How Did We Come To LF?

[Bernice Loui]

When I began this journey into photography, it began with a Hasselblad 500CM/80mm f2.8 Planar/A12 back that was given to my by my brother. There were a group of photographer friends my brother hung out with who kind took me in and taught me the basics... One of which was a chronic 8x10 view camera addict.

Eventually, a 35mm Alpa system became a second camera. This later gave way to a Canon system.

Then one day a 4x5 Sinar F system appeared in the want ads at a really good price, the 8x10 guy insisted that I purchase that system for it was such a bargain. Looking back, he must have known this could be good for me. But wow, that initial learning curve was STEEP...

Images produced during these early years of my image making journey became a mix of 35mm film and sheet film in both B&W, color print (C41) and color transparency (E6 & K14). Eventually, the road that was chosen became mostly B&W sheet film.

As the digital revolution pressed forward, the "point & shoot" digital cameras became the snapper of choice, yet in the back of my mind, the image quality of film reminded me of the difference between film -vs- digital.

For a variety of reasons, the Hasselblad system went, the Canon manual focus system went and was replace with a Canon autofocus system.
which sat for years until one day I decided to purchase a Canon 1DS body. This allowed me to use those Canon EOS lenses that have been sitting for years and reminded me of how much the craft of image making was part of me.

For all the good things that the Canon digital offered, taking one look at the prints made from sheet film became a strident reminder of the difference between film & digital. It was not long before the Sinar system was dusted off, film holders loaded and film souped..

It all came back with a roar...



Bernice

[Andrew O'Neill]

Like most people I started with a 35mm camera (pentax K1000). Wanting better quality I moved to medium format. Wanting more control I moved to large format. 4x5, then 8x10, then 14x17.

[Peter Gomena]

I was introduced to LF in my first high school photography class. Everyone started with a 35mm because everyone had access to either their dad's or one of the school cameras. The school owned two Crown Graphics, which everyone used for one specific assignment. I was hooked. Over the next 8 years, I owned a Calumet, a Crown Graphic, and a Wista. I eventually went to a photography school where 4x5 was standard equipment, and on and on.

I've owned a 35mm and a Rollei TLR for 30 years, bought a Hasselblad system I use with some regularity, but have a soft spot for 4x5. I own a Zone VI camera and several lenses and an old whole-plate camera. My photography slowed to a crawl when my wife and I had twins, but I've come back to LF because sometimes nothing else will do the job. My interest in LF really rekindled over the past 5 years, mostly because I've allowed myself to be happy with a few good images at the end of an outing instead of 300 mediocre ones that might have a couple of "keepers" among them. (Age and patience also have a lot to do with it.) And then there's the image quality.

My 35mm gear sits in the closet, untouched for months on end. Once the kids are out of high school, I'll probably sell it. If I can find a buyer.

Peter Gomena

[chassis]

My hardware journey went like this: Kodak Instamatic (126) > Canon FX (35mm) > Mamiya RB67 (120) > Toyo 45AII (4x5).

The artistic aspect of things started with a summer photography course many years ago, and the art and science of photography for me has been a path of growth and exploration ever since.

[drew.saunders]

I took several photo classes in college (class of '89), for which I used my Canon T70, and one of the classes was a large format photography class. "Alternate Printing Processes" was also offered, but I never took it, and I wish I had. I think there were only 6 or so students in the class for the quarter that I took it. We could borrow a Calumet Wood Field XM (I think? It was the one with the hole that let you fold it with a lens attached) or a monorail, likely also a Calumet, and a lens, and I borrowed the Wood Field and a 150/5.6. I had a lot of fun and one of the most important things I learned was that I never found the 150 to be "right" for me. With no darkroom consistently available, I wondered if I'd ever get back into LF, but with the option of scanning and printing with inkjet, I picked up a Tachihara in 2001 with an APO-Symmar (pre "L") 120/5.6 from Badger Graphic, and started with Polaroid Type 55, since I didn't want to deal with developing film. I later picked up some Jobo 2500 reels, but I'm eyeing the New55 Project, since I still hate the bother of developing film, but am too cheap and/or impatient to send it out, so if New55 gives good quality at $6/sheet, I'll likely start using it. I've added several lenses, 80, 165, 180, 200, 250x2 and 300mm, but still use the 120/5.6, and eventually will replace it with a Fuji 125/5.6 since I do run out of coverage often on that lens. I switched to an Ebony 45SU in 2008, shortly after one of the rear "arms" on my Tachi broke off at the pivot point (the camera still works fine as long as I don't need rear tilt in strong winds).

