What is the absolute worst piece of advice aboutLarge Format you have ever gotten, read or over heard?

[Jeff Buckels]

This isn't a single piece of advice, but a pattern of advice that is insidious, and it comes from the great Adams, whom I love to pieces in general: The advice, diffused throughout all his instructional writing but concentrated in The Camera, is to have a bunch of lenses to get you through all these kinds of situations that arise. This is bad advice for beginners, and it can get the most experienced LF photographer off-track. Beginners should be told to get "a" lens and then get their heads under a darkcloth. Money should be spent on film, chemicals, and printing paper. -jb

[Noshir Patel]

Can't take a picture in the wind.

I just got back from California where I took some pictures in considerable amounts of wind (on the coast, where I almost lost my balance due to wind on one occasion). Using a Tachihara (which I've heard is not rigid enough for windy conditions) and no umbrella (because the umbrella I had was about to collapse in the wind) I took pictures anyway. I even had to steady the quickload envelope with my hand (touching the camera... ooh! bad!). Slides came out acceptably sharp anyway.

[chris jordan]

ha!! what a great thread. well my contribution is not a bad piece of advice, just the best comment i've ever gotten by a passer-by. over the years as i stand next to my camera at night in downtown Seattle, making multi-hour exposures of urban trees, i've gotten quite a number of hilarious comments, wierd looks, people thinking i'm everything from a cop doing surveillance to an astronomer shooting the stars. but the best one was this 17-year-old punk-looking kid with his girlfriend who walked by with all their earrings and raggedy clothes, and without even slowing down he looked at my camera, and up into the tree, and said "oh yeah, tree shots" and they kept on walking. HA!!!!

~cj

[Tim Klein]

That you can't make images that are worth a darn shooting in mid-day light.

[chris jordan]

jeff, i couldn't agree more. it's always amazing for me to see guys out with their massive 35mm rigs-- several camera bodies, a whole collection of lenses, a linear foot of filters, a bunch of different kinds of film, all in an enormous padded bag that's twice the size of my 4x5 bag (which is an old rucksack that contains my camera, one lens in an old cardboard box, 5 filmholders, light meter and some knicknacks). i shot for 7 years with only a 210mm lens, then four years ago bought a 135mm lens that i have only taken one picture with so far-- i see everything in "normal" perspective so i have little use for additional lenses...!

~cj

~cj

[Bill_1856]

The all-time worst advise must be the stern admonition that Kodak used to make in the instruction sheet packaged with all their film, "never make pictures within 2 hours of sunrise or sunset," followed closely by "Always have the sun behind you."

[floren de la rama]

Shooting large format is superior to everthing else. What a load of crap. I have the same attitude towards those who expound 35mm or digital only. Elitism and dogma should never be encouraged.

Cheerio

[Steve Feldman]

Worst: "It's just like 35mm."

Best: (Trueism) "A large format neg of a crappy image is still a crappy image . . . with a lot more information."

My own contribution: "Common knowledge is not common." (Same for common sense.)

[chris jordan]

"sticky shutter? just stick the little red straw of a WD-40 can in the hole and pffffffffff..."

end of shutter.

~cj

[dan nguyen]

there are so many of them that I don't want to remember..for my sanity sake... but here are the 2 most recent ones...

(about LF) - "the time you make one picture I finish 2 rolls (of 35mm) and having lunch.... " (about 35mm) - "In my opinion the quality of the picture is in the camera body.." (he has the latest 35mm reflex with a generic 28-300mm zoom lens..)

one world of advice...please refrain to argue...it doesn't worth it...