Craig Pindell
Recommendations
Web Sites:
www.Bommcameras.com The worlds greatest camera builders.
http://www.yyecamera.com/index.html Youxin Ye is the finest Leica Camera repair available, quick response to emails and beautiful work. By the way: Perfection Takes Time.
http://www.rolleirepairs.com/index.htm Harry Fleenor is to Rollei what Youxin Ye is to Leica. Not overnight, but perfect work.
https://www.freestylephoto.biz/ Living in Wyoming, photo supplies are not close at hand. Freestyle has everything I need and shipping is very fast.
https://www.archivalmethods.com Terrific source for archival supplies and mat board.
https://printfile.com/ Best system available for negative storage. I have used Printfile pages since the 70's.
https://landscapephotographyblogger.com/about/ David Leland Hyde, son of outstanding landscape photographer and environmentalist Philip Hyde. David is a fantastic photographer in his own right and a very interesting blogger.
The Smell of Fixer – A darkroom printer's life – in silver gelatin, pen and ink (wordpress.com) Very interesting
reading and beautiful photos from Monika D.
Erik Gould Projects Interesting things and incredible photography from Erik
Western Travel, Camping and Photography (southwestdude.com) Musings from the infamous Doc Hubbard
Shoot Film, Ride Steel – adventures with film, bikes, trains, and backroads Andrew's interesting take on the world.
https://rangewriter.wordpress.com/
Workshops that made a difference for me:
Bruce Barnbaum. The Complete Photographic Process. Held in Bruce's own darkroom. This is where I learned the most about the Zone System.
John Sexton. The Expressive Black and White Print, and Fine Tuning The Expressive Black and White Print. At these workshops, my printing ability improved by a factor of at least 10. I can not overstate the importance of these and I recommend them to anyone who wants to be a true darkroom printer.
John Sexton and Ray McSavany. The Southwest Landscape, as Sense of Place. Unfortunately this workshop is no longer available. The personal connection with the instructors and the magical locations made this an incredibly deep and personal workshop.
Equipment:
I can not recommend the Bomm Camera enough. http://www.bommcameras.com The most incredible craftsmanship imaginable.
My main tripod is an Induro CT 313 Carbon 8x with a Manfroto 410 geared head.
Cullman Tiltall Tripod (classic) I used this tripod for many years with my 4x5 cameras. Lightweight, dependable, and sturdy. Not an expensive tripod.
Sekonic L-488 spot meter. The light meter is one of the most critical pieces of equipment in the kit. This light meter has been my go to light meter since I purchased it in (about) 1984. It is tough as nails, and is very accurate. Battery size is common and they last for years. I added the Zone System calculator to the dial very easily. It is by far my favorite meter.
Film Development:
I am asked fairly often about the times and temperatures I use for different film and developer combinations. I prefer Kodak Xtol developer for tabular grain films such as TMax and Delta. I find that the tabular grain films work best for me when developed at 75 degrees F. For other films, I have been using Ilford DD-X for a while, diluted 1:6, and am very pleased with the results.
I develop all of my film using a Jobo CPE processor. This machine is at least 25 years old and still performs flawlessly. The saving in chemical usage paid for this equipment several times over.
These are the developing charts that hang in my darkroom and are my go-to times and temperatures (These times are for rotary processing in the Jobo. If you are processing by hand, add 10% to the developing time:
Film Development Table 1
Film Development Table 2