Part of the plan for Day 1 was to try using the 5×4 camera for the first time, now that the plate to hold the digital camera had arrived. My view is that managing a 5×4 camera is essentially a two-man job, so this was a good chance to try it out.
Once back at the car, I put the walking and camera gear away and got out the big tripod and the Sinar case. I found a nearby location to try (you can’t be too far from the car with this gear – it’s big and heavy). I levelled the big broadcast tripod, screwed in the bolt on the mounting plate and attached the camera and rail to the tripod.
I undid the latches on the rear standard and attached the camera adaptor. Or rather, I tried to attach the adaptor. There was clearly an issue with it not being the correct size. It was the correct width but not tall enough. It is clearly not designed for a Sinar.
That was disappointing to put it mildly. That plate cost me £200 and given that it was sourced from China via Ebay I have little hope of being able to return it and get a refund. I had been slightly sceptical about the description on the web site – I should have been more sceptical.
The next part of the plan was to take the road out of the head of the valley that goes into Little Langdale with an intention to photograph Blea Tarn and the head of the valley. I had no intention of going to the Roman fort at Hardknott as the Wrynose and Hardknott pass is challenging in a moderate sized car and tricky in a long car such as mine.
The road into Little Langdale was trickier than I remembered – partly I think due to deterioration of the road surface. It is more-or-less a single-track road and I had to find refuge several times.
The road initially climbs up out of Langdale and provides good views of the head of the valley around Oxendale and side-on view of the Langdale Pikes.
I have had good views of Blea Tarn when making the ascent up the side of Lingmoor Fell. Unfortunately, the road didn’t have any parking areas with a good viewpoint of Blea Tarn.
We continued on into Little Langdale, which was quite a challenging drive with several oncoming vehicles.
Back in Ambleside in the early evening, I walked around with the camera and the mix of winter lights, moonlight and the River Rothay was quite photogenic.
