Wehman "Ultralight" 8x10 Field Camera

These days it seems like there is no shortage of new companies building 8x10 and other size field cameras, often with space-age materials and impressive specs (and impressive price). I bought my first 8x10 camera, a Gundlach built in 1899, about 4 years ago. It was cheap and came with a cool lens, and I shot nothing but x-ray film with it for a long time. Later on I found a Wista 8x10, made by Tachihara, that was a bit more versatile and easier to use - but it was still really heavy and the thin paper bellows made me worried when hiking, as an errant tree branch could puncture it and ruin the camera.

I started thinking about upgrading my camera but the expensive new production models, even used, were just not the right fit for me. They were also for the most part still quite heavy. So when I saw a Wehman 8x10 "ultralight" advertised, I was intrigued. Looking up the specs, I discovered it was about 7 pounds, plus another pound could be shaved off by removing the top "clamshell," reducing the total extension (which I rarely would use). My mind was made up. I bought it.

In-hand, I was really amazed by the simple and elegant design and the great look of the camera. In the field, it was the perfect blend of simple usage and versatility. I have read in several places that Wehman only made two of these "ultralight" models but I can not verify that. Either way, I think this is the last 8x10 camera I'll ever need.

Last weekend I took it for its first large hike (about 3 miles). It was easy to carry and didn't weigh me down, and being so light I could also use a slightly less heavy tripod without worry. I hardly broke a sweat carrying the load, with 4 lenses in my bag and 12 sheets of film in 6 holders.

I hiked at Langdale Park, which was closed for "repair" earlier this year - but a local conservation group was allowed access to paddle down the river and take out at Langdale Park, so I tagged along.

Here are the photos from that day. First are a few on Delta 100, developed in FX-39, using either my 210mm f/9 Graphic Kowa, 300mm f/9 Nikkor-M, 25cm f/4.7 Fujinar, or 90mm f/5.6 Schneider XL (cropped slightly):

I also tried out two photos on Efke IR820 AURA film. I have a big box of this I've never used. Here are those photos (duplicates of the above, as I wasn't sure the Wehman bellows were IR light-tight...luckily it is!):

Finally, I had one more sheet of Delta 100, so I took this photo of the WWALS group with that:

Now right before I took this last image, I had one bad thing happen - I slipped and fell pretty bad on some mud. The Wehman 8x10 took a dive and hit the ground hard too. Everything seemed okay, but then I discovered the nylon focus track had a few teeth go missing! I was dismayed, but I sent Mr. Wehman an email to see if he had parts. Amazingly, he responded later that day and offered to send a free replacement! What a great service and awesome guy! I just received the part today and installed it in just a few moments, and it's back to like-new condition (after I cleaned up the mud...).

I love this camera and can't wait to shoot it more!

Oh! One more thing. My friend Julie took this photo of me with the camera before I left:

Fast flooding of the Withlacoochee, Feb. 2016

I didn't think we had much rain last week, but nevertheless the Withlacoochee is way outside its banks and over 5 feet above flood stage. Yet again Valdosta is causing grief for Florida as the sewage treatment plant is discharging untreated water into the Withlacoochee.

I went to Langdale Park but the water from the river was all the way up near the entrance, barely a few hundred yards from the gate. Even with my wading boots I couldn't go far. I found a little side area I could explore and shot some with my new 8x10 camera (more about that at a later time).

I also decided to shoot a bit of x-ray film, as I hadn't shot it in quite a while. However, I had one extant sheet of Delta 100 from the last outing so I did a comparison shot. Very interesting result.

Here is my favorite shot of the day, on x-ray film:

This was shot with my 90mm XL on 8x10, but yes it had trouble covering. Actually, now that I think about it, I left the back barrel piece that can be removed on it so I might get a bit more coverage without that. Anyway, this crop is about 8.5 x 6.8 inches. I shot the Fuji HR-T film at an ISO of 100 and developed it in Rodinal 1:100 for about 7 minutes in cold solution (my darkroom has no heat and is very cold at the moment). Overall I really like the results.

The Delta 100 shot was an interesting comparison. Over all the contrast was higher, and I lost the shadows and highlights. This was partially my fault in developing. I was using a developer and time/dilution that was more appropriate for normal developing rather than rotary (I used a BTZS tube). So not the best test, but certainly interesting. Here that shot is:

One of the things about x-ray film that is different than normal film is the lack of a anti-halation layer. This causes slightly glowy highlights and slightly less resolution. Here is a small crop of x-ray film and the Delta 100 to show the differences:

There are some x-ray films that are more expensive that do have the AH layer. I use Fuji HR-T because it is really cheap. Generally it's not a big deal but still, if I'm especially worried about it I'll use normal film - though again, as you can see above, the contrast in this situation was better handled by the x-ray film, and more specifically, how I developed it. The most important thing here is to know your tools and materials, I suppose.