Honestly, even if I had access to a darkroom, I don't know if I'd go back to wet prints. I did pick up two 6x4.5 cameras, a Fuji GA645zi and Mamiya 645E (with 4 lenses in time), and just sold all that 645 stuff to KEH. I sold all the 35mm SLR stuff long ago for a 250/6.3 Fuji, and still shoot a Leica M6TTL, but that might get sold if I can convince myself that the Leica Monochrom is in my budget (and I just bought up a Lotto ticket...). I picked up a Fuji XE-1 and that's what displaced all the 6x4.5 stuff, it's that good!

[Tony Evans]

Lifetime of photography as a hobby, starting at age 7 years with Kodak Brownie and 620 hand development.

[Vaughn]

I was using my Rolleiflex like a view camera without movements, so moving to a 4x5 was quite natural.

[mdm]

I grew up in a camera household and looked at many photography books and magazines. In university studying somethng unrelated, I spent hours in the library with the photobooks. I loved Paul Strands Luzara and Hebridies pictures and stories of Edward Weston making contact prints at night in dusty hotel rooms in Mexico. So when I made some pictures I liked, I suddenly wanted an 8x10 but settled for a 4x5. Making pictures is an escape for me and very little else, I have no pretentions.

[Jim Graves]

I did it backwards ... I had backpacked with my brothers for many years and always thought I should be taking some Ansel Adams photos of the places we hiked. So when I was getting ready to retire I bought a Crown Graphic and enrolled in our Junior College beginning photography class. Boy, was I out of place ... a bunch of 20 year olds with 35mm cams shooting 4 rolls of 36 exposure film each week and me with five or six 4x5 negatives to develop. It was great though ... they had fun watching me do it the hard way and I enjoyed being part of their enthusiasm.

I then moved down to MF and 35mm and then up to whole plate and 8x10 ... and just recently a few halting steps into 11x14.

If I could only have one format ... it would be 4x5 ... not even a hard choice ... all the movements, large film selection, light weight (I now use a Gowland Pocket Lite), plenty of "pixels" for big prints, reasonably priced lenses, and reasonably sized darkroom equipment. And, now, with scanned negs and printed enlarged negatives for alternative processes (I like Carbon) you can do it all.

Funny thing is ... now I'm not a big Adams fan and shoot mostly abstract and smaller scenes.

[welly]

I started "serious" photography with a digital camera in 1999 although had owned a 35mm point and shoot when I was a kid that got irregular use, and occasional shots with my father's Minolta film SLR. I remember just before leaving to move to NZ about 3 years ago, I went on a photography holiday for a couple of weeks around Scotland, and a three of the guys I went with had large format cameras. I was shooting with a Nikon D700 but was fascinated by the large format cameras. Never forgot about them and always intended to eventually get into that kind of photography. Eventually, while living in NZ, I found myself getting irritated and fed up with having to deal with a memory card full of 100s of images (sure, I could have shot less but the temptation was a strong thing!) and decided to sell up and move to film. I did that and purchased a Mamiya RB67 (my walk around camera) and a Sinar F2 (everything else).

I had a brief moment where I returned to digital and my Sinar was left on the shelf for a while but got back into it when I moved over here to Australia and now I'm completely set on large format and as far as digital goes, I have an iPhone that rarely gets used. Everything else is shot with my Toyo, my Cambo 8x10 or my Leica M6.

[Filmnut]

My Dad taught me how to use sheet film when I was a teenager in the 70's, then I moved into 35mm photography, kind backwards to many folks.
I'm still using the Speed Graphic that my Dad bought about 1951!
Like most others, I have digital cameras too, and like the convenience they offer, but just love the look a nice print from a big neg, there's nothing like it in my opinion.
Keith

[gleaf]

My Dad souped 620 in his Yankee tank. Enlarged on a card table across the claw foot bathtub. I got to supervise the wash tray. Jump '50's to '60's bought 35 mm Nikon Ftn , then '70's my used Rollie TLR. Shot a bit of ASA25 KB14 in Germany and then some 4 x 5 with a Navy Graphlex. Now I have 'reverted' from digital to 4 x 5 Graphlex both press and view. I'm 66 and not in a hurry any longer. I no longer think shot quantity will beat contemplation and care. It's been a long time coming. I am glad I have learned that every photo is not the action peak at the ball game. I'll be retired in a few months and am now scouting the nearby Ohio river valley and area countryside for locations to discover the seasons of change in 4 x 5.

