Say "No" to the Scans (But "Yes" to the Prints!) Part Two: Making Contact

In part one of Say "No" to the Scans (But "Yes" to the Prints) I explained why I had decided to stop scanning my black and white negatives and begin scanning the actual darkroom prints that I make from those negatives. For those film photographers who do not have (or want to have) access to a darkroom, this will not be a feasible direction. Furthermore, many film photographers possess advance scanning and digital editing skills that make scanning from a print unnecessary or even pointless. I, however, do not possess those skills, and I do not care to invest the time and effort to acquire them. I would much rather spend that time in the darkroom learning how to make better prints.

Why Contact Prints?

My previous article presented my new black and white photography workflow, and essential to that workflow is the contact print. The contact print serves as the replacement for negative scans, which I previously used to choose which negatives to print. Now, I look through my contact prints and choose  the negative(s) I will work on at my next printing session. However, I do not make traditional contact prints using a sheet of photographic paper. Paper is expensive, and since I am still in the beginning stage of my printing journey, I already waste more paper than I care to. Besides, I want to be able to look through my contact sheets in a more convenient way and anytime I care to, whether I have them with me or not. In other words, it's digital technology to the rescue!

Tools Needed

In short, I make digital contact sheets using a light table, a smartphone or tablet computer, an app that uses my device's camera to "see" the negatives as if they were positives and a pdf app to assemble my contact sheets into a single digital "book." Here is my setup:

Zecti A4 LED Light Box (8.5"x12")

My Zecti light LED light table is one of the most useful photography-related tools I have ever purchased. Whether I am looking a negatives or slides, this light table allow me to easily see and evaluate my developed film. Furthermore, it's portable, easy to store, powered by any USB power source, and at $25.99, a steal.

Apple iPhone or iPad

I can use either, although my iPhone has a better camera and is easier to manipulate. Android phones or tablets work just as well.

Film Lab

Film Lab ($5.99, available for Apple and Android) is a camera app for smartphone or tablet that "sees" in reverse, that is, the lights become darks and the darks become lights. Therefore, when is sees a negative being illuminated from behind (with a light table, for example,) it turns the negatives into positives. It works with both black and white and color negatives. After you have tapped its shutter button to capture the positive image, you can use its editing tools to quickly crop the frame and adjust exposure, contrast, and color. Once edited, the resulting contact sheet can be saved as a photo on your device.

Film Lab has a very low rating on the Apple App Store, and I think that is because people think that it can be used to make the equivalent of a negative scan of a single frame. It can do this, but the quality is nowhere near as good as with using a scanner. However, its real usefulness is in making a contact sheet of an entire roll of film. All I want is to be able to see what shots are on a particular roll of film and get a general idea of the worthiness of each frame. Film Lab does this very well.

Preview for Mac OS

Preview comes free with ever Mac. I use Preview to annotate the contact sheets, convert the jpeg files that Film Lab creates to pdf files, and assemble the pdf files into one master file. Adobe Reader works fine on Windows as well.

Contact Sheet Workflow

1.  The developed roll of film is cut into strips of six frames and inserted in a Print File negative page.

2.  The negative page is placed on my light table.

3.  I use my smartphone or tablet and the Film Lab app to take a photo of the illuminated negatived page, and Film Lab reverses the image into a positive. I also quickly adjust exposure and contrast and save the photo to my camera roll on my device.

4.  On my Mac, I find the photo in my cloud photo service (Photostream) and drag it to my desktop.

5.  I open the photo file with Preview and annotate it with information such as roll ID, date, camera, film, processing, and subjects. Then I export it to my desktop as a pdf file.

6.  Once I had done all of these steps to all of my negative pages, I used Preview to combine them into a single master pdf document. Here is how that is done in Preview. Here is how to do it using Adobe Reader.

7.  I drag the master pdf file into the iBooks app on my Mac, which will then sync up with my iPhone and iPad. Now, I can view my entire "book" of contact sheets anytime. Obviously, you also could drag this file into any cloud service that allows you to read pdf files (Google Drive, for example.)

Now, whenever I repeat this process with a new roll of film, I will simply add the new contact sheet to the master pdf file and replace the old file in iBooks with the new file.

