Re: 4x5 camera suggestions

[boblong@xxxxxxxxxxx (Robert Long)]

On Wed, 12 Feb 1997 15:58:05 GMT, Tim Coffer wrote:

|Matt Henley wanted to know what 4X5 camera is "best" for HIE sheet
|film. Here's hoping we see lots of favor towards the Crown Graphic,
|considering I have one sitting here at work collecting dust. Whoever

My first 4x5 was a Crown Graphic with an Ektar.  Unfortunately, I
traded it in for a Speed Graphic with an Optar so that I could use
barrel lenses with the focal-plane shutter.  The Optar is a very sharp
lens and should be a good choice for IR work; it is in fact the lens I
used for the 4x5 shot of the San Gabriel Mountains that Cor has in the
Gallery.  But for regular pictorial work I missed the wonderful
"bloom" of the Ektar, which is slightly soft and much more poetic by
comparison to the Optar.  I keep telling myself I should look around
for the Ektar, but because its shutter was reputedly less reliable
than that with the Optar, I'm a little leery of buying second-hand
without a solid guarantee of some kind.

Actually, the focal-plane shutter of the Speed Graphic was the most
problematic element in it.  I really had to lean on the camera shop to
get them to send it to Graflex for a repair that would stay repaired.
And today--many years later--the "feel" of the focal-plane shutter
doesn't inspire confidence that it's working correctly any longer.

Bob Long
(boblong@xxxxxxxxxxx)

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