Edwin Lachica's blog

After going through two Sinar cameras (F/F2), I decided out of the blue to shop for another system. The Sinar was nearly impossible to backpack so I needed something more compact. A field camera was out of the question since I wanted the stability and movements provided by a monorail. After searching the LF Info Forum for reviews and suitable replacments, I came upon a mention of the Carbon Infinity 4x5, a quasi monorail / field camera made mostly of carbon fiber with ultra light weight metals parts. The only problem was it is one of the rarest view cameras around. As luck would have it I found a used one in Christoph Greiner's shop in 2006.

The camera is a beauty, I haven't had much chance to go hiking with it last year but hopefully I'd have more time to do so this year especially with the ultra-wide 55mm Apo-Grandagon I purchased to celebrate my 30th.

Here's a short review I posted in the abovementioned forum:

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... for the moment. Summer was not exactly spectacular and real life things get in the way. We had to clear the house of Sacha's aunt last month and I was charged to double check and revalue some antiques and art work for re-sale there's still some items I have to have valued but they'll have to wait and perhaps I'll bring them to auction instead. I'm also burried in house plans, design boards and material studies for a house we're planning to build. Christmas is on the way and with it comes party planning, decorating the bijouterie and atelier, developing the menu for the annual christmas sale etc. etc. Perhaps there's more time next year.

Here's a least one photo I had to make: the Christmas invitation photo for the bijouterie.

weinachten 2007

Well I've started a group called Large Format i.e. 4x5 (9x12) all the way to ULF. For all the LF shooters out there please join the group.

Previously, I've "digitized" my BW work by scanning proofs on the scanner of a cheap multifunction printer for the occasional web sharing and what not. Since I've started doing slides and color negs and processing them myself, I needed a way to proof the negatives and check the progress of my color work without printing color "wet' in my darkroom (eventually I probably will do color prints too). On a visit to Mediamarkt early this week, I checked the Epson Perfection V700 Photo. It was 200 swiss franks cheaper than normal retail so bought the only one they have on stock. The scanner will just be for proofing, web sharing, and archiving family snaps and I have no intention of using scans from this for final prints of "serious work". Black & white work will still be done in the darkroom. The purchase of a used desktop drum scanner will have to wait and if someone wants to buy any of my color work in the near future, the negs and trannies will be sent off to a custom lab for scanning and printing.

Here's a test scan (600dpi) of a test neg (i think I shot this for my bellows extension exposure experiment, 4x5 Rollei R3 developed in Rollei HSD).

Back in college, a friend's brother had a prepress shop with huge drum scanners so we could compare scans between them and the scanners of the early 90s and the ad agency I worked for used XY flatbeds. Well I can say that consumer flatbeds have come a long way from then, the Epson V700 is not bad at all but I'm not giving up plans for a drum scanner just yet.

Jeremy (Acrylic on paper | 28"…

One of the earliest memories I have is of me drawing a landscape when I was 4. It was not your typical kid's drawing - as far as I can recall it was quite complex complete with scale and perspective. I have not stopped making images since: from Drawing to Painting to Graphic Design to Video Directing and now Photography.

I got into photography accidentally. It's not that I have not done photography before. I'll usually act as photographer, art director, stylist and graphic designer for low budget advertising projects. Photography was simply part of my interdisciplinary image making arsenal.

Wanting to record my first year in Switzerland, I started taking snaps, first with a borrowed point and shoot camera (Pentax Optio 330), taking snaps when I found something interesting. Eventually, Sacha got me a Minolta 7D digital SLR (with Apple Aperture as my digital darkroom) which is now relegated as my 'point and shoot'.

Intrigued by traditional silver photography, I bought a second hand Sinar F2 View Camera. No autofocus, no TTL metering, no auto anything. My twisted logic told me to immediately start on something with a high learning curve if I wanted to really learn traditional silver photography, darkroom work included.

Carbon Infinity 4x5 View Camer…

Now that I'm more confident with traditional darkroom work and view camera manipulation, I've replaced the Sinar F2 with a Carbon Infinity 4x5 (pictured left). I've also aquired a Mamiya RZ67 system and have appropriated space in the laundry room for the various darkroom equipment including a Durst Laborator 1000, Durst Printo, and a Jobo ATL-2200 allowing me to process all film I shoot (B&W, Slides, & Color Negatives).

So after going through the whole process of learning photography does not of course make me a photographer. I have learned a deeper appreciation of the craft along the way but as I said before, I like making images as a whole. At the very least I could say I'm good enough to continue taking photos much as I'm good enough to pick up a brush and some paint and make a decent portrait.

 

...and the weather is wechselhaft.

Super spring weather had me planning phootgraphy trips all over. I restocked my film reserves, finally did test runs developing my own slides and color film, loaded up the film holders, and practiced with the view camera to make working with it more intuitive and ditto my spot metering technique. The mild winter and super sring weather had one ace up it's sleeve to keep me from going out: pollen. I developed hay fever, and it was bad enough to keep me from stepping out unless under heavy medication.

Plans were postponed and I waited for summer. I'm still waiting.