Got my 11x14 Yesterday!

[alec4444]

Very exciting! Had it delivered to work in Manhattan for fear it would be rejected at my residence (long story). Was at my desk and the mailroom delivered it like 7 minutes before I had 3 hours of meetings.... Argh!

When at last I opened it, it struck me that it was a lot bigger and heavier than it was in the store... =)

I bought this camera, an 11x14 Wisner Technical Field in NJ near the end of August. I went and looked at it in person once, tested it all out, then phoned in an offer a few days later. There were some problems with the front standard being kinda seized, so I had them ship it directly to Richard Ritter in VT. Best decision I have made thus far.

Richard took the camera apart and sealed the inside of the rails, which are typically left unfinished and are subject to changes in humidity. He also discovered that the back springs wern't providing enough tension. After some waffling I agreed to have him install a "bail back" or a lever based system for opening and closing the back. This keeps the camera from shifting when inserting the filmholder, and allows a stronger spring to be added.

The work was incredible, and his time estimate was perfect, even with the extra work. The bail back is the best thing I've seen...I'd show a photo of how easy it is but I don't want to give away trade secrets. Just get one if you don't already have it!

A sore arm and lower back later, I had it home. I attached it to my new Ries tripod; once a ridiculously sturdy looking piece of equipment now looked somewhat spindly. I extended the bellows out to their 50" maximum and asked my wife to come in and have a look. "Oh good God!" she exclaimed, "What on earth are you going to do with THAT?!" A few minutes later, after I explained I'd likely never own a lens that big and after she had a chance to examine it closely she was just as excited as I was.

Lenses are coming soon (360mm Symmar Convertible and a 180mm Protar V for kicks). Need a couple lens boards, a focus cloth, a garden cart (actually I found some roller bags that might work), and a filmholder and I'm on my merry way. Goal is to have a photo in hand before November 1. We'll see.

--A

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

The best advice I can give you is to get an adapter from Wisner to a tecnika board. Wisner boards are not standard size and a PITA to get. This is what I use in my 12x20 and it allows me to use the same boards for my 8x10 as well.

Another tip, when you are attaching the camera to the tripod head, dont try and place the camera horizontally and then hunt for the hole. It is easier to tilt the tripod head vertically and then holding the camera bed on one arm place the hole on the tripod hole.

Good luck and have fun.... :)


Very exciting! Had it delivered to work in Manhattan for fear it would be rejected at my residence (long story). Was at my desk and the mailroom delivered it like 7 minutes before I had 3 hours of meetings.... Argh!

When at last I opened it, it struck me that it was a lot bigger and heavier than it was in the store... =)

I bought this camera, an 11x14 Wisner Technical Field in NJ near the end of August. I went and looked at it in person once, tested it all out, then phoned in an offer a few days later. There were some problems with the front standard being kinda seized, so I had them ship it directly to Richard Ritter in VT. Best decision I have made thus far.

Richard took the camera apart and sealed the inside of the rails, which are typically left unfinished and are subject to changes in humidity. He also discovered that the back springs wern't providing enough tension. After some waffling I agreed to have him install a "bail back" or a lever based system for opening and closing the back. This keeps the camera from shifting when inserting the filmholder, and allows a stronger spring to be added.

The work was incredible, and his time estimate was perfect, even with the extra work. The bail back is the best thing I've seen...I'd show a photo of how easy it is but I don't want to give away trade secrets. Just get one if you don't already have it!

A sore arm and lower back later, I had it home. I attached it to my new Ries tripod; once a ridiculously sturdy looking piece of equipment now looked somewhat spindly. I extended the bellows out to their 50" maximum and asked my wife to come in and have a look. "Oh good God!" she exclaimed, "What on earth are you going to do with THAT?!" A few minutes later, after I explained I'd likely never own a lens that big and after she had a chance to examine it closely she was just as excited as I was.

Lenses are coming soon (360mm Symmar Convertible and a 180mm Protar V for kicks). Need a couple lens boards, a focus cloth, a garden cart (actually I found some roller bags that might work), and a filmholder and I'm on my merry way. Goal is to have a photo in hand before November 1. We'll see.

--A

[Capocheny]

Alec,

I understand 11x14 holders are pretty hard to find and very expensive... so, fyi, there are a couple listed for sale on APUG and the bay at the moment.

I can only wish that I had a bail back on all of my cameras... it makes loading and unloading the holders from the camera soooooo much easier!

