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Old April 18th 11, 07:06 PM posted to rec.photo.equipment.large-format
Thor Lancelot Simon
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Posts: 163
Default Aero-Technika question

In article ,
Greg Faris wrote:
Well, I'm able to answer my own question. Maybe Bob just doesn't have
enough Linhof questions qny more to keep himself busy on newsgroups like
this one.

A closer look reveals that the "button" is a strictly mechanical
device.It's a marker. Pressing it drives, inside the magazine, the Linhof
equivalent of a thumbtack ($600 thumbtack anyone?) making a depression on
the film. If you didn't shoot all the film you loaded, you can find this
mark by feel when you're back in the darkroom, cut the film off there, and
reload the remainder for the next sortie.

Obviously these are not daylight or "subdued light" magazines. They
require full darkness to load and unload. It "can" be done in a larger
changing bag, but trying to do this in a Cessna 172 is something
even Houdini would not have wagered. With a capacity of 150 4x5 shots, and
film stock and processing nearing $4/shot, load capacity and management
become important.


It sounds like you process your own large format roll film. I have
always been curious about this -- what are the processing equipment
and workflow for long rolls of this film like?

I've seen, once, an automatic processing machine for 10" aero film.
Didn't get a look at its innards. It seemed like one mounted the
magazine on it and it slowly pulled the film through each bath in
turn -- a roller-transport machine like a very odd Kreonite or Colenta
paper processor, basically. But is this kind of film ever processed
by hand? How? Surely not on reels?

Thor
--
Thor Lancelot Simon
And now he couldn't remember when this passion had flown, leaving him so
foolish and bewildered and astray: can any man?
William Styron