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Fun with MF Achromatic Digital Backs
- Thread starter algrove
- Start date
Doppler9000
Active member
Stitch or crop?
lookbook
Well-known member
Xpan Format Crop!
Thanks for your interest ..
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vieri
Well-known member
Hello everyone, and apologies for the long absence - I have been extremely busy these last months, both with the usual stuff and especially with the preparations for a new step in my photographic journey: going back to analog, and in particular to 4x5" black & white photography. I have been working exclusively with this setup for the last month during our fall Workshop season, and I am loving it! But, results will start to be ready next year when I'll be back home and will be able to develop, scan and process the film.
In the meantime, I thought I'd share my latest developed Portfolio, shot last year with my Phase One IQ4 Achromatic and Alpa 12 STC and dedicated to the Pacific Northwest of the USA! The Portfolio is over 60 photographs strong, here's a few photographs for you:
You'll find the rest on my website, here: https://www.vieribottazzini.com/2024/09/the-pacific-northwest-a-portfolio.html
Comments are as always very welcome. Enjoy! Best regards,
Vieri
In the meantime, I thought I'd share my latest developed Portfolio, shot last year with my Phase One IQ4 Achromatic and Alpa 12 STC and dedicated to the Pacific Northwest of the USA! The Portfolio is over 60 photographs strong, here's a few photographs for you:
You'll find the rest on my website, here: https://www.vieribottazzini.com/2024/09/the-pacific-northwest-a-portfolio.html
Comments are as always very welcome. Enjoy! Best regards,
Vieri
Very nice images. Thx for showing.
Interesting that you decided to go back to 4x5". Any particular reasons?
If I still would have my darkroom with my 4x5" enlarger, I might have given 4x5" B&W a try also. My 4x5" gear is still greased and oiled up, but without an accessible darkroom I am a bit suffering from motivation.
P.S. I feel if one goes analog then the printing stage should be analog too.
Would be interesting to compare how film & silver halide print stacks up against digital sensor & digital print. Would there be a clear winner?
I once considered to get a 645 film back from eBay and see how 654 B&W film compares to a B&W digital image from my IQ3, but here again, no access to a darkroom.
P.S.S. Meant not how they compare as to their physical attributes but as to their perceptual qualities. Is there something to a fine art silver halide print that just can't be replicated with a "digital" print?
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I can very much vouch for a hybrid workflow. I still have my Durst Laborator in place, but I like to scan my images and take it from there. In terms of resolution, one doesn’t gain anything. It’s more about a distinct look.
lookbook
Well-known member
Great that you have motivated this small specialty program "Acromatic Backs" with your excellent photos.
Thank you very much for that.
Very good analog photography is in a class of its own - ...
and I can understand your step.
Good technical results are more satisfying - but also more strenuous!
I wish you much success...
Uwe
vieri
Well-known member
Thank you very much, glad you enjoyed them!
About 4x5", it's the aesthetics, first and foremost. Then, the full controls of the camera I got (a custom assembled Arca-Swiss F-line), which make for a much more powerful creative tool than any digital MF tech camera solution; the ability of controlling exposure / development of individual negatives, and of selecting film stock, thus removing the image creation process even further from the digital darkroom than what my Achro would allow; the slowness of the workflow; the extra focus coming from knowing that you have only a limited - and small - number of photographs to take; the slowness and "zen" approach of the process; and so on.
About printing, I definitely see your point, but for now it is scanning only for me. That allows for much more flexibility in terms of facilities (e.g., I don't need a full darkroom for developing, I can easily use our laundry room for that), plus I like the hybrid workflow possibilities: analog, organic look coming from the negative, paired with the easiness of digital for cleaning the negative and for those limited adjustments (dodging and burning, cropping, curves, etc) and the consistency of the printing. I know, they would be much more valuable if they were all made one by one in the darkroom - but, I will always have the negatives, and can always add wet printing at a later stage if I so desire.
About the analog vs digital match, I think they are two very different beasts in terms of the look and feel. There are many tests out there comparing the two, and numbers resulting from those such as "xx megapixels digital images give as much resolution as xx size negative", but while all great sources of information, that's not what personally interests me. Again, it's the different look - hard to put it into (few) words, but a good way to describe it would be that I feel analogue photography to be sharp and detailed, but with a much "gentler" sharpness compared to digital, which I find beautiful and expressive...
Second that - it's the same for me (although, I don't have a full darkroom anymore).
Best regards,
Vieri
vieri
Well-known member
Hello Uwe,
thank you very much for your kind words, and for your good wishes, truly very much appreciated!
Yes indeed, good analog photography is something else - time will tell if I will be able to achieve good results, but for now I feel that I learned so much just by taking the step, re-reading all my classic B&W manuals, buying and reading over 40 new books in the last 6 months... it has been an incredibly exciting journey so far, besides a huge learning experience, and I would be very happy to have done this even if I decided to stop tomorrow (which I won't!).
Best regards,
Vieri
Starts for me with the 4x5" groundglass. The DB display is a joke compared to a 4x5" groundglass.
(My groundglass has an integral Fresnel lens - many don't like it but works for me))
vieri
Well-known member
Absolutely, the experience of seeing the world upside down and reverted on the huge 4x5" ground glass is unparalleled for me - even with my 47mm Schneider and 55mm Rodie. Which GG do you use? I have been happy with Arca-Swiss original one, which came with a Fresnel.
Best,
Vieri
My suggestion would be to consider to take a workshop with Bruce Barnbaum. He still uses his 4x5" for his B&W work. He is generally recognized as one of the best B&W film photographer still out there. No association but have taken many of his workshops and plan to take his Owens Valley Workshop early next year.
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Funny, I don't recall even ever having noticed this. My brain automatically turns the image around.
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People have been debating since eons what is the perfect groundglass size. I would say 5x7", some say 8x10" but I have no personal experience here.
vieri
Well-known member
Thank you for your suggestion, no offence to Bruce and don't get me wrong, but artistically I do enjoy pursuing my own path and my own journey alone. Technically speaking, I have been shooting film non-stop since the 1980s, until I stopped for a few years after the 2010s. Also, I have been using digital tech cameras since 2010, so combining the two, 4x5" felt going back home. Since January, I enjoyed re-reading all my Zone systems, all my Ansels, and so on, including reading dozens of new books in the last months to expand on what the great masters did. I found so much to learn, their life stories, their work, their incredible technical abilities revealed to me once again!
With practical development, I was a bit rusty with my first 4x5" batches, but after the first 50 sheet or so (plus some rolls of film, since I also added a Nikon FM2 and a Mamiya 6 to my arsenal) now that I am back in the flow I think I'll be OK
Thanks again!Best regards,
Vieri
vieri
Well-known member
I actually enjoy the fact that the image is unlike the real world - I always did even with my 500 Hassies back in the day. It helps me composing without the "distraction" of "seeing" the real world scene as I would in the real world, so to speak.
Best regards,
Vieri
Shashin
Well-known member
The printing is always tough. And then to be limited to photographic paper sizes--remember when 20"x24" prints were "huge."
But looking at your work, I wonder if there is a digital equivalent of printing negatives with soft-focus lenses, which give that unusual but distinct dark glow.