Took 40 years to evolve. Likely long but not a record number.

[Jody_S]

I came to it in a roundabout way. I have never personally known any active LF photographers, never discussed it, never viewed people's prints, etc. 15 years ago I had no idea there was such a thing as LF. Then came eBay. While looking to purchase long telephoto lenses for the nature photography I was doing, I kept getting search results for LF lenses. So I started looking into it, and before I knew it I was the proud owner of a Crown Graphic with a few accessories, and a couple boxes of film. It was love/hate at first sight. Fortunately I was already doing business with a small pro lab whose owner took the time to explain a few things, helped me load my film, etc. Still, I only took a few shots before giving up for 10 years. When I returned, I discovered web sites such as this one, it's been a lot more fun this time 'round.

[Peter Langham]

At Jeffery Pine in Yosemite, I got talking to someone who had a 4x5 set up and awaiting sunset / moonrise. He was several hours early, so had plenty of time to explain it all to me. I also met someone with either an 8x10 or 11x14 (I think it was probably Clyde Butcher) on the same trip. I knew that day that I had found my tool and owned my first 4x5 shortly thereafter.

[Noah B]

I started out when canon made the first digital slr, the original rebel. I got one of those and I was hooked! This was around junior year of high school and I carried that thing with me everywhere and was constantly taking photos. In college we did b&w 35mm and I moved up to a Mamiya C330. I eventually got a Mamiya 7 and then we had a 4x5 class at my school and since I took that it turned my world upside down. I couldn't believe the power of a view camera! I worked with 4x5 for a year, then dropped it and did 6x9 for a year and a half, then moved up to 8x10. Went back to 6x9 after a year and worked with that for a year and a half, then moved up to 5x7 a few months ago. I seem to always go back and forth between hand cameras and view cameras, they each suit a purpose and I enjoy both.

[ImSoNegative]

all my life i have enjoyed looking at others photographs, never was much of a photographer myself, my thing was drawing and painting, i had a studio in the town where i lived at the time and i taught classes in different media, one day i thought that it would be a good idea to get some pictures of some things that i could draw or paint, so i bought myself a little point and shoot digicam it was like 4 mp and i paid about 400 bucks for it. so out i went with my digicam on the hunt, i set it on black and white mode, to make a long story short this is what got me interested in photography, i soon bought myself a canon film camera, some black and white film, that led to darkroom stuff, never even heard of large format at that time, i was one of those guys that if i saw you shooting a big camera, i would probably ask you if you can still get film for it. as time went on my photography journey led to the big stuff. large format had a huge learning curve for me but many thanks for the folks on here and apug for answering all the beginners questions i had, now it makes me feel good if im able to answer a question or two and help someone else that is just starting out. my camera of choice now is my calumet c1, long way from a little sony pocket digicam that i actually paid more money for than i did the 8x10. i actually enjoy shooting it with the 4x5 back that way i can use long lenses, i also have a 5x7 burke and james that i shoot often as well, btw this is a really good idea for a thread

[Pfiltz]

I've only been shooting film now for 9 months. My first film camera was my RB67. Shortly after that, I jumped into 4x5.

Yep. I'm a newb.

Pretty much it.

[jp]

I used 35mm in the 80's/90's and was curious about the LF gear I sometimes saw advertised for big bucks. I couldn't afford it. When the D100 came out, I bought into digital and photography was rekindled with the creative experimentation aided by the quick access to results from digital. Somewhere along the line I got bored of digital, having figured out it's challenges and sent away for my old unused TLR to be CLA'd. I was pleased to be reacquainted with the capture qualities of B&W film. For a challenge I got into LF because the gear was cheap enough to try, generally lightly used, and rich with history. Speed graphic, a couple lenses, 4x5 enlarger, B&J 8x10; just the start. Forums like this have very useful archives to search and helpful people to help. Youtube was also very helpful in showing processes and procedures.

