Fast shooting with 4x5 and 5x7...help me decide.

[Nick_3536]

Are you hauling both cameras? Why not build yourself a 4x5 back for the Toyo? A spare back is a lot lighter then a whole camera. Plus if you really wanted to you could take one shot with the 5x7. Swap on the 4x5 back and take a shot that way. All with the camera on the tripod.

[Gene McCluney]

Why not just take one camera with a couple of lenses, both with cable releases already attached. That way you can be up and running in no time at all. Relatively speaking.



Richard

The subject matter I am shooting (antique bridges) may be from 40' long to several hundred feet long, with limited area for locating a camera to encompass the whole structure, (fences, poison ivy, etc) so I have to have a wide selection of lenses readily available or I would not be able to capture the whole structure. This is entirely different than the average "art" photographer who has the flexibility to shoot what his camera can see, and not worry about getting it "all" in. What I am doing is more like architecture photography. My last trip, I used focal lengths from 75mm to 250mm to get what I wanted.

[Gene McCluney]

Are you hauling both cameras? Why not build yourself a 4x5 back for the Toyo? A spare back is a lot lighter then a whole camera. Plus if you really wanted to you could take one shot with the 5x7. Swap on the 4x5 back and take a shot that way. All with the camera on the tripod.

I have a 4x5 back for the Toyo. It would still require a lens change to get same angle of view, when switching backs. Thus a lens change, thus the time wasted fiddling with attaching a cable release. The solution is having the lenses more cable-release friendly, thus my original question.

[Richard Kelham]

OK, but even with the small (and floppy) cable release extension pieces you are still going to have to waste time screwing in the release. I have used one of these things on a 90mm Angulon when I wanted to use an air release: the attachment was too fat to screw into the shutter when flush with the lens board so it was a matter of necessity to use the angled extension. But it was still a fiddle attaching the release...

And I still don't understand the necessity of shooting on two different formats, even if they do share common lens boards.



Richard

[David A. Goldfarb]

The Gepe extensions are less fiddly than the cable release sockets on the shutters, and the extension is stiff and short enough and doesn't have a metal plunger on the end that could swing around and hit something.

[Larry Kalajainen]

Yes, I can be very quick with dSLR and zoom lenses - but the downside is that I keep maybe one shot out of fifteen...

A 15:1 shooting/keeping ratio? Wow! Last time I checked (back in the analog days; Lord only knows what it is now) National Geographic photogs shot at a 90:1 ratio. I expect I'm somewhere in between (I don't have the deep pockets for unlimited film usage that NG does.)

Larry

[Scott --]

Well, I don't know about you, but I can't think about angle, composition, etc., when I am futzing around trying to attach a cable release, so the "slow down" thing doesn't relate to quality time with me in my situation. For example: On thursday I went out with my buddy and shot 28 sheets 5x7 and 40 sheets 4x5 in about 8 hours. We were shooting antique bridges, our hobby. I would rather spend the time thinking about the shots rather than futzing with cable release attachment. I can't say about my buddies keeper ratio, but all my shots are keepers. I shot 2 sheets on each view, so I have 20 4x5 views and 14 5x7 views as keepers. The double sheet concept is so I have backup if a processing flaw or dust issue comes up.

Hey, Gene -

Are any of those shots posted somewhere? I'd love to see 'em!

[JavaDuke]

A 15:1 shooting/keeping ratio? Wow! Last time I checked (back in the analog days; Lord only knows what it is now) National Geographic photogs shot at a 90:1 ratio. I expect I'm somewhere in between (I don't have the deep pockets for unlimited film usage that NG does.)

Larry

That's when digital comes in handy. Get a couple of 4Gb memory cards, shoot in JPEG mode and you will reach 100:1 ratio or even more
I'm only 15:1 because I'm not shooting for NG yet ))

[Gene McCluney]

Hey, Gene -

Are any of those shots posted somewhere? I'd love to see 'em!

You bet Scott, here is a link:

http://www.apug.org/gallery/showgall...0&ppuser=16830

These are all 4x5 so far. Haven't scanned any of my 5x7 views yet. I try to add some text describing the bridges to each shot. These are all shot in the Western Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma region. Basically things I can shoot on a day trip from my home on the Arkansas/Oklahoma border.

[PViapiano]

34 separate views/sheets in 8 hours?

I tried to shoot 31 sheets in May, a sheet a day, in my spare time, and only made it to 21. I'm still trying to finish the project...plus the sun is out full bore in SoCal now and it totally obliterates any nuance in color/contrast during the day...