New to LF, need advice...

[David Whysong]

I'm trying to ready a 4x5 budget LF camera system for a camping / road trip in a couple weeks (to Canyon de Chelly and the Grand Canyon). In addition to the obvious landscapes, I'd also like to shoot some natural light portraits.

I have a Calumet 45N and some cheap old lenses - a Wollensak Raptar 127/4.5, a Graflex Optar 135/4.7, and a beautiful Zeiss 250/4.5 in a barrel. This last lens is, of course, the difficulty - I suspect it'd be great for portraits, if only I can shutter it. I could try to mount it in a Packard shutter for ~$260 new (ouch), or I can get a large shutter off e-bay for a bit more $$$ and try to adapt it to the rear of the lens. I don't have a metal lathe (yet), but maybe I could rig something temporary with fiberboard and duct tape until I can make a metal adapter ring.

My girlfriend will accompany me on the trip, and she wants to learn to use the camera also. (I'm so lucky!) She's even making a dark cloth for me. I'm making my own lensboards from 1/16" fiberboard. I cut the first one last night - it was much easier than I expected, and from my visual inspection it appears to be light-tight. I'll add some flat black paint and maybe some felt around the edges later. It is a bit flexible, but I'll glue on some reinforcing plywood or fiberboard to help make it more stiff.

I'm about to order a box of 50 sheets of Kodak T-MAX 100, and 10 sheets each of Kodak E100VS and Porta-160NC. I also have a Nikon D2h for use when hiking or when I otherwise want a quick photo. I will use the Nikon as a meter for the LF camera, though perhaps that will introduce up to ~ 1 stop of error, due to different lens throughput and possible differences in metering between film and digital. I will try to take a bracketed test shot before the trip so I can try to estimate the exposure compensation.

My questions are:

- What do people suggest for shuttering the Zeiss lens?

- Can anyone suggest strategies for metering accurately, using the D2h? Should I use spot, center-weighted, or matrix metering?

- Should I hang my head in shame if I want to have the film processed at a lab?

- Any other advice or suggestions?

Assuming I can get any decent photos, I intend to scan them for digital processing and prints.

Thanks for any replies,

-- David

[Scott Davis]

A packard shutter for your 250 should run about $100. Tops. Build a mounting box for it that goes on the front of the camera, like a lensboard. Then have another opening in the front of the mounting box the same size as your lensboard, and voila - you have your 250 with a Packard shutter for probably less than $150 if you already have some basic tools to make the mounting box.

For your own sanity's sake, I would recommend taking just one type of color film with you. Transparency and negative films behave very differently, and trying to mentally compensate for the differences and remembering which one you're shooting can be a real challenge.

I would also recommend against the TMAX 100 - it is such a contrasty film you will find you have a hard time controlling your highlights. If you want a film in that speed range, try Ilford FP4+. If you want to stick with the TMAX brand, shoot the TMAX 400 instead. It is more forgiving, and it is also excellent for long time exposures.

[steve simmons]

Here are my thoughts.

Don't use the 35mm digital camera as a meter. learn to use a spot meter.

Shoot film before you go to get calibrated.

Read one of these books

Large Format Nature Photography by Jack Dykinga

Using the View Camera that i wrote

and/or

User's Guide to the View Camera by Jim Stone.

Get a Polaroid back and some type 54 film (the 100 speed black and white)

Practice, Practice, Practice

steve simmons
www.viewcamera magazine

[j.e.simmons]

You don't have to have a shutter - I use an old barrel lens and simply take off the lens cap to expose. I've also used cards to cover and uncover the lens - other folks have used devices like socks, except made of more opaque material, and others have used hats.

As Steve says, you should practice before you go.

I've never had much luck with T-max 100, either, but some people like it. The only way to learn if it works for you is to try it.

There's no shame in letting a lab do the work for you. Where I live, it's hard to find one that will still do B&W large format. I would think that you would want to do your own B&W processing when you can to take advantage of the controls you will learn about. Color - you may want to continue to send that out.

Good luck.
juan

[MIke Sherck]

There are enough variables in making a photograph with a large format camera that you really need to have some experience before you go on your trip. Differences in lenses, shutters, film, filters, how the film is processed, etc. will all gang up on you if you don't, guaranteed.

Are you going to be processing your own film, or will someone else do it for you? You need to make some exposures with the equipment and film you intend to use before you go, get them processed and at least proofed, before you will have any sense of how the materials will respond to your own peculiar equipment and technique. This will let you know, among other things, about what speed to rate your film at in order to get the prints you want. For example, when I expose 100Tmax through my old Kodak Ektar 127mm (uncoated) lens I give it less exposure and more development in order to increase the contrast, than when I expose it through a more modern multi-coated lens. You can't learn this stuff from a book, it's all trial and error because there are so many variables.

