Visit to Chroma Camera

 Yesterday, 23rd Feb 2022, I made a visit to Chroma Camera HQ in Liverpool. I happened to be in the area for work and so it seemed an opportune moment to visit. 

For transparency, I am a big fan of Chroma Camera and the work that Steve Lloyd has done. I own a Snapshot that is a 4x5 camera primarily for handheld use. 

I also own a 679, modular medium format camera.

Steve and his assistant, Dave,  made me feel welcome and I felt privileged to be allowed into the secret world of R&D and production of these beautiful cameras.

I first became aware of Chroma when I was interested in buying a TravelWide camera, but discovering that the company producing the TravelWide wasn't trading anymore.  However Chroma Camera, a UK business, did have a similar though much more flexible product in the Snapshot.

The great thing about the Snapshot is that it has a bellows and set of spacer bars rather than a rigid plastic nose cone.  This means that it's fairy easy to swap to lenses of different focal lengths.

My Snapshot sports a Schneider Kreuznach 180mm Symmar and a Schneider Kreuznach 90mm Angulon. Also as the Snapshot has a Graflok or International back I can choose between 4x5 and 6x9 roll film as I have a Wista 4x5 roll film back that shoots 8 exposures per roll of film. I also have a LomoGraflok Instax back from lomography.  I can make beautifully sharp Instax Wide photos

When I bought my Snapshot, Chroma Camera also had two variants of Field Camera for 4x5 in the Advanced 4x5 and Carbon Adventurer. I was able to have a look and feel of the Carbon Adventurer camera yesterday.  Very light and beautifully engineered. Thats definitely on the wish list.

Given the initial focus on 4x5 large format cameras, I was surprised to see Chroma Camera embrace the pinhole fraternity.  The Chroma Cube is a beautiful little pinhole camera that allows 52 square photos on a single roll of 35mm film.  However the pinhole community have responded and bought the camera in significant numbers. It's very competitively priced and quite unique. It's been fun to see the results on social media that the users are getting from this tiny camera.

I'm at my core a medium format man and I have my 679. I have a Mamiya RB 67 SPro 220 back and a Topcon Topcor 90mm lens and shutter.  My results have been superb and equally on a par with an actual Mamiya camera.

The highlight of my visit to Chroma was seeing the Six9 and Six12 medium format cameras. These have been designed and produced following feedback from users trying to source 6x9 and 6x12 medium format backs in good working order.  Steve has designed the cameras to only need a Mamiya Press Lens or a large format lens, LF especially for the Six12 as coverage of the 12cm width of film by the lens is close to 5 inches). These are beautiful cameras.  

Steve and Dave showed me some Kosmo Foto Mono shots, created using the Six9 and developed in 510 Pyro.  The detail is absolutely amazing.

I shall be getting some 510 Pyro and more Kosmo Foto Mono in 120 to try this combo with my 679.

A wonderful visit to a company that is innovative and responsive to their customers, who they refer to as the "Chroma family". Great company, nice people and wonderful products.

Says it all really.

What's up with the chemicals, man!

When creating a photographic medium such a photographic paper you generally use a carrier such as gelatin and mix in Silver Nitrate and Potassium Bromide (Silver Bromide, AgBr) to produce a light sensitive coating containing silver halide grains.  The coating is applied to paper producing a light sensitive photographic material that can be used to capture an image. carried around in a dark film holder so that it can be exposed to light when the photographer wishes to do so.

 When the photographic paper is exposed to light the silver halide grains become tagged, for want of a better expression. So the image is still on the photographic paper but you can't see it.  In other words the image hasn't yet been formed but can be developed from the possibility of an image into something that we recognize as a physical picture.

The development uses a solution of chemicals that are able to target the tagged silver halide grains and convert only those silver halide grains that have been exposed to light to metallic silver.  The silver halide grains that have been converted to metallic silver are no longer light sensitive. Any silver halide grain that hasn't received any light and hence isn't tagged remains as silver bromide and is still light sensitive. Therefore to ensure permanence of the picture all remaining silver bromide must be removed.

The removal of silver bromide is carried out using a solution called a fixer.  The fixer has no effect on metallic silver but will dissolve silver halide grains and remove them, leaving only the permanent metallic silver grains, coloured black, behind.  This is a negative image.

