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wfwhitaker
15-Oct-2008, 19:22
As a kind of corollary to Cobalt's thread (Cameras/lens you wish you'd kept... (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=41786)), which camera/lens do you see yourself keeping no matter what. What will you never give up unless they tear it from your cold, dead fingers?

I'll begin the crowing by saying that it's my Agfa Studio 5A 8x10 with the 18" Verito and 15" Cooke Series IIB. More fun than a barrel of monkeys and I don't have to carry it around.

jeroldharter
15-Oct-2008, 20:05
My new Arca Swiss F-line Metric with Micrometric Orbix. I haven't even taken a picture with it yet, but I can just tell. It's a gem.

David A. Goldfarb
15-Oct-2008, 20:12
I think the 4x5" Tech V is a keeper. I've got six cammed lenses for it now, and I use it quite a lot.

On the other hand, I see myself doing more albumen printing which might mean using the larger cameras more.

Greg Lockrey
15-Oct-2008, 20:13
My Ebony is a keeper. If we are limited to one lens, then the 90mm SA.

My Leica M4 kit if we aren't talking only about LF.

John Kasaian
15-Oct-2008, 20:33
Off the top of my head it would have to be the V8 'dorff, 19" Artar, 10" WF Ektar & 5x7 Speed Graphic with 203mm Ektar

EuGene Smith
15-Oct-2008, 20:40
B&J Commercial Views in 4x5, 5x7, & 8x10. Also 2D and Deardorff in 8x10. All the others I will toss out one at a time to occupy and distract the wolves as I retreat with the afore mentioned cameras.

Lenses - I'll just have to pick the 90 SA, 165 Wolly, 203 Ektar, 210 Fujinon, 240/300/&360 Apo-Ronars, 485 Repro-Claron, & anything in a Dial Set Compur.

Will need a pallet & forklift to make my escape with this stuff.

EuGene

Andrew O'Neill
15-Oct-2008, 21:12
Canham 8x10 lightweight...and all my lenses stuffed into my backpack 'cause I'm just soooooooo selfish.

paul08
15-Oct-2008, 21:32
Don't know if I have one, but my 1946 Pressman has been with me for 12 yrs, so that's probably a good bet (when all photo has gone purely digital I can still keep it around as an antique).

Ron Marshall
15-Oct-2008, 21:37
My Toho 4x5 and my APO Sironar-S 135mm. Great as a light-weight combo and by themselves.

kimsmith
15-Oct-2008, 21:42
Don't know if I have one, but my 1946 Pressman has been with me for 12 yrs, so that's probably a good bet (when all photo has gone purely digital I can still keep it around as an antique).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------kim

Kirk Fry
15-Oct-2008, 21:43
My 545 Polaroid back that has been converted to a 600 mb wireless digital back that runs on 3 AAA batteries. K

kimsmith
15-Oct-2008, 21:43
Off the top of my head it would have to be the V8 'dorff, 19" Artar, 10" WF Ektar & 5x7 Speed Graphic with 203mm Ektar
__________________
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire"---GKC
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smith

kimsmith
15-Oct-2008, 21:45
B&J Commercial Views in 4x5, 5x7, & 8x10. Also 2D and Deardorff in 8x10. All the others I will toss out one at a time to occupy and distract the wolves as I retreat with the afore mentioned cameras.

Lenses - I'll just have to pick the 90 SA, 165 Wolly, 203 Ektar, 210 Fujinon, 240/300/&360 Apo-Ronars, 485 Repro-Claron, & anything in a Dial Set Compur.

Will need a pallet & forklift to make my escape with this stuff.
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kimsmith

Richard K.
15-Oct-2008, 21:46
My amazing ebony Ebony Whole-Plate. :)

Frank Petronio
15-Oct-2008, 22:56
I'm keeping the Sinar 8x10 Norma. I swear....

Struan Gray
16-Oct-2008, 00:02
My Pentax 110, and the ME Super. Both were with me through a great number of formative experiences, and I have a physical connection to them that my other cameras simply lack.

Bruce Watson
16-Oct-2008, 05:28
My Toho 4x5 and my APO Sironar-S 135mm. Great as a light-weight combo and by themselves.

Ditto. I'm hoping to use my Toho so long that I wear it out!

aduncanson
16-Oct-2008, 05:48
The Bush Pressman Model D that my bride bought for me as a present for college graduation nearly 30 years ago. The prized part to me was the 6" Gold Dot Dagor that came as part of the package. The Dagor is now doing 5x7 duty for me, but I have 90, 135 & 203mm lenses mounted for the Bush and whenever I let my wife know that my latest print was from a negative made with her Bush she wells up with pride.

If I even intimate that I am interested in a Wista she looks hurt. I will not be letting go of this camera.

