Show me what you can do with LF! (That you can't with smaller formats.)

[rdenney]

I've been doing quite a few experiments along these very lines in the last six months.
And I'm pretty amazed just how much better the shots are, apples to apples, with
a view camera and rollfilm camera versus an ordinary med format rig. Being able to
practically carry any number of lightwt lenses, and even more, having the plane of
focus ability, means being able to use these lenses at optimal f-stops and applications.

That was my thinking also. But the Pentax is still easier to fit into a carry-on bag for travel, even with a pile o'lenses. I can put the 6x7 with TTL finder and grip, plus a 45, 55, 75, 105, 135, and 200mm lenses in my LowePro Photo Trekker Classic. I can trade the prism for a chimney finder and save pounds, too.

But I have nearly the same capability with the Sinar and a rollfilm back: 47, 65, 90, 121, 210, 240, and 12". All of these fit in my typical Sinar kit. I can manage all those with the bag bellows and the standard bellows. I just haven't found a way to make that fit in a carry-on, considering its larger profile needs a tripod solution that won't fit in a checked bag. I use a medium-sized carbon tripod with the Pentax (plus plenty of damping) with an Arca-Swiss ballhead. I don't think that tripod could do it with the Sinar.

I'm also limited in terms of time, often at the mercy of other peoples' schedules when traveling. It takes a LOT less time to make pictures with the 6x7 than with the view camera, though, of course, the reason for that is that the Pentax provides so many fewer image-management tools that need to be manipulated.

These things have been running around in my head for a couple of years now as I've been trying to get back into more regular large-format usage.

Rick "who once almost bought a Galvin, and at a different time just missed a Plaubel Peco Junior kit, but who prefers the Sinar to each despite being bigger" Denney

[Drew Wiley]

The Sinar system will easily fit into a carry-on if you simply break it down then reassemble on location. Only takes a few minutes. But for airline use I personally pack
the Ebony 4x5. Everything including the Gitzo tripod goes in the carry-on. Can even
add the Nikon if needed, or substitute two P67's for the 4x5 kit. The later Pentax lenses are really quite sharp at reasonable f-stops, but even a moderately wide 75mm,
for example, needs to be stopped down too far in a great many applications for optimal
performance. There simply is no real substitute for real view camera lenses and
accompanying movements. A few days ago I was getting only a low percent of shots
because, by the time I had the Ebony set up, either another round of severe hail would
show up, or the incredible complexity of the clouds swirling around the peaks and so
forth would block out things entirely. I think I got a fair number of shots, but the
very best ones were logistically impossible. Under such conditions just getting in the
daily mileage and getting out off the passes before lighting move in, takes the priority.
A Mamiya 7 with a 210 lens would have been the only quick lightweight option, though
if I had owned and carried one, even more shots would have been lost in the case
of those numerous instances when I needed a true view camera. Even with the distant
scenes generally required some foreground correction. Last year I took the P67 to Maui
because I knew the winds up on Haleakala would be fierce, and they certainly were.
When I took my Sinar up there a decade before, I couldn't keep it from shaking. But
basically, one just adapts to the equipment on hand. You can't bring everything!

[tgtaylor]

Comparing a Pentax 6x7 to a medium-format view camera (or it's slightly larger cousin, a 4x5 view camera with a rollfilm back) is not, of course, the question asked by the OP. But it comes up with me frequently. If there was a quality medium-format view camera with the same lens flexibility as the Pentax and that would travel as easily, and if I could afford it (which is the tricky bit), I'd probably try to buy one.

But here's a twist. Let's say I want to make a picture that needs a focal length six times normal. With my 4x5 camera, I have all the movements in the world. But a 900mm lens is quite a challenge even with my ultra-extendable Sinar. And with 8x10, a lens that long (1800mm) is way beyond realistic.

Consider the Pentax 400mm f4 ED(IF) with 1.4 tele extender or the Pentax 600mm f4:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/re...es/600mm.shtml

Thomas

[Brian C. Miller]

Bulls balls? Accordians? Thank God I live on the civilised side of the pond.

Resurrected (again) from from Henri Gaud's 11x14 Canham review.

Using a brand new 11x14 as a picnic table is a "civilized" use? *gasp* The poor thing is going to be covered in ants and have initials carved into it in no time!

[tgtaylor]

Bulls balls? Accordians? Thank God I live on the civilised side of the pond.

Resurrected (again) from from Henri Gaud's 11x14 Canham review.

Wow! Lighter than my Toyo 8x10G, takes the same lensboards, and I already have a lens for it: 360mm Schneider Symmer-S.

