Hey guys.
Yes i know, I'm a little bit mad.
After shooting 4x5 for 6-7 years I'm finally fed up with enlarging and contact printing 4x5's. I just don't enjoy enlarging anymore and contacts are too small. It's time to make the step up. An 8x10 contact printing workflow had always appealed to me immensely and now's the time to make it happen, and hopefully for a reasonable price (that's the kicker).
I'm heading to Nepal in March for 3 months with a little side trip into India. I'd really like to have this all bought and ready to go by then. So what I'm looking for is a camera I can travel internationally with so weight and size are pretty important, and so is price. I've done a lot of hunting around and 8x10 really is another world as far as knowing what to look for. In a perfect world I'd get a new Chamonix but that's going to be well out of my budget. The Tachihara 8x10 (chrome) that MPEX has listed on their site is pretty tempting, but I can't find any info on it's weight (does anyone know?). But then there's the world of used cameras, and I really don't know what to look for. If I could get something ~5kgs for under $1k I'd be so over the moon, but I'm not sure that's realistic.
This is where I come to pick your brains. Are there any suggestions for specific cameras that either fit this bill or come close to fitting the bill to look out for? I really think it's going to have to be a field cam rather than a monorail to maintain the semblance of sanity I have.
Lenses are easy I think. I've always been a 1 lens guy. It's always been a 150mm on 4x5 but I'm pretty set on looking for a 240mm for 8x10. Just something a little wider will be ideal so long as it allows for a touch of movements (mostly front rise). There seem to be a few affordable options that will fit the bill.
Anyway, thanks a ton in advance for any advice you can give here. I keep going round in circles over this.
Bookmarks