[Scotty230358]

It all started in the early 70s when an MPP outfit came up for sale for the reasonable sum of $70. It came with 3 lenses and a host of double dark slides. I tinkered with it for a couple of years then sold it as I the majority of my work was still being done with my Mamiya and Rollei TLRs. Fast forward to 2001 and a large windfall got me interested in a Linhof Technica outfit which was considerably more than $70. However I could not get on with it and bought a Kardan GT Monorail. This proved to be too large and heavy to carry in a backpack so I sold the Technica and mothballed the Kardan. In 2008 I bought a Shen Hao and finally started learning about LF. My journey ended in 2011 when I committed to a Walker Titan which is the camera I use most to this day.

[John Kasaian]

Because large format cameras look like the cameras seen in the cartoons I grew up watching in the 1950s, it was destiny.
As a toddler on an annual family vacation to Yosemite, my dad introduced me to Ansel Adams, who was giving a workshop at the Tunnel View and he had two LF cameras set up that really captured my attention (and Mr. Adams attention too---"Don't touch!") I also saw a few Graphics being wielded by reporters for the Fresno Bee and I had one class photograph in Jur. High made with a real gosh darn genuine Cirkuit camera. Decades later I was a Lt. in the Army Reserve on TDY at Ft Huachuca, AZ, overseeing the transfer of the Directorate of Industrial Operations from the military to a private contractor (Pan American World Services, IIRC) There were lots of little details to straighten out and one of them was car pooling with the base photographer, who was conducting a photographic survey of the industrial infrastructure, to a few remote locations. He was the first person I asked about using a view camera, and his response was "Just get one and do it." When digital drove down the prices for used cameras, I remembered his words and I've been having fun ever since.

[ImSoNegative]

I've only been shooting film now for 9 months. My first film camera was my RB67. Shortly after that, I jumped into 4x5.

Yep. I'm a newb.

Pretty much it.

I too have an rb67, i really like it alot, i have had it for several years and still shoot with it often.

[austin granger]

I photographed for a long time with a 35mm Olympus point and shoot that my grandmother gave me for Christmas. My eyes were opened to further possibilities when I got a job at a small photo lab, and I picked up a used K1000. When I see one now, I can't help but smile-I loved that camera! At some point a few years later, I moved on to another job, this time at a proper camera store, and it was there that I decided I needed a brand new Pentax 67, which was no small purchase on my meager salary, even with the employee discount. I can so vividly remember putting that thing together for the first time at my coffee table and thinking how exotic and well, 'serious' it was. "Man, this thing is no joke!" And of course the negatives were enormous, and the detail, astounding! Well, at least until I saw a show of Edward Weston's contact prints at the Oakland museum. My mind was completely blown. The prints were alive. They were frightening, actually. I hadn't known that something like that was even possible. But I decided right then that I wanted to learn how to make pictures like that, and do it for the rest of my life.

[jnantz]

notmuch of a journey, just a purchase ...
i assisted an old school portrait photographer who shot everything 5x7 and split 5x7
after 10months i bought a camera ...

[Drew Bedo]

Back in the late 198Os I began a new career in diagnostic imaging, called Nuclear Medicine. The technique involves isotopes and imaging with computer driven radiation detectors. Things are all digital now, but back then, the images were captured on sheet film from a CRT. Most equipment then used B&W 8x10 sheet film in conventional double film holders. This film was developed in an automatic, roller transported Kodak "X-O-mat" machine. Exposed sheets went in one end and came out as dry negatives in 90 secs. Almost like Polaroids!

About that time, I discovered camera shows here in Houston; a big show every six months. I managed to pick up a near ruined Speed graphic with a lens for a few dollars and then a couple of 4x5 film holders. I cut down film from work and made a few shots. Ran the film through the processor . . .and I was hooked.

Aty the camera show I found a table selling out of date film and took the chance . . .turned out OK. Got an 8x10 and that worke out too.

Never looked back.

[RockAndRolf]

Nice idea for a thread.
I myself ended up here like other people of my generation (I am about 30 years old). I started with a DSLR and after a few years I found out that analog large format cameras offer so much more "experience".

It started with a Canon EOS 500D on which I had put some old M42 lenses from the thrift shop. Because of the crop factor I bought an EOS 5Dc a year later, but that too quickly became "boring" as well. When I saw what very beautiful cameras and techniques were used with old technical cameras, I only had one goal in mind. Because I still lived with my parents, I didn't have the opportunity to develop film myself at home, and I had the idea that this would become too expensive and difficult. So the next step was to build a large format camera whose focusing screen I wanted to shoot with my DSLR. For this I used some recycled wood and a magnifying glass as a lens, the photos are still on my Flickr page(https://www.flickr.com/photos/rolfkoster/albums/72157629624422384). When I finished this camera I was already enchanted by the image on the ground glass, and I still am to this day. A few years later I bought my own house with space for a darkroom, and I finally had the opportunity to go all out with cameras, and it turned out well if I do say so myself.