Less is More

The seven steps may seem like a lot to some, but they are not in reality, especially if you know your way around the creating and storing of pdf files. And let's be honest:  The time it takes to make a contact sheet with this workflow is much less than the time I needed to scan, edit, label, and import negatives using my scanner and photo editing software. Also, I don't use near as much disc space with a contact sheet as I would with scans of each frame on a negative. And, as I made clear, if I do want a digital file of a negative, I will scan the print. Why? Because the print is the final expression of the photograph, not the negative.

When I returned to darkroom printing last January, I had no real plan regarding what negatives should be printed. Often I would make the decision in the darkroom, which wasted time and something paper. Now, I will plan ahead by perusing my virtual contact sheet book before I leave for the darkroom. I even can make decisions as to what strategies might be needed to get a good print, based on what I see in the contact sheet. Hopefully, the end result will be more prints in less time with less wasted paper, while gaining experience and confidence in my (hopefully) growing printing skills. In the long run, I hope to become a better photographer from camera to print.

Say "No" to the Scans (But "Yes" to the Prints!) Part One: Can the Scan

I have made a big decision regarding my film photography workflow, and I would like to share it with you. From now on, I will not be scanning my black and white negatives. Instead, I only will be scanning darkroom prints of my negatives (this article concerns my black and white photography only. I will continue to scan my color negative film as I have done since I returned to shooting film in the spring of 2017). In the next few paragraphs, I will explain how I came to this decision, why I think it will serve me better, and what my new workflow will look like going forward.

Hometown Brew (darkroom print scan)

Oh, the Irony . . .

Before I begin, however, I want to recognize the irony of this decision, as it was the ability to scan negatives into positives (using my Epson Perfection V500 Photo flatbed scanner) that was a major factor in my returning to film photography, along with the ability to develop my own film at home, especially color negative film. At the time, I was so excited by the prospects of existing in a digital world and still being able to shoot film, and I was content with that blended workflow. In fact, the more skills I learned, such as dust control and getting my scanner to scan two six-frame film strips without stopping while both naming the images and saving them in a specified folder, the more the workflow satisfied me. But now that's all changed, and here's why.

Post Office Eagle (darkroom print scan)

When Did I Know . . . ?

Thanks to invaluable advice I have received from mentors coupled with practice and persistence, I have started making darkroom prints of which I am quite proud. And one of the things I liked most about them was . . . they look much better than most of my negative scans. Sometimes the scanner gave my negatives more grain, and sometimes the contrast was more or less what I thought should be. My darkroom prints tended to  look more like I envisioned when I snapped the shutter. Admitedly, my lack of digital editing skills is responsible for this disparity, but nothing I have ever done with a photography on a computer has ever made me feel like how I feel when I see my finished darkroom print. So recently, when I was asked by the owner of my local community darkroom (Safelight District Community Darkroom in Chattanooga, Tennessee) if I would contribute two photographs for a local arts website, I mindlessly found the negative scans and looked at them with great disappointment. They did not represent the "final say" that my actual prints do. In fact, the scans, like the development of the negatives, were done at home and did not represent Safelight District either. In the end, I decided to try scanning the prints, and the results blew me away. The scans looks much better and much more like the prints. It was then that I realized that I had "outgrown" my previous workflow.

Superior Pilsen (darkroom print scan)

Reflections on Clouds (darkroom print scan)

A Change for the Better . . .

So why will scanning my prints rather than my negatives serve me better? I think the best way to answer that question is with a series of statements:

1.  I have come to understand that the print is the full and final expression of my photography in every way, including and especially quality.

2.  My return to film photography was not motivated by a desire to improve my digital photo editing skills.

3.  I am not compelled to print or even share every frame of a roll, so there is no need to scan the whole roll.

4.  I am very interested in improving my ability to read negatives and not depend on the crutch of negative scans to form a vision of the final image.

5.  I am feeling less compelled to "share" my photographs online, but I love getting my prints into the hands of people, even for free (but I also love selling them, of course.)

6.  While not a terribly nostalgic person, I believe that I am more greatly understanding and appreciating what it was to be a photographer before the digital age.

A New (Old) Workflow . . .

1.  Develop the film either at home or at the darkroom.

2.  Make a contact sheet of the roll.*

3.  Use the contact sheet to choose what frames to print.

4.  Choose which prints (if any) to scan for the purpose of sharing online.

* but not the way you might think.

