Large Format cameras: Anyone into this? [Archive] - AusPhotography:: Australia's Premier Photography Forum::

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Star Catcher

29-12-2009, 6:19pm

smallfooties

29-12-2009, 6:31pm

Hi James, I have never used large format cameras before. They seem really interesting though. Are they the ones where you have to put a black cloth over your head to take the picture??? Sorry, my post is so redundant but i find old cameras very interesting!

TOM

29-12-2009, 6:42pm

speed graphics also have a fold out piece around the ground glass to aid in focusing and composition. you may have seen photos of the famous street photographer named weegee using a speed graphic. he was the new york street photographer who allegedly coined the phrase "f8 and be there", although he never used to use f8...but used something more like f16 or f32. this would give similar results on his large format, to what you may expect at f8 on small format, so the phrase may have been altered to apply to the general amatuer.

Krzys

29-12-2009, 6:52pm

I would love a nice wooden view camera. Not one on a rail (heavy!). One day...when I am traveling through the Rockies in Canada I will definitely be using one.

The_Camera_Poser

29-12-2009, 7:00pm

I'd love a large format camera, but ohhh...the cost of developing......

Big Pix

29-12-2009, 7:08pm

if you do a web search, I believe stock is still available in the UK........

Star Catcher

29-12-2009, 10:58pm

This place in Melb is a good start. http://studiogear.com.au/products%20LF.htm

The ease of large format.. Yep, black cloth over head.. big focus screen, bellow, lens tilt board, Copal lens shutter, focal plane shutter, rotating backs..120 film backs, film processing is easy too - dish or tank. When you get the neg or tranny scanned up to 15K per cm, makes large format rthe way to go for wall murals.

Early press used them up till the mid 70's. Leica brought out the 35mm in 1931 which soon saw the big cams get left behind in favor of the miniature cameras. Now we have digital, so where does that leave film? Well I can say this much as a user of film for 40 years, film will be around for a while yet.

Many pro photogs. still use med. and large format and while there is a market it will be made and sold. In picture quality.. SIZE of format DOES MATTER...

Rob

01-01-2010, 10:33pm

Hmmm, I have not had a look at mine for awhile now. Sold my speed & super graphics but have still got Super D, 2x3 Crown Graphic X 2, & XL Wide version with 47mm Super Angulon & Rodenstock Grandagon 58mm. Took some film shots on my Silvestri 612 Panorama the other day & now sending them to Vic to get developed. Want to take one of the wide angle camera's on safari to Africa in July but trying to decide which one. May have to go on size.

StanW

02-01-2010, 8:39am

From time to time, I use a Sinar Handy, a very rare beast, designed to be used hand-held. It came with 47mm and 100mm Schneider lens, and now boasts a Graflex23 rollfilm back. I won't upse you all by telling how little I paid for it at auction.

ruckusman

12-01-2010, 10:57pm

I've always hankered for a Sinar handy, just never seen one come up when I had spare cash.

I'm just getting back into film photography as I've now got a drum scanner and was suffering from technology fatigue.

Now it's back to - it's look more, take care and pay attention to everything. It's such a relief from spraying and praying with digital.

Glenn

StanW

13-01-2010, 8:17am

Wou;d you beleive $30 for the Sinar and a Linhof Kardan, both with two lenses? Our local TAFe was closing its photography depertment, and selling the equipement at ausction. Nobody could recognise the two cameras as real cameras.

StanW

13-01-2010, 8:19am

From what I've learned, the Handy is a very rare beast. A friend on the Gold Coast has one, and I've seen one on Ebay priced at $1200.

jjphoto

13-01-2010, 9:00am

Yes and no.

http://www.johnjovic.com/temp/s2.jpg

JJ

Wyno

13-01-2010, 4:19pm

Hi Guys,
I use an 8x10 Tachihara with a 300mm Nikkor lens. Fantastic fun to use, but a beast to carry around. The camera tripod and film holders in a backpack and your looking at 30 plus kilos. he results are worth it though. If you want film, America is the place to get it. Roughly half what you pay here and delivered to your door in about 4 days. B&W, colour neg and colour tranny. In 4x5 and 8x10, you can get all of the ones mentioned. You can get B&W for all sizes up to 20 x24 (inches that is). And if you're willing to pay for it, you can get colour neg and tranny up to 20x24, but you have to order about $10,000 worth before they'll do a special run for you.
Mike

Krzys

13-01-2010, 8:41pm

jjphoto, that is a box with a dslr on the end ;)

yogestee

14-02-2010, 11:15pm

I cut my large format teeth on Linhof Technikas and later Sinar P2..

I got my first fulltime photographic job at the photographic unit at BHP Port Kembla and the standard kit for shooting industrial stuff was Linhof Technika,,we had two.. I shot a heap of Kodak Tri-X 320 ASA and Ilford FP-4 but never any colour trannies,, we used medium format for this.. When I was the "new boy" in the department it was my job to load half a dozen or so Grafmatic backs with Tri-X or FP-4 each morning..

I later bought a Sinar P2.. When I was studying commercial photography at Sydney Tech College the college had a few Sinars which I fell in love with.. What a camera!!

edgewing

28-04-2010, 11:06pm

Hope this doesn't hijack the thread :( but just having a small internal debate about either a Sinar F (not sure which one) or a Linhof Kardon Super Color. Does anybody have an opinion either way?

I also have a Bulldog kit on the way (4x5). Anybody have any experience with these?

Thanks

BBW

05-05-2010, 6:24pm

Edgewing,

Take a tip: go for the Sinar. I have used view cameras and LF since the mid-60s and no other camera gives as consistently sharp images as the Sinar - it is all to do with the ground-glass frame and the precision of the alignment of the ground-glass and the milled surfaces that the frame sits against.

The Sinar F2 is the far better choice and make sure that you get one with separate levers to lock the swing and the horizontal shift. Earlier models did not have this and it could prove problematic with miniscule movements of one movement of the other.

Cheers,

David Woods

06-05-2010, 10:17am

I have two 4x5 Speed Graphics. One is circa 1955 other 1970. Both are great cams for studio and on-site work. Ilford is still making the HP5 Plus but not sure if they are making FP5. Colour pos. is hard to get now. Anyone still using these cameras and films?

James

Hi James

ILford make a fp4 and hp5 both available, I buy mine from overseas as it is too expensive in Australia, you pay almost a third of the cost, but you have to buy a few boxes to make up for the postage, which is normally aroung $40, but you can get a fair bit in the postage box for that.
Try Badger or B&H in the U.S

David

David Woods

06-05-2010, 10:51am

ricktas

06-05-2010, 6:42pm

For info, the original poster has not been back since he created this thread, along with adding a for sale to his signature (several site rule breaches there), and we removed his signature and advised him of the rule breaches.

His only reason to join AP was to sell his gear, had no intention of being an active forum member.