16x20 Wisner

[Jonathan Barlow]

There's a 16x20 Wisner for sale on eBay by the Quality Camera Company guy. It's a bit pricey, but I thought someone might enjoy seeing pictures of it. I'm not associated with the seller in any way.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370722459780


There's also an 8x20 Wisner for sale at the moment:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160956409460

[Jonathan Barlow]

Is that a realistic price for a 16x20, or would you consider it outrageous? I've never used anything larger than 8x10.

[DolphinDan]

Hi Jonathan,

Well, you can get a brand new Richard Ritter 16x20 for $4,985 (which I did):

http://www.lg4mat.net/1620.html

or a Keith Canham 12x20 for $7,995 (and Keith could probably make you a 16x20 for about the same price):

http://www.canhamcameras.com/larger.htm
https://www.badgergraphic.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=100

or an EBONY 16x20 for about $22,000 (BADGER GRAPHIC no longer lists the 16x20 but does list the 11x14 and 20x24 so you can interpolate the price):

http://www.ebonycamera.com/cam.html
https://www.badgergraphic.com/store/cart.php?m=product_list&pageNumber=2&catID=&c=108&v=&r=&id=&sortBy=undefined&search=&shopByPrice=&viewAll=undefined&customListIds=&venID=

The real trick is getting film holders that work with your camera. ULF is not like 8x10; 16x20 film holders are pretty much custom jobs. So make sure that any 16x20 camera you buy comes with at least 1 film holder that works with the camera.

Also, check out the camera's weight. The Ritter and Canham cameras are pretty light weight (relatively speaking). The EBONY weights in around 44lbs and requires a heavy duty RIES tripod.

Hope this helps.

Namaste,
Daniel

[Mark Sampson]

A quick look at the listing shows that the sale includes one holder, a Protar lens, and 50 sheets of 16x20 Tri-X Pan. That makes the asking price seem a bit more reasonable.

[Carl J]

Dan,

How do you like the 16x20 Ritter?

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

A big Protar VIIa like that is pretty rare.

[JohnGC]

It's hard to believe that the 8x20/8x10 did not sell for the asking price of $2900.

[DolphinDan]

Hi Carl,

I set it up and played with it when it arrived and liked it. Lightweight (about 16 lbs), so I may actually hike with it and shoot some trees or landscapes with it. Sets up pretty quick. I am able to use my GITZO Basalt tripod with it, so no extra equipment purchases :-) And Richard has a DVD to explain how to assemble (it comes in 2 parts) and use the camera.

I bought some S&S Film Holders to go with it (which they fortunately had in stock so it did not take long to receive them), and they look really nice.

Regarding film holder cost, S&S sells 16x20 film holders for about $430 (Cherry) or $455 (Walnut):

http://ssfilmholders.com/

and AWB sells the 16x20 film holders specifically for Wisner cameras for $590:

http://www.filmholders.com/filmho1.html

I bought the camera to shoot portraits, but sadly have not gotten anybody to sit for me yet. It's 1 of my projects for next week (hopefully). So I will follow up on this post when I have exposed a few sheets of film.

The other thing that I forgot to mention is film cost. I got some Ilford DELTA 100 and HP5+ in their custom order last year: 1 box was over US$500 for 25 sheets of film. Ouch! So the fact that the seller is offering 50 sheets of film along with a film holder and lens makes this an attractive offer IMHO.

I noticed that the shipping weight was 56lbs: this camera will require a serious tripod and head, as I mentioned above.

Namaste
Daniel



Dan,

How do you like the 16x20 Ritter?

[Carl J]

Dan,

Will be very interested to hear of your experiences with 16x20 portraits. Are you planning to shoot in a studio environment, artificial or natural light (or some combination)? Understandably it takes some planning to set everything up, find models, etc.

I've started researching formats beyond 8x10, and, you're absolutely right (as any ULF shooter will tell you!) holders and film costs are (way) up there. ;) Fortunately, I can also experiment with shooting panoramic formats like 4x10 with the camera (KMV) I have now by using a half dark-slide (which I have but just haven't tried yet), or getting a 4x10 back made and some holders.

There's a guy not far from me who teaches and who sometimes shoots 12x20 and 11x14 portraits with natural light and reflectors. I've talked to him and hoping to schedule a time to go pick his brain, hopefully go out and shoot a sheet or two of film to find out more about what it's like, including how to process the film, etc. The seller of that 8x20/8x10 Wisner is also not that far away and I've been asking him a few questions as well. At any rate, my hope is to try and find someone who will/can show me something of what's involved before getting in too far over my head.

I saw some wonderful 11x14 contact prints in NYC recently and that seemed like a great size.

You've got a very fine camera in that Ritter (drool). Do you find it to be rigid enough? I hope you can get out and shoot with it soon.

Carl

[Jonathan Barlow]

I'm thinking that 16x20 contact prints must be a dust nightmare. Tray processing of 16x20 negatives in complete darkness must be pretty difficult too.

[Cor]

Why would a 16x20 contact print be more a dust nightmare than say a 8X10 contact print ? Usually in my hands a contact print is much less of a dust problem than enlarging a negative..

Best,

Cor

I'm thinking that 16x20 contact prints must be a dust nightmare. Tray processing of 16x20 negatives in complete darkness must be pretty difficult too.