Making Contact . . .

The main component of the above workflow is the contact sheet, which is made by laying strips of negatives on top of a sheet of analog photo paper and exposing the paper to light.** However, photographic paper is expensive, so I have come up with a digital solution that allows me to make contact sheets that I can take with me on my iPad or even iPhone and not waste paper. In part two of Say "No" to the Scans (But "Yes" to the Prints!), I will break down my contact sheet workflow that, I believe, will make me much more efficient and effective in the darkroom.

Introducing Uncle Jonesy's Camera of the Week!

I have had the idea in the back of my mind to make a weekly video series about the cameras Kelley and I have and also come across, so with all the time I have had to spend at home I have no excuse. I'm happy to announce our newest venture, a YouTube series I call Uncle Jonesy's Camera of the Week. Each week Kelley or I will be talking about a camera in our collection, how we got it, what we like about it, and what we don't like about it. I'm sorry to report to you that we have enough cameras to keep us going for awhile (I am not a camera collector. I am not a camera collector. I am not . . . )

You can find our videos on YouTube here. If you enjoy them, please consider clicking the "Subscribe" button, and you won't miss any of our Camera of the Week shows or any other video content we put on our channel.

Thanks for watching, and Happy Shooting!

UJC Podcast #23: The Shadow Knows

The socially distant (but still together) Shutter Brothers are back to talk about photography and how we are coping with staying socially distant and even self-isolating. There definitely have been some changes. Kelley usually does most of his shooting while on the road as an instrument technician, but he's been spending more time in the guitar shop and less time which his cameras. Kevin still gets out of the house with walks around downtown Chattanooga, but the trails and parks are all closed. Nevertheless, he has been doing some shooting. We asked our wonderful listeners to chime in on how they have been getting along as well, and several responded with some nice comments.

Kevin's Zorki 4

We get a little camera-centric on this show, as both Shutter Bros. have a camera to talk about. Kevin shows off his Russian made Zorki 4 rangefinder, a very handsome camera that was made from 1956 until 1973.  Meanwhile, Kelley sings the praises of (you guessed it) another Minolta, this time the Minolta XE-7. The Minolta XE-7 was the successor to the very successful SRT line of cameras with features that Minolta and Leica developed together in partnership.

Finally, Kevin brings up a very mysterious subject:  How to use Sunny f16 when it isn't sunny. Answer:  "The Shadow Knows!" If you really want to learn how to apply Sunny f16 in a practical and reduce or eliminate your dependence on a light meter, Learning to read the shadows can be a big help. Remember, "the Shadow knows!"

You can listen to our podcast on your favorite podcast provider, or you can click here :  https://unclejonesyscameras.libsyn.com/rss

We'd love to hear from you, so please send your listener comments, questions, and stories to our email address:  unclejonesyscameras@gmail.com. You can record voice memos with your smartphone and send them there as well. Check out our Facebook page and Instagram account, both of which are @UJCPodcast.

Need some guitar work or a new handmade acoustic guitar? Check out Kelley's guitar shop page here:  https://www.kelleylaneguitars.com

Check out Kevin's Etsy Store for his handmade analog photography here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChattalogPhotography

Finally, thank you so much for listening. Happy Shooting!

Socially Distant with a Zorki 4

It's a beautiful, warm, sunny day in Chattanooga as I write this, a perfect day for a walk with my camera. But walks like those have been much fewer lately, as we have been ordered to stay inside unless absolutely necessary. I have no problems with that, as we all have to do what we can to win this war against COVID-19, so if Debbie and I go out for a walk, we will be wearing the face masks that Debbie fashioned and staying well away from others.

However, two weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, I took a walk through an almost deserted downtown Chattanooga with my recently acquired Zorki 4 loaded with some Kodak Tri-X 400. This was my first time using the Zorki 4 since I found it in a local Facebook Marketplace listing. The camera was clean and functional and included a Jupiter 8 50mm lens and an original ever-ready leather case. I had been keeping an eye open for one since my chance to shoot a Leica M2 convinced my that, while I liked the compact 35mm rangefinder form factor of the M2, I was not ready to drop the cash on one, thank you. Something less expensive would do just fine, and you can't get much less expensive than a Zorki 4. I certainly did not pay much for this one.

