Large Format and Strobes

[doncody]

Pardon my ignorance - it's possible this thread is in the wrong place. I am a newbie to this forum and LF, coming from MF.

I shoot dance currently with a 503c digitally and use broncolor packs and strobes to freeze action (jumps, scarves, hair, etc.). This requires very fast duration on the part of the strobes, and the combination with the Blad is great. My question is can I achieve the same effect with LF? Will the shutters sync appropriately? Does the type of shutter matter-eg., Copal, Schneider electronic, etc?

I always shoot on a tripod and wind the Blad manually. Can I reset a LF camera as quickly, or close to it?

Thx,
Don

[Peter De Smidt]

Don, the difference is that to get the same image on the 4x5 as on the Hasselblad, you'll need to use a longer lens, and so you'll probably want to stop down more, which means more light. Depending on your strobes, this may mean that the flash duration will be longer, but were talking going from, say, 1/10,000 of a second to 1/2,000 of a second. This all depends on your strobe. The leaf shutters in view camera lenses- Copal, Prontor, Ilex...- sync at any speed. I believe that the same is true for the Sinar shutter.

Can you reset the LF camera as quickly? Well, you can use a self-cocking shutter, such as a Copal Press shutter, but the big slow down would be loading film holders. If you must shoot very fast, you probably need an assistant to put the film holders into the camera, lift the dark slide, put the dark slide back, pull holder out of camera, repeat. Practice with some empty film holders should speed things up, but you'll never be as fast shooting repeating shots as the Hasselblad.

[David A. Goldfarb]

You can use the strobes in the same way. In general, the shutter shouldn't matter, as long as it's a leaf shutter, Packard shutter, or Sinar shutter and a few others (i.e., not the focal plane shutter on a Speed Graphic or Graflex reflex camera).

Sheet film is going to be slower than rollfilm, though you can get pretty quick. After you've focused you have to close the aperture, cock the shutter, insert the filmholder, remove the darkslide, fire the shutter, and replace the darkslide. You can speed things up with a self cocking shutter and Grafmatic filmholders that hold 6-sheets instead of two. You could also use Readyloads or Quickloads, which are more expensive.

So if you are shooting a set move, where you've prefocused and have enough light to get plenty of DOF to account for variations from shot to shot (I'm thinking Lois Greenfield style here), with Grafmatics and a self-cocking shutter, you could manage almost as fast with a 4x5" camera as you would with the Hassy for six shots at a time.

If you're trying to capture moments in a longer dance piece as it unfolds, rather than setting it up and shooting several takes of the same move, then I'd say stick to the Hassy (or maybe try something like a Gowlandflex, which is a LF TLR--info at www.petergowland.com, click on "their cameras").

[Gordon Moat]

Syncing should not be a problem, since most large format lenses now use a leaf shutter, allowing syncing at any speed. You might want to look into some of the press shutters, since those will not need to be manually cocked after each shot.

As Peter mentioned above, going from one shot to the next will be slower. You could probably get about one shot every couple seconds using a Quickload/Readyload set-up, though you would need an assistant skilled in changing packets. I know a few advertising shooters who work this way, and with practice it can be fast and efficient.

Unless you are using a Linhof with rangefinder focus, you will probably be pre-focused at a certain distance. If your talent stay within that plane of focus distance, then you should be able to capture the shots as you planned them. I did some fashion and lifgestyle shooting earlier this year that involved having the talent only move parallel to the camera; I stood beside the camera, and used visual clues in the scene to know the edges of the area captured on film. The advantage to me was greater interaction with the talent.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

[Edwin Lachica]

Gilles Larrain did a series with the American Ballet Theater using a Sinar 4x5 with the Expolux system.

[doncody]

Peter and David,

Thanks so much. You both hit it right on the head. I realized after I posted I should have mentioned that my intent was to stay with digital rather than try and do film, but it's good to know that it's possible.

Yes, David they are set moves ala "Greenfield" (she's the best).

I have been renting the Blad and am about to pull the trigger on a purchase and thought that maybe I should just make the leap to LF to take advantage of the movements for Still Life and Architecture as well.

I've been looking at the Alpa, and Silvestri. Any comments/advice?

Thx,
Don

[Michael T. Murphy]

Don,

Let us know how it goes.

I am all Broncolor in the studio. I had Topas A2, Mobil, etc. Then I picked up some Pulso A4, and now I want to do some dance photography, but only because I can.

The most important question on the camera is probably which ones have adapters for your digital back.

I have been using a Cambo Wide with film, I know a lot of architecture photogs like the Cambo Wide DS. But no tilt on those, just shift. There are some good threads on the Luminous-Landscape Medium Format forum on using the Alpa and others with digital.

I use a $100 laser measuring device to set distance on my camera. If you are shooting in darkish studios it can be hard to see the groundglass, and a pain to take the back off and put it back on. That and a viewfinder make for quick-ish work.

For still life your options are pretty wide open. You might want to buy a $200 monorail for that after you get the other rig set up. Biggest issue will be sharing lens boards between the two.

Best,
Michael

[al olson]

Don't forget to set your synch switch to "X". Your shutter will probably fire too late if it is set to "M".

[doncody]

You can use the strobes in the same way. In general, the shutter shouldn't matter, as long as it's a leaf shutter, Packard shutter, or Sinar shutter and a few others (i.e., not the focal plane shutter on a Speed Graphic or Graflex reflex camera).

Sheet film is going to be slower than rollfilm, though you can get pretty quick. After you've focused you have to close the aperture, cock the shutter, insert the filmholder, remove the darkslide, fire the shutter, and replace the darkslide. You can speed things up with a self cocking shutter and Grafmatic filmholders that hold 6-sheets instead of two. You could also use Readyloads or Quickloads, which are more expensive.

So if you are shooting a set move, where you've prefocused and have enough light to get plenty of DOF to account for variations from shot to shot (I'm thinking Lois Greenfield style here), with Grafmatics and a self-cocking shutter, you could manage almost as fast with a 4x5" camera as you would with the Hassy for six shots at a time.

If you're trying to capture moments in a longer dance piece as it unfolds, rather than setting it up and shooting several takes of the same move, then I'd say stick to the Hassy (or maybe try something like a Gowlandflex, which is a LF TLR--info at www.petergowland.com, click on "their cameras").

David et al,

You've convinced me I need a leaf shutter, but I will further display my ignorance here - exactly what is the potential problem with a focal plane shutter?

Best,
Don

[Jim Jones]

David et al,

You've convinced me I need a leaf shutter, but I will further display my ignorance here - exactly what is the potential problem with a focal plane shutter?

Best,
Don

The focal plane shutter on my Speed Graphic will X sync only in bulb exposures. This means the shutter will be open a substantual fraction of a second. If the ambient light is high enough, this will cause ghost images. Some medium format and smaller cameras have much higher X sync shutter speeds, and thus minimize this problem.