Arca-Swiss will be exhibiting at the PDN Photo Plus International Expo October 27-29, 2011. Martin Vogt and Rod Klukas will be demonstrating the Arca-Swiss R-Line technical cameras, the new D4 gear-driven tripod head, C1 Cube, P0 Monoball, L-Brackets and more. Our booth number is 330 and located near the Canon exhibit.

The Expo is taking place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York, NY. The event will showcase cutting edge gear and educational training for the imaging markets.

We hope you can attend and check out the new products from Arca-Swiss! We will be in New York for a few extra days around the event so if you have any questions or would like to set up a demonstration, please email me: rod.klukas(at)arca-swiss.com

Also, if you’d like to attend the PhotoPlus Expo to see us, email or call Rod Klukas for a free pass.

http://www.photoplusexpo.com

New England Workshop, October 5-8

Just a quick post to let you know I’ll be attending the Capture Integration workshop in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Base camp will be the luxury Historic Mount Washington Hotel.

Capture Integration sales and technical reps Dave Gallegher, Doug Peterson, Steve Hendrix, and Chris Snipes have organized one of the best landscape photography workshops to date. In addition, 6 hours of Capture One training will be provided during the event. 

We’ll have lots of Arca-Swiss equipment for attendees to demo during the event. Representatives from Leaf, Mamiya/Leaf, and Phase One will  be attending, as well as presentations from Rodney Lough, Jack Flesher, Guy Mancuso, and Robb Williamson.

This is a rare opportunity in a beautiful setting for a workshop experience. Fall color should be prime!

More info here:
http://www.captureintegration.com/download/CI-Workshop-Version.pdf

Rod Klukas from Arca-Swiss will be a co-exhibitor with Niki Mustain from Schneider Optics, at the PDN Outdoor Photo Expo August 4-5, 2011. Rod will be demonstrating the Arca-Swiss R technical cameras with Mamiya Digital Backs, the new D4 gear-driven tripod head, P0 ballhead and more.

The Expo is taking place at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. The event will showcase cutting edge gear and educational training dedicated to the travel, adventure, and nature imaging markets. The PDN Outdoor Photo Expo is being held in conjunction with the Outdoor Retailer event which attracts thousands of outdoor enthusiasts.

We hope you can attend the event and check out the new products from Arca-Swiss and Schneider Kreuznach! If you have any questions or would like to set up a demonstration around the event please email me: rod.klukas(at)arca-swiss.com

www.outdoorphotoexpo.com

My friend and Daguerrotype trading partner, Jeremy Rowe has asked if I’ll post and update the workshop schedule for the Center for Alternative Photography (CAP) in New York.

http://www.capworkshops.org/

http://www.capworkshops.org/workshops.htm

Workshop schedule Spring 2011

CAP: The Collotype: Ed Fausty, June 4-5, 11-12 (Two Weekends)
Instructor’s work: www.edwardfausty.com

CAP: Wet Plate Printing: Keliy Anderson-Staley, June 18-19
Instructor’s work: www.andersonstaley.com

Workshop schedule Summer 2011

CAP: Intro to Wet Plate Collodion: Lisa Elmaleh, July 2-3
Instructor’s work: www.lisaelmaleh.com

CAP: Platinum Printing: Carl Weese, August 13-14
Instructor’s work: www.carlweese.com

Many thanks to my longtime friend Gordon Chait for making this video possible!

An introduction to Arca Swiss R cameras by Rod Klukas from gordon chait on Vimeo.

• The R system is solid and rugged in construction, yet compact and lightweight in it’s design.

It’s perfect for travel, hiking and location photography.

RM3di weighs 2.36 lbs.
RM2d weighs 1.54 lbs.
RL3d weighs 3.2 lbs.

• All in plane geared and self-locking rise/fall & lateral shift are all controlled from the rear of the camera. All in plane movements on the rear of the camera keep the lens in a stationary position. This ensures the point of view remains fixed and produces less errors for stitching panoramas, etc.