I'm very curious about how others got here, especially people like me, for whom analog cameras aren't the only logical choice.

[abruzzi]

nothing particularly interesting...I decided I wanted to try shooting 4x5, so I bought a 4x5. Mostly, I just wanted to understand how they work. Unlike a lot of people here or on Photrio, I'm not really into photography as an art form. I'm not really interested in other people's photos, and I don't show my photos to any one. I do this because I like learning things, and LF has a lot for me to learn.

[fiddle]

Covid.
Ive shot 35mm and medium format for 20 some years, mostly street stuff, the lack of people around made me say, why not.

[Bernice Loui]

From a previous LFF discussion:
https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?98688-How-Did-We-Come-To-LF

Then why Sinar to this day after all these decades of doing LF, Been-done Linhof, Arca Swiss, Horseman L (excellent camera) and field folders, Various Toyo including 810M which IMO is the best of the 8x10 field folders used, Wisner wood field, and .... all back to Sinar pretty much with except for the recent Linhof TK23s.

~Post# 34 below has more story~

https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?164634-Sinar-F2-Vs-Sinar-Norma-(4x5)

Most used today, Canon digital & Canon 35mm.


Bernice

[Ulophot]

I’m delighted to see younger folks in film photography and interested to know their reasons.

Like John Sexton, it was watching a print emerge from a blank sheet of paper in the developer in the high school darkroom in 1968 that lit the photographic fire in me, though 35mm SLRs were the fire tools of the time and LF lay years into the future. At so-called art college in Phila., we spent some brief time in our junior year with 4x5 Calumets. (I never got to my senior year.)

In 1978, I had to produce a book cover for Dope, Inc. (still on Amazon and elsewhere) that required the tilts of a 4x5. The artist I was working with, my best friend, provided $1,000, with which I bought an Omega, a 75 Super Angulon, tripod, and the other needed items.

Soon I acquired a 210 Komura for other editorial/ad work as well as for portraiture, which was my primary interest. From especially the mid-‘80s until 2003 or so, I did all sorts of professional work, including a fair amount of interior architecture, for which the 75 served me well, and many LF portraits. LF is certainly my favorite for portraits, in part because of the aspect ratio.

Financial reasons obliged me to put away my cameras, however, and it was only 13 years later, in 2016, that I was able to return, though not professionally. The same 210 still graces my 4x5, now a Tachihara—portable for location work, which my former 26-lb rail camera/studio tripod combo led my aging physique to protest.

[BrianShaw]

In the 1970’s a friend, who was an acolyte of St Ansel, sold me an omega 4x5 enlarger and included a SuperGraphic in the deal. I wasn’t really interested in much more than 35mm at the time but quickly became enchanted.

[Corran]

Put in a silly low bid on a 4x5 Toyo GII on eBay, which ended up winning. I think he over half of the money I paid on just shipping the giant thing. I got hooked pretty fast, but upgraded to a Crown Graphic and then Zone VI camera for lightweight hiking usage (and later Chamonix, Linhof, Intrepid...etc). I still have the Toyo though. Use it maybe once a year, but it's not worth much and would cost a fortune to ship anyway, so it has a spot on the shelf. Prior, I had gotten into film first with a Nikon F5 and then Pentax 67.

[Jim Noel]

In 1938, a freelancer whom we knew well bought a new Speed Graphic. He asked my Dad if it was OK to give me his old one. He taught me to use it and develop film and print I've been at it since.

[Alan9940]

I blame my wife! :) For some Xmas in the late 70's, she bought me a book; "Examples The Making of 40 Photographs" by Ansel Adams. I had been happily making images with my 35mm camera, but when I saw Ansel's images I knew immediately that those were the kinds of pictures I wanted to make; not necessarily the grand landscape, but certainly the clarity and tonality. I took on a part-time second job to save up for a 4x5 outfit. Yeah, I knew Ansel shot mostly 8x10, but I wanted to simply "get my feet wet." I was finally able to buy the outfit in 1978, and in 1979 I attended Fred Picker's workshop. I was on my way with LF... Oh, and in 1982 I bought an 8x10 and used that camera almost exclusively for a decade. At nearly 70 years young now, I still shoot both 4x5 and 8x10; albeit the outfits used are much lighter now, but I still pack it all out into the wilds.