Michael Graves
16-Oct-2008, 05:55
Toyo 5x7. I've got a 4x5 back for it so I could swing either way. Photographically, that is.

John Bowen
16-Oct-2008, 06:05
My Ritter 8x10 with 5x7 and 4x5 reducing backs. The camera weighs about the same as my Nikon D200 w/18-200 lens, so I can't say I'd trade her in for a lighter model

The lens I use the most is my Nikkor 450M, so I guess that would be the last to leave.

Monty McCutchen
16-Oct-2008, 06:26
Falling under the category of overstating the obvious;

20 x 24 Ebony with a 550 Schneider Fine Art.

Mainly because I love working with the monster but one would think it might be difficult to sell even if you wanted to. Lunacy on this level is a small circle of friends!!

Monty

Ole Tjugen
16-Oct-2008, 06:59
The Carbon Infinity.

And the Gandolfi Precision 10x8".

I have lots of good lenses, and some "cult" ones, and a few truly amazing ones. But none I wouldn't be willing to part with if I could find a good replacement.

butterflydream
16-Oct-2008, 07:02
My Canham 5x7 and 4x10 combination + 210mm Sironar + 120mm Nikkor.

Steve Barber
16-Oct-2008, 09:43
I don't have any cameras or lenses in large format that I would not sell.

Having got that out of the way, what I will never sell are any of my Hasselblads or the accessories for them. The only reason I would ever even consider selling them would be if they did not work and could not be fixed or I could not get film for them. But, then, because they would be worthless, I could not sell them and I don't care.

Scott Davis
16-Oct-2008, 09:56
My Canham 5x12/5x7 combo, for cameras, if I were going to be exclusively a field shooter. For studio, my Century Studio Master 5x7/whole plate. Lenses, well... you can pry my Seneca whole plate 14" f5 portrait lens from my cold dead hands. Another pair of lenses you'll have to fight me for are my 110mm F8 American Optical WA Dagor and the 159mm F12.5 Wollensak.

Drew Bedo
16-Oct-2008, 10:30
My first LF camera/lens that I ever owned was an early speed graphic that had been rebuilt from parts. The focal-plane shutter had been removed as had the viewfinder, range finder and all leather. The voids in the body had been filled with wood putty and the whole thing painted black. The spring back had been replaced with a Grafloc back. I got it at a camera show for ...not much; it was in the late 80s and everything is different now. For a lens: I was salvaging the imaging units from obsolete ultrasound equipment and other medical imaging gear that was being scrapped on the way to a digital clinic. I got several Ocillo-Raptars in Wollensac Aliphax shutters. They were 75mm f/1.9 and would only cover 6x7 at infinity. I kept one and mounted it on my camera.

This rig introduced me to 4x5 photography. I made circular pictures (a few) and did a lot of macro shots to get the coverage. I use other cameras and newer lenses now, but that stripped-down press camera and the odd-ball lens are still in the cabinet. I don't think that it would get a single bid on e-bay, yet there is no offer that would induce me to part with it now either

Kuzano
16-Oct-2008, 11:04
I've been hoarding film cameras for some time, in anticipation of the impending failure of, and mass exodus from, digital photography. Selling prices, under the right circumstance, and for clean cameras, are on the rise. Particularly in Large Format. Medium format has softened, but will come back. The intro of the new film folder from Fuji/Voigtlander (Cosina) in Spring 2009 will cause a spike in MF prices.

So, as I look around, all I see are cameras, every table, every cupboard, etc.

But, as I look around, I also see too many cameras I want to keep. How many can I shoot at one time?

Jim Galli
16-Oct-2008, 11:18
Hmmmm. Some of the cameras / lenses that are the best are quite ordinary and replaceable. That's always an element of the argument. If you're at my house and offer me more than my venerable Kodak 2D is worth, you'll own it and I'll take part of the profit and just buy another one. That said there are some lenses that I really feel if I sold I wouldn't get to own again, in fact it was pure luck that I got to own them in the first place, and these aren't for sale at any price. Pinkhams and Cooke's come to mind. All of my cameras are rather common so perhaps it comes down to the glass. My 7X11 Eastman is closest to answer Wills question though. It's really very lovely. Like someone used it half a dozen times then carefully folded it up and put it in a closet in a perfect environment for 95 years. The bellows is like new and it's such a pretty camera. It isn't really worth much so why would I sell it? Combined with the 18" Verito I have made some of my very best photographs with it. And it's a croud pleaser.

