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View Full Version : Does anyone own a 20x24 in Southern Ontario



Robert Skeoch
18-Apr-2010, 15:58
Hi Guys,

Is there anyone in Southern Ontario who has a working 20x24 camera?

-Rob Skeoch

Richard K.
18-Apr-2010, 17:02
Oh, my 14x17 isn't big enough for you?!? :rolleyes:

Robert Skeoch
18-Apr-2010, 17:24
14x17, that's a pocket camera... I'm looking for something a man would use.
LOL
-rob

sanking
18-Apr-2010, 17:37
14x17, that's a pocket camera... I'm looking for something a man would use.
LOL
-rob

Yeah, Arnold Schwarzenegger might call photographers who use 14X17" cameras "girlie men." You need to go up to at least 18X22" in size before getting into the category of a "real man camera."

Sandy

Robert Skeoch
18-Apr-2010, 18:01
is there even 18x22.

sanking
18-Apr-2010, 18:09
is there even 18x22.

18X22" is the "Mammoth" plate, used in the 19th-century by photographers like Carleton E. Watkins, Mathew Brady, William Henry Jackson, and Eadweard Muybridge.

I saw some albumen prints from Mammoth plates by Watkins some years ago in Austin at the Ransom Center at UT and they were breath taking.

Sandy King

Oren Grad
18-Apr-2010, 18:39
More recently, Michael A. Smith (of Azo and Lodima fame) has made pictures in 18x22.

Richard K.
18-Apr-2010, 19:31
More recently, Michael A. Smith (of Azo and Lodima fame) has made pictures in 18x22.

Is he actually using it now or does he just have one?

Richard K.
18-Apr-2010, 19:32
is there even 18x22.

Soon Rob soon....:D :D :D

Richard K.
18-Apr-2010, 19:34
Yeah, Arnold Schwarzenegger might call photographers who use 14X17" cameras "girlie men." You need to go up to at least 18X22" in size before getting into the category of a "real man camera."

Sandy

Sandy, are you still using 20x24?

Richard K.
18-Apr-2010, 19:36
18X22" is the "Mammoth" plate, used in the 19th-century by photographers like Carleton E. Watkins, Mathew Brady, William Henry Jackson, and Eadweard Muybridge.

I saw some albumen prints from Mammoth plates by Watkins some years ago in Austin at the Ransom Center at UT and they were breath taking.

Sandy King

Sandy, were Mammoths horizontal only?

sanking
18-Apr-2010, 20:10
Sandy, were Mammoths horizontal only?


Richard,

They were used both in horizontal and vertical orientation. In fact, the albumen print I mentioned by Watkins was a vertical.

I have never seen a Mammoth format camera but since the short and long dimensions are so close my guess is that they were all built with reversing backs.

Sandy

sanking
18-Apr-2010, 20:22
Sandy, are you still using 20x24?


Yes, but it is a real lightweight, less than 20 lbs without lens.

Unfortunately I had a rotary cuff tear that made it impossible for me to work with the camera in the field for the past couple of years. I finally had surgery on the shoulder and it is now almost back to normal.

Sandy

Oren Grad
18-Apr-2010, 21:00
Is he actually using it now or does he just have one?

He has actually used it. For some reason I have the impression that it's been a while since he last did, but off the top of my head I can't link a source for that.

Oren Grad
18-Apr-2010, 21:10
And this gentleman (http://www.robertszabo.com/) has done some 18x22 wet plate.

Pete Roody
19-Apr-2010, 07:29
You can see a picture of Patrick Alts 18x22 here:

http://www.mamutphoto.com/content/view/28/29/lang,en/

Richard K.
19-Apr-2010, 09:37
Yes, but it is a real lightweight, less than 20 lbs without lens.

Unfortunately I had a rotary cuff tear that made it impossible for me to work with the camera in the field for the past couple of years. I finally had surgery on the shoulder and it is now almost back to normal.

Sandy

Wow that's great, the camera I mean, not the rotary cuff tear (that injury pretty well finished my younger son's pitching career). What brand weighs only 20 pounds? Is pretty stable in the field, wind?

sanking
19-Apr-2010, 12:23
Wow that's great, the camera I mean, not the rotary cuff tear (that injury pretty well finished my younger son's pitching career). What brand weighs only 20 pounds? Is pretty stable in the field, wind?

My 20X24 was built by Richard Ritter. It is quite rigid and stable in the field, though any camera this large will quickly attract the attention of the slightest breeze. I posted an image of the camera in an earlier thread.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=57169&page=2

In addition to the Gundlach Rapid Rectigraphic 26-40-56 shown on the camera, which does not quite cover 20X24 I still own three lenses that will cover the format, a 450mm Nikkor M, a 14X17" (490mm) B&L Tessar, and a 30" Red Dot Artar. All three of these lenses have to be stopped down to f/32 or more to completely cover the format. The Nikkor 450mm is my favorite lens for this format. It must be stopped down to at least f/45 to avoid vignetting, and even stopped down the corners are a bit soft, but the angle of view is very wide for this format. I also have two zone plate lenses that I ocassionally use with the camera, a 300mm and a 500 mm, though if truth me known I have yet to make a negative with the zone plate lenses that I want to print.

I recently had a few 10X24" holders made and am now having a reducing back made for the big camera. I already have a 12X20 reducing back.

Sandy