best place to sell equipment?

[Doug Paramore]

Andy: I agree with the others....don't sell yet. Give LF a chance. It might help if you could find a more experienced LF shooter and go out with him/her a few times. I learned LF while I was living in the Panhandle of Texas, where a standard day would bring out the weather warnings down here in Alabama. As peviously stated, why not make contact prints until you get darkroom space and rent space to make large prints. 4x5 contact prints mounted in 11x14 frames can look positively elegant. You may can come up with some ideas for utilizing teh space you have. One of my friends made a stand out of 2" PVC pipe that would fit over his commode to use as an enlarger table. He used PVC elbows and tees for the connecting elements, and instead of glue he drilled small holes and dropped nails in the holes to hold it together. It was suprisingly stable and could be broken down and stored in a closet or under the bed. He used a 3/4 piece of plywood for a tabletop. It would be such a shame for you to have to dummp all that great equipment at a loss when there is the possibility that you may get comfortable with and love LF. Good luck, and stick with it a little longer.

Regards,

[M.]

I read your complete list of equipment. Suggest that you buy a tripod and try it again; it makes LF photography much easier and more enjoyable.

[William Marderness]

When I switched to 8x10, I thought about selling the camera the first several months. After six months, the camera felt right, and now I would not give it up.

[Jim Chinn]

I agree with all previous posts: Give yourself more time. I have used 4x5 and 8x10 for several years and struggled for several months when I started out. I probably made every mistake possible when learning (loaded the film backwards, forgot to pull darkslide, double expose film, pull darkslide with shutter open, etc, etc.) But I stuck with it and all it took was a couple of great images out of 20 to keep me going back then.

I also faced the problem of limited space for a darkroom. My solution was to buy a JOBO CPE processor. The JOBO fits on a counter top and allows you to process film and prints without trays and the need for a lot of space. The old style drums allow you to develop 4 to 6 negs at time. I also did not have an enlarger early on so I contact printed with a contact printing frame and a homemade light source. I figured as long as I had the negatives anything that was exceptional as a contact I could have enlarged for me. That lasted about 6 months and I found a way to make darkroom for a D2 enlarger. You can find JOBO processors and accesories often on Ebay and in Shutterbug adds. If you still don't have room for an enlarger sell the 4x5 and move up to 8x10 and forget an enlarger as those contacts will blow you away. You can still use the JOBO for all your processing. Good luck.

[Nicholas Fiduccia]

Andy,

You have gotten some kind words of encouragement so far from this forum and I want to also say to give it some more time. I live in the Bay area and while I haven't taken the large format plunge yet, I have been thinking about how I will process when I do. I plan on processing B&W film in my bathroom (been doing 35mm for years) and going to a community darkroom to print. There are several in the Hayward area. My favorite is "The faultline" in downtown Hayward. They have nice facilities and if you get a monthly pass, the cost is quite reasonable. They even have a dry-to-dry processor for color paper that works well if you want to print color negatives. I plan on going digital when I shoot color. At the very least, I can proof my prints on the computer and then take the proof and the film to a pro lab to have printed. The only printing instructions I will give them is "match it"! Good luck!

[QT Luong]

Lack of printing facilities would not in my opinion be a compelling reason to leave LF. In fact, I have several thousand transparencies and so far have printed about 25. You can always print latter, or rent a darkroom for B&W. If you buy transparency film by boxes of 50 and have it processed at one of the labs I mention on my homepage (not the LF page), the cost would be less than $3/sheet.

[ab]

wind: you need a heavier and sturdier tripod. one for medium format in the least, not 35mm.

too many shots: the larger viewfinder is great for composition. if its not good in the viewfinder, dont bother wasting the time and $ and be happy that you walked away. 35mm is great for spontaneous shots, but large format is not. your ratio of good/junk shots will be much higher than with 35mm. pay heed to the guy who shot 1000s of trans and printed only 25.

but finally if you want to get rid of that top of the line equipment, damn. merry christmas in july.

[M.]

Do it. You've tried it. It's not your bag. Get rid of the stuff, and go back to making pictures with eqipment that you enjoy using, not something you have to fight with. Photography is for pleasure, not for collecting expensive toys. Ansel Adams and Brett Weston quit using view cameras several years before they died, and both claimed that the prints from their smaller negatives were better than those done earlier with the 8x10s (note: they were both into enlarging their negatives, not contact printing fanatics). Don't feel guilty because it wasn't for you. Dump the stuff and get on with it.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Andy, I disagree with everybody here...lol..both for pro or con selling your equipment. I think you first need to really soul search and see what you want in your photography. Do you really want to do B&W? Are you hapy with your color prints? Look, I am a LF photographer, I was one of those lucky enough that went from 35 mm to 4x5 and after 8x10 and the bigger the easier it was for me, BUT I also have many friends who shoot 35 mm, and those who shoot slides produce some of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen! I specially have one friend who shoots only 35 mm, he is greatly talented and his landscape shots, printed in cibachrome are absolutely wonderful. On the other hand as a LF photographer I have yet to see something better than a contact print in B&W. In the end, examine carefully your style first! ask yourself what do you want to acheive with your photography? and don't forget, even with 35 mm, using digital techniques like those of Dan Burkholder (who shoots only 35 mm, but is capable of making 16x20 negatives for contact printing) you can still make large negatives later on, if you decide to go this route. I think your disatisfaction derives from your lack direction more than your inhability to use the camera. If anything don't sell your camera until after you took your workshop in the zone system, I think you would regret it if you do so and then realize how much easier you could have acheived your goals with the zone system and a properly exposed negative. I wish you luck and hope you soon find what you are looking for in your art.