First time buying a 4x5...begging for assistance.

[Neal Shields]

I read Fred's post after mine. The sinar comes with a 18" bellows but only a 12" rail. The 6" extension rail is $159. The Linhof has 20" standard, the horseman 15",the Arca Swiss 15" with a 11.8" rail?

[Erik The Viking]

I just cannot resist this. It is a GUY thing buying gifts to woo a woman's heart. So it has gone beyond sweets and flowers...

Think about it as a system that you're starting her on. It is not a one-time purchase but the beginning of a system that she can AFFORD to add to as she progresses. Getting her a Sinar or Arca-Swiss is great advice but can she afford to maintain them and add pieces to them when she needs to? I am not sure what the situation is whe it comes to renting accessories for the Sinar or Arca-Swiss.

That said, know that Sinar-Bron offers the 4X5 Sinar X for about $2995 once a year at about this time of the year. Check it out with Sinar-Bron. I'd recommend a Rodenstock APO Sironar-S lens. As to the focal length, only your girlfriend knows what she wants. If she indicates a 150mm, get her a 150mm.

[Fred De Van]

I have almost never used the standard rail with my horseman. It is too short. If she shoots food and things like that she will definately need lenses like the 300mm just to make things look normal. Short lenses distort the objects in the shot. Egg shaped dishes 3D forks, cherries bigger than oranges. I often use a 480 Rodenstock Apo Ronar, or a 14" Ektar for food. You need a very long camera rail and bellows. My Sinar and my Szabad are both 8x10 models so long bases and bellows are not an issue on 4x5. I have 3 Horseman rails. The long one I think is 24". My Cambo is a 22, I think. I rarely use any 12-15 inch rails because the 135-180mm lenses are useless in the studio for anything other than full length people because of the distortion and you have to be so close that the camera interfears with lighting and access. But the distortion is horrible. I use short rails for Wide angle lenses, such as my Beloved 53mm Biogon.(Useless in studio, it really lives most of the time on a Granview). A too short camera (rail and bellows) will be a source of instant frustration, since the one thing she cannot do is the very thing she loves to do. It will do great landscapes with almost any lens, but do nothing at all in the studio.

If you do get her a 4x5 for Still Life/Food, you will need a real tripod. Look at the Davis And Sanford studio air support tripod, and the big Gitzo. The D&S costs no more than a manfretto, but is so much more a device a studio photog would love. Perfect in every way. definately not a overgrown toy.

[Ellis Vener]

I can't resist:

Fred wrote: "Still life and studio photography is not about ease, in is about craft and skill. Do not listen to that stuff about no yaw and other nonesense." Fred is either not a professional or is a professional masochist. yaw free makesa great deal of difference in studio shooting. I write this based on three years of assisting a top level studio photographer and seventeen years of some pretty high level shooting on my own. The reason it makes a difference is that by makingthe process of setting up the camera you increase your productivity and your ability to concentrate on the image, which in the end is the only thing that matters. With a camera that induces yaw (combination of swing and tilt movements) you go through tw oor more rounds of correcting your corrections, never a good thing.

[Fred De Van]

Neither can I

Ellis,

You sound like any one of five assistants I fired over the past 40 years of my effortlessly switching from a Deardorff to a Sinar to a Horseman to a Cambo. I would tell you the reason I fired them but like them you will (have) missed the point.

[Paul Schilliger]

Here are my two cents: If you are puchasing a camera for her or even just a gift certificate, you might be depriving her from half the pleasure of getting what she wants, where she wants. Over the years in photography school and talking with her fellow students, she might have now a pr etty good idea of what she'd like and where to get it. Some places have much higher prices and she could well fit another lens or useful accessory in the package depending on where she buys. So why not respect her own ability to make decisions and offer her a gift box containing some pictures or drawings of cameras and the bucks for it? Just a thought.

[kthompson]

I'm with Paul on this as well....the right camera is really a personal choice, and it might even take her one or two tries to find the right one for her tastes & style...why not just let her make the decision?

[Ellis Vener]

fred: As a commercial photographer running my own studio for seventeen years, I get the point:: they didn't want to do things your way. that's fine, in your studio, you are the boss.

[Don Welch]

Not getting into the question about why Fred fired the 5 assistants, I have to say that the yaw-free aspect of my Horseman is not just marketing. If I use it for a while and switch back to my old Cambo, I feel the difference in the efficiency of setup time. "Sensitivity and true feel for the craft" can't be quantified objectively. (The person that brings it up first can claim to have it, and that the other person wouldn't recognize it if it bit them.) But I can quantify and qualify efficiency of setup time, and I don't think that lessens my craft or skill in using the camera. If I wanted an easy life, I wouldn't be using a LF camera.