Have fun... :)

Cheers

[Ralph Barker]

What?! No pictures of your new baby? And, what about the cigars? (candy ones would be OK) ;)

Seriously, congrats on the new camera and the reconditioning by Mr. Ritter.

[Jack Flesher]

LOL! My wife said exactly the same thing to me when I brought my first 8x10 camera home -- only she never understood it and still doesn't!

Congrats on the new addition! Post a few photos!

[Doug Howk]

Adding ULF is filled with surprises, especailly the prices of ancillary items. I won a 7X17 Korona last month & also received it at work - took a quick peak, then home to comtemplate the necessary refurbishing. Among other problems, it was missing a corner bracket; & I was quoted a replacement price of $150 from a westcoast camera repair store. Decided to fabricate it myself out of sheet brass - cost a few dollars. After refurbishing, went looking for filmholders - sticker shock. Did get a couple of used ones from Sandy King at very good price. Tripod - decided to make a wooden plate & attach it to top of heavy duty surveyors tripod. Lenses - the only lens I had that would cover 7X17 is a Goerz Artar 19", but didn't have enough bellows/rail extension to be able to focus it. So back to eBay. Just received today a barrel lens from Lens2nShutter, so had to go out & buy a router in order to fabricate a lensboard. Also recived film from J&C so I'm almost ready to take some pictures. At least its not as expensive as that Seitz 6X17 digital panoramic camera.
Forgot to mention a couple other items: The darkcloth my wife had made for my 8X10 doesn't fit the 7X17. I process my 8X10 film in tubes made of grey conduit pipe, so off to the electical supply house monday to get more pipe & connectors. Moral of the story - when you double your format size, expect an exponential increase in costs.

[alec4444]

I understand 11x14 holders are pretty hard to find and very expensive... so, fyi, there are a couple listed for sale on APUG and the bay at the moment.

Thank you for the tip; I rarely check out APUG classifieds.... Oren, sent you a PM.

Photos coming soon....can someone tell me how to use a Point & Shoot digital camera? :D

--A

[John Powers]

Congratulations on the new camera. Before you buy the garden cart, take a look at this collapsible baby jogger. http://babyjogger.com/performancesingle.htm 20 inch spoked wheels, 100 lb shocks and both a brake and a parking brake. I carry my 7x17, a big Ries tripod and head with two of the spikes through the foot board, a padded freezer bag about a cubic foot full of lenses, meter, loupe, dark cloth. On the rails under the seat I carry four film holders in a bag. It can go over some pretty rough terrain or nicely down a trail. I've been using this 3 years (8x10 before the 7x17) and have been very happy with it. Got mine on eBay. The father of the child that had out grown it was pretty surprised at my planned use.

John

[alec4444]

Photos attached! Baby jogger...there's a thought. I'll keep an eye out for one in the various "stoop sales". (That's what we call a garage sale here in Brooklyn where nobody actually has a garage...) Was also looking at some roller cart bags like this one (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=251108&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation) which are like modern day luggage. It offers a bit more compactness for negotiating subways...

Oren's got a wait list going on for his holders... =( Found an old post saying that Jim from Midwest sells new Tachihara 11x14 filmholders for $300....that was in December 2004. Anyone know if that's still true? I sent an email off to him just in case.

--A

[Capocheny]

Photos attached! Baby jogger...there's a thought. I'll keep an eye out for one in the various "stoop sales". (That's what we call a garage sale here in Brooklyn where nobody actually has a garage...) Was also looking at some roller cart bags like this one (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=251108&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation) which are like modern day luggage. It offers a bit more compactness for negotiating subways...

Oren's got a wait list going on for his holders... =( Found an old post saying that Jim from Midwest sells new Tachihara 11x14 filmholders for $300....that was in December 2004. Anyone know if that's still true? I sent an email off to him just in case.

--A


Alec,

Those baby strollers are great for use on relatively flat trails but don't work where the trails are rocky or where climbing is required. The problem with the roller cart bags (such as the one you've got linked to from B&H Photo) is that the wheels are too small for use on trails... the wheels tend to pick up little pieces and gets stuck. They're designed more for smooth, flat surfaces such as at the airport or on a sidewalk.

Interestingly, at the workshop I was just at... there were two shooters using 8x10s that had these strollers. One of them even had air suspension wheels and hand brakes. The other one was more basic. The lesser version was $190... and some of the higher end ones run up to CDN$700! :)

Yes, Oren's ad was the one I was thinking of when I posted earlier...