Where light falls on a normal white surface would cause the light be reflected back as a white area and where there is no light there is no reflection of light and so that area remains dark. In this way we can see a positive image when we view the ground glass on a large format camera.  However in photography the opposite is true, in other words where light falls the silver halide grains are converted to metallic silver, coloured black.

To get a positive image you can use the negative to block light on another sheet of photographic paper, where there is metallic silver and where there is none light is let through, accurately reversing the negative into a positive.

Neat eh?  It's genuine magic. The picture included in this post was created on photographic paper using the chemical interactions as described above. It's a thing of beauty (Or at least I think so) created by nothing more than light and chemical targetting.

Photographic Paper as a cheap "Film"

When I was younger, every bus or railway station, airport, Woolworths, Boots, shopping centers and department stores all had a Photo booth.  These booths allowed the sitter to have 4 pictures taken, in return for a suitable deposit of coins, followed by the actual silver gelatin black and white photographs in a strip about 1.5 inches wide and 5 inches long.  The pictures were accepted by the passport office and were of great quality.

I used these machines to have my photo taken and the little strips of photos were prized treasures.

How did the booth work though? Well they used photographic paper and reversal processed it to produce the positive image. This process lends itself to automation and is consistent in finished photographs,

1. Expose photographic paper in camera,
2. Develop paper as a normal negative in B&W chems
3. Rinse paper
4. Bleach paper to remove negative
5. Rinse paper
6. Fog paper with light
7. Develop paper in B&W chems
8. Rinse paper
9. Fix paper
10. Final Rinse

I still have many of the photos that I had taken in a Photo booth and they are as fresh today as they always were.

So roll on 40 years or so and I now have a 4x5 camera.

Film for any camera is great when you have the time to give to it's shooting, development, scanning and loading film holders.  Large format is even better, beautiful negatives at 4x5 are a wonder to behold.

But what if you want to do a quick shoot to try something or you just don't have time to do the faffing about with film.  Well paper negatives are a cheaper method of shooting 4x5.  The Photographic Enlarging paper is sensitized like film, just with a much, much slower emulsion. The emulsion is also Orthochromatic rather than Panchromatic, which means that you can develop under safe light and see what goes on.

Paper negatives are cheaper but you are still left with a problem in that you still have to scan the neg or contact print to make a positive.

Hence the recollection about Photo Booths.  How did they work?  They were fast, great quality and produced a positive image all automatically.

A bit of googling produced some information and so I set to producing an old style positive photograph by hand.

Stuff you need

• Black and White Photo Paper (Ilford Multigrade Resin Coated)
• Black and white paper developer (Ilford PQ Universal)
• Potassium Permanganate
• Sodium Bisulphate
• Sodium Metabisulphite
• Rapid Fixer

Bleach

• 4g of Potassium Permanganate in 1 liter of water (part A), bottle for use
• 34.5g of Sodium Bisulphate in 1 liter of water (Part B), bottle for use

The bleach has a really short working life, so mix 500ml of bleach using 250ml of Part A and 250 ml of Part B just prior to starting the development work

Clearing Solution

The clearing solution removes the yellow and red tint added by the bleach.

• 30g of sodium Metabisulphite in 1 liter of water, bottle for use.

Use 500 ml per developing session.

Method

1. Expose photographic paper in camera, using ISO 1 as a base line for exposure
2. Develop paper as a normal negative in B&W chems. 2 minutes in Ilford PQ Universal 1+9
3. Rinse paper, 2 Minutes
4. Bleach paper to remove negative, 1 minute always use fresh bleach never reuse.
5. Rinse paper, 2 Minutes
6. Immerse paper into clearing solution, 30 seconds.
7. Fog paper with light, 1 minute
8. Develop paper in B&W chems, 2 minutes
9. Rinse paper, 2 Minutes
10. Fix paper, 2 Minutes
11. Final Rinse

I manage to do several exposures in series, so that when the first one is being rinsed the second one is in the developer.

The quality of photograph that is produced is as good as film and the speed with which a positive image can be produced is pretty fast.  You end up with a one of a kind, hand processed photo for which no negative exists.  A unique physical item.

Roll film

If I am to be brutally honest I think out of all the formats that are available for film photography, the one that I am drawn to is the roll film, known as 120 film due to a quirk in Kodak numbering schemes in the past.

