Hi all, advanced amateur new to large Format

[Robert Perrin]

Oh, oh! Someone turned on the light while the brain was developing. Tower was Sears brand, not Montgomery Ward. Anyway it's still a Busch and a fine camera.

[dperez]

Welcome to the forum. Good luck with your adventure in LF photography.

I use an Arca-Swiss 4x5 classic, and an Ebony RW810. The advice you have been given so far I think is solid. When I started I found the Arca-Swiss used with three lenses, standard and bag bellows, pelican case, lens shade, filter holders and a few other bits for around $2,000. It was a nice find, but you can get into this for much cheaper.

Have fun,

-DP

[pudentaineLf]

Long maybe, but still a great story, I don't know about anyone else but I like war stories, there's always something to learn. I'm with you 100% on the Busch cameras. If I had the money I'd have a Busch Model D for a field camera and Camulet (not too knowledgable about these yet) 5 x 7 or 8 x 10 for my soon to be studio. I'm a retired bachelor what am I gonna do with a huge dining room, with a dining table and chairs in it, Ive got the furniture up for sale and my new dining room studio will be ready soon after. It has huge windows on one side that let in a lot of California SW sunlight & I'm close to the coast so its' cold enough to let it in...sorry if this is a duplicate!

thanks for the info

Welcome, Thomas. Your mention of Busch caught my attention. Now neither the Busch or Graphics have rear movements. If that's not a problem they are great starting cameras. I'd certainly recommend the Busch over a Graphic with a couple of exceptions. I've owned a 4x5 Busch D since 1953 and it's still an excellent camera. It's the Crown Graphic that compares to the Busch D. Unless you really need the focal plane shutter there'd be no advanatage to the larger and heavier Speed over Crown among Pacemaker Graphics. There are two points I'll give the Graphics. Some will have the Graphlock back needed for Polaroid or Fuji instant film holders, some roll film holders and I think Graphmatics. And the lens board is slightly larger and much easier to find. The Busch is smaller, lighter and all metal (All sheet film graphics I know of except the Super and Century models are wood bodies). The Busch has a revolving back. The only way to take a vertical with any but the Super Graphic is to turn the camera on its side. Busch's front standard is machined aluminum instead of stamped steel and has decent movements. If I can bore you with a long story: A buddy worked in the camera store. I'd decided to get a Busch. He'd just bought a Crown and eventually convinced me to order a Crown Graphic instead. At the time I had a summer job with the local weekly paper. The next day I went to the county fair to shoot the Town's mural made of grapes. I had the paper's Speed Graphic. The mural was tilted back and too high to properly center with my tripod, and there was a pole in the way. Okay I needed a forward tilt, rise and shift. Well the only way to get a forward tilt on a Speed or Crown Graphic is to drop the bed. Then the rise will only get you back to neutral. When I tried to shift, the standard promptly hit the bed support. I got the best shot I could, changed my order back to a Busch and have never regretted it. For many years it was my only still camera. By the way if you run across a 4x5 Tower, it's a Busch rebranded for Montgomery Wards and would probably go for a bargain price. Anyway whatever you get will be great fun.