• RM3di Vertical Rise/Fall 30/20mm, Lateral Shift 15/15mm. Tilt 5 degrees + or –

• RM2d Vertical Rise/Fall 20/10mm, Lateral Manual Shift 15/15mm

• RL3d Vertical Rise/Fall 40/10mm, Lateral Shift 20/20mm, Tilt 5 degrees + or –

• Tilt is built into the body. On the RM3di and RL3d, the tilting mechanism may be turned 90 degrees to accommodate swing instead of tilt.

• A finely threaded helical focusing system, offering almost 5 turns of the helical ring is contained in the body. Depending on the lens, focus as close as 1.5 ft can be achieved. Through it’s integrated lens mount, lenses are easily bayonet mounted to the helical.

• The R camera has a large lens opening design with a large bayonet adapter. With this large throat design, lens choice is unlimited with lenses in focal lengths from 23mm to 250mm.

• RM3di and RM2d can be used with digital backs or film backs up to the format 6X9cm.
The RL3d can be used with digital backs or with film formats up to 4X5 in.

• Any of the R cameras may be used handheld or mounted to a tripod.

• A mounting slot is available at the top and bottom of the camera. These mounts are traditionally used for the viewfinder and tripod. Additionally, the mounts can be used for attaching a bellows system and rail for long focal length lenses or macro work, and for repositioning the body along a section of Arca-Swiss rail to maintain nodal point for advanced rotational stitching purposes.

• The mounts also enable the camera to be flipped upside down and remounted to a tripod for use when more fall is needed.

• RM3di and RM2d work with existing Arca-Swiss F/M Line accessories like bellows lens shade, binocular viewfinder, etc.

• Included with the purchase of the camera body are the ground glass/fresnel, resin hand grips, and choice of mounting foot. The purchase of each Arca-Swiss mounted lens includes a magnetic cable release, mask for VarioFinder, Distance/Focus card, and DOF distance drum for VarioFinder.

Arca-Swiss R Camera System Spec Sheet

KB Canham is very close to a special order of 8X10 T-Max film in 10 sheet boxes. Pricing should be close to $75 per box, depending on the amount ordered. Shipping is not included in that price.

If you need film in the near future and are interested in placing an order, please do it right away. Once this order is sent to Kodak, another co-op list will need to be filled before the next order can be placed.

The embedded video below is from the Kodak booth at Photokina last summer with Keith discussing his large and ultra large format film orders.

I’ve recently noticed many photographers investigating vintage collodion or wet plate processes. The 19th century invention of Frederick Scott Archer, wet plate glass negatives, have a look all their own. Many contemporary artists are working within the wet plate process to make some extraordinary “vintage” images in our modern time.

Collodion is a process which involves dissolving nitro cellulose, also known as ‘guncotton’, in ether.  This solution is then poured onto a well cleaned glass plate and spread around the glass by tilting back and forth until the glass plate is evenly coated.  It’s then dipped into silver nitrate and loaded into a film/plate holder while still wet.

With the camera having been already focused and readied to shoot, the holder is inserted into the camera and exposed.  This process had to be accomplished quickly, as drying out ruins the coated plate. It is then processed as a normal negative would be for an excellent result.

Because of the volatility of ether, many photographers died - in fact on average, 1 photographer died per week in the 19th century due to some facet of the wet plate process.  Another cause of death was the use of liquid silver nitrate, which left your hands blackened.  The ‘quick’ remedy to remove the black stain was to rub your hands with a cyanide crystal, potentially fatal if you had a scratch on a finger or hang nail.

The wet collodion process held sway from the late 1850’s until the 1880’s when dry plates became readily available.

Watch this excellent video filming Luther Gerlach working on location with wet plates.
Video by Konstantin Brazhnik.

Amelie and Alchemy from Konstantin Brazhnik on Vimeo.

An antiquarian man. A contemporary daughter. For 15 seconds two worlds collide and from the black arts emerges poetry.

Another video worth watching – Rob Kendrick Tintypes
Robb Kendrick – The Tintype Process

More good stuff here – Sally Mann discussing a wet plate project. Video from the NPR website:
Sally Mann, From Lens to Photo

For more information about the collodion process and other alternative processes, visit these sites:

http://www.capworkshops.org/

http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/

Enjoy!