Jim Fitzgerald
16-Oct-2008, 18:16
I'm going to say two cameras and two lenses. Also, two tripods. The first is the first camera I ever built. My Walnut 8x20 and the matching Walnut tripod. The second is the recently finished Walnut 11x14 with it's matching tripod.
The lenses are my Hybrid Voigtlander 16" Euroscop that has the original rear element and a plus 1 diopter for the front element with the waterhouse stops that I made for it. The second lens is my Walnut barreled Commercial 14" Ektar with waterhouse stops. I had the front and rear elements and made the barrel and stops. The neg's from these lenses are amazing! It stops down to F-90 and F-64 respectively. . They will have to bury me with these or they could just build the casket out of all this Walnut!

ghubrex
16-Oct-2008, 19:33
I HAD the camera I would never sell--a Canham metal 5X7. A thief who, I'm sure, had no idea what he was getting, broke into my car and stole it. I replaced it with a Canham wood/metal 5X7, which is a great camera, but I miss the all-metal MQC dearly. I would trade what I have for the other model in a heartbeat.

dneilson
16-Oct-2008, 20:22
At one time, I would have said the Linhof Bi-Kardan. I have collected quite a complete system and I think that is has to be just about the smoothest and, in my opinion, the prettiest camera ever made. But lately I have been thinking that it just sits in the closet collecting dust and that the Ebony will probably do anything that the Linhof will do and I have been wondering why I keep it. If I were to part with that, then I would have to consider everything else expendable also.

jnantz
16-Oct-2008, 20:39
century 8a, wollensak triple ( 13.5, 20, 25 ) and, 11x14 and 7x11 back

neil poulsen
16-Oct-2008, 21:45
I doubt that I'll ever part with my Arca Swiss 171mm Classic F.

I have the long bellows and both the synthetic and leather wide angle bellows for it. So, this camera can handle just about any view camera lens that I'd want to use for medium or large format photography.

I also adapted one of the old MC bayonet mount lensboards to a recessed Arca lensboard that I bought. The MC style lensboards for this adapter are a convenient size and inexpensive to make.

As for a lens, I'd say my 180mm Symmar-S MC lens. I like the focal length, and I see no need to replace this lens with another. I like the luminosity I get with Symmar-S lenses, and other lenses I've tried are a little too contrasty for me.

cjbroadbent
8-Nov-2008, 14:14
My Gandolfi 4x5 with the stuff needed to run it.

Ash
8-Nov-2008, 14:24
The Korona 5x4 and Dagor 180/6,8 - because they were gifts. Also because I used them yesterday and love the images I got with the setup.

Matus Kalisky
13-Nov-2008, 01:38
My Fujinon 125/5.6 CMW will stay. And of course my Canham 5x12 ... oh ... I do not have it yet ... :o ... well ... than just the Fujinon.

Mick Noordewier
13-Nov-2008, 02:04
I'm keeping the Sinar 8x10 Norma. I swear....

I'm keeping Frank's Sinar 8x10 Norma. I swear...

Frank Petronio
13-Nov-2008, 05:49
hahaha

Glad it is in good hands

Tom Conway
13-Nov-2008, 06:14
My Ebony (which I'm still learning to use) and 210 Nikon macro. The Nikon is wonderful for close-ups, studio and field work!

russyoung
13-Nov-2008, 07:57
I prefer the 'drawing' of relatively long lenses; nothing under 12 inches seems to present a proper perspective in terms of foreground-middleground-background relationship. This is independent of the format.

That said, my Century 7a with the Kodak 16" Portrait lens is everything my heart and mind can desire. The camera cost about $120 some years ago when no one wanted "a junky old wooden camera" and the lens was about $200 - "its not even sharp!" I have far more invested in the film holders than the camera and lens.

The second choice of lenses would be the venerable Verito 18" on the same camera. Also luscious images. Also cheap two decades ago when no one wanted to be caught dead with a soft focus lens.

Russ

Kerik Kouklis
13-Nov-2008, 10:59
- 8x10 Kodak Masterview with Derogy Portrait lens for wet plate
- Anthony/Scovill 14x17 with 18" Verito and 240mm WA Dagor for film

Vaughn
13-Nov-2008, 12:07
My Gowland 4x5 PocketView and Calumet 150/5.6. Because one day I'll be too bloody old to haul my 8x10 around and I'll keep that 4x5 combo of camera and lens since it weighs a touch under 2.5 pounds. Plus the memories I have had with it -- biking in NZ, backpacking in the Grand Canyon, driving around NSW (Aus), hiking thru Yosemite, and all those places inbetween.

Vaughn

SAShruby
13-Nov-2008, 12:35
I think my newly acquired Verito and Heliars would be out of availability.

roteague
13-Nov-2008, 20:39
My Nikon F6. Yes, I know it isn't LF, but I'm not as emotionally tied to any of my LF camera as I am to the F6, even though I shoot mostly 4x5.

mccormickstudio
13-Nov-2008, 21:53
Cameras are like lovers. We could give any of them up if they treated us badly, except for those who are insanely (damagedly) loyal. I never would have thought that I would have fallen in love with a Chinese other named of the pristine mountains of France, but she is big and wonderful, and she is my passion. Those tightly geared connections, and such rigidity. Not to mention what she gives me in those photos. That old woman before her, much more petite at only 4x5, dressed in leatherette, she was beautiful in a romantic sense, and functional, very functional. But the satin urethane on the blond wood was too much, and chamonix performed well beyond my expectations. Would I give her up?... of course... if the right camera came along.

