Fujichrome Velvia 50, f22 at 1/4 secs, 0.75 ND grad, 81 warm-up

This was taken with a 6x17 panoramic camera fitted with a Schneider Super Angulon 75mm lens. The camera is Chinese-made and cost a fraction of say a Linhof Technorama. To buy a Linhof, I would need to starve for a year or sell a kidney, or maybe both. Whereas this Chinese knockoff is about the same price as a Canon 40D. God bless China.

It exposes 17 centimeters of 120 film in one exposure, which is nearly the same size as a 9x12 large format sheet.

I have to admit that I’ve not shot with film for ages, not to mention a totally manual one. So perhaps I was a little ambitious shooting this rather difficult scene (difficult to me at least) with a contrasty film. But it turned out better than I hoped for. Although I lost a lot of image after correcting the horizon tilt, there’s more than enough resolution to work around with. All things considered, I’m quite pleased with the outcome. However, I wish I could say the same about my scanning experience.

I first made the mistake of scanning it at 4800 dpi (Yes, ambitious me again). That yielded a 30000 pixel wide image. My hard drive screeched for mercy as I attempted to rotate a 160 megapixel monstrosity in Photoshop. By the time I made myself a cup of coffee and finished a cigarette, the status bar was still hovering at 70%. I decided then that I won’t be printing photos the size of houses and settled for 2400 dpi instead. Otherwise, my workflow needs a serious hardware upgrade.

The scans were unimpressive. Having looked through the slides thoroughly with a loupe, I noticed the scanner is just not resolving enough detail. I’m not hopeful for an Imacon or drum quality, but for a 900 bucks scanner (Epson V700, if you were wondering) it was unacceptable. After searching around, the wisdom of the Internet tells me it has a lot to do with the crappy stock film holder and film flatness issues. To remedy this I’ve ordered a Doug Fisher holder. It should be in the mail soon and hopefully it will solve the problem. Until then, the art of scanning to me is like part voodoo and part science.

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