FWIW, Jim at Midwest Photo is a great guy to deal with. :)

And, what a gorgeous camera that is!

Good luck

Cheers

[Renee Galang]

Nice camera Alec! Compared to my cambo 1114 yours is a piece of art and mine is, well, just a camera. My lens is macro sironar 210 and I happily recieved tmax400 film from j and c a few days ago. I can't wait until I start shooting macro and develop the film positively. I just love the look of B&W positive.

[John Powers]

Photos attached! Baby jogger...there's a thought. I'll keep an eye out for one in the various "stoop sales". (That's what we call a garage sale here in Brooklyn where nobody actually has a garage...) Was also looking at some roller cart bags like this one (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=251108&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation) which are like modern day luggage. It offers a bit more compactness for negotiating subways...

--A

A

Camera is beautiful. You could put furniture in it. Thanks for the picture. Sorry about the baby jogger. Wrong frame of reference. I was thinking SUV or van, not subway. The jogger would be too big-long for stairs and subway. On the other hand the wheels on the cart look small for when you get where you are going if the terrain is a little rough. I watched a macro guy pull a similar package out into the muddy woods looking for spring flowers. It was stopped by large pebbles then he spent most of the time digging or pulling out of muck. What a clean up he must have had. Probably all depends are where you plan to go. I was in boots hiking with my dog rather than photographing. The Labrador went for a swim and I left my boots and pants outside for the afternoon rain when I got home.

John

[Michael Kadillak]

I have one identical to yours in 11x14 that I had a 12x20 back made and later added a 8x20 reducing back to the 12x20 rear frame.

A couple of suggestions to consider when using the camera.

First, I adquired one of those white Wal Mart folding stair steps with the front rail that I can lean into when using it since on the Ries tripod it can get pretty hard to get up to check the top of the ground glass (I am 6'1"). I like Jorges suggestion for mounting the camera, but I find it pretty easy to mount the camera if you take off the ground glass back and set it in your case you can easily look down over the mounting hole vertically through the camera and the bellows from the step and get it secured pretty fast. The two push to the center brackets that Wisner uses to hold the ground glass frame on back scare me a bit and I am constantly making sure that they are both in place when in the field.

There are several small brass screws in the base of the rear standard that hold the Tech Field mounting plate to the camera base that also need to be checked for loosness. I am talking about the ones that do not have bolts on the other end they are just flush with the end piece of brass on the other side of the attached frame. I was in Montana photographing with Sandy King this summer and one of those small bolts decided to come off and I had some wobble on one side of the rear standard. Richard Ritter milled me five of them lickety split so now I carry spares. Ditto for the rear bottom swing screws. I picked the camera up from the case and found one of these large screws in the bottom of the camera case (Thanks God) so now I occasionally just check that everything is tightened down properly.

When you get this beast on the tripod, you can rest assured that she is not going anywhere and will be unaffected by a bit of wind at reasonable bellows extensions. My Canham 8x20 feels at 17# like I am carrying film holders rather than a camera.

Congrats!

[alec4444]

I have one identical to yours in 11x14 that I had a 12x20 back made and later added a 8x20 reducing back to the 12x20 rear frame.

I'd like to know who made it for you; I'd love to have a 7x17 back made when I recoup financially from this.


A couple of suggestions to consider when using the camera.

THANK YOU for the advice, this is really helpful! I too am rather nervous about the latches for the ground glass frame...I bet Richard could have made them spring driven but I'm not sending it back quite yet!

Since you own one, you might have some answers to some questions I have about the bellows:
--Are they IR safe?
--What are they made out of? Doesn't look like leather; looks like some kind of synthetic cloth. When I open the camera, the bellows are getting scraped a bit by the front standard...that can't be good.
--How do you clean them? Looks like this camera spent some time in someone's basement, and I think they could do with some cleaning..
--Any care instructions for the camera itself? Should I freak out if it begins to rain?

Thanks guys for your kind comments, I can't wait to get started.

--A

[Michael Kadillak]

I'd like to know who made it for you; I'd love to have a 7x17 back made when I recoup financially from this.



THANK YOU for the advice, this is really helpful! I too am rather nervous about the latches for the ground glass frame...I bet Richard could have made them spring driven but I'm not sending it back quite yet!

Since you own one, you might have some answers to some questions I have about the bellows:
--Are they IR safe?
--What are they made out of? Doesn't look like leather; looks like some kind of synthetic cloth. When I open the camera, the bellows are getting scraped a bit by the front standard...that can't be good.
--How do you clean them? Looks like this camera spent some time in someone's basement, and I think they could do with some cleaning..
--Any care instructions for the camera itself? Should I freak out if it begins to rain?

Thanks guys for your kind comments, I can't wait to get started.

--A

The 12x20 back was made by Wisner BUT I asked Jeff Wheeler to spearhead the work for me as an intermediary and as a result, I did not have to worry about getting financially pooched in the process. I paid for it when I got it - what a concept. You release the front standard bellows clamps on the rear top of the front standard and the entire 11x14 rear with the bellows comes off the back of the camera. You replace the rear of the camera with the 12x20 back as there are wooden rails that fit in the back. The trick is to engage the gears on the camera simultaneously so the camera back progresses uniformly forward.

My 12x20 back came from Wisner ready to go. Even though I sent an S&S 8x20 holder to Wisner to fit the 8x20 back to, it was a disaster. There was nearly a half inch of excess lateral play between the sides of the film holder and the receiving component. Ron offered to fix it and get it back to me ASAP. Since I did not want to take a chance that it would be 12 months + until I got it back, I declined the offer and sent it to Richard Ritter and he got me squared away in a week or two. I was not happy with the fact that the 12x20 back only came with 30" bellows, so I had a bellows frame made and fitted it to the 12x20 back and sent it off to England and had Camera Bellows make me a 50" bellows out of the synthetic material that they use for Canham. Fairly easy to swap out the 30" and the 50" bellows.

The red standard 11x14 bellows are made out of a plastic coated material and should be able to be cleaned by any standard non-caustic cleaner. The side bellows rub from the inside front standard when opening up the camera is a concern so I now put my fingers between the brass standard and the bellows when I go through the set up process to make sure that I do not incure any more damage there. I also have a 24" standard black bathroom towel that I insert under the rear standard to keep the light from coming up in this void. When you have that much ground glass in front of you, any stray light becomes a big deal quick.

I have no idea if they are in fact IR approved since I have not gone down this road. Maybe someone else can chime in on this question.

I carry an umbrella with me for rain but it is rather a lost cause. You need both hands and more than a few minutes to go from set up to in the case with this camera. I would not want to be in a potential downpour with this camera but some rain is not that big a deal. I got snowed on in the high country of Colorado when there was literally 80% blue skies above me. If it gets wet, wipe off as much moisture as possible and as soon as you are back indoors, set the camera back up and give it a more thorough going over with a dry wipe down cloth and leave it open and extended for a while to make sure that any remaining moisture you cannot either see or access cannot be trapped anywhere.

You are going to have to insure that you are light tight in the rear standard, holders and bellows so the previous post about shinning a light inside the camera is a very good one . I also like the idea of paper inside the film holders to check them out. If it is possible try your best to stay with the same holders to maintain as much consistency in this area as possible.

Cheers!

[Terence Patrick]

Wow, that's a gorgeous camera, congrats. Perhaps instead of the Lowepro bag, you could look into the ThinkTank "Airport Security" bag, which has larger wheels as well as backpack style straps? Seems to be pretty popular with traveling photojournalists who carry those heavy 400mm+ Canon lenses.


http://thinktankphoto.com/ttp_product_ArprtScrty.php

[Hugo Zhang]

Alec,

I actually got a suitcase from Costco for my 10x20 camera for less than $40 a few weeks ago. It is well made with two compartments: one for the camera and dark cloth and one for 4 film holders, tripod and three lenses. It also has a few small compartments for your spot meter, cable release and other stuff.

With everything zipped in, it weights 60 ibs. It has wheels and shoulder straps.

Hugo

[alec4444]

Wow, Hugo, that's really cool. Bag seems plenty big. I'm a Costco member too...I'll have to check it out. Didn't see it online at Costco; but I can check Brooklyn and the one in Delaware. Nice rig!

Terence, I checked out the Airport Security Bag you linked to. Really cool (perfect for my MF format!) but too small for this one. I need inner dimentions of at least 18" x 18" x 7". =(

Michael, thanks so much for the followup. Richard Ritter said he makes reducing backs and I'll probably start there before I go bigger. Sounds like you have a great setup though! Will check light-tightness again, but so far seems pretty good. And though I'll try to stay out of the rain, I know I'm in for a soaking at least once! (Been there, done that... (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showpost.php?p=167564&postcount=49))

--A