical engineering student too! and that pinhole IR sounds cool


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## Jus7 A Phas3 (Sep 26, 2007)

Pinhole camreas are crazy, I used one once made out of a shoe box. I could never really get the technique down but my photo teacher showed me pictures of people that made pinhole camreas out of rooms it blew my mind. good luck with that you can really do some cool stuff with those


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## skieur (Sep 26, 2007)

I am happy that you have found your calling.  After several careers and being semi-retired, I am still being constantly told that I have missed my calling. I am rather surprised that I am getting this from specialists in the legal and medical fields, who think that I have background in their areas.

skieur


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## xfloggingkylex (Sep 29, 2007)

pinhole ftw.  I need to get a black bodycap for my Pentax cameras so I can do both 35mm pinhole and digital pinhole.


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## Helen B (Sep 29, 2007)

Apart from the Rollei 720 nm film, there is also a newer 820 nm Maco/Rollei film that is, or will be, available in 4x5 sheets. This is not the old Maco IR820 or IR820c. That is now available as Efke IR820. A 25 sheet box is $40. You could go the whole hog and use 8x10 Efke IR820. 

Why not use a tank for developing 4x5?

Best,
Helen


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