Let's get some background. Zorki is a brand of camera manufactured by first by FED and later by KMZ, two camera makers located in the former Soviet Union. These Soviet cameras were intended to be Leica copies but in no way approach the level of quality the German-made Leica cameras exhibited. The first Zorki cameras appeared in 1948 and were somewhat crude copies of the Leica 2. As the Leica cameras evolved into the Leica M form factor, the Zorki evolved as well with features like a integrated rangefinder and viewfinder window, a diopter adjacent, and a self timer. By the time the Zorki 4 appeared in 1956, it looked somewhat less like an actual Leica camera except from a distance. All the shutter speeds are controlled by one dial on the top of the camera, but you still turned a knob to wind on the film and cock the shutter. The camera was produced until 1973, and 1.7 million were made during its thirteen year run, most of which were intended for export to the West. KMZ gave the camera a film advance lever in place of the winding knob in 1972 and changed its name to the Zorki 4. It ceased production in 1980 after over half a million units were made. If you want to do more research on Soviet cameras, I highly recommend the SovietCams.com website.

If you get your hands on a Zorki 4 (or most any of the Soviet cameras made by FED and KMZ), please know this:  Do not change the shutter speed unless the shutter has been cocked by turning the film advance knob. If you are not careful, you will damage the shutter. In fact, many examples of this camera have shutter problems like non-functioning slow shutter speeds or the shutter dial being stuck in one place. You've been warned . . .

My Zorki 4, like most of the cameras manufactured under the Zorki name, is a mechanical camera with no electronics and no meter. The Good:  You don't need batteries.  The Bad:  You have to use an external meter or know how to judge light yourself. In my opinion, that's not a Bad thing. Photography is writing with light, and the more you understand light, the better your photography will be. Meters can help, however, so a handheld meter or a light meter smartphone app can come in handy. I have a Minolta Autometer IIIf, which I will use in a pinch, but mostly I try to practice my Sunny f16 skills.

Loading a Zorki 4, while much easier and less complicated that loading my Zorki 1 (which requires that the film leader be trimmed), still takes a few minutes to figure out (YouTube was a great help to me). The camera is opened by turning the two locks on the bottom plate and sliding the bottom plate and back off. The take-up spool has a niche with a hook on it, and the film leader goes there so that the film's sprocket hole hooks onto the spool's hook. This is done before you actually put the film cassette in the camera. When the film leader is hooked onto the spool, both the cassette and the spool are placed in the camera. Note that the take-up spool is oriented so that the film winds onto it with the emulsion side out, unlike most cameras I have used. Once the film is securely placed in the camera, fire the shutter once and advance the film, making sure that it is being wound on. Then the camera back is put back on the the two locks turned. Once the camera is securely closed, the shutter should be fired and the film advanced twice. Now the film counting dial can be set to "0," and your are ready to shoot.

If you have experience shooting a mechanical camera, especially a rangefinder type, then using a Zorki 4 is nothing new (if not, once again YouTube is an excellent resource). I do have some observations, though. First, my Zorki 4, which likely was made between 1967 and 1973, does not have strap lugs (most older one do). This means that I must either use the ever-ready case or just hold it in my hand. I don't really trust the leather strap on the case to not snap. I actually had that happen to me with a Kodak Retina Reflex iii, and the camera dropped and landed hard on a concrete sidewalk. I will use a small bag and try to be very careful when holding my Zorki 4.

Second, the Zorki 4 has no frame lines in the viewfinder. In fact, you don't really see a rectangular frame at all; it actually looks round. Of course, there will be parallax issues if your subject is closer than six feet as well. It's going to take some practice in order to know exactly what is actually getting on film.

Third, the Zorki 4 is an all-metal camera, which means it has some heft to it. However, I will say that it fit my hand well. It helps to use the "classic" camera-holding technique by putting your right hand on the right side of the camera where you can have your finger on the shutter and also can wind on the film, and by supporting the camera from the bottom with your left hand, using your thumb and fingers to focus and change the aperture on the lens.

Speaking of holding a camera, my photographs from this roll (and others I have been shooting lately) suggest to me that I need to work on my leveling technique. Apparently, I get lax about holding the camera level when I shoot.

