Anybody shooting 12x15?

[Paul Ewins]

I recently bought a job lot of old photographic equipment on eBay and one of the items was the carcase of a Lancaster 12x15 tailboard camera. There's no bellows or back but the rear standard is there and it is just good enough that I am considering cobbling together replacements for the missing bits and maybe using it someday.

One of the practical considerations is film and filmholders. I could simply make the back to suit 11x14 but was wondering if anyone is actually shooting 12x15 and what they do? The enlargements that hang on my wall are all 12x16 and I like that size, so a 12x15 contact print is rather appealing. I guess I could cut down 12x20 (and buy a 5x12 camera to use the scraps :-) ) or there is the cheap lith film that comes in 12x18 that could be cut down.

Any ideas?

[Struan Gray]

I have a 12x15 camera, but the holders leak light and despite enough good intentions to pave a three-lane motorway to Hell, renovating them and using the camera just doesn't fit with my current photographic obsessions. Still, I do have some info filed away in my 'to do' lists.

First, is to realise that 12x15 is very close to 30x40 cm. That means films are available in approximately the right size: you don't *have* to cut down expensive larger sheets, unless it is to get a particular emulsion. Until a few years ago there were plenty of graphics arts films sold in 30x40, but now they have shrunk to a few offerings. It's a standard European size for printing papers if you want to make paper negs. The re-sellers of E.European B+W films like Retrophotographic in the UK explicitly offer pictorial B+W film in 12x15 too

For colour, the only current option beyond a multi-thousand dollar special order is to use in-camera paper negs, either Ilfochrome or by reversal-processing RA4 papers. Fuji used to have 30x40 CDU E6 film in their catalogue, but I haven't looked recently to see if it is still there.

Normal-ish lenses that cover are fairly easy to come by. If you're on a budget the old 360 Symmar covers nicely for a mild wide angle, and 480mm/19" process lenses are very cheap and plentiful as normal lenses. There are of course modern Plasmat über-objektives if you want more sharpness than you'll ever need, or if you just like the pretty coatings. Wide or long tends to be expensive and/or rare, although 600 mm process lenses aren't too exotic if you want a long-normal.

I suspect your biggest problem will be film holders. There may be some ex-medical X-ray holders you can find locally and adapt, but otherwise you are stuck with homebrew solutions or coughing up for the beautiful-but-costly ULF holders from S+S, Brubaker or Lotus.

My own wild dream is to make a new back panel for my camera and do 40x40 cm square work. But it will have to wait until my current obsession with longer lenses dies away....