[Bernice Loui]

Brings up the question of how many LF folks were influenced by the images by Ansel Adams, then wanting to do their own take on these images. John Sexton noted this is how he "wanted" some of that too.

Early on in my LF endeavors, Ansel Adams_Group f64 held significant influence on what view camera images could and should be...until Art and Foto (some were working very accomplished photographers circa 1980's and before) friends bent me away from that sole influence by exposure to art history via the many art museums in the SF bay area. This coupled with cinema broke the sole Ansel Adams/Group f64 hold on image making style. This became finding and developing your own image making expression within the limitations of the image making tools being applied.

This brings up question# 2, how many back packing/camping view camera photographers do landscape photography as a combo camping/outdoor adventure and photography experience? BTW, greatly dislike camping and such which partly explains why lightweight field folders and related are of limited interest.


Bernice



I blame my wife! :) For some Xmas in the late 70's, she bought me a book; "Examples The Making of 40 Photographs" by Ansel Adams. I had been happily making images with my 35mm camera, but when I saw Ansel's images I knew immediately that those were the kinds of pictures I wanted to make; not necessarily the grand landscape, but certainly the clarity and tonality. I took on a part-time second job to save up for a 4x5 outfit. Yeah, I knew Ansel shot mostly 8x10, but I wanted to simply "get my feet wet." I was finally able to buy the outfit in 1978, and in 1979 I attended Fred Picker's workshop. I was on my way with LF... Oh, and in 1982 I bought an 8x10 and used that camera almost exclusively for a decade. At nearly 70 years young now, I still shoot both 4x5 and 8x10; albeit the outfits used are much lighter now, but I still pack it all out into the wilds.

[dodphotography]

I was a painter in college. Graduated with some steam, a friend photographed my work… he then moved. So, foolishly I thought “I’ll do it myself”.

Nikon D80… then, as a painter, miss the hand in the work. Went to film. 35 to 120 rather quickly then missed the mass of a large canvas. Went to large format and haven’t looked back.

I’m not as seasoned as some members here. 37.

Then got an MFA and studied under Nick Nixon/ Abe Morell / Laura McPhee / Barbara Bosworth and it cemented what I hope will be a long life of large format. I was the only student to shoot LF and print wet in graduate school which was a joyful and painful experience since the critique schedule was clearly oriented towards the convenience of raw files and inkjet prints


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jnantz]

Brings up the question of how many LF folks were influenced by the images by Ansel Adams, then wanting to do their own take on these images. John Sexton noted this is how he "wanted" some of that too.

Early on in my LF endeavors, Ansel Adams_Group f64 held significant influence on what view camera images could and should be...until Art and Foto (some were working very accomplished photographers circa 1980's and before) friends bent me away from that sole influence by exposure to art history via the many art museums in the SF bay area. This coupled with cinema broke the sole Ansel Adams/Group f64 hold on image making style. This became finding and developing your own image making expression within the limitations of the image making tools being applied.

This brings up question# 2, how many back packing/camping view camera photographers do landscape photography as a combo camping/outdoor adventure and photography experience? BTW, greatly dislike camping and such which partly explains why lightweight field folders and related are of limited interest.


Bernice

Hi Bernice

I can't say that I have been influenced by AA / F64——not a fan of their aesthetic, and decades later after seeing some of their work in person at the MFA in Boston 7-10 years ago, my position hasn't changed, I thought the prints I saw were kind of "meh". I understand where they are in the grande scheme of things, a reactionary movement &c &c but I found the images I saw to be less interesting than other works that were in the same exhibit. With regards to when I got my first LF Camera. ... a few years after I went to college I bought a speed graphic, and within a few years I got a rail camera. I had assisted a variety of local pros, and apprenticed with a portrait photographer who was still shooting 5x7 karshesque-formals. I mainly use a LF falling / plate camera these days and shoot emulsion I make from scratch... or something bigger to expose big factory-made-paper negatives. I don't really bring large format gear on camping / hiking trips, I'd rather be living life in the moment than be staring at a screen.

