Wista 45 vx - big mistake?

[Taura Horn]

So I had been using my mother's Toyo 45 c field camera with a 110mm (maybe nikon?) lens for a few years, but she eventually made me give it back! I liked getting up close to people, which I had no problem doing (see image of groom!) and it was great to take out for landscapes & any other thing I wanted to do. I finally decided to get my own 4x5 camera, and after some (not enough!) research, I found a listing on ebay for a Wista 45 vx with a Schneider Symmar-S 5.6/5.6 and a Schneider Super-Angulon 90/8, and purchased them. I read people's experiences with the Wista 45vx and reviews of the lenses, and thought I was making a good choice, but when I received them, I was so disappointed! I thought I would be able to use the 210 for portraits, since I'd used the 110mm with my mom's Toyo, and the 90mm for landscapes. When I started playing around with the camera and 210 lens, I can only focus to about 7-8ish feet, which does not get me close enough to do these headshots that I like to do! It looks like I'll have to get an extension bed? Is there some "thing" I'm not doing that will get me closer to my subject? Did I choose the wrong camera for what I wanted to do? Should I have just got the same camera my mom had, and not do something different? I'm so irritated right now!
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[ic-racer]

You might want to check out some accessories for the VX:
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or something like this from across the sea:
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[Oren Grad]

IIRC the VX in its standard configuration has a 300mm bellows draw. You should have no trouble getting a good head shot with a 210. How far are you pulling out the front standard when you open the camera? Do you have any infinity stops set on the focusing bed?

[Ari]

IIRC the VX in its standard configuration has a 300mm bellows draw. You should have no trouble getting a good head shot with a 210. How far are you pulling out the front standard when you open the camera? Do you have any infinity stops set on the focusing bed?

Agreed.
Here's a portrait taken with a Wista RF, which has the same bones as the VX; I also used a 210, and could have shot this closer up if I'd wanted to.

http://www.aritapiero.com/uploads/5/7/9/8/5798107/8645830_orig.jpg

[Taura Horn]

IIRC the VX in its standard configuration has a 300mm bellows draw. You should have no trouble getting a good head shot with a 210. How far are you pulling out the front standard when you open the camera? Do you have any infinity stops set on the focusing bed?

I have them both out as far as they can go - as far as I can tell... Feeling pretty dumb about this right now!

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[Ari]

You're not extending the third rail, there's your source of frustration.

[Taura Horn]

You're not extending the third rail, there's your source of frustration.
OMG, thank you! It wasn't moving when I messed around with it at first, and the manual kind of sucks. Much better, whew!

[DHodson]

Wagner Lungov recently posted a handy utility on the Photo.net large format forum for visualizing lens coverage and focal distances

http://apenasimagens.com/en/focal-length-distances-and-framing/


I found it helps me visualize and you can see that a 210 mm lens and a 30 cm subject requires a lens to ground glass distance of around 294 mm (4x5) or 315 mm (5x4) which is something the Wista manages and Ari sorted out. It also calculates the bellows factor and illustrates the two image circles (pretty cool actually). It's beta and he's looking for comments if you get a chance.

Regards
Dave