Fred Picker Video

[gphoto120]

Has anyone viewed the Fred Picker videos on the Negative, Printing and I believe a third one on composition ? Calumet has re-issued these on DVD and I was thinking of buying the set. Any Opinions/Critiques?
thanks,
gphoto120

[JHannon]

The Printing video is the best of the three. I have all three originals on VHS and I will probably get the DVD.

[Chazzy]

I just got the DVD. I'm crossing my fingers that the videos are excellent.

[Mike Wilde]

On VHS actually - the negative is like a talked through version of getting your personal film speed and development time dialled in. Fred wrote a nice little book on the sbject that I was familiar with before the video came along, that I thought did a better job.

The printing one was the best. Very informative, if you have never gotten into a lot of dodging and burning. Some of the effects that Fred goes into with a multitude of 3 second exposures can be avoided , in my opinion, by a bit of dodging while split grade printing.

The lets go out with Fred and his camera video I got the least out of.

Come to think of it, I think I have passed these on to David White.

[naeroscatu]

I ordered the DVD as I strugle to get back into printing my negs after years of taking the scanning road. I hope Fred's presentation is addictive.

[hal9000]

Fred had a wonderful didactic style, of course that's a question of personal taste but I think he was amazing. I am looking forward to hearing what people think of the quality of the DVD, I have a VHS tape of the Printing and enjoyed it very much.

[mmcclellan]

They're outstanding! All three vids are great -- I bought them years ago and have watched them repeatedly through the years and will do so again. Can't speak to the quality of the DVD, but the content of the program itself is outstanding and his procedures, if followed, will certainly ensure good, repeatable results. Get them while you can!

[naeroscatu]

I got the DVD and watched it over the week-end. Excellent stuff, very detailed and well organized.
It will definitely be a reference for me, something that I will go back to as I progress with my darkroom technique.

[jeroldharter]

There is a thread on this in the Sponsors area where Calumet announced its availability.

I bought the DVD and have watched it. The video quality is fair but adequate. It is not meant to be exhaustive I think but I thought it was very good at covering the basics. I think it is well worth the money. How many of these instructional videos are available for large format photography and darkroom work anyway? Not many. I wish someone would make a more exhaustive, up to date video series like this, but probably a small audience.