The tray method is dicey, but an Anchor brand bread pan does work SOOO much better than a print tray. Why? Because the Anchor glass bread pans have a round edge where the walls meet the bottom. This keeps the film from 'sticking' to the bottom of the tray, so you don't have to struggle to get your fingernail under the film. The sheets never touch the bottom. When I learned 4x5 shooting and processing at Laney College in Oakland, all students had to process all their sheet film in glass bread pans. It was a very intensive 2-year program that began easy enough, and the first 6 months were just a certificate program. For the photo majors, things got VERY INTENSIVE after 6 months. In 1970, 80% of the B&W assignments were done in 4x5! Usually 40 sheets a week. in addition to 3 rolls of B&W 120 or 35mm rolls a week, and one roll of 35mm transparency film. Yes, we got streaks and scratches at first, but for the students that stuck with the program, those issues became very rare. I'm not exaggerating on the amount of film we needed to shoot per week. The program was an 8-hour a day commitment. We had to punch into a time clock like standard factory workers! By the end of the first year, most students were shooting commercial or scientific jobs and their attendance was relaxed to 4 hours a day. Laney was a trade school with other punch clock programs including cooking, shoe rebuilding, carpentry, metal and wood shop, vehicle mechanics, etc. In the second year the remaining students continued with 4x5, shooting 40 sheets a week, in addition to doing apprenticeship work at local newspapers, studios, magazines, etc. While I was in that program, I was the youngest photographer to ever be hired by United Press International. I was able to turn in my UPI assignments for Laney credit and graduate the program. Most of the students in that program continued on to pro careers. In the next 50 years of professional photography, mostly studio product work, I always used the bread pan processing method unless I had huge amounts of film. In those cases I had 3 1/2 gallon tanks and racks, but that method had problems with surge marks. I know that 'dealing from the bottom of the deck' processing method has issues at first, but careful handing of the sheets can be overcome. I probably did 40,000 sheets that way. The Anchor brand bread pans are the key!! Kodak films had more scratch resistant emulsions than Ilford does today, so I now use Yankee 12-sheet tanks and stand development. Sincerely, Jeffery Luhn

You’re actually the best large format video producer and were a huge credit and inspiration to the hobby and movement.

Great info BUT BE AWARE !!!!!! the link to the viewfinder goes to MALWARE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

EXCELLENT AND THROUGHLY DONE PROPERLY FOR A GREAT EXPLANATION! THANK YOU!

This is the best video on matting a picture I have ever seen! you outdid yourself. I thought you were getting a bit carried away at times, but I was wrong. Bravo!

But it's not archives

great info, you are really smart. 108, which is a 31mm equivalent in 35, would be a perfect focal length for street, and would yield a hell of a lot more depth of field than my Wolly, 162mm lens. Stopped down to, say, f 11, you would have very decent DOF at normal distances! This you need for quick shooting handheld large format photography, which is a far cry from cellphone DOF. the 90 is too wide, and messing with the drop bed makes it kind of ungainly.

thanks for document the event so well!

Some good info there.

Just got a Logan mat cutter, trying to figure it out. Thank you for the instructions and tips! And best of luck with your photography business!👍

damn nexcare tape is such a good idea. Linen tape is insanely expensive for no reason

Graig good morning, I would like to know if you know the Durst Codrum 304 Tank, I saw on Ebay, with this tank if it can develop 2 sheets of 8x10, you know, you've heard of it. Thank you very much for the attention Decio

Very nicely done.

Using the Grafmatic 45. Love it. But wanna use the 23 version and it's not locking out at end, X. Any experiences with the 23 version?

So Helpful ! I always come back to this video when I need to mat a painting. Thank you !

Wow! You address any issue that might arise. Since you are a photographer, I'm assuming you did the videography as well. The video quality, angles and zoom were STELLAR! Saying "thank you" for doing this tutorial seem insufficient!!! But...THANK YOU! 🤗🤗

New to this. What model do I shop for if I want the more functional modern over vintage? I want 1/1000th shutter, focal plane shutter, flash sync, tilt options. & to start , i wanna use 220/120 roll film & a rotating back as i get used to it. Like the scope

What a great tutorial. So generous from your part, making a comprehensive and detailed description of the process. It was incredibly useful. Thank you so much.

one observation the right rear rear standard knob(vertical adjustment) is quite loose, if you are not carefull you will lose it in the grass!!

hey, Craig, no guessing what the firefighters, or towie's would say roadside when they saw this rig, let me guess the drivers' brother has trailers with "CHRIST CHRIST" on it?

