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It has arrived to my door, from KEH in the US. That special for the smaller Toyo Field 45A II largeformat camera compendium. Basically a flexible lens shade made for large format lenses.
And boy does it fit snuggly. What a big difference compared to the wrong / larger compendium that was made for the Toyo VIEW 45 camera. Too large, too heavy and difficult to adapt. But the smaller one, is simply perfect. And boy, it came in such a pristine condition... just amazing.
Almost as if the compendium is brand new / unused.
Highly flexible lens shade
Below you can see that the compendium, which is mounted on the front frame of the camera, can be folded up, in order to access the settings on the large format lens. Then you can fold it down, for adjustment (length of the sun shade) and if you need to pull it to more to the front or not. So, it is a very flexible design, in order to fit to many lenses - protecting the very shallow lens elements from stray light.
10 Years
I can't believe that it took me 10 years to get my hands on the proper compendium... Notice that the camera itself is retracted, because i store it in a closet. Usually it is more extended. The longer the lens, the more extended it is.
The lens mounted on the Toyo Field 45 AII is a Fujinon SWD 75 mm 5.6 lens - which is equivalent to something like a (i have to guess here) 18-21 mm lens on fullframe (very wide), sitting in a recessed lens board.
5 May 2013 • when I bought the Toyo Field 45 AII-L from Taiwan. Notice that the camera is extremly compact when folded !
Having to re-learn...
Yepp. I have to re-learn how to use a Largeformat Field Camera. It's been so long, that i forgotten the fine adjustments. That thing has incredible MANY adjustments - so, yes - i definitely wish to re-learn. Last time i used it was back in 2017, with a few test shots on Sal. The film that was used had been sitting in film holders since 2013.
Fuji CDU II Duplicating film ISO 3 - 6 in C-41 process.
I would normally shorten the developing time by 25% in order to get down the too high contrast of this in essence E-6 film, when processed in C-41. (You basically cross-process this film). Oh, and you need a warming filter in order to use it in daylight, because it is a Tungsten film. Due to the very low ISO, you get very long exposure times... even in daylight.
I still have three hundred 4x5 sheet in my freezer. I doubt there is any Fuji CDU II film left on the market today... I mean, it's been 10 years now. Already back then, the film was outdated (albeit kept in a freezer by the seller in the US).
In 2017 with Sal, I noticed that i had forgotten even the more basic handling and features of this camera. Which was and is quite embarrassing... to say the least.
However. One can learn. Anew.
23 Aug 2017 - Toyo Field 45 AII • Fujinon SWD 75 mm f 5.6 | Fujichrome CDU II film ISO 6, warm filter
17 June 2013 - Daniel - Toyo Field 45 AII • Nikkor 135 mm f 5.6 | Fujichrome CDU II film ISO 6, warm filter, C41 process - 25%
Maybe stilleben is a way to train sensitivity ?
I never used the Toyo Field 45 AII-L much, never got into the deeper feeling of its handling, the photographic eye, the sensitivity, well everything... I got stuck at the very surface of it... Not so unusual with new old stuff. How many others have gone the same way ? A new analog camera here, a new analog camera there... and so on. When analog camera stuff got cheap(er). Which it isn't so much anymore - so those days are over. 10 years ago, many seem to buy a new medium format camera and lens system every 4 weeks... writing in their blogs about it - and swooped to the next.
And today not much left, ain't there ?
I miss the "home made blogs", to be honest. They were more honest, more enthusiastic, more real. But social media has siphoned almost all creativity, collected it into showcases on those streamlined platforms. Or so it seems.
Anyway.
Starting from scratch
I believe I could start with the classics. Such as stilleben. Fruits on the table. Light seeping into the room. Starting from scratch, so to speak, might be better, and more rewarding way along the process of learning to use this large format camera anew. |
