Out Shooting:
Cameras & Lenses
Mamiya 7 and Mamiya 7 II cameras (6 x 7 cm format); 10 exposures on 120 film.
Mamiya 7 lenses: 43 mm, 65 mm, 80 mm + 150 mm.
"I mostly use the 43 mm (roughly equivalent to a 21 mm on a 35 mm camera) or the 65mm."
Filters
Heliopan and B+W filters:
- Orange, Dark yellow, Yellow, Yellow/Green, Green
- UV, Skylight
- Heliopan RG715 (infra-red)
- B+W 92 (infra-red)
Light meter
Sekonic L-508 Zoom Master light meter.
"I use my Sekonic meter in spot metering mode. This is much more accurata than the meter on the camera. I use it to check the exposure for each series of shots at any location and as the light changes."
Tripods
Ultra-lightweight for skiing, etc: Gitzo Mountaineer Mk2 G1028 4 section, 2 leg angles, carbon fibre; with Manfrotto 486RC2 quick release head.
"Together this combination of legs and head weighs just 1200 grams. It is very versatile and I carry this all the time when out on really strenuous trips or skiing with my cameras."
Main tripod: Gitzo Mountaineer GT1541, 4 section, 3 leg angles, carbon fibre; with Gitzo GH1780QR quick release head.
"This is a slightly larger heavier tripod but it is more sturdy, higher and more versatile so it has become my preferred tripod. Head and legs weigh 1442g so it is still pretty light. The head is rock steady and doesn't need to be tightened down much to hold firm."
Mountain camera case for 1 camera
LowePro Toploader 65AW + chest harness.
"This is carried on the front on a shoulder harness. It can carry 1 Mamiya 7 with 2 lens cases strapped to the outside."
Mountain camera case for 2 cameras
LowePro Street & Field Specialist 80AW + chest harness.
"This is a larger version of the Toploader and is carried in exactly the same way - on the front for instant access, just above waist height. It is the case I use most of the time - it is extremely convenient and has a weather resistant cover in case of rain or snow. It takes 2 Mamiya 7's with 2 lens cases strapped to the outside and has elastic pockets on either side for light meter and discarded roll film wrappers"
Protection for lenses
Lens and camera wraps by Skooba Roadwired Advanced Protection System. These are squares of fleecy protective fabric with a mesh liner and velcro closures on all 4 corners. They come in different sizes: 12 inch for lenses, 15 inch for camera body, 20 inch for camera fitted with lens.
"I protect my lenses, even in the camera case, by using Roadwired lens wraps. When properly used they protect from damage and are reasonably waterproof unless completely immersed in water. I also use one to protect the spare camera and lens in the rucsac."
General rucsac
LowePro S&F Rover.
"This takes my 2 camera bodies and 4 lenses as well as light meter, filters, batteries and tons of film. I don't use the tripod strapping on the back of the sac, instead preferring to clip the tripod to the rucsac shoulder strap. I seldom use this now, preferring instead the LowePro Toploader or Specialist cases carried on the front just above waist height, very convenient."
Mountain rucsac
Pod Black Ice 50 litre (1992 vintage and still going strong!)
"I use a 50 litre mountain rucsac with a waterproof liner for my hill gear. This also has enough space to take all my photo kit if the weather turns bad. The camera is carried in the LowePro Toploader case on my front using a shoulder harness. The camera can hang around my neck, ready for use, and sit on the top of the carry case ready for taking pictures. This avoids a stiff neck from having all the weight of the camera pulling down unsupported. My tripod is carried from the shoulder strap of the rucsac using a large karabiner. The legs of the tripod are pulled out of the way using another large karabiner on the waist belt."
Camera Materials
Ilford FP4 Plus 120 film.
"This is the only film I use. It is very reliable and can cope with a vast range of lighting conditions, unlike some of the more modern films. I used to use 220 film most of the time, to get 24 exposures per roll, but Ilford discontinued this format for all of their films in 2003. Now I have to carry twice the number of rolls of film and change them twice as often. Not pleasant in the cold winter weather of the high mountains. It is also twice the weight, 120 and 220 film weighed roughly the same, even though one gave twice the number of negatives."
Ilford SFX 120 film
(with Heliopan 715 filter, for infra-red shots).
