Froeschli
26-Dec-2020, 17:19
Well, I'm doing this kind of backwards... already posted in the lens section etc.
But i figure i may as well introduce myself after all...
Hey, I'm Karin, and I've got a new addiction to large format photography. What's worse, i haven't shot one frame yet and nearly bought another lens this morning.
I didn't. Decided that i ought to buy some film (or probably paper) and developer first.
How did i get into this? Well, 15 years ago i met a man, a photographer, who whisked me away from Berlin to Toronto... somewhere along the way he bought an old calumet cc400 to do portraits with. He was very much looking forward to it. But maybe more so in theory, because he didn't ever shoot anything with it before he passed away a couple months ago.
So i listed the camera on kijiji, i knew what he had paid for it, he wouldn't have touched a camera that wasn't in good working order. And he knew how to value things.
Anyhow, not a one inquiry in three or so months. So, some time last week i decided the lack of interest meant i should learn to use that drat thing myself. i began learning, reading, watching youtube videos etc. Needless to say, i am hooked.
I hate to say it, i've probably learned more about (film) photography in the last week, than i did in art school, film school, living with a photographer and working with digital images for 14 years.
My camera is the calumet CC-400 in pretty good shape, if scratched up a bit. With a f4.5 210mm schneider kreuznach lens. The compound shutter seemed a bit slow, but when i tried taking a screwdriver to it, it refused to cooperate and began working better... who am i to argue..
Since i am so NOT a portrait photographer, i want to do macro work, maybe flowers, or veggie portraits (like Weston's peppers) to get used to the format.
So doing the math, knowing the max extension of my bellows, and aiming for a 1:2 or greater magnification, i figured i "needed" a shorter lens. Found one on kijiji, attached to a kodak master view camera (the predecessor of my calumet). - proving my suspicion that attaching a monorail camera to a lens reduced its perceived value to 1/4.
So, my 2nd camera is a kodak master view, with an ilex paragon anastigmat f4.5 6.5in lens and an ilex #3 self cocking shutter (now that one did need taking apart and cleaning but is working fine now, and yeah, it isn't that much wider than the 210, but it was cheap and i can swap it for something else at some point). I think there's a light leak in the bellows, and I'm really not sure whether i need 2 nearly identical camras, even for spare parts like i had originally thought. But it is a bit lighter than the calumet. Meh. Decisions decisions.
So here i am, shopping for film, reading up on processing. And finally grasping how my husbands approach to photography differed from mine. (Start by using a f**** tripod ;-) )
i really appreciate the wealth of information to be found here. This forum is a veritable time sink. But it keeps me away from ebay :-p
But i figure i may as well introduce myself after all...
Hey, I'm Karin, and I've got a new addiction to large format photography. What's worse, i haven't shot one frame yet and nearly bought another lens this morning.
I didn't. Decided that i ought to buy some film (or probably paper) and developer first.
How did i get into this? Well, 15 years ago i met a man, a photographer, who whisked me away from Berlin to Toronto... somewhere along the way he bought an old calumet cc400 to do portraits with. He was very much looking forward to it. But maybe more so in theory, because he didn't ever shoot anything with it before he passed away a couple months ago.
So i listed the camera on kijiji, i knew what he had paid for it, he wouldn't have touched a camera that wasn't in good working order. And he knew how to value things.
Anyhow, not a one inquiry in three or so months. So, some time last week i decided the lack of interest meant i should learn to use that drat thing myself. i began learning, reading, watching youtube videos etc. Needless to say, i am hooked.
I hate to say it, i've probably learned more about (film) photography in the last week, than i did in art school, film school, living with a photographer and working with digital images for 14 years.
My camera is the calumet CC-400 in pretty good shape, if scratched up a bit. With a f4.5 210mm schneider kreuznach lens. The compound shutter seemed a bit slow, but when i tried taking a screwdriver to it, it refused to cooperate and began working better... who am i to argue..
Since i am so NOT a portrait photographer, i want to do macro work, maybe flowers, or veggie portraits (like Weston's peppers) to get used to the format.
So doing the math, knowing the max extension of my bellows, and aiming for a 1:2 or greater magnification, i figured i "needed" a shorter lens. Found one on kijiji, attached to a kodak master view camera (the predecessor of my calumet). - proving my suspicion that attaching a monorail camera to a lens reduced its perceived value to 1/4.
So, my 2nd camera is a kodak master view, with an ilex paragon anastigmat f4.5 6.5in lens and an ilex #3 self cocking shutter (now that one did need taking apart and cleaning but is working fine now, and yeah, it isn't that much wider than the 210, but it was cheap and i can swap it for something else at some point). I think there's a light leak in the bellows, and I'm really not sure whether i need 2 nearly identical camras, even for spare parts like i had originally thought. But it is a bit lighter than the calumet. Meh. Decisions decisions.
So here i am, shopping for film, reading up on processing. And finally grasping how my husbands approach to photography differed from mine. (Start by using a f**** tripod ;-) )
i really appreciate the wealth of information to be found here. This forum is a veritable time sink. But it keeps me away from ebay :-p