Reckon it's Howdy Duty time...

[Daddyo]

Um, that's a 1950's television quip, for any youngsters with us...

So, yeah, I've been hanging out here a while already, and never even said Hello.

But hanging around has been great! This forum has been my best find since I discovered "Life over 6x6"! You folks have helped me up and over a whole variety of brambles and toe-stubs as I've learned my way into 4x5. I'm counting on you all to keep it up as I get ready to step into 8x10. A few feet off shore, the drop-off is wicked! Most pronounced I've seen since I decided to try astrophotography (and that's a game decidedly not for the faint of heart...).

It's funny, too, because you come in thinking, "A back, a bellows and a lens - what could be simpler?" And then you discover you're supposed to have closed the shutter before you pull the darkslide (again).

I've been doing tons of searching and reading, absorbing the astonishing wealth of accumulated knowledge, insight, even wisdom here. Living off the fat of the land, as it were, by which I mean nothing whatsoever related to caliber, girth, or BM-bloody-I.

There are still greater depths to visit here, and I'm not coming out of lurk mode just to announce some kind of arrival with brass band. In fact, having said Howdy, I'll probably recede at least partially into Douglas MacArthur mode and just.....

But first I wanted to say Thanks, to everyone who has asked questions and posted replies here. All of you are what make this such a rich repository! I've been skulking around forums (fora?) since BITNET, and this is the finest bunch of self-identified types I've found since the glory days of Usenet and aircooled VWs!

So, Thanks!
Dad...Dad...Daddyo

[Bob Salomon]

So you were a Buckaroo with Sheriff Bob?

[Tin Can]

1.5 months lurking is not too bad.

However please never mention air cooled VW again, as i may have to get one again...

Too many to count and anywhere that's not California is not the place to own one. Maybe Brazil or Mexico...

Airhead BMW is OK as are all air cooled bikes.

Welcome!

[Louis Pacilla]

Welcome Daddyo!

Super glad to have you as a member and looking forward to seeing your contributions to this forum.

BTW -Have you been shopping out your 1st 8x10 and if so, what are thinking of? If your thinking of the lowest investment possible then I would look for a "complete" Kodak 2d or Burk & James Commercial View and buy the best conditioned one you can locate.
Of course there are quit a few choices and nearly as many ways to use them but I always suggest one buy used & wise. This way you should be able to give it a go and if it's not your cup of tea you can turn around & at the very least get most all you investment back while keeping the experience & images for yourself.

Peace
LouisP

[Daddyo]

1.5 months lurking is not too bad.

I signed up more like two years ago - but that's testament to the quality of the content, especially with effective searching (as we're reminded from time to time). I haven't needed to ask something I couldn't find information about!

Yeah, I've owned somewhere north of 15 VWs over the years, the first 8 or 9 aircooled. There's still a 1974 Super Beetle Sun Bug snoozing under cover in my driveway...

I bought it in 94 or 95 whilst living in Vermont, after 14 years of living in Alaska. Gee - that was a long time ago already...

Thanks for the welcome!
Best wishes,
Daddyo

[Tin Can]

I meant 1.5 years...

Too late to change it!

[Daddyo]

BTW -Have you been shopping out your 1st 8x10 and if so, what are thinking of?

Yes - it's a matter capable of sending a person prone to it into a grand mal dither.

My two 4x5s are a Toyo VX125 and a Tachihara. I had a Toyo 45A II to start and loved it, then was gathered in by the VX125's design. I simply LOVE shooting with it, but its form factor is surprisingly not as good for fitting in a shoulder bag as you might think - it's kind of an odd shape. On the tripod, however, it feels like home. The Tachihara is astonishingly light, and fits neatly into a Tenba Cooper with a few lenses, film holders, and one of my trusty old Gossen meters. So for ambling, it's the Tachihara, for setting in place and working my way slowly along with the camera already mounted, the VX125 is luxury embodied.

As for 8x10, the obvious choice was a Toto 810M - but the weight!

So, after spotting a certain rare beast on fleaBay, I quietly gathered resources and courage, and then sprung: I've purchased, but not yet received, a R.T. Ritter 8x10. There were something like 30 people "watching" it - I'm just astonished it lingered long enough for me to put it all together to jump. Now I'm voraciously searching and reading here again, and decided to come out of hiding...

I need to watch the weight, since I've had several lumbar fusion surgeries (currently fused from L2-L5, plus both SI joints - the second just two weeks ago...)

I'm not crazy about getting older, but I think I would have liked not getting any older even less! (Only one way to do that, right?)

Anyway thanks, and you bet: I'll be glad to post my misadventures, flailings, and occasional bursts of brilliance along the way...

I appreciate the welcome, guys - Thanks!

Best wishes,
Daddyo

[Daddyo]

So you were a Buckaroo with Sheriff Bob?

Sure - I mean, who wasn't? Back when Bob Keeshan was the Banana Man, in his pre-Captain Kangaroo days...
And I liked Sky King. And Commander Cody. And Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea... (Say, Kowolski, why don't you go check out what made that noise down in the lab?)

I've probably established my bona fides as a farte of the olde sort...

Thanks for the welcome, Bob - I had a Linhof Master briefly along the way (see, I really have been reading) - it was an import from a Pacific Rim dealer and arrived very tired, indeed. I returned it with some regret, but a small amount of unspoken relief as well: that camera was heavy in a shoulder bag, especially with a few lenses and other Ancillary Adams, as it were...

Thanks and best wishes,
Daddyo

[Daddyo]

I meant 1.5 years...

Too late to change it!

Don't I know how that is! Kind of like the sixties...

Seriously, Thanks!
Daddyo

[John Kasaian]

Welcome aboard!
8x10 is a blast---enjoy the journey.