Robert Polidori info?

[PViapiano]

Has anyone ever run across any info on Robert Polidori?

Cameras used, film, etc...?

Besides his books, I've seen very little other information...

[JW Dewdney]

There's a brief synopsis of him in the Sinar book "architectural photography" as I recall...

[Matt Logue]

In the back of his Chernobyl book, he's shown posing with his camera (don't know what kind). And, if I recall correctly, there's a guy that makes custom gyroscopes that facilitate handheld LF shooting during bumpy conditions (inside helicopters for instance) that he's used. Don't know about the film...

[Matt Logue]

Here's the article (http://www.popphoto.com/photographynewswire/2338/kipp-wettstein-shows-how-to-build-4x5-point-and-shoots.html) on the custom 4x5 cameras...

[Frank Petronio]

how are those at all different than a Technar, Handy, Cambo -- geez?

[Henry Carter]

This appears to be a custom made equivalent to the Linhof Technar, a hand-held wide angle 4X5 point and shoot.

What is different about this camera is that you can actually have one built. The Technar is out of production and very few appear on the used market. Despite an apparent interest in such a camera (see the feeding frenzy when one appears on eBay), Linhof has no appetite for reviving it.

[julian]

how are those at all different than a Technar, Handy, Cambo -- geez?

If you click on the QT animation on camera 3, you'll see the method of close focussing is quite different IMO

[Henry Carter]

Thanks for pointing this out, I had not seen the animation.

An adjustable lens cone also raises the intruiging possibility of using more than one focal length on the same camera, say 75 and 120 (or 135 mm).

The Linhof optical viewfinder is adjustable from 75 mm to 300 mm, giving one a very versatile outfit for hand-held wide angle 4X5 shooting.

[Tim Hyde]

Polidori is well-known as a 5x7 shooter, though he has used 8x10 and 4x5 on occasion, I believe. His film varies and has varied over time.

[Robert Hughes]

The article's premise brings up the question: why shoot handheld 4x5 or larger format? And why pay for what is essentially a new press camera, when good used ones are so cheap? I admit that I use my Busch Pressman handheld quite a bit, but know the images I get are not as sharp as those taken off of a tripod. If you're shooting 4x5 you probably do it largely for the improved detail and resolution the format offers. But shooting handheld, how is that resolution going to be any better than MF?

[Tzabcan]

The link to the article posted above shows a camera that looks quite similar to the Fotoman "point and shoots". They're quite cheap ($800 for 4x5, $1300 for 8x10), sure beats $5000-9000 for the version in the article. I havent used the Fotoman cameras, or even seen them in person, but they look pretty slick on the web. There's also a write up in this month's Shutterbug magazine.

Badger and Midwest both carry them.