Phase One has announced a bold new generation of medium format digital camera backs. The Phase One IQ180, IQ160 and IQ140 digital camera backs feature maximum resolutions of 80, 60.5 and 40 high quality megapixels respectively. This series sets new standards for medium format camera system handling and performance.

The Phase One IQ180 captures at full-frame 80 megapixel resolution, with a dynamic range of 12.5 f-stops. It is the first product of its kind to feature a USB3 connection, facilitating faster image transfers in the future. The IQ180 also features a FireWire 800 connection, ensuring the fastest tethered capture speeds possible today. For untethered shooting, the IQ180 digital back’s new memory card interface is so fast that it eliminates buffering delays, supporting continuous shooting until a card is filled.

A newly-designed 3.2 inch retina type, multi touch screen features 1.15 megapixel resolution, providing the highest resolution and largest display of any SLR type camera available today. This means that very fine details can be checked instantly during a photo shoot — for instance using Phase One’s unique Focus Mask and the instant zoom function. The automatic adjustment of brightness and contrast ensures that the display is visible under various light conditions.

Context-sensitive controls, such as the instant zoom function, allow a photographer to zoom into an image using one finger only. Small histograms and highlight warnings can be enlarged to full screen view by a simple touch. The new Focus Mask available during preview helps validate depth-of-field and image focus. The wide format display allows for a full 4:3 aspect ratio VGA resolution image next to histogram, highlight warning, focus mask, EXIF data, and touch controls. This touch screen display is complemented by Phase One’s intuitive 4-button navigation.

Phase One’s patent-pending Sensor+ technology, built into the Phase One IQ180, supports a variety of shooting conditions. One can capture images with full 80 megapixels resolution or, using Sensor+ mode, switch instantly to capture images with 20 megapixels resolution at 4 times higher sensitivity, up to ISO 3200. This flexibility is very useful under low light conditions; there is no need to slow down to change cameras, and there’s no crop or lens factor. One gets the maximum wide-angle performance from the existing lens, higher ISO levels, and a faster workflow.

Phase One is currently on tour to 17 US cities through March 23rd introducing the IQ series of digital backs.  More info can be found here – The IQ Road Tour  http://bit.ly/hvkE86

Kodak™ Sheet Film

K. B. Canham Cameras, Inc. has announced that they have an agreement on pricing and minimum quantities needed for a range of special order Kodak™ films 5X7, 8X10, 11X14, 7X17, 14X17, 8X20, 12X20, 16X20, and full plate 6.5X8.5.

Film orders will require 100% pre-payment (shipping not included). Once pre-payment is received you will be placed on a list along with everyone else that has ordered the same size and emulsion of Kodak™ film (this will be referred to as a Co-Op). Once enough orders are placed to reach the minimum number of boxes needed, K.B. Canham, Inc. will contact Kodak™ and should receive the film in 6 weeks or less. Once a Co-Op is started, a deadline date will be posted for that group.

You can purchase this Kodak™ film from a dealer or directly from K. B. Canham Cameras, Inc. If you have questions regarding Kodak™ sheet film you can contact a dealer, or direct via phone or mail to K.B. Canham, or you can use this online inquiry (question) form. To find out what is currently started pre-purchases please check the status page. To place a pre-order for a film please fill out this form and send it along with your payment.

Here is a “How to order film” page for help on ordering film.

Each box contains 25 sheets unless otherwise stated. All prices are in US dollars. Once an order has been placed with Kodak™ for a film size your money is not refundable. Prices do not include shipping from K. B. Canham Cameras, Inc. to the purchaser. Shipping cost will not be collected at pre-payment, but charged later when the film has been received and an exact shipping amount can be determined. If you are interested in any Kodak™ emulsions or sheet film sizes not listed please contact them.

K. B. Canham Cameras, Inc. is only supplying sheet film from Kodak™. They will not be supplying any other types of film.

http://www.canhamcameras.com/kodakfilm.html