I'm confused, after using LF for 30 years. How do you use 4x10" in a 4x5" camera? Really want to know that.
I'm confused, after using LF for 30 years. How do you use 4x10" in a 4x5" camera? Really want to know that.
I own the gear, but those don't make masterpieces. My everyday experience.
You buy two old Calumet/B&J/Kodak metal cameras. The long monorail types that sold for around $100 when new.
You take the backs off and work with a machinist to combine them to one 4x10 back. You do the same with the rear standard of the camera and split the bellows on one and tape the cut out pieces from the other to make it work. Or, you cut off one side of one bellows and the other side of the second one, tape together and you have a 4x10 bellows for your new FrankenCamera.
It works. Have seen and used one. Cost, including machining was under $600 for the finished camera.
” Never attribute to inspiration that which can be adequately explained by delusion”.
Thanks for the clarification! So just as any other format change.
I own the gear, but those don't make masterpieces. My everyday experience.
I won't enumerate, but there are so many misleading statements in here i can't believe it. 4x10 is a nice format. not my favorite which is 7x17, but a nice format. I don't know what is the cheapest way to get into it, but a good old folding flatbed 8x10, with a cut down holder is likely it. 5x12 is only slightly larger, but film is available and the cameras are light. Finding a good old Korona like I use is not easy, but a lot less expensive than a new one.
One thing you should think about is how you are going to produce your work. Contact printing 4x10 negatives results in pretty small prints. If you can print them in the darkroom with an 8x10 enlarger, you have more options. I print my 4x10s in the darkroom on 8x20 paper. Scanning and digital printing may give you reasonable options.
Keith Pitman
Hey Patrick! I hope you are getting good info and opinions! If I had the money and room for another LF camera around the house, getting a dedicated pano LF camera would be fun...but like I mentioned earlier, I like the idea of 5x12, the older ones are not heavy and the old wood holders are light, also. I am curious if the 'added-on' conversions of smaller LF cameras to 4x10 are weight-efficient.
It is sensible to gear your decision based on your present developing set-up...and on your own carrying capabilities. Of course, one must always ask, why be sensible? I make platinum/palladium prints and carbon prints in 4x10. A nice size for both in the hand and on the wall (I mat/frame mine 12x16). I also make 5.5x14 negs/prints, but that size is for the wall since it seems (to me) to need a little more viewing distance even with my long arms.
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
Vaughn,
Yes I’m getting good info and feedback, as most houses in Belgium are smaller the the USA a smaller print size make sense here.
Still wrapping my head around a choice, I think a dedicated pano camera is difficult because when you take this with you you can only make that kind of images.
I find Belgium a difficult country to find good subjects, it’s a crowded country with not a lot of open space. So having something modular is quite handy.
And yes the carrying capabilities a few years back 15kg and 25km was not a problem now ... it’s more difficult for the schouders.
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