Anyone know anything about large format cameras?

[scottmandue]

There is also a Speed Graphic 4x5 on ebay.

Is that a decent camera or should I stay away?

Also what is the typical cost of 4X5 film? Developing?

Edit: Did a little searching and apparently B&H is the place to go online to buy 4x5 film.

Thanks again,
Scott

[island911]

Originally Posted by 911pcars

The heart of a view camera is its lens. Good ones exceed the cost of the view camera which is basically adjustable frames to hold film and lens. The very best made view cameras (Sinar) are machined works of art, but you don't need one to take a great photo; just like most cameras.
...

There are some diehard photographers using view cameras but with hi-res digital backs. Look on the web.

Sherwood

Heart is the lens, eh? ....If your camera has a limited lens-board, then you have limits on lens choices. ...then there is the amount of extension, the amount of rise/fall, shift tilt & twist of the front and rear standards. Beyond that there is control of those functions. ..are they fussy or fast? --IMO, Scott, you are smart to find a good camera, then start playing with lenses.

Also, from what I've seen, the diehard photographers are using view cameras digitally, but with scanners, rather than hi-res digital backs. ---Yes, some are using the digital backs, but that is not what I would call "high res."


Kurt- Thanks. And if you want Bling, check out "Carbon Infinity." (is that Titanium and CF? ...I think it is.

[kstar]

That "Carbon Infinity" is nuts, but probably wouldn't pass the the "reasonably priced" requirement for my intro into the medium format world.

I've also read that Rollei is a good place to start with medium/large format. eBay turned up what looked like decent deals and Rollei are German made!

I am going to try the pinhole camera "hack" for my DSLR though - I posted it in a new thread last night. I also recall reading something a few years back about a guy who turned his entire garage into a giant pinhole camera - that was cool. I'll have to dig it up.

Best,

Kurt

[steve185]

Originally Posted by vash

hey! i have a hasselblad, i mothballed for the same reason. the convience factor went out the window. i still have all the canisters, and stuff to develope the film. so if i want to stay with B/W..the scanner will still work?

Yes the scanner will work great, a lot of scanners have a 35mm neg adaptor, I have also used a small light table for larger negatives. I place the negative on the scanner and then the light table (turned on) on the negative an then scan. I then use photoshop to crop and adjust the image. I am certain you could buy a scanner with an adaptor for the format size you need.
Steve

[scottmandue]

Steve, what scanner are you using for that?

So I am thinking, get a used 4x5, get set up to develop the film myself (I have done 35mm before... many moons ago) and get a scanner to do prints.

Would that be the most economic way to get started in medium format?

[nostatic]

I looked into this after getting wowed by Burtynsky's work. Then I realized the reality of shooting MF. I'm way too ADD and impatient to do it.

[scottmandue]

Update - I have emailed fbarrett,
Sherwood and Christian, you have PM's - if you want to email direct try scottinla57-at-aol.com.

You know I wasn't sure I would get any response to this thread (in this digital age why would anyone want to go to a single exposure large or medium format camera?) and now I have three leads on camera!

Gotta love PPOT!

[djmcmath]

Scott, welcome to the LF bug. You're already addicted to Porsches, though, so this may be too much.

Like you, I started into the LF world many moons ago on a whim. I stumbled across an old Crown Graphic (much like the Speed Graphic you're looking at on ebay) that got me started. The Wollensak normal lens that came with it is a perfectly tolerably lens for starter work, despite visible bubbling in the lens. Remarkable. Anyhow, I shot with that camera for a long time, and took some great work.

Eventually, the limits of that camera forced me into an upgrade. See, the greatest thing about LF is the camera adjustment -- you can move the lens (and the back, if you're into that) wherever you want them. It seems silly, but it's really neat when you get it right. The Graphics are wooden-box cameras that fold out and have limited and ancient adjustments. Because of the inherent inaccuracies there, I found I was spending a lot of time setting up shots that were slightly out of focus. Very frustrating. So I hunted for a long time and found a "broken" Horseman rail camera that was being sold by a studio because it "didn't work anymore." Turns out one of the knobs had broken and needed to be glued back together -- aside from that, it's perfect.

So you can do LF without breaking the bank -- the cameras are starting to get very affordable as the digital age dawns in full. The Graflex series is a great way to get started. But MAKE SURE THE AUTOFOCUS WORKS! If you get a Graflex without the "autofocus," you'll never have that feature. There used to be one guy in this country who could fix it, but I think he ran out of spare parts and died years ago. Oh, when I say "autofocus," don't think that I mean anything really automatic -- it's really just a range-finder, like you'd get on an early split-focus camera. Still, it allows hand held LF work, which is really handy in action situations. Don't laugh, you'd be surprised. Some of my best LF work has been hand held.

Film comes from B&H, and for starters, go with cheap B&W. If you're completely insane, you may eventually decide to do your own 4x5 slides, but that's crazy. If that bug ever bites you, drop me a PM, I'll let you know what I learned from that process.

You will find that developing your own 4x5 is the only way to go. Get a good developing tank (the round ones are the way to go -- the boxy ones develop a little unevenly) and pick a room to make dark. B&H probably still sells chemicals, as well as a few places in the midwest, iirc.

For printing, your best bet is NOT to buy a scanner. To get a scanner that will do justice to LF, you'll need to spend a very shiny coin. For that kind of coin, you're far better off leaving your negs with a good local shop that has their own drum scanner. They'll do better work than you could ever afford to do, and it'll be quicker and cheaper than you'll ever do. The other alternative -- are you sitting down? -- is to get a large format photo-enlarger and set up a dark room. Mine was only a few hundred dollars, and it's a high end Beseler unit complete with voltage regulation and a stack of lenses. Printing is not that hard, and is quite rewarding once you get used to it. OTOH, I've nearly given up on it because I just don't have that kind of time any more.

So ... yes, the Graphic is a great starter camera. For a few hundred dollars you can figure out whether or not you like 4x5. If you get into it, there are a host of higher quality options for the appropriate levels of cash.

Cheers,
Dan

[steve185]

[QUOTE=scottmandue;3893958]Steve, what scanner are you using for that?

I use a Nikon 35mm scanner and also a flat bed cannon, I have only used my little lite table trick for the large format ( which worked surprisingly well). Do a search for large or medium format scanners on goggle and there is a pile of information. I had a dark room for black and white and it was a lot of fun but is time consuming to make the prints. If the negatives are scanned you can look at the final product on your computer and then decide which ones you may want to print.
Steve