David Nimrod ~

[David Nimrod]

Photographer.
Shooter with Guns.
Film & Darkroom User.
Old School Harley Rider.
Cook, Beer Drinker, Family Man.
Er, That's Enough About Me!

[harrypalmer]

Welcome David

[Straight Shooter]

Hello and welcome David from South Wales

[CharlesHarris]

David,

I learned photography old school hanging out the bottom hatch of a Neptune using a 4x5 Speed Graphic with cut film holders and mixing my own bleach starter. Graduated from there to paired T11 recce tech cameras, under the wing of an F4D...
Ah, wet process photography, those were the days... Not many practicioners of the craft left.

Welcome aboard!

[harrypalmer]

I took a picture from inside the aircraft when I first flew with mom and dad with my state of the art Olympus Trip...my birthday present

[Skean Dhude]

Hello and Welcome. Used to develop my own stuff as well. Long time ago now. Didn't mix my own materials though. Got rid of the enlarger and developing kit when I go married To be fair life took over and not thought about it since. You just triggered a bunch of memories.

[David Nimrod]

(4 September 2016, 15:21)CharlesHarris Wrote: I learned photography old school hanging out the bottom hatch of a Neptune using a 4x5 Speed Graphic with cut film holders...

Funny you should mention 5x4...
I've just finished a project where I used my MPP S92, an ex RAF camera from the 1950's.
It uses 5x4 sheet film (My favourite is Fomapan 100 b/w, a Czech film), and I process it myself, in Rodinal.

I'm glad to be here...

[David Nimrod]

(4 September 2016, 19:14)Skean Dhude Wrote: You just triggered a bunch of memories.

Dangerous things, memories...

[CharlesHarris]

In the bad old days the best high-res B&W sheet film was Kodak TechPan. For night use the wierd science boys would arrange the sheet film under glass in the dark room and briefly "flash" it about 6 fstops below its normal exposure tolerance, to pre-sensitize the emulsion, and then repack it into cut film holders for the mission. We would shoot a normal daylight exposure in full moonlight, and when we got back to the ship a nonstandard, heated developer was used for a longer duration to bring out the image. This permitted shooting a photo mission dual sets of cameras in both IR and B&W without dropping illum flares.

Old school technology...

Best sheet film these days come from Russia, since Great Yellow Father (aka Kodak) for out of that business.
Understand Agfa and Fuji still make 4x5 too, but I haven't used it in years. I keep in touch with a few retired recce techs and former combat cameramen who teach the old methods to law enforcement at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, because every once in a while they may need to work with a recovered batch of film under secure conditions. The spook agencies also send new techs to that school.

[David Nimrod]

(4 September 2016, 20:41)CharlesHarris Wrote: In the bad old days,,,

Fascinating stuff... Thanks!