I'm not a "crack" (yet)

Well, I have to say the obvious. I am not a "crack" yet with the 6x12 Kraken camera created by Graham Young. I picked up my first roll of color film that I exposed with the camera and there is a big problem with focusing.

First, a few details. I have been listening to the Homemade Camera Podcast on the web for some time. It is a very entertaining program that used to consist of two friends (Graham and Nick) conversing about cameras in an informal way. Graham would have the big ideas or the new conceptualizations, and Nick would, in my estimation, offer more of a technical critique. It was very entertaining, with or without guests, and with the addition of creator Ethan Moses, it became even more entertaining.

Well, for several months Graham had been talking about the 6x12 Kraken camera. The name, of course, conjures up the idea of something monstrous from the deep that rises and wrecks havoc, but this was not supposed to be anything like that. The sense of scale did apply, though. This was supposed to give us monstrously sized negatives, 6x12, which I had seen before in my Holga 120 Pan, but the Holga images are, of course, not edge-to-edge sharp. This was, and it was going to be even more flexible than the Holga Pan because it had the option to print a great variety of cones to fit many types of lenses. I opted for the Graflex 135mm Optar because I had been using it on my Busch Pressman Model D, and because I couldn't find my Schneider Angulon 90mm f6.8 which I had bought years ago but had disappeared in some box at home, never to be found again.

Graham was kind enough to sell me a printed camera since I do not have a 3D printer at home nor do I have the months and months to spare on a learning curve to begin to print at home. That will be a project for the summer of 2021, if we make it that long. Given the way that 2020 just seems to get worse and worse, that is not a certain proposition.

I finally got around to using the Kraken and mounted the lens on the beast. It is big but it is not heavy, and I love the quirky feel of it. I went to the California Botanical Garden and started using it there, loaded as it was with color film.

Now, the thing about this camera is that you have to make sure it is calibrated for focusing. Graham calibrated the camera, but I had to double check and I was not confirming focus for infinity. It was out of focus, but I put it down to a thick layer of glass that was much thicker than the ordinary, thus, I was not focusing on the same plane where the film would be located. At least that is what I hoped, but it was frustrating not to be able to confirm his focus settings. I figured, shoot a roll and develop, and then, proceed from there.

I shot the roll but it was color, and I do not process color. I do not have a way of maintaining crucial temperature levels for chemicals, nor have I used blix or any of the chemicals for C-41. The thing is, I was having fun with this camera, and was shooting black and white also! And that is how I proceeded for the next month, collecting developed rolls taken with this Kraken but never having taken the rolls to get them developed to confirm focus.

Well, finally I took it to the lab in Irvine, and today, Friday, Oct. 9th, I picked up my film. Lo and behold, I saw that there were images on the roll, and they looked to be well exposed, with negatives not too dense or not too thin, and I thought, I can't wait to get home and scan them! I dropped off several other rolls taken with this camera too, and also, shot some more rolls, including some slide and color, today at Casa Romantica, a villa and garden in San Clemente, CA (which used to be the retreat all those years ago for Richard Nixon). 

I got home and scanned the Kraken roll, and I felt as if I could just sink down to the depths of the ocean in despair. The images are not well-focused. Now, this is zone focusing, but I know that I am accurate with that, because I have been focusing in this way (relying on my perceptions) with the Travelwide 4x5 camera that I have, and I never, ever have a problem with focusing with that camera. If I nail focus with a bigger format that has shallower depth of field, then it should be no problem with 120, right? Well, I have not been able to calibrate the focus with the Kraken camera that was sent to me. It is not focusing at infinity on the film plane, so my photos are partially focussed. It isn't depth of field, either, because I use f16. It is because the focus doesn't correspond to the settings on the lens.

I think there was a ring that was sent by Graham as well that I should have mounted. Maybe that would add distance for the lens from the film plane, and set things to be correctly focused. Why did I disregard that? Now I will have to dig it out, unless it has joined my lost Schneider Angulon lens that disappeared into the depths years ago.

Here are the images, taken at the California Botanical Garden in Claremont, CA.

Not quite there

Not quite there

Better. I love these art installations which are sprinkled throughout this garden.This one, I think, would look amazing in infrared.

Focus not quite there.

What was I thinking with this image?

As you can see, the focus is a problem. I lost one image because it was blank, I guess I must have thought I had exposed it and I rolled forward. The camera is easy to use, and I love to handle it. I am wondering how my black and white rolls will turn out. I also have one or two slide rolls, that will be the clincher as well to see that I can judge light well and find the right exposure settings, but to be honest, I just rely on sunny 16 so I look for sunlight compositions and just use f16 and 1/ISO as my shutter speed, and adjust accordingly if I am in cloudy settings.

Now I need to find that one ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them. With that, my Kraken will be complete and I can check again if I have focus at infinity.