"This film is available once more. It is HP5 with different sensitising dyes so if you use without the special infra-red filter it behaves like down-rated HP5. Rated as 200 ISO on the box but the filter needs 4 stops and uncertainty in IR levels require a further 2 stops of bracketing to make sure of a shot. In reality this means you're working at 3 to 12 ISO! It's impossible to see through the 715 filter either so unless using a rangefinder camera, like the Mamiya 7's that I use, you need to compose before screwing the filter on to the lens. You also need to stop the lens well down to allow for the shift in focus point with infra red light, to f16 at least."
Hill Gear
Apart from the usual equipment that has to be carried for a safe day on the hills, I usually carry:
Programmable GPS.
Magellan eXplorist-XL with versions of OS maps for UK and USGS maps for USA. A heavy, bulky unit compared to current models but has a big screen, is programmable (including from PC digital map software) and is reliable.
"This lets me pin-point photo locations by recording details at the time of shooting. It also provides a lot of navigation information to reduce the time needed for map reading."
Pocket Anemometer
Technoline EA-3010 pocket anemometer. Measures the wind speed, temperature and wind chill and is small and light enough to fit into a pocket.
"A very useful aid in decision making in the mountains. If the wind speed is over 25mph in the valley, it's likely to be severe gales on the tops!"
Head Torch
Petzl Tikka LED head torch. Used to find the way at night as well as illuminating equipment during night photography sessions.
"LED head torches are very bright and last for many hours on 1 set of batteries. I usually keep one in the pocket of my waterproof jacket."
Tools
Leatherman Juice CS4
"I always carry this in my pocket as a toolkit. It replaces the Victorinox Swiss Army knife that preceded it. The Leatherman has a good pair of pliers, a pair of scissors, several screwdrivers, a knife blade, bottle opener and a corkscrew for the odd celebration!"
|
|
In the Darkroom:
Enlargers
Durst 138S Floor-standing chassis with Ilford Multigrade 500H head
"This is the enlarger I use for all my images. The chassis is around 40 years and still going strong. The Ilford MG head is about 15 years old and is fantastic. It uses 2 x 300 watt quartz halogen lamps to give short exposure times which are constant over the entire contrast range (other systems need twice the exposure time for grades 4 to 5). I use split grade printing routinely and can program up to 9 different exposures in to the foot switch operated key pad."
Durst M670 BW enlarger
This is mainly used by students on darkroom workshops and takes negatives up to 7 x 6 cm. It is fitted with an Ilford Multigrade under-the-lens filter drawer to make split grade printing much easier.
"I occassionally use this for printing my borders using lith negatives of various formats. A grade 5 Ilford MG filter in the enlarger filter drawer gives maximum contrast."
Durst M670 Color enlarger
This is mainly used by students on darkroom workshops and takes negatives up to 7 x 6 cm. It is fitted with an Ilford Multigrade under-the-lens filter drawer to make split grade printing much easier.
Durst M670 Color enlarger
This is mainly used by students on darkroom workshops and takes negatives up to 7 x 6 cm. It is fitted with an Ilford Multigrade under-the-lens filter drawer to make split grade printing much easier.
I have been asked for details of replacement lamps for Durst M670 color enlargers since the original Durst Colamp 100S is no longer available. The 12 volt, 100 watt spare lamps that I use are Philips EFP A1/231. They are widely available and are generally sold as projector lamps.
Durst AC707 Colour enlarger
"I use this as a copy camera stand for photographing my big prints with a digital camera to get them on the web. Not often used as I prefer to use the Nikon Coolscan 9000 negative scanner which gives better quality."
Enlarger lenses
Rodenstock Rodagon 150mm
Rodenstock Apo-Rodagon 90mm f4
Rodenstock Apo-Rodagon 80mm f4
Schneider Componon S 80mm f4
Rodenstock Rodagon 80mm f5.6
Schneider Componon WA 80mm f5.6
Rodenstock Rogonar-S 75mmf4.5
Schneider Componon S 50mm f2.8
El-Nikkor 50mm f2.8
Durst Neonon 50mm f2.8
Rodenstock Rodagon 50mm f5.6
Minolta E Rokkor 30mm f4.5
"Mostly I use one of the Apochromatic Rodagon lenses for my work. This is free of most lens defects and is fantastic, especially for large prints."
Nova Archival Print Washers
20 x 16 in. + 20 x 24 in. Able to wash between 5 and 11 prints, one of the 20 x 24 washers has a Washaid slot.
"I have 3 of these in 2 sizes. They are essential for washing FB papers in a restricted space."