When I was about 11 I went to camp on the Isle Of Wight with a boys organization. My Dad gave me his old Kodak Duaflex 620 TLR camera. I loaded a roll of 620 Kodak film and was astounded at the resulting pictures.

This might be where my love of medium format film started.  I kept that camera and used it regularly until 620 became unavailable. My next medium format camera was a Holga 120 S. The Holga came with a 6x4.5 mask and the selector on the back was glued to 16 pictures (newer ones come with both 6x6 and 6x4.5 masks with the selector unglued).

The best bit about roll film is that it supports a number of frame formats

• 6x4.5 centimeter, 16 pictures per roll, numbered on backing paper
• 6x6 centimeter, 12 pictures per roll, numbered on backing paper
• 6x7 centimeter, 10 pictures per roll
• 6x8 centimeter, 9 pictures per roll
• 6x9 centimeter, 8 pictures per roll, numbered on backing paper
• 6x12 centimeter, 6 pictures per roll
• 6x17 centimeter, 4 pictures per roll

I myself have a Chroma Camera Snapshot 4x5 camera that I couple with a 6x9 rollfilm back.  The larger frame size is wonderful. 

I find 4x5 sheet film a bit of a pain to process, if I'm honest. I use a mod54 sheet holder for a Paterson Tank. It needs a full litre of chemicals to process even one sheet of film. And while sheet film is capable of capturing great detail I'm not convinced that I'm able to make best use of it.

Whereas roll film, being more economic to use and a single roll has enough exposures to keep photography part of a walk without constantly snapping away. It's great I can talk to my girlfriend and take a few photos with her feeling left out. I can also nip out for an hour and shoot a quick roll of film while the weather holds.

Another advantage of roll film that shouldn't be overlooked is the fact that you can load more film while out if you need to. Sheet film is limited to the number of holders you can carry, whereas roll film is easier to carry.

I also have a Holga 120 GN (Glass Lens) in which I prefer to use the 6x4.5 mask. The 16 pictures per roll is great for walking around and the negative size is large enough for cute contact prints.

I have a Zero 2000 pinhole camera that shoots 6x6 format images.

I also have a Chroma Camera 679 with a Mamiya Pro S 6x7 back. so I'm covered with roll film. 

I can process them all in the same chemicals, even in the same tank. At the moment I'm using D76H, which is a simplification of the Kodak D76 formula.

I have hankered after a 6x12 roll film back for my snapshot, however they are ridiculously expensive and the 6x17 backs are extortionate. So they will have to wait for another day when my boat comes in.

Snapshots and Motorcycles

 If you read my previous posts on the Chroma Camera snapshot, you may think to yourself, why doesn't he just accept large format for what it is and get a tripod, dark cloth and loupe?  Why doesn't he really get into the whole thing and enjoy the slow pace and amazing results possible from large format photography? 

Well the answer is really simple, I ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle.  The motorcycle doesn't have the same carrying capacity as an estate car.

Carrying anything other than a couriers bag is a bit of a hassle. Tripods don't really lend themselves to being lashed to a bike without scratching the machine. I could fashion a tripod case but this seems ridiculous.

No the answer to my prayers is the Chroma Camera snapshot.  Large format without the faff. 

We live in the 21st century and now we can use silicon chips to take photos and millions do.  Not for them the inconvenience, not to say danger, of chemicals, film and darkrooms.  No just a trusty smartphone is all that's required.

The cognoscenti will know that mirrorless is where it's at if a separate camera is required.  All of this modern technology is lovely, works well and produces technically good photos without learning about apertures, shutter speeds and the arcane knowledge of ISO markings.

However for some of us the joy of photography is the holy trinity of shutter speed, aperture and ISO. It's manual metering  and setting the camera to the correct settings to enable the correct exposure.

Yesterday I used another pack of Instax film while on the beach.  There really is something quite rewarding in getting a nice exposure after doing the dance of the photographer.

Snapshot Part the Third

In  the past couple of blog posts I have discussed the Snapshot camera from Chroma Camera and how it suits my way of shooting, by simplifying the process.  Zone focus really gets rid of a lot of baggage from Large format photography.

I should say that if anyone would like the full Large Format experience of ground glass focusing, loupes, dark cloths etc, I would suggest that you buy something like an Intrepid 4x5 or a Chroma Carbon Adventurer.