With your Zeiss 250mm lens, if you can arrange things so that the shutter speed is a consistant time then you have a good chance of being able to use it the way old-timers used their shutterless lenses -- use a cap or something to cover the lens and whisk it off and back on to make your exposure. With practice you can figure out how long of an exposure you can consistantly make that way, then use filters and aperture to adjust the exposure to the range you can consistantly produce. It's a little inconvenient but once you have practiced it you'd be surprised at how well you can do. And it looks -very- dramatic.

Before you get too depressed, keep a couple of things in mind. First, there is a lot more latitude in terms of exposure with black and white materials than with color, particularly transparency materials. You can almost always get a recognizable image with B&W, even if it isn't the perfectly exposed masterpiece you were hoping for. The more you practice the better you'll get. Secondly, reading about using a view camera is no replacement for practice using it. If you haven't used a view camera before then you really need to practice the basics before you go. Try this exercise (I forget who I cribbed this from, but they were wise.) With all of your equipment packed the way you'll transport it in the field, set it up in your driveway or back yard as though you were going to make an exposure. Set it all up, compose, and focus, set and fire the shutter (no need to use film for this exercise. Just use an empty film holder.) Make sure that you've gone through all the steps in the correct sequence, then tear it all down, pack it away, and do it again. After a few dozen reps you'll have a pretty good idea of what goes where, in what order, and what you don't want to forget when packing for your trip. Don't worry about what the neighbors will think -- they all think you're crazy already for using this hulking big behemoth camera when "everyone knows" that a $200 point and shoot digital is all anyone ever needs.

Good luck!

[David Whysong]

Thanks for the quick responses!

Scott: I'll see if I can find a used Packard shutter; new #6 Syncro shutters from http://www.packardshutter.com/ are over $200 in this size. About film, I'll look for the Ilford FP4+. The 2 color films are for completely different purposes - E100VS for shooting canyons, Porta 160NC for portraits. I don't think either would work well for the opposite purpose. I won't have a chance to learn the film characteristics in advance, anyway... I'll just have expose for the rated speed, shoot, and see what I end up with.

Steve: I will have to meter with the dSLR. I don't have a spot meter or polaroid back, and between buying film, film holders, and trying to shutter the 250/4.5 lens my budget will be exhausted. Luckily, the dSLR does spot metering, and I can spot meter with a 50mm standard lens so the light isn't passing through many elements (and associated light loss) of a zoom lens.

I've been doing a lot of reading already, and I'll look for those books.

Thanks!

-- David

[Brett Deacon]

First of all, congratulations on finding a girlfriend who wants to learn LF! That is truly priceless.

I second Scott's suggestion of only taking one type of color film if you wish to simplify things. Since you intend to scan your film, you can always convert to B&W later.

Some of us here, myself included, use 35mm/DSLRs as lightmeters. I get very good results with my Minolta Maxxum 7. I meter for 4x5 the same way I do with 35mm using either the spot meter or matrix meter depending on the situation. No compensation has been neceessary in my experience. A spotmeter is very precise and much lighter than your DSLR but is not a necessity, especially at this point in your LF career.

No need to feel ashamed for having a lab process your film. We all have to start somewhere. It's better to take pictures now and send them to the lab than to take no pictures until after you've mastered film developing.

[Ted Harris]

First the Zeiss lens. What has already been suggested wil work fine if your circumstances allow you to use a slow shutter speed but not if you need something faster than 1 second or a half second. You should call Adam at SK Grimes (www.skgrimes.com) or Carol at Flutto's (www.flutoscamerarepair.com); either one can mount your lens in a shutter and will be able to gie you a close estimate of the cost of doing so. If the lens cells will drop directly into a shutter then the cost will be nominal (plus the cost of a shutter of course) but if that is not the case the machining could run up to $25- - 300.

As for TMax 100, I use it all the time and,while I prefer Fuji ACROS 100, find it an excellent film here though you need to makeyour own decisions as to what flavors of film you prefer.

[tim atherton]

"Here are my thoughts. Don't use the 35mm digital camera as a meter. learn to use a spot meter. "

What's your source for cheap budget spot meters?

[Ernest Purdum]

I suggest getting rid of the Raptar and Optar. They don't have large enough image circles for use of the movements of your camera. They are, however, in some demand for use on "press" cameras, so you should be able to sell them on eBay. Use the money to buy a lens in the 90 to 150mm range with an image circle of 210mm or so. If you don't know what lenses would be suitable, there are several good resources on the web and you can always get more advice here.

In addition to the worthwhile books Steve Simmons recommended to you, I like View Camer Technique by Stroebel. It is a big, expensive book, though and there have been complaints that it is less readable than the others. Maybe you can find it in a library to see if you want to buy it. It has lens tables that are helpful.

If you send me your mailing address, I will send you (no charge) a booklet on lens choice.

A hearty welcome to the LF community..