Hi

My brother bought me a F-line 10x8" conversion set in January, and I've only just gone to use it with my M-line 5x4" camera - it's taken that long for my 10x8" film to arrive! I've built up quite a collection of Arca bits over the years, and have a number of function carriers, etc.

However, I found that I couldn't load the darkslide into the camera - the bail bar is positioned at the bottom of the groundglass frame, and when you pull the bail bar out slightly, it hits the large screw that secures the format frame to the function carrier. I emailed Arca about this last week, but they haven't responded yet. However, tonight I reversed the function carrier so that the focus knob was on the left, and the afore-mentioned securing screw was to the front of the camera. I thought I was in business. How wrong could I be?

Anyway, I took a couple of shots, then tried processing the film in a Jobo CPE print drum. I was expecting the anti-halation layer to cause a problem, and sure enough, there were a few blobs left. I wasn't sure how to get rid of them, but seemed to remember reading about re-soaking in fixer, so I turned the film so that the emulsion was to the drum wall, probably scratching it in the process, and sloshed some fixer around for five minutes - it seemed to get rid of the anti-halation layer, anyhow, and probably a bit more....

Then I noticed that the picture wasn't how I had framed it (the top had been chopped off!), rendering it unusable. I'd used a bit of front rise, and the Arca auto-locks aren't stiff enough - it must have slipped when I was securing the compendium hood or setting the exposure.

Then to top it all, I absent-mindedly pulled back on the bail bar a bit too much. Now the springs seem to have locked-up, and I can't get the bail bar back to its correct position. Can someone explain how to fix this?

Maybe I ought to give up on this large format nonsense, and buy myself an APS camera.

David Nash

-- David Nash (nashcom@btinternet.com), June 04, 2001

Answers

You are to be complimented on your choice of a brother!

-- Ellis Vener Photography (evphoto@heartstone.com), June 07, 2001.