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View Full Version : LF Cameras as home decoration



Kirk Keyes
11-Oct-2007, 09:31
I know from long experience that there are many LF cameras that rarely, if ever, leave the mantle in the living room.

Has anyone run across a camera that had it's bellows worn out from excessive dusting and not field work?

(Bruce's quote is from the recent Chamonix thread.)

photographs42
11-Oct-2007, 09:47
I have a Rosewood Wista that sits on the bookshelves in the living room as a piece of art. I bought it about 20 years ago and have never made a negative with it. Now that I switched to 5x7 (in 1999) I doubt that it will ever be used as a camera. But it makes a very nice display as ART. My other not so pretty cameras that I don’t use stay hidden in the closet.

Jerome

Robert Brummitt
11-Oct-2007, 09:54
I have a poor man's Deardroff that I use as a center piece in my home. It's a Raja 8x10 I believe. I even have the wood box that it came in.
To date, I used the camera and tripod as a prop for the Photographers Fanfaire flyer.
See the attachment.

Jason Greenberg Motamedi
11-Oct-2007, 10:49
Several years ago I had a whole-plate Daguerreian era sliding-box camera made for me by a well known manufacturer. The camera is beautiful--mahogany and brass-- with a wonderful period lens, but is not usable (poor registration, light leaks, insufficient extension, et cetera). I keep meaning to sell it, but it looks so good in the studio...

darr
11-Oct-2007, 11:15
I had a Wisner 5x7 TF that could have been used for decorative reasons, but I got lucky and unloaded it to someone else who unloaded it as well.
:rolleyes:

David A. Goldfarb
11-Oct-2007, 11:21
There was a very nice looking 8x10" Deardorff that used to be perched on a mezzanine at the John Stevenson gallery. I don't know if it ever got any use.

There are a couple of Big Berthas around New York--on a high shelf at Lens and Repro and in the window at Fotocare if I remember correctly--that seem to have become decorative items, though they once were used. I think the one at Fotocare has "Daily News" stenciled on the lens barrel, with focusing stops still set for home plate and first base, no doubt.

Generally, if I'm keeping a camera out of the case, it's because I'm using it or want to have it ready to use.

Gordon Moat
11-Oct-2007, 12:00
I have a Voigtländer Bergheil finished in green leather with a green bellows, that unfortunately is just sitting on a shelf. I got it without a lens, though recently added a clean Rodenstock Eurynar 135mm onto it. It's actually in fully working condition and includes an adapter back for modern 4x5 holders, yet I just have not found any time to shoot with it. My more modern gear gets used more, so I doubt I will ever try out this camera . . . though it does look really nice.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

Terence McDonagh
11-Oct-2007, 12:07
David, I think Fotocare actually had TWO of them out front. I've wanted one ever since I saw the one at Len & Repro.

I routinely display some of my cameras in my living room. Half as decoration and half out of laziness.

Fatali's new gallery has his Phillips 8x10 (natural wood finish) on display. At least it did last week.

Vaughn
11-Oct-2007, 12:08
I have a poor man's Deardroff that I use as a center piece in my home. It's a Raja 8x10 I believe. I even have the wood box that it came in.
To date, I used the camera and tripod as a prop for the Photographers Fanfaire flyer.
See the attachment.

Robert, have you caught any flack for having the "image" on the GG upside down?

But yes, it looks like a Raja -- I had their copy of a Deardroff Special.

A camera hanging around our house -- no way! Not with a set of triplet boys (now 10 yrs old) running around...it would get "dusted" alright! LOL!

