When to go 4x5? Or to stay with mf?

[Capocheny]

Ag,

You've received some really good advice here and at the end of the day... you'll just have to jump in and get your feet wet.

Bottom line? Each format has it's uses and different users will have different preferences. If you have one format already... spring for the other. Give it a try and time will determine what's best for YOU.

Guy,

There is one MF camera that does offer significant swings and tilts... the Fuji 680III. I looked at buying one of these but it also weighs a ton. But... it DOES offer some of the movements of a LF camera.

Ralph,

".... way better than sliced bread, and almost as good as sex." I take it the wife doesn't read your postings! :>)

Hope this helps...

BTW, I LOVE my 4x5 chromes....I can only imagine what they would look like in an 8x10 size.

Cheers

[evan clarke]

Hi Ag, If you are in a large city, perhaps you could rent one for the weekend or take a photo class at community college. At the technical college here in Milwaukee, they have a one-semester view camera course..Evan

[Don Miller]

One nice aspect of a view camera is the ability to avoid the retrofocus wide lenses of an SLR while retaining the ability to effectively use filters. Some other small points:

-You should know that the plain ground glass that comes with the Shen Hao will be dim at 90mm and very dim at 65mm. Search here and at photo.net for alternatives to plain ground glass.

-Especially with wide lenses, to reduce frustration don't try to learn focusing the camera in good soft light. Put the camera in the shade with the subject in contrasty sunlight.

-Front tilt is very nice for focusing but it's needed much more in LF than 645.

-As others have pointed out, there is little reason to go to 4x5 for 8x10 enlargements.

-The difficulty in making a recomendation to you about getting into LF is that you won't know if you'll like it until you try it. We here give logical reasons for using LF but there are also strong emotional reasons that is hard to define. Either LF "clicks" with you or not. And as men we really don't want to talk about it

-Dykinga says that he switch to 4x5 to get the definitive shot. I feel the same way. If I'm getting up at 3am and driving two hours to maybe get a shot the small inconvinance of 4x5 vs 6x7 is trivial.

Good Luck!

Don