Backup smaller format - what's in your bag

[Darko Pozar]

Bruce W, While I agree with you philosophically & I do like to use the biggest negative I can....there is often a context around image making. I prefer to use my Deardorff....but sometimes carry another camera not as a backup for LF subjects, but for occasions around the context of image making....for example during a road trip. I doubt AA would have gotten this photo with a view camera, & it is one of my favorites. Attachment 132090

The smaller format offers me a window for spontaneity. There is always an opportunity to photograph something within it's "decisive moment" which could be lost whilst negotiating the larger format camera facing the opposite direction.

[Daniel Stone]

View cameras (and the cost of large film) can certainly help your discipline. Rather often I'll set up the 8x10 and just look at things through it, and not even take the shot unless I'm fairly certain it's a keeper. After awhile, you even start shooting your small cameras as if they were view cameras, and become far more
conscious of the composition itself, and not just the nominal subject. You become aware of the borders of the image, the texture and tension between the pictorial
elements, nuances of ever-changing light. It's a wonderful experience, something the machine-gunners simply speed past.

Bingo. I've exposed exactly (6) sheets of 5x7 film this year. I'm rather embarrassed to say that, but out of those 6, 4 have been "keepers". I now shoot my Pentax 67 and GX680 kits like I do LF, surveying a scene, assessing lighting, metering and filtering techniques, etc... It's literally turned my photography on its head. I don't photography much anymore, but when I do, it's with purpose and having a set goal in mind. This helps me direct my techniques more accurately, spend money(well, spend less!) more wisely, and in the end, it also aids in reducing my level of trash/waste produced. I even approach digital photography in the same way.

[David Karp]

Sometimes I take my Canon S95 with me while I am hiking and photographing with a large format camera. Sometimes I even set the S95 to 4x5 proportions and try to frame out a photo before unpacking the big camera. Usually, I don't use it much, but it is small and light and I don't notice it at all. I have thought about packing my Olympus E-M1 in the pack with the big camera, but so far I have not done it.

Recently, I went on a photo trip with my 86 year old dad. I used my Whole Plate Improved Seneca, 4x5 Walker Titan SF, E-M1 and Mamiya 645. Since we mostly worked out of the car, it was easy to have all cameras and lenses handy, so I did. I shot a couple of 120 rolls of Delta 400 through the Mamiya, which I had not used in a long time. It was fun. One time, I had the Walker set up for a shot and was waiting for some weather to happen. While waiting, I pulled out the Mamiya and made some shots of other things in the area. I think it worked out well, but have not yet developed the film. Another time, I made a number of photos with the 4x5 and when done I popped the E-M1 on the tripod and made some more in color. Of course, you can't carry all these cameras around while hiking, but it was a luxury to be able to use more than one camera/format.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Well when I shoot my 14 x 17 my back up is my point and shoot........................... 8 x 10!

[Alan Gales]

A large part of the LF experience is learning to ruthlessly edit. In the field. On the light table. You have to break yourself of the habits of small format (which is, shoot everything and sort it out later). You have to learn how to choose, and choose wisely.

One of the best ways to do that is to fully commit to LF. So, you don't carry anything that's not part of your LF kit. That includes "backup" cameras.

And you have to be willing to not burn the film too. You have to be willing to spend the time setting up on an image, evaluate the image under the dark cloth, and decline it. Hard to do. But if you're hiking up the mountain with a limited number of film holders, you need to learn how to get the most out of them. And sometimes that means shaking your head and tearing it down without burning a sheet of film. One of the hardest lessons I had to learn, that one.

I started out back in the early 1980's with a 35mm camera. Either someone gave me this advice or I read it somewhere. I don't remember but the advice was to keep my 10 best shots in an album, update them as I got better and review them periodically. I was to increase my 10 best to 15 best and then to 20 best as I took more images.

One day while reviewing my 15 or 20 best photos I noticed something. Almost all my best shots were taken with my camera on a tripod. They were not any sharper than my hand held shots. They were just better. After some serious thinking and remembering taking each photograph I came to realize that my tripod was slowing me down. The result of slowing down was that I was thinking more about each subject. After seeing this I forced myself to slow down and really evaluate a subject before setting up my camera. My amount of keepers went way up.

I agree with you, Bruce. It is a hard lesson to learn and sometimes a hard lesson to keep putting in practice but the results of hard editing makes for more keepers and less trash.

[polyglot]

Sony A99 and Mamiya RZ67. Not so much backups though as for different purposes - horses for courses. Usually I will have only one with me - for example I don't take the little cameras if I'm going on a hunt with the 4x5, and I don't bring the 4x5 to parties.

I can't take a candid snapshot of someone by candlelight (f/1.4 1/30 ISO3200 and image-stabilised, producing a visually-clean and sharp 8x12" print) with my 4x5, and I can't do movements and capture truly high resolution and dynamic range without my 4x5.

[esearing]

thanks all for your input. After missing a couple of bargain Leica M6's I found a buy it now on a Bessa R3M with a 50mm f2 lens for less than the M6's best price.
Also just went on a trip with the family to Smokey Mountains but it was hard to shoot the 4x5 while on the road though I saw many places I wanted to capture. I managed a few images but they were not happy waiting for me. And I learned that the top of Clingman's Dome is a bit windy for a large bellows camera.
I shot some digital but after working with film lately it felt odd.

[Fr. Mark]

if I can't use the monster 8x10and mine is 30 pounds..., then 4x5 press camera, then film slr or Olympus XA, last resort or sometimes only camera I have is my iPhone. Sinar P 4x5/5x7 coming into use soon. May completely re-adjust priorities. I also find it also depends on the situation and purpose of the photos.

[John Kasaian]

5x7 Speed Graphic is my little camera, followed by a littler Rolleiflex, and an even smaller F2 with the tiniest being on Olympus digi point & shoot that doesn't like me.

[Gary Tarbert]

2x Sigma quattro's DP1(28mm )DP2 (45mm)and when released in a couple of months the zero (21mm) brackets are 35mm equivalents amazing little cameras these just have a little something that is special ., Would not take all three but always the DP2