Ash
11-Oct-2007, 12:13
My camera's 'decorating the house' are considered clutter :D

Scott Davis
11-Oct-2007, 12:26
The only one I've got that even attempts to serve as decoration is just not functional at this time. I've got a partial E&HT Anthony studio camera that I'm planning to build a new bed for. My Gundlach Wizard 11x14 is sitting out as decor at the moment, but only because I haven't gotten the hang of coating glass plates for it yet. All other functional cameras that are not in use are stored in my camera storage rack in the basement. My Century Master Studio 5x7 seems like furniture sometimes because it's on its studio stand and about blocks the doorway between the living and dining rooms, but it is fully functional and gets used. It pulls double duty, but it is definitely a working instrument.

Robert Brummitt
11-Oct-2007, 14:53
[QUOTE=Vaughn;281529]Robert, have you caught any flack for having the "image" on the GG upside down?"

The GG/camera is correct? I strung my kids upside down to get it right. :) :)

I took the Raja once outside to use and never again. I got a real Droff instead and my Wisner. The Wisner maybe the next to be a piece of furniture.

Paul Ewins
11-Oct-2007, 16:11
My half plate Lancaster Instantograph is definitely in the home decoration category. I've made adapters for regular 4x5 holders and used it a few times, but mostly it just sits in the lounge room looking pretty. Unfortunately there isn't room for the Kodak 1A on the studio stand, so it skulks in the spare room, but I hope to use it a lot more than the Lancaster.

Vaughn
11-Oct-2007, 17:37
[QUOTE=Vaughn;281529]Robert, have you caught any flack for having the "image" on the GG upside down?"

The GG/camera is correct? I strung my kids upside down to get it right. :) :)

I took the Raja once outside to use and never again. I got a real Droff instead and my Wisner. The Wisner maybe the next to be a piece of furniture.

Dang! I got to teach my boys how to hang from their toes, too!;)

I took my Raja for 3 months of hitch-hiking around New Zealand -- only to find that the marriage of the metal part of the 4x5 back to the wood was not as complete as I thought -- most of my negatives were fogged. But with a 5x7 Deardorff back on it, it was a fine camera...sort of an out-of-wedlock bastard, but a solid enough fellow.

Vaughn

John Kasaian
11-Oct-2007, 18:01
I have a Brownie Reflex that belonged to my Dad that sits in th bookcase. Its there because since it took a tumble off the roof of Dad's '54 Buick in 1960 it ceased to work.
I have another I got off ebay that works and it isn't for decoration!

Bruce Barlow
12-Oct-2007, 04:45
Years ago Fred Picker promised to replace, for free, any LF camera sold by Zone VI that was worn out from use.

Never got any takers.

That said, they can be beautiful. Espcially with a plant growing out of them (says my wife).

Bruce Barlow
12-Oct-2007, 04:46
Years ago Fred Picker promised to replace, for free, any LF camera sold by Zone VI that was worn out from use.

Never got any takers.

That said, they can be beautiful. Especially with a plant growing out of them (says my wife).

jnantz
12-Oct-2007, 05:56
i have a handful of -minty- box cameras, an autographic 3a, and a manhattan wizard plate camera on a mantle.
i use them from time to time ( the plate camera is brass and polished wood, and really pretty ).

MenacingTourist
12-Oct-2007, 07:31
I keep my 8x10 2D set up on the tripod in the living room. It looks good and it's right next to the window where I shoot most of my portraits. My wife says I don't like to put stuff away...

Colin Graham
12-Oct-2007, 07:44
I have a few prototypes that I've built laying around. Of course I usually salvage parts off them for the latest model so they're looking a little sorry just now..And my collection of busted MF folders is growing at an alarming rate.

Turner Reich
12-Oct-2007, 08:12
Yea, I bought a Kodak 2D that the guy used as a display and its bellows was s h o t. The entire camera was grimmmmmey, he told me to pick it up by the wood and not the leather handle. ????

Keith Pitman
12-Oct-2007, 08:27
Years ago Fred Picker promised to replace, for free, any LF camera sold by Zone VI that was worn out from use.

Never got any takers.

That said, they can be beautiful. Especially with a plant growing out of them (says my wife).

What does it mean when you start to repeat yourself?