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Thread: Speed Graphic for Urban Landscapes

  1. #21

    Re: Speed Graphic for Urban Landscapes

    Two things that I found out about LF when shooting on a bike and when at night was the load on my back (backpack) put my center of gravity way too high for good stability in certain situations. Also, viewing the image on the GG at night was not easy. I would suspect that using the speed finder on a Graphic camera would be a better/faster framing choice, but then it does not correspond to the actual image on the film which is slightly larger. Also carry a small Mag light to set the lens aperture and shutter speed and carry a dof chart for you lens. You may also be interested in marking your bed with hyperfocal settings. I came to the realization that carrying the camera in a box thats attached to the luggage rack would be better. The tripod went across the handle bars; But each to their own.

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Frisco, Texas
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    143

    Re: Speed Graphic for Urban Landscapes

    Compared to youse guys (Cockney that eons ago made its way to New York), I am a sissy in my car: on a bicycle in Kings Cross area with tripod and a large format camera!Bernie

  3. #23
    tim atherton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 1998
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    3,697

    Re: Speed Graphic for Urban Landscapes

    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  4. #24
    Abuser of God's Sunlight
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    brooklyn, nyc
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    5,796

    Re: Speed Graphic for Urban Landscapes

    Tim, I like that video as a cultural portrait of NYC. Notice that no one even glances at the guy--tourists and the security guard included.

  5. #25
    grumpy & miserable Joseph O'Neil's Avatar
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    Feb 2004
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    London, Ontario
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    830

    Re: Speed Graphic for Urban Landscapes

    From my own urban landscape experience, as limited as it is....

    1) 135mm WF Ektars - I used to own one. Wonderful lens, but often hard to find and very expensive. You also need a special adaptor for filters. A brand new or good used 135mm Rodenstock Sironar - S, IMO, is the way to go. Even the Sironar - N is excellent.

    2) Repeat this mantra - Crown Graphic, Crown Graphic, Crown Graphic - you get the point. They are built like tanks, and if you run into any potential situation where you might have your camera damaged (I had some drunks physically threaten me once, even though I was pointing away form them at something totally different), the Crown Graphic will take a surprizing amount of abuse. Not that you want to find out firsthand (like I did ), they are not bad to repair either.

    3) It's your call, but tripods attract lots of attention - sometimes too much attention. A monopod leaning against a wall or a light post can do a lot in an urban enviroment. Also, I have used the tops of park benches, retaining walls - well just about anything at the right height that's not moving can make a great platform to rest your camera on for shooting.

    4) Back to the Crown Graphic, your main movement in an urban setting is usually front rise. Lots of front rise on a Crown Graphic, but look carefully, if possible, before you use some of the smaller 90mm lenses like Angulons or Wollensaks or Optars. Optically these can be great lenses, but some of them, more so on a Super Graphic than a Crown Graphic, you are focusing pretty tight to the body of the camera, so movement can be difficult just from a physical point of view. This is one reason I sold my old Super Graphic but kept my Crown Graphic - even though the Super graphic had more "real" movements, there was sometimes more room to move on the Crown Graphic.

    5) Crown Graphic vs other cameras - here's something I found out first hand, and it kinda surprized me. My wood field camera - a Tachihara - always attracts attention. Always. My Crown Graphic, in similar settings, usually - but not always - attracts attraction. I want to stay semi-anon now, I use my Crown Graphic.

    good luck
    joe
    eta gosha maaba, aaniish gaa zhiwebiziyin ?

  6. #26

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Van Buren, Arkansas
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    1,941

    Re: Speed Graphic for Urban Landscapes

    Something that has not been mentioned here, in regards using a Crown/Super Graphic in relation to urban photography. If you digitally scan your negatives for prints or reproduction, you can apply perspective correction in Photoshop, thus allowing you to shoot without much front rise for architecture, if your wide-angle lens sets back too far to raise the front standard. I have to do this when I shoot with my 65mm Super Angulon on any of my Graphics, as the front standard remains on the rail that sits inside the camera body.

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