Maco Ecomat TP5060 FB print dryer
The Rolls Royce of flatbed FB dryers for fibre-based prints. Takes paper up to 20 x 24 inches (slightly more than the 50 x 60 cm quoted by Maco).
"I dry paper with the image facing away from the heated platen and pull down the tensioned cloth directly onto this. Not used with glazing plate as I like the air-dried look. This dries FB prints in about 45 minutes. I use a low temperature setting of between 40 and 50 degrees Centigrade to try and minimise the curl that some FB papers often produce. It is fantastic for producng flat dry prints."
Ilford 1250 RC Print Dryer
Infra-red dryer from Ilford. 51 cm wide. The photographic layer in gelatine, coated onto the resin coated (RC) paper surface, is slightly melted by the heat to produce the highest possible gloss.
"This takes paper up to 50 cm wide and dries a 16 x 12 inch RC print in about 15 seconds."
Pro-Co 220 Film Dryer
A tall cabinet that looks like a locker but with a heater and fan in the base. Film hangs from clips in the top and it is long enough to take 220 film.
"Although this takes 220 length films I just use it for 120 (Ilford discontinued 220 in 1993) and takes about 20 minutes to dry a film using very low heat."
Darkroom Materials
Ilford Multigrade IV FB paper
"This is the main paper I now use. The only way to definitely know what a dry FB print will look like is to make one and dry it! If you think you have the right densities in the wet print then you can guarantee the dry print will be too dense. When you see this, make another print but reduce the exposure time by about 10%. Wash and dry the 2 prints, look at them carefully under good lighting, go back and do some more if you need to. This tones reasonably well with sepia but not other toners. Selenium toner can be used for archival stability and the colour of the image will stay largely unchanged.
Ilford Multigrade FB Warmtone paper.
"Excellent for toning. I use sepia, selenium and gold, albeit infrequently. Needs roughly twice the exposure time compared to normal MG FB."
Ilford Multigrade IV RC paper
"An excellent general purpose paper that I use for my small prints (up to 30 x 24 cm) and contact prints."
Ilford Multigrade RC Warmtone paper
"Excellent for part-toning and toning. Needs roughly twice the exposure time compared to normal MG RC."
Ilford Multigrade paper developer
This is my standard paper developer.
"I use this most of the time and it gives very slightly warm prints compared to PQU. It is not a warm tone developer! Expect subtle effects not gross ones. It is also a fast acting developer compared to some."
Ilford PQU paper developer
Another good print developer with performance similar to Multigrade developer apart from a small shift in image colour on the slightly cold (blue) side.
"This has been around for years but it is very good. It was reformulated in the mid-90's (with me as the Ilford project manager) to increase the shelf and dish life while retaining the performance that users had come to know and love. A classic."
Ilford Ilfotec DDX film developer
Equivalent performance to ID11 but in a liquid concentrate. Probably the best film developer that Ilford make. It is also available as Ilfotec DD developer in 5 litre bottles - different name but same formula.
"This is the best film developer that Ilford make, by a long way, and I'm not just saying that because I wrote some of the spec and helped develop it while I was at Ilford! Every film photographer should use it! It is a liquid concentrate diluted at least 1+4 for use. The performance is similar to Ilford ID11 powder developer but more reliable. I use 1+6 for 9 minutes with FP4+ 120 film. Work out your own development times, those provided by Ilford are too long for my way of working."
Ilford Ilfostop stop bath
Stop baths extend the life of fixer baths and prevent processing streaks. Ilfostop is made of citric acid (lemon juice) with a tiny amount of indicator. It is yellow when freshly made up and still in good condition. It is ineffective (as in useless) when the colour changes to colourless or purple.
"This is a low odour stop bath only available in 500 ml packs. It is citric acid with a small amount of indicator. Since I am asthmatic, having stop bath without acetic acid (an irritant to the respiratory system) is a big benefit to me."
Ilford Rapid Fixer or Ilford Hypam Fixer
Similar formulae but different names. .
"Both very reliable fixers that won't let you down. Probably the most concentrated fixers on the market so lots of capacity for long printing sessions."
Ilford Washaid
Washaid reduces the wash time of FB papers considerably.
"I pour a 1 litre bottle into the washaid slot of my 24 x 20 in Nova washer and fill to the top with water. Wash prints for a few minutes to remove most of the fixer, then soak in Washaid for 10 minutes or so, finally wash for 30 to 60 minutes."
|
|
view shopping basket
my favourites
about dave butcher
news
events calendar
dave butcher's blog
testimonials
