Thanks Ernest -
You'd think that after a number of years with LF, that I would have been able to figure that out! Another senior moment............
Thanks Ernest -
You'd think that after a number of years with LF, that I would have been able to figure that out! Another senior moment............
That 5x12 at lens and repro is on the steep side but it comes with holders. It is definately out of my spending limit. I can definately say my options are opening up. What would be the normal lens length for a 12 inch width, 322mm? I've got the spare parts to a few 2d 5x7's at home that could be modified easily. This is looking more and more doable all the time.
I did a size comparison between the 4x10 and the 5x12. The size of the 5x12 negative would be much more viewable as a contact print. The film would not be as economical though nor as easy to deal with. Keep in mind that I have not priced the mondo rolls of film Jim mentioned
Does S&S have a website or contact information?
Jim How do you cut rolls that that size?
That would be one hell of a roll film back
Matt O. When you cut up an 8X10 slide for 4X10 you leave the portion of the slide that goes into the light trap intact. So you end up with kind of an L shape dark slide. You want the light trap always filled up though. Mark and others, I made the folks at Lens & Repro a very fair offer for that outfit about 6 months ago but it's their price or the highway. Had forgotten about it in the meantime. They had one a couple of years ago with 10 nice holders for $1999. Actually a better buy because of all the holders. That time cash flow got me:{(( Just didn't have the cash and they won't let you do a 3 payments lay-away etc. The roll film is easy to manage. I just roll it out in the dark to a set stop and cut it with a good roll cutter. Yes, dust and all of the extra handling is a headache. Have to have a pretty clean environment.
Mark, What ever format you decide (4x10, 5x12, etc.), I highly recommend you consider the holders first. IMHO, in non-mainstream formats, the availability of affordable (or at least attainable) holders is of paramount importance. For me, while choosing a camera may be more exciting, getting the holders is far more important. I learned that the hard way the first time I tried 4x10. The second time around, I bought the holders first, before I even started looking for a camera. The most beautiful camera in the world is useless without holders for your film.
BTW, in 4x10, there are TWO different "standard" sizes for the holders. The Wisner 4x10 cameras use holders based on the older 4x10 X-Ray holders (made by Lisco, Fidelity and Kodak more than 30 years ago). It can be REAL hard to find holders in this size. The most common are the Mido II holders (that are not the best holders ever made) that were sold for the Wisner cameras about 10 years ago. While the concept is good, the quality of construction wasn't the best and light leaks can be a big problem (I speak from experience). The Mido holders were discontinued several years ago after the death of their maker. Ron Wisner does have 4x10 wooden holders listed on his website, but I haven't seen any in person, nor have I talked to anybody who has. So, I can't comment on the quality or availability.
All the other commercially available 4x10 cameras (Canham, Lotus and Altview) use holders that are wider than the Wisner X-Ray style holders. Holders in this size are readily available from Keith Canham (as mentioned above ~$95 each and very well made) and Lotus (wooden, beautiful, well-made and expensive - www.lotusviewcamera.at/accessories/sheetfilmholder_e.html). AWB (Alan Brubaker - www.filmholders.com - check out Alan's web site for some nice photos of his holders in various sizes) and S&S (Sandy King and Sam Wang) will custom make wooden holders in a variety of formats. Such custom made holders are justifiably expensive (the labor involved in making 4x10 or 5x12 holders is the nearly the same as making 11x14 or 12x20 holders). I was fortunate to purchase several used Lotus 4x10 holders at a very reasonable price. If I was looking to buy new holders today, I'd buy the Canham holders as they are readily available and represent the best value.
If you do end up with a Wisner camera and can't find any holders to fit, Keith Canham will modify your camera to accept his holders.
Kerry
Mark,
Yes, the camera back is made of wood. I had an old 8x10 back that I used as a model and built the back to fit the modern Lotus and Canham holders. I then used the springs and hardware from the 8x10 back. Like Kerry, I got a good deal on a batch of Lotus holders for the price of Canham holders. That was just luck, though. I think the camera cost less than $200 minus lens and most of that was the cost of bellows. Junk Graphics are easy to find and are great to build odd cameras. I have built several from parts including an 8x10 Hobo type camera. You can build a Hobo for less than a $100 or so and it will focus.
I like contact prints but I have been drifting away from the darkroom and now I usually scan them for enlargements. For me, decent sized film, a good scanner and a good printer is pretty hard to beat these days. Big film is still your friend even in these digital days.
Just FYI, there is currently an 8x10 Deardorff on eBay that includes both 4x10 and 5x8 slider boards. I won't bother posting the link (as the auction ends tomorrow), but one of the pictures shows the slider boards. That will give folks an idea what they look like and how they work. Just do an eBay search on "Deardorff 8x10" and you should find it. The listing will still be available for 30 days after the auction ends, but the seller might remove his pics.
Kerry
Wayne,
A quick question on your camera... Do you recall if the t-distance (location of the film plane) is the same for the 4x10 Lotus/Canham holders as for standard 8x10 holders? I'd measure it myself, but don't have an 8x10 holder handy at the moment. If it is the same, it would be fairly easy to modifiy an 8x10 back to use with 4x10 holders as the only diminsion that would have to change would be the width. Is that how you made the back for your camera? If that is all that's required, there are always orphan 8x10 backs (Deardorff, Kodak, Burke & James) etc. showing up on eBay. The Kodak and Burke & James backs usually go for around $100, sometimes less. Seems like about the easiest, least expensive way to get build a dedicated 4x10 camera for someone with basic woodworking skills.
Kerry
Kerry,
It's been a few years but I think I did measure. I didn't worry too much because the Canham holders are made from Fidelity parts. Anyway, there are no focus problems with either type of holder. Just lucky I guess although it would be good to check before building. The Lotus holders are a beautiful thing but I wouldn't want to pay full price for a bag of holders. I considered cutting down old Ansco holders because they can be disasembled but it looked like it was beyond me Then I was going to cut down a Deardorff back but I thought the back would be weakened too much so I made mine from scratch using the 8x10 for measurements and hardware. I made the back out of solid wood and did the milling with a router. The glass holder is a frame and then milled. The camera is very lightweight and could very easily be a handheld. For lenses, I mainly use the 121 SA and the 240 G-Claron. I make all of my cameras with Graphic front ends so that I can standardize on Graphic lens boards. Old front standards are easy to find find for a few bucks.
I have been shooting long skinny pictures almost exclusively for several years since I got hooked on 4x10 after seeing Jay Dusard's wonderful book "Open Country." He did that mostly with a homemade "brick" camera and cast-off x-ray holders. I also have made a few 6x12 cm cameras with dedicated lenses and helical focus mounts and Horseman backs including one camera using your long lost film back.
Just a word of warning on the split darkslide. I found that I was not able to use one (on my 4x5 press camera) with my 65mm lens. The bellows did not have enough flex to allow for the rise required. The lens could not be centered on the 2x5 strip. I could use a normal lens for the 2x5, but why?
My IKEA-MACKIS box camera is 6x12", but uses no filmholders, only a flat plane, maybe for paper to be developed and scanned. Both my Apo-gerogon 210 and 240 will fit _inside_ with the aperture preset, using a lenscap for shutter.
Send an e-mail to receive pictures. Øyvind
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