Andre is a film enthusiast, there is no getting over that. Those that have followed his progress over the years were overjoyed when he landed a job working with CineStill, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
 
But the burning question, the elephant in the room if you will, is will he stick with this new found love and dare I say it, obsession, that is large format photography?
 
This obsession so far has brought two LF cameras and a lovely Omega 4x5 enlarger, is he another Simon Forster, Andrew wonders, loves all the gear but we don’t see many images?
 
Is Andrew being cruel, or realistic or, just maybe we are seeing a new Andre?
 
If this show was anything to go by then he’s off to a great start and so far shows no sign of selling all his gear but time will tell.
 
We gathered together a rogues gallery of former guests and others who just wanted to be a part of this recording which has also been committed to video for posterity. This will be available on out You Tube channel as soon as the file makes its way by pigeon carrier to Simon from our video engineer colleague Jimmy Hickford.
 
 
Things we chatted about on the show:
 
At the start of the show we chatted about 4x5 colour and Andrew’s issues with scanning. The solutions all seemed complicated so he will stick to colour at 120 size.
 
Andre kind of announced that Cinestill film would be available in 4x5 sheets and also Eastman 5222 stock – this is super exciting.
 
The internet was all giddy over Steve Lloyd showing his beta version of an electronic shutter for barrel lenses – this will likely be a KickStarter so follow along on one of Steve’s social sites (links below).
 
Andre came armed with some questions and we all attempted to answer him, it was fun, but don’t take my word for it.
 
Question 1 – Does (loupe) size matter? Are certain ones better than others.
 
Andrew suggested 4x or 6x max but wasn’t sure why, Jason Lane said if they are too powerful then the ground glass image starts interfering with the focused image.
Here is a picture of the one Andrew has but normally he just takes his specs off due to being very short sighted!
 

 
Question 2 – Fresnel lenses….do they help and where should you place them?
A mixed response from our room of experts (definition as ex is a has been and a spurt is a drip under pressure), but if you are going to use one buy one with a focal length in the same range as the lenses you are going to use. Probably aim for 150mm as that is likely to be in the mid range of what you are using.
Jason Lane said place it on the photographer’s side of the ground glass with the lens rings facing toward the lens , so smooth side to the photographer.
Ethan Moses was very dismissive of them but Steve Lloyd kinda wasn’t (fight).
If you buy a cheap one of the net then you may be lucky or not – oh they also DON’T MAKE THE IMAGE BRIGHTER (that’s Ethan shouting at Andrew by the way).
 
Question 3 – Is it bad to leave your shutter cocked or your thick Grafmatic film holder in the spring back?
 
Consensus here was short term say on a day trip all is good but if you are looking to maybe store those lenses or camera for a while then trip the shutter and remove the back.
 
Question 4 – How do you store your film holders to prevent the darkslides coming out?
 
Most (apart from Ethan who has photographer’s jeans) use zip lock bags. Even if those little rotating right angle darkslide retainer thingies are missing the friction of the darkslide in the holder will be enough to keep them in place, coupled with the zip lock bag.
 
Andrew has a 5 holder cascade holder from Dan Stone – his products are really well made but not the cheapest
 https://www.stonephotogear.com/filmstorage
 
Question 5 – Where do you put unprocessed film before it gets developed? Do you leave them in the holders or transfer them to a box?
 
Most use old 4x5 film boxes. The advantage is that you can segregate the exposed films according to how you wish to develop them e.g a wide subject bri