David Karp
13-Nov-2008, 22:38
My 125mm Fujinon W.

Gary L. Quay
14-Nov-2008, 00:44
You can have my cameras when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers.

However...

Until I sold my Linhof, I couldn't imagine selling it. When a better tool comes around, and I can afford to cover at least a major protion of the cost by selling the current camera, I'll part with it.

--Gary

Aender Brepsom
14-Nov-2008, 01:56
I have sold quite a few excellent cameras and lenses that I should have kept, so I guess there is nothing that I couldn't let go. But, I often keep coming back after a while and buy the same stuff again. To each his own form of insanity...

ljsegil
14-Nov-2008, 04:55
Most of the time it seems I can't bear to sell any of them, no matter how little use some bits may see (tomorrow they may be essential, you know) but then the spousal unit comes around and....

Some people will just never understand the existential sublimity formed of fine glass and wood, leather and metal, Silver and chemicals, mated to a near perfection that is so much greater than the components can ever be alone; in a rare magical moment perhaps able to capture a vision otherwise never experienced or recaptured.

But yeah, OK, we really are probably nuts in our obsessions, and the wife is, as usual, right, and I should finally sell the camera and lens that I will never sell...but I can't, just can't!

And so it goes.

LJS

Berin Loritsch
14-Nov-2008, 06:28
My first LF lens is probably one I'll never sell: A 1935 (by serial number dating) Rhodenstock Super Aplanat 26cm f/7.8 lens. The optics are pretty clear, and lend a nice soft focus that is perfect for portraits. It's not as sharp as my 90mm Fujinon or 135mm Schneider, but it has a certain charm that I love.

sanking
14-Nov-2008, 07:10
The one camera I will never sell is a 5X7 Nagaoka. I have owned this camera for more than twenty years and it is as close to a perfect 5X7 camera for backpacking and travel by air as one could ever hope to find. Consider that it weighs less than 3 lbs, folds to a package about 7.5"X7.5" X2.75", and opens and closes quickly. I tried a wood Canham in its place last year because of more bellows draw and movements, but the Canham was larger, heavier, and more complicated to open and close and use so I sold it and went back to the Nagaoka.

Sandy King

Arne Croell
14-Nov-2008, 09:54
Some 4x5 lenses I'll probably hold on to until the end:

120mm Super-Symmar HM
150mm Apo-Sironar S
210mm Germinar W
300mm Apo-Germinar

goamules
14-Nov-2008, 11:05
My first, recent, large format camera: an Eastman 2D 5x7. It works great for wetplate up to halfplates, and has everything I need for most lenses.

My keeper lens has to be the HBH I acquired recently, it would not to be easy to replace with only about 10,000 made ending around 1867.

My favorite easily replaced lens is probably my small Verito - but I'll keep that too!

cobalt
14-Nov-2008, 11:11
This one... (ok... the one I currently own... just a T* version)

Songyun
14-Nov-2008, 14:40
Some 4x5 lenses I'll probably hold on to until the end:

120mm Super-Symmar HM
150mm Apo-Sironar S
210mm Germinar W
300mm Apo-Germinar

so there is 210mm germinar W, any chance that we can make a group buy on this lens?

Arne Croell
15-Nov-2008, 01:27
so there is 210mm germinar W, any chance that we can make a group buy on this lens?
Yes Docter made one, but they are few and far between, so no chance for a group buy I think -mine is no. 6 of the few they made (from the serial no). Judging by two printed catalogs I own, Docter developed them in 2 batches, first the 150, 240 and 305, and then the 210 and 360mm, probably very close to the bankruptcy. 150 and 240mm were also much more common in compact process cameras than the other focal lengths.

I would like to add that the 210mm is a little harder to focus wide open than the 150 and 240mm, it looks like it has some spherical aberration there. The radii of the outer elements are somewhat more curved (in relation to the focal length) than the other two, so it appears to be a slightly different design. I usually focus stopped down to f/11. At f/16, however, the sharpness and contrast are as good as the 150 or 240 Germinar W. For me, the 210 just fits my lens lineup better than the 240, that's why I prefer it.

Daniel Grenier
15-Nov-2008, 12:46
Well, I just sold one of those "I`ll never sell" 8x10 outfits. Feels odd to be without it after some 25 years but I don`t believe there`s such a thing as a never-sell camera or lens anymore. That statement has no lifetime warranty.