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Thread: Big Pano Camera Advice?

  1. #1
    Christopher Barrett's Avatar
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    Big Pano Camera Advice?

    I remember wanting a Canham 4x10 since before I'd ever even heard of Phase One. Something about that format, any panoramic format, that has always pulled at my guts... in a good way. They're so immersive and married with inkjet printing, you have this huge advantage of big printers using roll paper, so the width of the image can be massive... if, ya know, you're into massive.

    Anyhow, I've been looking at cameras lately. My assistant owns a Chamonix 4x5 and though I just had a glance at it, I was pretty impressed with the design. So, I think it's probably between the Chamonix and the Canham. I'm pretty sure I'm stuck on 4x10. I never cared for the 8x10 format. I like squares and I like elongated rectangles. In betweens just don't do it for me.

    You guys have a ton more experience than I with both brands, so I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have. I just have to decide in time for November's Death Valley trip with Kirk and the gang.

    And here are a few images to show why I like long horizontals so much:

    Shot on my 4x5 Arca F-Line with a 6x12 back:





    Stills from a short film of mine, shot on the RED Epic:




    Cheers,
    CB

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    Re: Big Pano Camera Advice?

    I shoot a lot of 4x10 using a splitter board on my 8x10. The large ground glass is a joy to shoot with. I hardly ever shoot panos when using my 4x5. I probably should have just built a 4x10 camera but having installed a 10x10 enlarger in my 2nd floor darkroom, I felt obligated to make some suitable negs for it. I recently bought some 4x10 holders and plan to build a 4x10 back to use on my 8x10. I'm a little nervous about cutting down film since dust has always been a killer on my best negs. Ilford sells 4x10 but besides that, you'll be on your own for cutting down color emulsions. Canham makes nice cameras but I've never used one. Chamonix's are a nice design and very intuitive to operate, part of the reason I modeled my camera after the Philips/chamonix.

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    Re: Big Pano Camera Advice?

    Cool photos.

    --Darin

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    Re: Big Pano Camera Advice?

    I like the Chamonix design at the rear. It lends itself to pano's with nearly unlimited swing adjustment available. Since I had 5" X 200 + foot rolls of aerial recon imaging film available I had Cham build me a 5X14 inch camera. Just roll out 14" of film and chop and load. You can see some of the results at my web pages. Ultimately I "settled" on a 5X12 Korona banquet camera in the end. The reason was I could do 4 of the 5X12's at a time in a JOBO 3004 tank instead of 1 at a time 5X14 in a tray. I suck at doing more than 1 film at a time in tray. Just a recipe for scratches and unusable film.

    So, a 5X12 costs me about .33 cents in film. Haven't shot any lately. My bad.

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    Re: Big Pano Camera Advice?

    What about 5x12? I don't know if you are going to scan or contact print, but when it comes to (contact) prints I find 5x12 much much nicer...
    Website of sorts, as well as flickr thing.

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    Re: Big Pano Camera Advice?

    Quote Originally Posted by andreios View Post
    What about 5x12? I don't know if you are going to scan or contact print, but when it comes to (contact) prints I find 5x12 much much nicer...
    Since all the examples he posted are color images and talk of inkjets, my guess is he plans on scanning color film which is readily available in 8x10 sheets.

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    Re: Big Pano Camera Advice?

    Sorry, even though it is almost evening I somehow still haven't recovered from "morning dementia", despite many a coffee...
    Website of sorts, as well as flickr thing.

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    Big Pano Camera Advice?

    Quote Originally Posted by vinny View Post
    Since all the examples he posted are color images and talk of inkjets, my guess is he plans on scanning color film which is readily available in 8x10 sheets.
    This is a big point, I just recently cut my dark slide (which was easy as heck!) into a half slide and made 5x10 images on each sheet, much more convenient and realistic to just scan 2 images on an 8x10 sheet... (Excuse the poorly exposed example).

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    8x10 cameras are much more readily available, holders are cheaper and if you ever get "board" you can sell the 8x10 a lot easier and not wait for someone who really needs a specialist format camera, and more expensive sheet film cut, and color film in 4x10... Forget it!??

    That's my advice/suggestion.

    I love my Chamonix 8x10

    But the 4x5 version with a cut slide would work just as well.

    I like the 6x12 back I have and roll film is great but they are heavy and bulky, I've been thinking of just cutting slides for that too. And less weight to carry.

  9. #9
    Christopher Barrett's Avatar
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    Re: Big Pano Camera Advice?

    Thanks for all that. I guess I would like the ability to shoot color. I suppose I could cut down 8x10 color neg, but I hate handling film more than I need to. I have to admit, too, I think I'm a little obsessed with the 4x10 as a rare beast (for better or worse).

  10. #10

    Re: Big Pano Camera Advice?

    Quote Originally Posted by StoneNYC View Post
    But the 4x5 version with a cut slide would work just as well.

    I like the 6x12 back I have and roll film is great but they are heavy and bulky, I've been thinking of just cutting slides for that too. And less weight to carry.
    Not the Horseman, it is noticeably lighter, smaller and easier to work with than my Dayi backs. I love 6x12 backs, far less dust to contend with and easily reloaded in the field in subdued light under a dark cloth even in blazing sun. If I bring 6 cut film holders and a pair of 6x12 backs, I can stay out all day since not every shot lends it self to each aspect ratio and I can load roll after roll in the backs.

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