Thomas

[Drew Wiley]

Tom - there's one of those 400 EDIF lenses for sale right now for around four grand,
and looks like you'd need an astronomical-grade tripod for it! Forget the tele-extenders
- they'll destroy all the "EDIF" you paid for in the first place. My 360 Fuji A on my
4x5 ebony will give a better image anyway on a 6x7 back, and work on 4x5 and 8x10
film as well, maybe even on 11x14. I'd love to own the 300EDIF for wildlife work, but
never could justify the extra expense. Shooting fairly wide thru a red filter with 25
speed b&W film, the ordinary P67 300 is just as good. Only for astronomy and color
film is the difference signficant. Overall, I've found I use conventional med format like
the P67 only about 2% of the time, 35mm maybe another 20%, and LF for the overwhelming majority of my work. But everyone has their own particular style.

[Drew Wiley]

Brian - it all depends where you buy the ants. For gourmet picnics with tea and cucumber sandwiches, you go to someplace like Whole Foods and check out the picnic
supplies section. Fresh Fiesty Fire Ants are particularly recommended for Mex-Tex cuisine.

[Steve M Hostetter]

Well, I don't have a college education or a sucretary, or awards, no clients, no expense account, never been in a photo gallery.
I never gave a workshop, never been a teacher (other then on a construction site), I ain't never sold photos for a living, never wrote a book, and I never used a multi thousand dollar digital back. I did drink a whole bottle of elmer's glue (family size) on a dare once in middle schoo art class.. Talk about pasty face

Oh, and that time I was drinkin Mad dog 20/20 from a pickle jar (homeless guy shared it) and got arrested for public intoxication and lude behavior in front of an adult book store . I do have an 11x14" camera and saddlebags to stuff it in, she mighty purdy! And there ain't no 11x14" image from a smaller format camera gonna come close to the drop dead sharp clearity and tonality I get from my sweet baby Jane Korona
Now we can argue about this all day but it won't change my opinion!

kind regards steve " the guy that don't know dick from dirt" hostetter

[Tom J McDonald]

Well, I don't have a college education or a sucretary, or awards, no clients, no expense account, never been in a photo gallery.
I never gave a workshop, never been a teacher (other then on a construction site), I ain't never sold photos for a living, never wrote a book, and I never used a multi thousand dollar digital back. I did drink a whole bottle of elmer's glue (family size) on a dare once in middle schoo art class.. Talk about pasty face

Oh, and that time I was drinkin Mad dog 20/20 from a pickle jar (homeless guy shared it) and got arrested for public intoxication and lude behavior in front of an adult book store . I do have an 11x14" camera and saddlebags to stuff it in, she mighty purdy! And there ain't no 11x14" image from a smaller format camera gonna come close to the drop dead sharp clearity and tonality I get from my sweet baby Jane Korona
Now we can argue about this all day but it won't change my opinion!

kind regards steve " the guy that don't know dick from dirt" hostetter

Best post on the thread... No, the forum!

[tgtaylor]

Drew,

$4K for a used 400mm EDIF sounds a little steep. One sold last year for $1600 that was in mint condition and, although I haven't been in the market for one, I have saw them selling in the $1600 to $2000 range on ebay. I own both the 300mm and 400mm non ED versions purchasing the 400mm as a "demo" from Adorama for $795. Except for the box, which looked like it had been opened several hundred times, the lens was in absolutely pristine condition: not even one speck of dust in the lens or even the slightest mark on it anywhere. Although it is a heavy lens, ~8 lbs, a Gitzo G1348 and Arca Swiss Z1-sp ball head will hold the lens and camera off-axis without migration or vibration when using slow shutter speeds. Recently I bought a Gitzo G1500 tripod and G1570M head off the forum which will provide an even more sturdy support should that be required. Here's a link to an astronomical image of the Horsehead Nebula taken with the 400mm non-EDIF: http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/ima...a_xga_7hrs.jpg

Although the non-EDIF version is super sharp - sharper, IMO, than the 300mm (but maybe my 300mm needs a little collimation) -, I'm sure the new version is even better and certainly it eliminates the chromatic aberration discussed in the review.

Steve,

Although I have yet to do Elmer’s Glue, I do recall sitting in my high chair in the kitchen while mom was at the stove cooking. Apparently I was cutting-up and she handed me an un-opened pack of Pall Malls to play with to get me to quieten down. I opened the pack and ate the cigarettes! I don't recall eating them only mom standing at the stove with her back to me and the red color of the pack. Next thing I remember she's in my face all concerned and being pick-up and brought to the hospital and she's telling them that I ate the cigarettes. She told me later that I had turned yellow in color. I must have been under 2.

Thomas