tripods, "slow" film, rodinal, long stories, etc.

i've never been much of an avid tripod user. i've used them a couple times for long (night time) exposures on my digital (i know, BLASPHEMY) and a couple other times experimenting with portraits and such. i'm mostly a hand-held shooter, and depending on the film and combination of shutter speed i can hand-hold a shot as low as 1/60. also, i shoot mostly iso 400 film in daylight so there's been very few times i've needed the added stability of a tripod.
i acquired a tripod from tim's grandpa, which was intended for use with one of those heavy 80's vhs camcorders, and it does the job, but it's rather clunky and the head doesn't pan very well. not really something i'd want to lug along when we're out shooting, especially since we walk maybe 2 or more miles total in a day with a camera bag in tow. tim has 2 old aluminum tripods, but primarily uses a welt safe-lock that suits his needs. he got at a thrift store in connecticut for $3.00.
this past weekend we went to two locales we've never really shot at before. a few days beforehand, we got in our ultramega freestyle order which included some films i'd never used before.
since saturday was such a bright and sunny day, i thought it would be perfect to try out the ilford pan f + 50 i just acquired. i'll also mention that i just got in from ebay around the same time a (new to me) g.e. light meter that is a slightly newer model than the one tim uses. i won't go into the specifics of this day too much but i will say that my meter is not accurate. secondly, and this is probably one of the most important points, i developed the negatives in rodinal at a 1:25 dilution, which (if i understand what i've read correctly) basically reduced my film speed to half of the box speed. i probably should've read more about using rodinal at this dilution, etc., beforehand.
after i figured out my meter was wonky, i used tim's; unfortunately, most of the shots i attempted that day probably would've came out a bit less shaky if i had a tripod.
however, here is one shot that came out sorta okay:

so with this in mind, i made a rash decision to buy a tripod TODAY! and this is what i got: Slik Pro 340 DX with a 3-way pan/tilt head . it's kinda pricey for me, but hopefully it'll meet my needs. i'll make sure to post some pics with it in use to flickr once it arrives!

a bit about our workflow

i thought i'd write a bit about our workflow, er, works. we shoot independently, (of course) but come together as a team to get our film from negative to scan and/or print.
since most of our shooting occurs on saturday and/or sunday, the majority of our developing/printing/scanning is also done during this limited timeframe.
so once we have our rolls of film completed, of course the first step is preparing them to develop, i.e., spooling the film. this is one of tim's fortes. :) i think he has probably set a landspeed record numerous times with both (very troublesome) rolls of 35mm and 120. i will note that i can spool film, however, it usually takes me twice as long and can be extremely frustrating to me.
so once the film is spooled and nestled in the tank, here's where i come into play. i enjoy the chemical developing process more than the aforementioned or the next to be said step(s). tim has done plenty of developing, however, i take pride in being accurate with timing and temperature, rinsing, checking the fixing time, and rinsing, and rinsing (and adding a bit of dishsoap in the final rinse).
and then, there is the drying of the film, which under normal circumstances i will hang the negs in the bathroom on a clothes hanger + several binder clips for up to 24 hours. however, when the weather cooperates, tim once had the bright idea to hang the negatives from our clothesline to dry which reduces drying time significantly. (about 20 minutes per roll.) he also does the same for wet spools with an apparatus made from a metal clothes hanger. our house is located on the edge of a cliff for all intents and purposes, so we get a lot of wind!
once the negatives are dry, my next and final step is to scan. i use a canoscan 8800f with the stock negative holders. i shoot predominately 120, and unfortunately i broke the upper half of the negative holder off some time ago so i must carefully load the negative into the holder to ensure a somewhat decent scan. i use the software that came with the scanner, with all "enhancements" off, and it's set to calibrate for each scan. 99% of the time i do not tweak my scans nor do any post "tweaking."
This is Tim writing the rest of this.  I do not like to scan things, but sometimes I must, to get them onto the internet for others to see.  I prefer to make my own prints, and I think that is the most fun thing there is to do in photography.  I use a beseler 23c-II with a condenser head.  I also have the colorhead for it.  I also have another enlarger, a Bogen model 22.  It is a condenser as well.  I am fortunate to have a 6x6 negative holder for the beseler and also a schneider lens for it, which makes dundyful pictures.  I have the capability to make 5x7, 8x10, and 11x14 prints at this point.  I highly recommend the beseler 23c family of enlargers.

me and my rollei

me and my rollei, a photo by rabbit & squirrel on Flickr.

hallo.
this is the test post. hopefully tim and i will have fun with our co-blog!