Oh snap a new one finally after all these years. And went full 8x10 too. Love it.

Hello, i know this is an old video, but can i ask about the viewfinder? The link doesn't work anymore, and i can't find anything similar in that price range.

A little late to the party, but I used to do 4x5 (and 2 1/4 x 3 1/4) sheet processing using the old stainless steel single sheet film racks. I had an old auto battery that I delidded, removed all the plates, and soaked with baking soda solution for a few days to remove acid and let dry. Each cell took about 800 ml of solution. I used the first 3 cells for B&W, or all 6 for Ektachrome. When I processed color I'd put the whole apparatus in a water bath of the correct temperature. Development was done in the dark (I actually had the panchromatic safelight, though it took at least an hour to be able to see anything with it). Agitation was pull out, rotate right, return, pull out, rotate left, put in, 2 to 3 taps letting the rack top drop on the top of the battery. Did this every 30 seconds. Kept another tank in the sink with running water for final wash. I'd process up to three films at a time, which was OK since I generally had two to three pictures to do at a time on large format.

Slow video but well discribed.

Good video but far too slow,

Since the first time I viewed this I added a 5x7 ORBIT camera for indoors and my Intrepid will be my out door hiking rig. Just a note 180mm on 5x7 is equal to 37mm on a 35mm camera and the 150 is 31mm. My favorite 5x7 lens is the 121mm Rodenstock

Pre wash of the sheet film has never been advised to do by any film brand or photo chemical brand. The 1947 american book on the Speed Graphic camera did not mention the pre washing of 4 x 5 sheet films. The pre wash of the negative glass plates, sheet films, roll films, 35 mm, 16 mm and miniature films, made by Agfa, Ansco, Adox, Orwo, Gevaert, Forte, Ferrania, Foma, Tura, Sakura, Konica, Fuji, Kodak or Ilford had never been advised by the film brands, the phot labs, the photographers and the photo amateurs. There is no need of running water in the negatve and positive darkrooms. Beware of any power shut down; the elctric film developing tank will stop rotating and the process can not proceed. Be smart, do not prepare in the kitchen your own photochemical liquids by dissolving the powders of the developer, stopbath and fixer. Buyinguy the concentrate liquids to be dilluted by plain water is much easier to do. World's best film developer is Agfa Rodinal / Adox Adonal. Rodinal is a one shot developer to be dilluted 1: 25 and 1 : 50. For special purposes mix Rodinal / Adonal to 1 : 10 or 1 : 100 and 1 : 200. Rodinal works well for all brands of 35 mm film, roll film and sheet film; it is the soup for all seasons. Be prepared of water shortage; have a jerrycan filled with 5000 cc water. Finding the correct temperature by running hot water from the heater is not wise. Just mix some hot water to the cold water. Tray developing can cause a lot of damage to the sheet film: 1.Spots of fog will occure by the fingers because of pressyng down the sheet film. 2. The heat of the fingers will rise the temperature of the developer. 3. Over developing of the film will happen, where the film is touched by the heat of the fingertips. 4. Moving the films to the next tray will spoil the previous liquid. Tray developng of sheet film will need six trays: pre wash, developer, stopbath, fixer, washer, wetting agent rinsing. Our family is in photography for more than a century and is knows Agfa Rdinal for ages. Never put the bottles with the photo chemicals on a shelf; just put them in a plastric container on the floor. Greetings, Jaco van Lith, Rotterdam - The Netherlands

A good video thanks for this. But I have to imagine that mouth blowing no matter how hard you try will always introduce moisture. Canned air would be better for hard to remove specs - but a standard rocket blower would be best wouldn't you think?

Thank you for your excellent video. I have the same camera and never thought of using the little arm to trigger the shutter. I was using it on a tripod and just using a cable loose mainly because I use different lenses on it but I have a 135 lens and I wanted to use on it to do some Grab shots with it because it’s pretty cool that you can do that with a 4 x 5 which is normally a tripod camera. I did the same modification to the front standard as you did and I also drilled my lens board off centre for my lens so I could get more rise or fall out of that lens as well as I built a reversing back on it with two pieces of 3/16 inch aluminum so that I can shoot vertical without having to turn the camera on its side. With a rectangular bellows that works really good until you get to about 180 mm and then you get a little bit of image cut off at the top of the frame, unless you use a telephoto which projects back further into the bellows and it will cover the full 4 x 5 vertical. I tend to shoot with lenses below 180 mm anyways so this isn’t a problem. Regards, Gerry.

