Just bought a Graflex - newbie questions

[Frank Petronio]

Since you have a one-year old, a fun non-technical but very inspiring book is "Camera Ready: How to Shoot Your Kids" by Arthur Elgort. I like the title.

[Jodi]

Steve, thanks for replying. I definitely need to spend some quality time at your magazine's archives, I appreciate you offering up the link to me. The Dykinga book looks very interesting and will go near the top of my list. Thanks!

[Leonard Robertson]

If you haven't already found an online instruction book, go here: http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info.html Near the bottom of the page are several Graphic booklets. The "Pacemaker Guidebook" looks like the one for your camera.

[Capocheny]

Jodi,

In addition to Ernest's excellent recommendation of Larry Stone's book... I'd also suggest you take the time to look for Jack Dykinga's book entitled, "Large Format Nature Photography."

I recommend the book because he has actual photographs of the "end result" from the various movements employed on the camera to take the picture. At times, he also removes the bellows from the camera to demonstrate the camera configuration. IMHO, it's a GREAT book to learn from! [And, it's very affordable... you can buy it brand-spanking-new for about $25.00. Gotta love that! ]

[BTW, the Larry Stone book has one picture that clearly demonstrates how planes of focus work... it's one of the best I've ever seen!]

Lastly, the Stroebel book (although very complete) is absolutely the LAST book I'd try to read if I were just starting out... it is definitely NOT the easiest book to read!

Anyway, welcome to the world of large format photography. Come what may... be sure you have fun with it!

Cheers

[Ron Marshall]

Jodi, welcome to large format. The negative, by Ansel Adams, has lots of info about film and filters and processing.

I second the book by Dykinga, and View Camera magazine has lots of helpful info.

[Nitish Kanabar]

Welcome to Large Format Jodi.

The Crown Graphic is an excellent choice for a starter camera. I too started out with a graflex and they are simply wonderful cameras. The very first book you'll want is the user's manual. This can be found here: http://www.southbristolviews.com/

The next thing you'd want is to get comfortable loading the film-holders. Paul Butzi's website provides excellent instructions to do just that - see http://www.butzi.net/articles/filmload.htm. (thanks Paul!)

Then you'd want to develop a process for taking photographs - see the step-by-step instructions on this very site http://www.largeformatphotography.info/how-to-operate.html

These will take care of the bare essentials required for you to start taking photographs with your *new* camera. The other book recommendations will help you develop techniques to advance your photography.

Also, before you start, you'd want to clean your camera as many of these have not been used in many years. Here is an older post about this subject: http://largeformatphotography.info/lfforum/topic/504066.html#576993

Good luck with your new adventure.

[Christopher Nisperos]

Jodi,

Your Crown Graphic is a great choice for a start in large format photography. IMHO, it's one of the best all-round cameras ever made, even allowing you to shoot roll-film, handheld.

As for a good book, I'll second Ernest Purdum's suggestion for "Graphic Graflex Photography". With a little digging, you can find one on the web, and the effort will be worthwhile.

Lastly, try Craig Camera (http://www.craigcamera.com/ib_defg.htm). They have over 80,000 instruction manuals (and copies) in stock. They're very likely to have what you need for your Crown Graphic.

Have fun with your new tool/toy !

[steve simmons]

The book User's Guide to the View Camera was written by Jim Stone. I am not aware of a book on large format written by Larry Stone.

steve simmons

[Don Wallace]

You can do a quick and painless mod to a Crown Graphic that will allow for front tilt, one of the most useful movements. Email me if you are interested.

[Bill_1856]

The book you want to get started with is "Graphic Graflex Photography," by Morgan and Morgan, from the 1950s. CHEAP on ebay.