(Fwd) Re: Re: 4x5 camera suggestions

["Willem-Jan Markerink" <w.j.markerink@xxxxx>]

Sorry Joe, Listproc doesn't like mail from UUCP sites....8-))

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Date:          Wed, 12 Feb 1997 17:42:41 GMT
Reply-to:      infrared-photography@xxxxx
From:          infrared-photography@xxxxx
To:            w.j.markerink@xxxxx
Cc:            w.j.markerink@xxxxx
Subject:       Error Condition Re: Re: 4x5 camera suggestions


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Russell J Rosener <rrosener@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> The Speed Grapic or Crown Graphic is the best way to get into large
> format. A crown Graphic has everything but the focal plane shutter, which
> you rarely need anyway. In the midwest I have seen Crown Graphics as cheap
> as $175.00 with a 135mm Optar lens. Not a bad lens either. Although it
> does not have all the tilts and swings a monorail view camera does, it has
> the advantage of being portable. 

  Another option, if you like do-it-yourself is the Bender 4x5 camera 
kit.  You will spend more money than a used Speed Graphic, but then you 
have the pride of saying "I built it myself", and that usually gains you 
a coupel of approving raised eyebrows.

  I do not know how good the bellow are for IR, but I plan to e-mail 
Bender and find out (just having built a 4x5 myself).

  One reason I did not go the speed graphic route is because you have to 
shop carefully to find a good one.  They are out there, but for every 
good spped graphic you find, you will come accress 3-5 that are, well, 
rather "shopworn".  Just the cost of replacing a belows alone can trun a 
deal into a dud if you are not careful.

>       Unless you have shot 4x5 before and are comitted to the format, I
> would definitly invest a small sum of money to get started. I see students
> decide to be the next Ansel, or Weston, and blow big bucks on a new Sinar.
> Two years later they usually sell the 4x5 equipment for half what they
> spent on it. Don't go hog wild on lenses first either. I always advise
> students to wring the utmost out of the equipment they have.


  I agree 100% here.  Going into large format is a lot more than just a 
camera - you'll need a new enlarger, new enalrging lens, film holders, 
developing tanks, etc, etc, etc.  The costs can add up real quick.  In 
addition to that, large format is a radical change in how you take, even 
think about taking pictures.  It is hard to explain.  I would guesstimate 
that the shift from  medium format to large format is about 10 times 
greater than the shift from 35mm to medium format, having gone through 
all this myself

  Still, I love it.  Good luck if you go that route.
joe

--
Bye,

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      The desire to understand 
is sometimes far less intelligent than
     the inability to understand


<w.j.markerink@xxxxx>
[note: 'a-one' & 'en-el'!]

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