When the roll is shot, it's time to rewind the film back into the cassette. First, turn the ring around the shutter button clockwise, noticing that it screws downward. This releases the sprocket gear and allows the film to be rewound. Then pull up the rewind knob on the top left of the camera and turn clockwise (with the arrow) to rewind the film. Don't go too fast and risk tearing the film. When you feel the leader "release" from the take-up spool, you can stop. Remove the bottom plate and take out the film cassette. You must turn the ring around the shutter button counterclockwise until it is back to its raised position. You will notice that the shutter button itself is knurled. Make sure that the shutter button itself is turned clockwise as far as it can go, otherwise turning the film advance knob may not cock the shutter. This happened to me, causing me to think that I had broken the camera. Scary.

The Jupiter 8 lens that came with my Zorki 4 is based on a Carl Zeiss design and looked super clean when I got it. The photographs from my first roll show that the lens is quite sharp. However, on shots where I was shooting in the direction of the sun or even to the side, I got some lens flare. Looks like I might need this lens hood.

Here are some of the photographs I made with my Zorki 4. I am looking forward to using this camera a lot this year and really getting to know it.

UJC Podcast #22: How to Load ‘Em - How to Hold ‘Em

The Shutter Brothers are back with a brand new show!!! Kelley talks about his favorite camera of all, the Nikon F3HP, while Kevin exudes the joys of darkroom printing. And to paraphrase the late great singer (and photographer) Kenny Rogers, "you gotta know how to load 'em, know how to hold 'em:"  a tutorial on film camera basic from Kelley. Then, Kevin has a review of a great book, Walker Evans Polaroids. Lots of fun for everyone!

You can listen to our podcast on your favorite podcast provider, or you can click here :  https://unclejonesyscameras.libsyn.com/rss

We'd love to hear from you, so please send your listener comments, questions, and stories to our email address:  unclejonesyscameras@gmail.com. You can record voice memos with your smartphone and send them there as well. Check out our Facebook page and Instagram account, both of which are @UJCPodcast.

Need some guitar work or a new handmade acoustic guitar? Check out Kelley's guitar shop page here:  https://www.kelleylaneguitars.com

Check out Kevin's Etsy Store for his handmade analog photography here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChattalogPhotography

Finally, thank you so much for listening. Happy Shooting!

UJC Podcast #21: Let's Go On a Photowalk!

Uncle Jonesy's Cameras and Safelight Community Darkroom are coming together to co-sponsor our first photowalk on Saturday, March 21, at the Laurel-Snow State Natural Area near Dayton, Tennessee. Our photowalk will be led by tremendous photographer/artist and Friend-of-the-Show Wayne Setser, who has photographed many times in this location. Wayne is a master of large format photography, so if that is something you have been interested in pursuing at some point, then this is your chance to get your questions answered. You can see some of his Laurel-Snow photography here. We will meet in the parking lot at 8:30 am EDT, and Wayne will lead us on a trail that once was the path of a narrow gauge railroad that served mining operations in the area. Along with abundant trees, rock, and water features along Richmond Creek, remains from the mining operations are visible from the trail and will create great opportunities for photography. After our morning of photography, we will gather at the Monkey Town Brewing Company in Dayton for lunch, drinks and conversation.

This event is free, but we would like you to let us know that you are coming. You can do that by going to our Facebook event page for this photowalk.

We understand the importance of taking precautions during this time of health crisis, so if you are not feeling well, we suggest that you stay home. If you are coming (and we hope you are), then let's all respect each other's personal space and enjoy a healthy walk in nature. Bring any kind of camera you like so that you can go home with some souvenirs of the day.

Here are directions to Laurel-Snow State Natural Area:

Laurel-Snow is located north of Dayton and is accessible via Highway 27/29. From the north turn right, and from the south turn left, onto Walnut Grove Road north of Dayton (new Eckerd Drug on corner). Proceed 3/4 of a mile to Back Valley Road (pass La-Z-Boy factory) and turn left. On Back Valley Road, proceed 0.7 miles to an unmarked gravel road/Richland Creek Road (small white church on the left) and turn right. Proceed about 1 mile to the parking area at the end of Richland Creek Road.

Let's Hope for good weather on Saturday. Happy Shooting!