One thing your video doesn't mention is to push in the little ab inside the open holder. It makes loading so much easier, otherwise, the septums can get easily jammed. Otherwise good informative video

watched from thialand the land of the crap frames and no mat windows. (but nice smiles and pleasant living instead) Oh so very cool to see this being done, even if I could import the cutter I'd still not be able to get the mat stock so Ive now reverted to printing a frame white area offset in photoshop and letting my BRILLIANT local printers (on I think a Richo mahine) do superb photographic quality colour prints and Im using cheap frames which look good, why I came here? The the high room/outside temperatures in Thailand make sticky tape run and get very messy I've tried various tapes but I am going to try KAPTON tape from the electronics industry It seems this might not degrade under heat and run into a sticky mess. Look it up and maybe try it. I think first aid tape may suffer in the heat here, I even tried aluminum tape to seal my frame backs, didnt work at all. Your photo is real nice I was expecting a wedding photo not nice art...thanks :-)

The user is supposed to squeeze the sides while tightening the caps which creates a vacuum and keeps the lid tight. No requirement to use rubber bands.

Thank you Craig, two prints of mine have been accepted in a show with a sustainability theme. I haven't cut mats for over three years so I felt I needed a refresher. How pleased I was to find a familiar face, a face belonging to someone I respect with all things photography.

Cool work Craig! We'd like to collaborate with you. Please let us know how we can contact you

I enjoyed the mat cutter demonstration. You need to use a different method to attach your photograph tho since you don’t want tape to touch the photograph, even if it’s archival.

hi, realy enjoyed the video! im curious about the Fujinon 250mm, is it the 6.3 or 6.7 version? I'm thinking of getting the 6.3 for my 8x10 but have heard the image circle is a bit small that, and that it doesn't alow for a lot of movements. How do you find it? thanks in advance

Is it true that this particular enlarger is compatible to print medium format?. I'm having trouble finding info.

Hi, can you tell me what is the multi focal viewfinder. Your URL link is not available. Regards

Hi Craig! Just curious I have a steel developer canister I got with a bunch of darkroom stuff. It is very similar to the JoBO one you mentioned however, this one you simply open it up, pull out the metal cylinder and insert the sheet negatives, it holds a total of 12 sheets. What would be the ratio and total ml for such a developing canister?

I agree the shot/image comes first. Like your channel with you documenting it.Setting up is easy,but he correct film image exposure was and still is my learning curve.

this is freakin perfect! thanks!

Are you not supposed to use a backing sheet when bevel cutting (according to the label on the frame)

The on-off rubbing of the lens with your T-shirt will have an abrasive effect, first on the lens coating which will be rubbed off, degrading and rendering your lens useless for color pics. Seriously, you should have lens cleaning fluid with you, a soft lens cloth and a blowing brush. Find some advice on HOW to properly clean your lens.

At the beginning of this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKrLhmurnKZgadE shows a black and white photo I took back in the early 1990's, using a Graflex Speed Camera.

Hi, Craig. My first time here; you popped up on my YT page. Looks like a Tachihara; I have a 4x5. Though my primary interest is B&W location portraits, its interesting to see others solve other kinds of challenges. I appreciate fully the work involved in making videos. What you might consider, is sharing a bit more detail about approaching and solving the challenges you do record for us. Camera movements offer possibilities, and how specific challenges -- DOF, location of plane of focus, etc.--are solved can be instructive to viewers. Best wishes.

Hey man, great video!! I mean that it's not fancy ( you are not a fancy video maker ) but it is great! I think you are exactly right to just give us the content, not the production value of the delivery. We just want to hear and learn from you.

welcome back ! I like your no nonsense straight to the point videos.

Great to see you making another video! I, along with others enjoy your style and certainly hope you continue to make more. Yes, as you said, it takes work and time to do all that, but you do have fans that really enjoy and learn from your work. Thanks for sharing!

Nice to see you back, Craig. I've always liked your simple, straight-forward approach to sharing your very fine images. This one is certainly no exception. Great job as always.