Show off your camera!

[SMBooth]

Fresh snow and delayed start of school, so I went out shooting this morning with my daughter. She likes snow like I do. This is the best time of year for photography.

Newest photo accessory is the sled. Bigger and tougher than a kids sled, smaller than a jet-sled.

Great for short adventures (like less than a mile), I'd use the jet sled if I had more gear or needed to haul food or other outdoor gear.

B&J 8x10, pelican case of film holders. Jacket for a dark cloth. symmar-s 300/5.6 and Kodak portrait 305.

And you can put some wheels under it for summer...

[Thomas Greutmann]

Time to stop being pretty and show a workhorse

What about a pretty workhorse?

This is my customized Linhof Master Technika. Some of the modifications are functional, some of them cosmetical.

The first thing you see is of course the red leather (from cameraleather.com) and the red bellows.



While the red leather on the housing is purely cosmetical the bellows (from a Chinese bellows maker on ebay who made a custom bellows to my specs) is a functional modification, despite the pretty red colour. It is a universal bellows which gives more flexibility for short lenses with a lot of movement.



The most complex (and probably irreversible) modification is that I have installed an inner rail focusing rack for short lenses (65mm and shorter), also from an ebay seller. You can now focus the short lenses with a little lever on the inner rail. I had to remove the rangefinder for this. This makes it more like a Technika 2000. A Master 3000 would be even better, but I cannot afford these (sigh). For rangefinder focusing I still a have a Technika IV cammed for 6 lenses.



And last, I have installed a spirit level on the accessory shoe and a foldable reflex viewer, both from ebay as well. I wear glasses and I always have trouble composing an image under the darkcloth. So I have switched to reflex viewers a while ago, which makes composing and focusing a lot easier for me, and I have tried a variety of these. The foldable viewer is faster and more compact for backpacking than the standard reflex viewer.



Now the only thing is missing is a nice Super Angulon 47mm XL to go with it so I can make full use of the modifications.

[Liam:]

Nice job Liam, 45mm is a nice 4x5 focal length. You won't be disappointed and there will only be nice light falloff to the edge. Looking at your build thread does not show how the filmholder attached, what did you end up doing?

Thanks, sadly I am just using elastic bands as this is just a quick build using what I had. I am on the lookout for a 4x5 film back and I will build another one which will be a lot better. I am not sure if the foam on the back is going to work that well at stopping light so I might have to put a dark-cloth over the top...

[Joe Forks]

Finally got something with enough brawn to handle the 18" Cooke. Thanks Eddie! Now I need a stand!

[akfreak]

Finally got something with enough brawn to handle the 18" Cooke. Thanks Eddie! Now I need a stand!

Now you need a stand. Glad to see that camera go to a good home. It is a beast.

[Kav]

My old Speed Graphic:


Ruling the roost among my other cameras.


LF items added since I took that photo:
LumoPro 160 Flash
Kodak Ektar 203mm f7.7 (370 mount version)
Rodenstock Grandagon 90mm - f6.8

[Matt_Bigwood]

My English MPP MicroPress press camera, similar in design to a top rangefinder Speed Graphic. 5"x4" with focal plane shutter speeded from 1/30 to 1/1000 second.

[path_rider]

[Frank Petronio]

Nice clean Crown Graphic, what a lot of people should use.

[Leigh]

Finally got something with enough brawn to handle the 18" Cooke.

My landlord has this same exact camera sitting on a table in his entrance foyer, with a plaque dating it to 1860. I was just looking at it two days ago.

The worm-screw swing adjustment on the rear standard is unique in my experience.

- Leigh