Hi Chris,
I've been following this thread with interest. Haven't seen this addressed yet: Do you ever use the wire (sports) viewfinder on the speed graphic (with the bed scale)? I've got a stripped-down 1947 crown that I resurrected after somebody stripped most of the parts away. The RF is gone, but it has the advantage of weighing 1/3 less than the original (and less than a speed since it's smaller). I'm just starting to use it for some hand-held shooting, but I like the feel of it so far. I've added my own distance marks to the bed. I also like the wire viewfinder b/c there's nothing between my eye and the subject. I'm guessing that you've tried this, but you prefer using the rangefinder. Given your experience with the speed graphic and razzles, I'm interested in your thoughts.
Thanks in advance, and keep up the good work!
Hi Michael,
I have both a crown and a speed--my crown came with a distance scale already done by a previous owner as well as an exposure compensation scale for close-up bellows extensions, but I have never used them. I have used the wire frame from time to time just for framing ( and I so agree with you on the benefits of nothing between you and your subject this way), but I still rely on the rangefinder for critical focusing (both cameras have working RF). I think that I would certainly use the bed scale and sports finder with lenses under 135mm and for subject matter that is over 15ft away at f11 or greater, but I will say that since focus is so critical and I tend to use low F stops I feel more comfortable with the RF--the reason why I really like the Razzles is because you can focus and compose on the move which is so necessary in making journalistic images. I think it's really cool that you are working with the scale and the sportsfinder and there is no doubt that with practice, you will be as deadly with that method as if you were useing a rangefinder! The bottom line is to shoot pictures and be happy; and it sounds like that is the case on your end. I would love to see some of your work. Keep on shootin'!
Cheers, Chris
Using a Graphic with the top RF/VF will considerably ease your problem of shifting from range to view finder (a completely natural action for those of us who grew up with Barnack Leicas).
In referring to a "handle" I presume that you mean a Linhof Anatomic Grip, which I fnd a PITA. I find the standard Graphic leather grip, which you slide around the back of your hand, is a very natural way to hold a graphic.
I'm afraid that you're right about the negative archive business.
I just watched Kens Burns' "The Civil War" documentary, and at the end they said that over one million glass negatives had been taken during the war, but that afterwards no one wanted them, and they were sold for the glass in greenhouses, where they gradually faded away. That's why one should rely on his prints, not his negatives (or digital files) for posterity.
Total agreement on the "Digital Disaster Waiting To Happen"... I am a computer consultant and here are just a few of the Disasters I have experienced on my own and on client machines in recent times:
1) Flash, thumb, jump, travel drives for storage. I have personally lost (destroyed beyond formatting) three of these drives in the last few months. My final determination. Plugging them into active USB hubs that have their own ac adaptors have destroyed at least two. I suspect the active USB hubs may be a bit to high on the voltage used to power the USB drives (YOU do know there is electric current in the USB port to power the drive, RIGHT??). The other activity that I know destroyed one of the drives is when I did not use the USB tray function (System Tray) to turn OFF the USB port before I pulled the jump/thumb drive out of the port (machine port or hub). In addition, if you are hooking your actual digital camera's up to your computers, are you disabling the USB function before unplugging the camera?
2) My current lightscribe DVD RW dual layer drive does not read a lot of my early CD disks on which I have images stored, so I have to make sure I keep an old CD-RW drive around to read those disks. How long will I have to keep an old drive functional. As long as I keep those images and files on that old disk. It's a ton of work to transfer them. I need the old drive in the machine, alongside the new drive. I anticipate I am going to have to migrate those files every few years.
3) At least one client has burned out a 160 Gigabyte nearly new external hard drive, by running his photoshop editing from that drive over the USB port. USB is NOT (even 2.0) fast enough to be the working drive for image editing. The drive was trashed beyond reformatting. Had to buy a new one.
4) I continually talk to people who think because they have all their images on an external drive, that they are backed up. In reality, the pics are not still on the actual computer and hard drives fail. A backup is NOT a backup until it exists in two places. And I suggest a non magnetic second backup on CD or DVD, off site.
So, it occurs to me that the only ongoing preservation of images for archival purposes, that won't involve migration to another media every few years, will be to take all your important image files to a photo lab and have them output to negative or transparency media, and store them in individual archival sleeves, in climate controlled dry storage. Gee, should they have been shot in digital in the first place. The first poster apologized for the rant. I do not apologize. This is NOT a rant. This is reality.
Great thread thanks Chris for starting it, I found it very imformative. I also have a razzle on the way from Dean, a nice yellow one he has christened BANANARAMA.
Thanks for all the tips and information, this is a great place to learn and improve. Weegee look out!
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