Super cheap old repro camera worth owning?

[tearcut1]

Although I superfically know that these do: They are pre CTP photo machine that snap images of paste-up or finished work that result in various halftone densities according CMYK to later be used exposed onto metal plates for offset. Can these act as large cameras alone and print large as well? i have no clue. This place next to my house has one for extremely dirt cheap, do you think just finding chemicals,film and paper online would make for good use for experimenting with alternative photography or large format ?

[jp]

I'd get one extremely dirt cheap if it were nearby. Couple of options... Shoot some paper negatives or xray film. Use the bellows and lens and back to build a portable or studio ULF camera. Play with it for a while and if you don't do anything with it, put it up for sale on here as parts and/or whole.

[tearcut1]

I'd get one extremely dirt cheap if it were nearby. Couple of options... Shoot some paper negatives or xray film. Use the bellows and lens and back to build a portable or studio ULF camera. Play with it for a while and if you don't do anything with it, put it up for sale on here as parts and/or whole.

Whats a ULF camera?

Listen up can this camera give me the following:

Non-Digital and Non-Halftone large images of : Canvas art, hand drawn illustration and graphic design art in good high quality ? Simiar to digital scanning but pure high quality and large photographic film?
(Scanning doesn't work for everything and $3000 cameras digital cameras are out of question now)

Also for taking images of packaging products?

What exact film, paper and chemicals do I need? Does it need Bromide?

Am i Limited to Photographic Paper or can I print on normal drawing or computer paper? with emulsion?

Do modern photo processors take such large negatives/positives?

[Drew Bedo]

Hello tearcut1,

It would help if we could see a picture of this equipment. Is it just a camera, or is it an automatic imaging system? A better description and an image would be good.

I think that ip3498 is suggesting that you first test the light-tight condition of the camera by making exposures on cheap film (X-Ray) or enlarging paper. The idea here is not to creat a timeless image of beauty, but rather to make test exposures prior to actually committing to buy. The camera will expose whatever light sensative material you place at the focal plane.

Once you have the beast at home you can shoot with Whatevr emulsion you choose.

"Large Format", or LF, is generally taken to mean sheet film formats from 4x5 and larger.

"Ultra-Large Format" or ULF, is taken to mean formats larger than 8x10, though many use this term to describe the panoramic formats such as 4x10 and so on as well.

I leave these descriptions open to amendment by anyone who feel strongly that this is inaccurate.

[Jim Andrada]

As Drew said, they'll expose anything you can stick in them, IF they're a camera and not some other kind of systems. The way a lot of big repro cameras worked was that they were built into a wall between a darkroom and the area where the copy was pasted up so all the film loading etc could be done directly and they commonly had vacuum backs as well. I think the film sheets were directly inserted without a film holder as we know them because with the back of the camera in the darkroom there was no need for film holders.

These things were not in any way portable and they were optimized for close up work. Somehow it doesn't sound to me like this is what you were talking about. More info (even a smartphone picture of the setup) would help

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uwe_kulick/209452190/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolvesf...-46195334@N00/

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Repro_camera

[TheDeardorffGuy]

They make great ULF enlargers too.

[Bill Burk]

As Jim said, the larger ones were made to be built into a wall of a darkroom with the lights outside the darkroom. The smaller "vertical" process cameras were made to fit inside a darkroom and be used in the dark. The back is light tight (after you load the film and close the back) but when you expose they fill the "darkroom" with intense light.

As long as it is not a specialized imaging system, you can put "anything" into the back and "anything" into the front and take a picture of it. You probably won't be taking the camera anywhere except in a van or something. And your subjects may need to be willing to hold still in front of bright lights. I have seen some portraits done on this kind of camera and they were definitely "interesting". Good luck.

[tearcut1]

Will try to take pics later on. Is there anything that is more compact but very similar to the repro?

[John Kasaian]

Will try to take pics later on. Is there anything that is more compact but very similar to the repro?

Smiilar in which way?
Which lens come with it?
Is it built into a wall or is it on a bed or rack of some sort?
Can you focus manually or do you need a power supply?

[tearcut1]