Monorails and Backpacking! Is it possible?

[PhotographicBlack]

I have a very nice monorail 4x5 camera and am on a deadline to impress a highly acclaimed local gallery, Camera Obscura. I am unsure if it is possible to backpack with a monorail. I'm in great shape and willing to go great lengths to get a shot. Anyone experienced in this "field."

As a secondary question, Anyone experienced in focusing during the night and if you could give me details in light of making the brightest out of ground glass?

-R

[Ron Marshall]

It is possible, I packed my Sinar F1 (only 7.5 lb but bulky) on a moderate 5 mile roundtrip. Granted that is a short hike, but I have had back surgery.

Now use a 3 lb Toho, so most dayhikes are a breeze.

If you are in good shape then with a good pack and ready/quickloads you will be fine.

Kerry Thalmann has much valuable info on his site about backpacking.

[Frank Petronio]

If you tell us which camera you have people might share a trick or insight as to how they pack their cameras. In the case of the Sinars it is possible to fold one standard over the other by raising one higher and then tilting, making it a fairly compact package.

As for night shooting, a small penlight like a MiniMag can be placed at the appopriate distance. You could also pre-focus and mark your rails with the settings. And since you can usually find infinity along a horizon line, and if you know where, say 30' is in focus, you can probably do a half-decent job of estimating where to put things to hit 60'... with a little extra stopping down for error.

Best of luck.

[Ron Marshall]

I changed the ground-glass to one made by Satin Snow. It was brighter and easier to focus with.

[Alan Davenport]

Sure, it's possible, but monorails are tough to get into most backpacks. I have a Calumet 540 that I have packed with. I made a dummy rail just long enough to mount both standards with the bellows fully compressed, and can get the camera into a Lowe Super Trekker with a 12" rail, 3 lenses and the rest of the needed stuff. For other packs (and maybe the Lowe) a better solution might be to find a plastic storage box (Rubbermaid or similar) that you can put the bellows in for protection. The rest of the components are pretty stout and only need a little padding.

[Carsten Wolff]

I do it all the time, 5x7/4x5/6x17 Arca, in a normal light trekking backpack; I just did a 4-day walking trip through the australian outback (winter). Manfrotto 055 was fine (Carbon fibres aren't necessary in my experience). Total pack weight with all other gear 37lb. plus water. I took about 20 color (6x17) and 16 b/w (5x7) on a 20-mile round trip. Do-able, hey? - As Frank said: which camera do you have?

[Sheldon N]

I've since gone to a wooden field camera, but for a short while I backpacked with a Cambo monorail. Here's a thread that shows how I carried everything...

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=17688

[Doug Dolde]

Of course just get an Arca Swiss Field.

[David Karp]

You can do it. I have done it with a Calumet 45NX and a Cambo 45SF. It all depends on the backpack, and how far you plan to hike. The longer the hike, the less practical it becomes to hike with a monorail. Its not just the weight, its the configuration of the camera.

[PhotographicBlack]

I have a Sinar 4x5 LF and to my recollection, an 18in. monorail. It comes with carrying case, but I assume that's too difficult. If anything there's anything else I'm forgetting, it's because I'm so new to Large Format. I've been shooting medium for 2 1/2 years now and know the SLR and the TLR family pretty well: 4x5 is a whole 'nother animal.

Also, I have a Bogen carbon fiber tripod that's rated up to 15.4 pounds, and a bogen head (the 3028) rated up to 11.1 pounds. I've used them all together with the 4x5 together and they've worked fine. Might there be some shake over a period of 6-7 hours with such a light weight set up? Would someone recomend that I used a more heavy duty tripod?

-R