Here's a couple other photos from yesterday, all on the x-ray film - the first with my 210mm Graphic Kowa, the second with the 90mm XL again:

Of Reflections and Symmetry

It seems like one of the most common things I shoot is any kind of water reflection or symmetrical relationship. I just enjoy seeing that and photographing it.

I thought I would post a number of images made in the last couple of weeks that have reflections or symmetry, or close enough.

First, this photo I actually shot back in October. I posted the same photo in b&w back in early October. But I just now developed the film (Velvia 100F). I like the longer streaks of water in the b&w image due to a longer exposure, but the subdued early-morning colors are quite nice here. Taken with my Voigtlander 21cm f/4.5 APO Lanthar, and cropped slightly to make it more even:

I took a similar water reflection picture a couple of days ago at Banks Lake. I was trying out an interesting lens that I bought for all of $25 - a Rodenstock 13.5cm f/4.5 Trinar lens. This is a 3-element lens likely supplied on a cheaper 9x12 folder from the early part of last century. Fairly uncommon to find by itself, it's a nice little lens and pretty unique. Here's two images of the same subject, shot on either Fuji 160S or Velvia 50. This is an interesting comparison of the two films. I won't say which is which - though I think it's obvious:

I also shot this one afterwards, also on Fuji 160S, as the sun was setting:

On all of the above, I used a darkslide to cover up half the lens during 2/3 of the exposure to have the equivalent of a 2-stop GND filter, as I do not have a proper adapter to use one on this lens, yet.

Moving on from water reflections, here are a few symmetrical-ish photos I took last week wandering on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi during Christmas, with my Pentax 67ii and 55mm lens:

And now for something totally different, two photos from my Leica M9. Meagan and I were again wondering at a pier in Mississippi on Christmas morning. I found the repeating pattern of these logs interesting:

And then this line of seagulls and the pier behind them lined up in a very graphical symmetry to me (cropped slightly to enhance that feeling):

The first image above was with a 25mm f/4 Voigtlander Skopar, the second with a 8.5cm f/2 Nikkor.

Okay, that's enough for today. I hope you enjoyed.

Playing with new ideas

A couple of months ago I had a few interesting ideas I wanted to try, inspired by seeing some images that by accident had an interesting reflection.

I finally got around to going out and trying some things last week and have been scanning the film...so without giving away what exactly I was trying to accomplish or how, here are the images:

 

 

I also took a self-portrait:

All of these were taken with my Pentax 67ii and either 55-100mm f/4.5 or 90-180mm f/5.6, on Tri-X and Plus-X developed in Rodinal.

More Pentax 67ii Fun

Last week I spent a sunny afternoon at Langdale Park (again) shooting with my new Pentax 67ii. I wanted to try a few things - first I tried out a set of 35mm film adapters that I have, and they worked fine. I was using some old junky Portra 160NC film, so the colors were a bit wonky but here are some shots:

 

Next, I had a really old roll of Shanghai GP3 film. This stuff is terrible and apparently they use some kind of bad ink that gets onto the film from the backing paper. I figured I might as well shoot it anyway since I was just enjoying the day - but yeah the ink has transferred to the film and you can see the numbers and circles from the paper on the photos. Also this film just generally sucks in my opinion - terrible tones with any developer and very curly and hard to work with. Here's a few shots to show the results:

Around this time I found myself in a more sunlit area with nice colors so I thought I'd put a roll of old E100G into the camera to see how it exposes E-6 film, since I hadn't shot any of that with it yet. I did set the meter at 80 and used an 81C filter, as I've found that expired E100G does better that way. I was pretty happy with the results:

Overall the exposures were beautiful and I am very happy with the AE abilities of this camera!

Teaching 4x5

I helped my friend Tara last weekend with how to use her 4x5 camera. I brought along mine and we shot a few sheets at Langdale Park.

I took this photo of her:

I also shot a few landscapes, here is one:

Both of those were with my Voigtlander 21cm f/4.5 APO Lanthar lens, which I've been meaning to use more.

I also shot a few things with my Leica M6 and 5cm f/2 Summitar, on Digibase CN200:

 

A few days later I finished up the roll at Langdale again, but this time I brought nothing but the M6 with my Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 ultra-wide lens, with a Schneider 1.5-stop center filter attached. I shot these, and tried to really exaggerate the perspective: