The Big Camera Set Up Contest

[Michael Nagl]

Good Evening, Ladies & Gents,

as we all know there are a lot of possible reasons that make one want to have a fast working style: be it the junkyard dog`s approaching, or the fading of a rainbow - astonishingly, things tend to not stop in awe before a big camera.
As I am presently in the need for a new camera (no more 5x7" colour film) and have to decide between a monorail or a folding camera, I want to start The Big Camera Set Up Contest. So, please: Get your stuff on your backs or whereever you carry it, pretend you are in the situation of just having found the intended picture; then measure the exact time from when you start unpacking until you are under the darkcloth and behind a leveled camera.
Go!
I will tell you about my own embarassing results tomorrow - it`s late.
Good night,
Michael

[Walter Calahan]

This is why I also carry my Minolta CLE with a 28mm, 40mm & 90mm when I'm out and about with my 8x10 camera. There are times when time won't wait.

I'll have to take this test soon.

[Eric Woodbury]

I don't level unless there is a building involved and then it is by eye.

[Glenn Thoreson]

Another eye leveler, here. After many years in the construction trades, I'm pretty good at it.

[Kirk Gittings]

Before you attempt this read......
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=20430&highlight=time+savers+field

[Bill_1856]

The viewfinder and rangefinder on a Technika (or Graphics or Busch) make possible very "quick and dirty" setups, hand-holding for real emergencies, and a Grafmatic speeds it up a lot, too. (Of course, you must also calculate the exposure, and you may not always have a full Moon whose luminance you happen to remember is exactly 125 Lumens per foot candle per kilogram, etc -- forgive me, Ansel.)
I think that the biggest speeder-upper would be flip-locks on the tripod legs, and a QR head.

[Eric Woodbury]

Bill, that negative is very thin. Old Ansel buddy should have realized that that scene was very high contrast and that the moon was the brightest thing there. I wonder if the print would be as good if he hadn't flubbed the exposure.

[Gene McCluney]

Well, in a 10 hour day, I have shot 70 sheets, 16 bridges, 1 to 3 views per bridge,
with my 4x5 Super Graphic and a selection of lenses. this also involves traveling to each bridge. Approx. 300 miles total mileage.

[Sheldon N]

I've practiced setting up in my living room before, just to make sure I am familiar with the gear. It's a fun excersise to do while watching TV.

From backpack on my back with everything packed away and a collapsed tripod in hand to having the image composed and focused on the ground glass (no movements) takes me about 1 minute 45 seconds on my first try tonight. That was including hanging the Gnass film holder and fully extending the tripod. I'm using a Wista DX 4x5 wood field camera.

If I skip the Gnass film holder and only extend one section of tripod legs, I can get the setup time down to about 1 minute 10 seconds.

That's just enough time for the light to fade, me to drop a lens in the mud, and forget to close the viewing lever when pulling the darkslide.

:)

[erie patsellis]

If I'm in these types of situations, I often carry my B&J Press mounted on a tiltall prefocused on infinity, and either the lens already tripped on T or the preview lever opened, a pouch over my shoulder with filmholders and a spot meter around my neck on a lanyard. total time to compose, load and shoot is under 45 secs assuming to tilts or shifts needed.

erie

[Vaughn]

Well, in a 10 hour day, I have shot 70 sheets, 16 bridges, 1 to 3 views per bridge,
with my 4x5 Super Graphic and a selection of lenses. this also involves traveling to each bridge. Approx. 300 miles total mileage.

Bicycling in New Zealand I shot 70 sheets of 4x5 film -- over a period of 5 and a half months and 2000 miles on the bike loaded up (I did not keep track of the miles on the bicycle unloaded except for me and the camera equipment.) Not saying one way is better than the other -- it is just that the number of sheets of film just caught my eye.

I went through all the motions I make in setting up my 8x10 wooden field camera from pack to head under the darkcloth. I did it without the camera...after the number of years/times I have set it up, I really do not need the camera to accurately time it. Without too much hurrying, it took me <90 seconds. Provided I am not in a middle of a stream, on a cliff edge, or up on a redwood log that would be about right -- make it 2 minutes if I was not particularly in a hurry.

This tells me that my camera set-up time is not all that significant -- I would spend much more time composing and metering, putting in the film holder and making the exposure, than I did actually setting the camera up.

If the light was changing faster than that, or if the tide was coming in and about to trap me for the next 6 hours, I would just enjoy the light with the brain's camera. At 50+ years of age, I have learned that new opportunities and wonderful light will be happening in front of me for many years to come. Great light is never missed if one takes the time to see it...capturing it on film is just a bonus.

Vaughn

[Michael Nagl]

Vaughn,
all You say is perfectly true, as usually it takes ten times longer to decide wether or not to take the picture than the actual taking. (Its ten times more exhausting, too.)
Still, as a notorious trespasser one frequently encounters people who have not found their peace of mind yet --
Anway: Linhof Bi-Kardan (Monorail) camera which is packed up with the lens mounted, Gitzo tripod, Sinar head, setup time including leveling (which I always do, working in an urban landscape): To my surprise: Just 80 seconds. Which is time enough for stepping into three piles of dogsh*t in Vienna.
And now ye Canham users please! And the man with his new Shen-Hao!
thanks
M

[Amund BLix Aaeng]

59 seconds from I put my backpack on the ground till I have my Wehman roughly focused....

[Miguel Curbelo]

Michael, you have forgotten about non folding field cameras: I have just set up my tripod, got my Ebony SW45 out of the back pack and on to the tripod head, levelled it and focused in 29 seconds.

[Bruce Watson]

Over five years of LF photography I've learned a few things. One of which is to never rush. There are too many things to do, in the right order. If you rush, you are much more likely to either forget to do something or do them out of order. I've got plenty of ruined sheets due to pulling the darkslide before closing the shutter (and many other mistakes) which have taught me this lesson. When you make mistakes like that, how much time did you really save by rushing?

In fleeting lighting conditions these days I'm disciplined enough to keep my camera in my pack and sit back and enjoy the fading light. Rather than keep my head in my pack and my eyes on my camera while the beauty fades in front of me, I actually get to see and enjoy the scene.

LF photography for me is not a contest. If I wanted speed, I would keep to the smaller formats.

[Mark Sampson]

To quote, or paraphrase, the late Garry Winogrand; "There are no pictures while I'm reloading."

[Scott Davis]

I'll have to time my setup with the Canham 5x7 field, but I'm pretty sure that it is sub 2 minutes, when I'm not in a rush. When I'm in a rush, it takes more than 3. Despite those extra locking levers you have to unlock, it really only adds maybe 2 seconds per set (so 4 extra seconds). Once you get into a rhythm with it, it isn't any different than working with my Shen-Hao 4x5 which is a more conventional, Wisner/Deardorff-esque design. The Zone VI 8x10 takes longer, but that's because there's just so much more of it in the first place. That and my tripod currently doesn't have a center column, so it takes longer to get the tripod set up to the right height in the first place.

[Michael Nagl]

Mark,
pleased to see that Winogrand is mentioned here for a change, not always just Ansel this and Ansel that.... By the way, as far as I know, he bought an 8x10 -- and then passed away.

[Jack Flesher]

Fastest gun, eh?

I am reminded of a biography on Wyatt Earp I read some years ago. Turns out in the old days, shoot-outs didn't go like Hollywood presents them. Instead, folks sometimes emptied their guns and reloaded while walking toward each other, firing until one fell. Turns out Wyatt wasn't very fast at all, but he was deadly accurate. In fact, he took his stance, drew, presented a two-handed hold, carefully aimed and fired -- while his opponent usually got off two or three rounds before Wyatt fired his first. But they always missed and Wyatt never did... FWIW, Wyatt's reign as a Marshall only lasted about 5 years and in that time he achieved status as the deadliest Marshall of the old west; moreover, he died several years after retirement and the cause was old age!

Might be a moral in there somewhere...

:D,

[Brian Ellis]

I don't plan to do this test but FWIW of the 9 LF cameras I've owned the fastest set-up was the Linhof Technika (with infinity positions marked). The 8x10 Deardorff and the 4x5 Tachihara were pretty close seconds. The slowest by a very wide margin was the Linhof Technikardan.

[Vaughn]

Might be a moral in there somewhere...
:D,

Is it, "Dying in the saddle is highly over-rated."?

I thought the prefered method was to get a shot off very quickly to throw the other guy off, then take careful aim and plug him.

Vaughn

[Sheldon N]

Does this mean that using 8x10 or 11x14 is like using a big scattergun?

Put a wide lens on the camera, leave the camera focused at infinity, aim in the general direction of your target, and sqeeze off a round. You're bound to get something. :)

[Brian C. Miller]

Graphlex Super Graphic, hand-held, infinity focus, "sunny f16", slapping holder in and pulling dark slide.


20 seconds.


Why you would need to do that for a landscape, I don't know. Now, for a news story, sure.

[Wimpler]

I scale focus a 9x12 camera. It is only as big as a pile of 3 4x5 holders and takes 2 seconds to open and focus to infinity. If I want a wide angle lens instead of a normal angle, I put a close up filter on the lens. Ofcourse I would have to focus using the ground glass in that case...