Reccomending a first LF camera

[bartf]

I'm stil a newbie and I've had some of the most rude, surprising answers (not here however)

I actually got yelled at when I asked about rangefinder useage and cams (at a camera show)

I also got some strangely dismissive answers when asking about fast lenses useable on a 4x5.

So now I'm shooting handheld, rangefinder focused out of spite, with a press camera

On a serious note, it's really the constraints of the cameras I'm starting with that allow me to understand movements (due to the lack of movements on my current cameras)

**and I'm still not particularly good, but I may as well do mediocre as large as I can LOL

Bartolome Feliciano
http://bfeliciano.com

[Vaughn]

frank, that's one of the most insightful things i've read in a long time. i'm going to have to try and remember that each time i'm reviewing a new batch of film thinking 'what the hell was i thinking when i tripped the shutter'

When one gains experience, one will avoid that. Instead, I'll spend an hour or so setting up the camera, composing and recomposing..then finally think, "What in the world was I thinking of?!" At least one eventually learns to save some film.

It is difficult to make equipment recommendations -- budget restraints and working habits are important to know. A machine that is awkward to use could frustrate someone right out of the format...yet be fine with someone of a different temperment. One person might learn well with a Crown Graphic and use it for years, but another might want to move beyond its inherent limitations within months.

Vaughn

[Michael Graves]

II might find their beginner photos boring but who knows how'll they'll evolve? Very few good photographers started out as good photographers -- everyone makes some mistakes.

Ain't that the truth. I didn't start out as a good photographer. Heck, it's taken me twenty years to become a mediocre photographer. I only dream of one day being a good photographer. And to tell you the truth, I'm like a lot of others in here. I buy older used gear that I get on the cheap.

I can claim that's why I'm mediocre, right? After all, even though my old speed graphic with its old 120mm Angulon is virtually the same outfit that Morris Wright took on his trip around the US that resulted in "The Inhabitants", his was a Graphic View, and not a Speed Graphic. So it was all those extra movements that he rarely used that made him so much better than me.

Now if only I could come up with a similar excuse as to why my spiffy Toyo 57G-II isn't taking better photos that the ones Ansel took with his rickety old Korona 5x7 up on Yosemite. It's probably because of those two extra zones he refused to tell us about in his books.

Personally, I love shooting with the old beaters. For one, I'm not afraid to haul them around over my shoulder. If I was carrying around a 5x7 Ebony with a spanking new Cooke Convertible on the front, I'd be so scared of dinging it or dropping it or getting it stolen that I'd wind up making it a shrine in my den and never taking mediocre photos.

[Ole Tjugen]

At the moment I have two 4x5" cameras. Both bought second hand, both very usable. They're at the extreme opposite ends of the scale with regards to both movements and price. Yet they are both very useful, and I wouldn't really recommend the expensive one as a first camera - except perhaps to an architect.

They're a $56 Anniversary Speed Graphic, and a $2000 Carbon Infinity.

The lenses I use are everything from nameless $20 Rapid Rectilinears to a 150mm Germinar-W; and they are all capable of making pictures. Probably good pictures too, with a bit of experience and a lot of luck.

[raucousimages]

In truth I see very little difference in the Toyo 45GX ($1000.00+ used) I use in the studio and the Toyo 45E ( less than $50.00 on ebay last week) I take out in the rain other than interchangeable bellows. So a 45E with Caltar 150, a few holders and good tripod will have you shooting for 3 to 5 hundred. If someone has a problem with that they can give you their gear or shut up. Some of the greatest images ever made were taken with gear most of us would think of as junk. On the other hand I have some of the best cameras and lenses money can buy and along with some fine images I still produce alot of total crap. It's the shooter not the gear.

[Andy Eads]

Frank,
Your insight about good photographers will be the quote-of-the-week in my high school photo classes.
Andy

[Lee Hamiel]

Erie:

I really don't feel that the general opinion is to tell people to spend a lot of money - at least over the last year or so - in order to get into LF

I see a lot of answers that suggest getting into it on the cheap to determine whether or not one may like it or not.

Often I see people asking "I'm a new LF user & have an Ebony ... - what lens should I get" kind of questions. I don't have that kind of money to experiment but will admit it would be nice.

I also feel that a lot of confusion comes from a number of people being frustrated by certain limitations with a given camera after using it & when someone asks "Which LF camera to buy?" a lot of people either suggest what is the answer to their frustration or is the camera they would buy someday to resolve these issues.

I will suggest that for people that do not want to buy & use 5 different systems until they land on the one that works - A play on your posting question:

Recommending a last LF camera

However - for me there is a lot of fun in discovering all of the odd nuances of Linhof & other makers.

At this point I have no working cameras in LF & need to make two bellows & one back before I get back into shooting again. Cheaper? Not really but gratifying in an odd way.

Regards