C H R I S T O P H E R A W A L R A T H P H O T O G R A P H Y: Squaring Shadow Up and Film Holder Notching System

Well, the Calumet showed up at the store in the post this past Monday. It's beautiful. I know the camera's name was going to be Ellie. That changed. I'll touch on that below. At any rate, I'm going to have the shutter CLA'd in a mo. That's how the magic happens.h or two. Works fine, just has some serious lag at 1/2 and one full second. The camera moves smoothly. The Schneider Kreuznach Symmar f/5.6 180mm lens has some minor dust. So, I have me some cleaning to do.

I got the camera from Barry Dial of Bennington, NH. He is a fellow APUGer (WWW.apug.com) and really hooked me up with this deal. About $700.00 of camera and glass for $300.00.

So, I have spent today watching my son's gift to me, Duck Dynasty Season 1, and taking care of some loose ends. I have been making my exposure log sheets, more on that later. Also, I have been notching my film holders. Here's how I do it. On the bottom of the holder is an edge the folds out when you remove the darkslide so you can put the film in.

Here's what I do. The film notches go on the bottom left. On the bottom right I measure over a quarter inch and cut in a notch where light will pass through it and expose the film further up from the edge so you can see these notches on the negative. Then I put a series of notches inside of that marker notch that is on each holder. Each notch, depending on its location in relation to the marker, indicates a numeric value to 'number' the holder. A notch 1/4" left of the marker denotes '1'. 1/2" to the left is a '2'. 3/4" is a '4'. 1" is an '8' and so on. Holder number 1 has the first notch cut out. Holder number 6 has the second and third notch cut out, leaving the first one blank. The second notch is '2' and the third one is a '4'. 2+4=6. Holder number 13 will have the first, third and fourth notches cut leaving number two blank. 1+4+8=13.

Mostly, just enjoying quiet day after this holiday season. Today is Dad's birthday. He died last March from dymensia. So, it's just a nice day to bum around and do what I want to for the day. Hope you have had a great holiday. Keep on clickin'.