There are some downsides to the Snapshot as previously discussed.  For me those downsides are worth sacrificing for mobility and lightness.

Now I have taken delivery of the Lomography LomoGraflok 4x5 Instax back.  This back will attach to a standard Graflok attachment system and allow Fujifilm Instax Wide instant photographs to be taken. And the device is a thing of wonder.  I've shot 3 packs of 10 exposures using the combination and I am enthralled.

Most of the photos that you see from Fujifilm Instax are a bit soft and a bit, well, rubbish to be honest.  That is down to the cameras that are able to shoot Instax film. All of the cameras produced by Fujifilm that shoot this film are "fun" style cameras that are designed to be thrown in a bag and taken to the beach or a party.  Not one of them has decent glass. This tells you where the intended demographic lies for Fujifilm.

Large format users have long lamented the demise of Polaroid Peel Apart film for 4x5. 8x10 is still available from Polaroid for large format users. The regular integral film from Polaroid doesn't have a back for 4x5 use.  What Lomography have shown is that there is a market for using instant film with a Large format camera.

The Instax Wide film is an integral instant film, that is each shot carries it's own chemicals and ability to produce a single photograph. So there is no reason why Polaroid couldn't do this themselves. Whether they will is quite another conversation.

The downside to using a Snapshot for Instax is that the LomoGraflok back puts the film plane 19mm further back than the normal film plane.  To get over this the LomoGraflok comes with a spacer that fits behind the ground glass.  The insertion of that spacer puts a huge amount of stress on the Graflok springs on the Snapshot.

To overcome this issue, Steve at Chroma has designed a Graflok Spring back that moves the film plane back by 19mm and allows both the LomoGraflok and normal film holders to be used.  If the Graflok Spring back is used the spacer bars on the Snapshot will need to be 19mm shorter, also.

However once you have your setup, the Chroma Camera Snapshot, Chroma Graflok Spring back and LomoGraflok Instax back are a really usable combination.

Now as I don't use the Ground Glass for focusing, I have recalibrated by lens and use the LomoGraflok and Snapshot as a Compact style Instant camera.

Now I have Lightness, mobility and Instant photos, what more could anyone want?

The Snapshot (Part Deux)

Yesterday I wrote about the snapshot camera and how zone focus is set up to allow a 4x5 experience without using the ground glass to focus. Today I would like to discuss the user experience of using a 4x5 compact style camera.

Firstly why am I so enthused about this style of 4x5 camera.  Own up time, my eyesight is dreadful to the point where I struggle with focusing lenses. I wear varifocals and really can't get the hang of manual focusing. Autofocus on DSLR works a treat but on my Nikon F75 35mm SLR I use a manual focus lens and use the focus markings on the lens to get decently focused photos. In fact I generally use hyperfocal distance which gives me from 1.5 meters to infinity in acceptable focus.

Moving up to medium format I use the same principle, although my Holga is zone focus and pinhole cameras are always focused.  My Chroma Camera 679 is zone focused and works a treat and gets nice sharp pictures. The picture shown below was taken on my Chroma Camera 679 using hyperfocal distance.

Using the Snapshot in this way works well for me although I sacrifice the things that most large format photographers would deem essential in front and rear movements. The sacrifice is worth it because I get mobility, lightweight and the ability to shoot on the hoof as it were. I still benefit from large 4x5 negatives.

Do I need 4x5 negatives? Well not really but they are a thing of beauty and by doing a contact print onto another negative you can get a rather beautiful positive (slide) image that looks beautiful hung in a window.

There is another side to being able to zone focus and 4x5 cameras and that is it is possible to buy a 120 rollfilm back.  I have a 6x9 Wista Rollfilm back for my Snapshot and I love having the ability to throw a roll of film in the back and take 8 pictures.  More importantly I can reload in the field without changing bags and hassle. If I take 4x5 film out I can take 6 shots (3 double darkslide holders). But then I'm done.

I could buy more film holders but per image rollfilm is more economical to use. HP5 Plus in 4x5 is 2.00 GBP per sheet (photo). Rollfilm is 68p per photo and 6x9 is not really that much smaller than 4x5.

So the Snapshot really is a multiformat camera that is mobile, light and allows a different photographic experience.

Of course I've not mentioned instant photography, yet...