Lost Art - Hand Held LF

[David A. Goldfarb]

Hmmm.... that should keep down the shutter vibration. Go for it Pete!

[Bruce Wehman]

Y'know, I think I have to agree with Pete on this one. I used to have a permanent red mark on the back of my left hand, from the strap of a Speed Graphic. The mark has long since gone away and I have never felt the need to return to that insanity....Even from a quality standpoint, the best hand held work I have ever done, with the exception of various aerial cameras, has been with a Pentax 6x7.

[julian_858]

A couple of years ago I built my own 4 x 5 point & shoot camera. You can see it here: http://job.webstar.nl/newcampg.html I didn't work to any plans so it is no use asking me for them. It works well but I haven't used it much lately. I use film rated at 800 ISO and a gray day soon brings the shutter speed down to below 1/30th sec. with the lens wide open at f8. Handheld I prefer to use it at 1/125th sec.

[julian_858]

I forgot to mention. Although the camera is light enough, carrying the 10 film holders I have is more inconveniant than the camera itself.

[Andrew Cole]

Although I'm the first to admit that the sharpness, etc. of the image is probably comparable to a good mf image, the images from handheld lf are definately not the same as mf. It's about getting a certain look from the photos, not about being heroic by carrying an outdated hunk'o'wood. Not sure I can be more specific than that, it's just different.

[Erik Gould]

Very interesting topic. Thanks, Richard for getting it started. I just wonder where are the users of that other classic handheld LF camera, the Graflex SLR? In college in the 80's I had a D-series 4x5 and a bag-mag. I did portaits and some other stuff. Unfortunately I sold it when I needed cash and my work changed. But talk about an interesting and rather unique look, and a lot of fun to work with, your sitters really feel like they are in on something special when they see you using one of those! Someone must be using them (I hope, or is it just collectors?) the prices for Super-D's keep going up and up. Someday I'll get back to that, I think.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Adapting my 8x10" Gowland for handheld use turned out to be quite an easy project--an evening's work. I made a simple short flat rail out of cherry wood that replaces the whole monorail and focusing system. I have a spare tripod socket from a defunct Bronica S2 body I bought for parts, which is inset into the rail and held with four small wood screws. The front and rear standards attach with 1/4"-20 screws and wing nuts. I've got one hole, so it's permanently focused at infinity with the 120mm lens. I may add another hole for a second focus zone, since I've got a bit of spare rail space. The whole thing can sit comfortably on a relatively lightweight tripod like my Tiltall or can be easily supported with a pistol grip that has a cable release trigger, like the handheld Sinar wideangle camera.

Now I need to make a viewfinder and I should be set.

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Andre Noble]

Has the KKK turned into a large format photography club, or are they still doing the ol' white supremacy gig?

[Rocky LaRochelle]

I use my Hobo 8x10 with a 120mm Nikon lens hand held. If you'd like to see a recent pic, go to http://www.rocky.larochelle.com/room_for_improvement.htm The site isn't about photography but I like to put an image in there sometimes. --Rocky

[Greg Lawhon]

Richard, you're hardly out of vogue! Based on the number of other people I've seen handholding LF the last few years, I'd say you're a trendsetter.

I'm an amateur and have used LF of various sizes off and on for fun for years. But the one aspect of LF I have stuck with is using a Crown Graphic handheld with rangefinder for "environmental portraits" of my kids (I had to use quotes because it seemed like a fancy term for taking their pictures as they ice skate, play golf, swing on the swingset, build their Legos, or do whatever they like to do at the moment).

Yes, I have several medium format cameras. I use them more often than anything else. But I love heading out with the Crown. It's pure fun. And it gives you a look you can't get out of a smaller format (but you knew that).

It doesn't bother me if the naysayers say nay. I won't have any less fun. I have a blast with handheld LF. In fact, I'm planning to pick up a Fuji Quickchange holder system (the modern Grafmatic) so that I can burn off 8 shots even more quickly!