[Havoc]

After a try of digital I went back to film. Got into medium format as those were becoming affordable second-hand. Went 6x6, then 6x4.5 which is still what I use most. But got a 6x9 Fuji and got hooked on "bigger" negatives. Thought that 4x5 would be ideal as it was larger and large enough for contact printing as I don't really have the space to set up an enlarger. And it would be easier to scan as well.

I admit I got it wrong. 4x5 isn't large enough to contact print. But larger is just impractical. I'm also more and more feeling to go to color but developing it myself doesn't work out and I can't afford having it done. So I'm more and more thinking of going back to 6x9. Right now I'm fixing the leaks in my Mamiya Press. If there is decent weather this weekend I might give it a try.

[Tin Can]

I finally realized I was 'retired' at age 58, 2008, bad times

First I got a Ham Radio license KD0IJD, but HAMs are boring, I still DX

Then I realized everybody was dumping all LF, like crazy people

I bought the good deals, then learned how to use them

Good Hobby!

I knew how to proceed from years of MC riding and trading

Stuff is stuff

Sometimes we make ART

[Graham Patterson]

I had some contact with 4x5 at college, but personally I was using 35mm and moving into roll-film. I didn't get my first 4x5 camera until the early 2000's when a friend of my wife shutdown her photography studio and gifted me her Beseler 45M. I couldn't let the option to work with larger formats than 6x6 go to waste!

Because of the correction I need for my vision, using 35mm SLRs became harder as I got older, hence a move to rangefinders, waist-level roll film, and more recently view cameras. So in my case it was a mix of opportunity and personal comfort.

[pendennis]

I had taken a couple of photography classes in the mid-70's, working on my degree, and the instructor demoed a Graphic View in 4x5. She mentioned how much good equipment was out there, so I thought I'd give it a shot. An elderly gentleman advertised a Busch Pressman Model D with a dozen film holders, 3 lenses, flash, a case, and a Gossen Super Pilot, all for $100. He showed me some basics, and off I went. The lenses were a 8.5" f/6.3 Commercial Ektar, 100mm f/6.3 WF Ektar, and a 135mm f/4.5 Kodak Optar. While the Busch had very limited movements, I worked on composition, position, and exposure. I shot and developed a lot of B&W film, and used the university's print lab.

A number of years later, I sold off all my LF equipment to concentrate on medium format, then digital. But, I've since bought more LF equipment. There's just nothing like a 4x5 chrome or negative.

[otto.f]

1. I was much interested in the possibilities of selective (out of) focus area’s not parallel to the film plane, but in function of what you want to tell with an image. I was also interested in correcting oblique perspective lines, but later on I found that not as fascinating as I thought it would be.
2. The possibilities of very rich tonal scales and smooth transitions from dark to light, as opposed to the 35mm format
3. It was in the time that Ansel Adams’ books were popular and I found it a challenge and a plus to develop every single negative in a way that fits the specific light situation.
In fact all these reasons to practice LF still stand. How to attain these goals is a different story and in fact the problem with LF too. It’s not that easy.
Nice idea for a thread indeed!

[Gary Beasley]

I found a Crown Graphic kit at a camera store in Little Rock for a good price and bought it. I’d found an old DeJur 4x5 enlarger earlier that needed work and was using that in my darkroom. The rest is history.

[Mudrunner]

It's genetic.
My father, brother, and uncle were professional photographers. My uncle still is.
I got my first Kodak at 5 years old. In high school, I saved up my lawn-mowing money for a K1000, then I joined the yearbook and newspaper so that I could get access to a darkroom and free film, developing, and experience....when I finished high school, I decided to become a professional photographer. I moved to the East Coast and started as an apprentice in a commercial/fashion studio in the early/mid 80s ...at a time when the term Supermodel was coined...I got to know and use medium and large format cameras (4x5, 5x7, 8x10).
Working in the studio, was very controlled and meticulous about everything...I learned a lot.
Eventually, I missed the mountains and moved back to the West Coast (there was also a gal), and went into architecture...so I sold my photo gear for tuition and rent.
I re-started my love for film when my (now adult) kids started using my old gear....about 5 years ago. I realised how much I missed it and decided that I needed to express myself through large format...and combine it with my love for the mountains. So here I am shooting 4x5 again.
My son did a digital media program at high school, my daughter took advanced photography at college. They are both quite talented, and they both shoot film....albeit 35mm for now.
It's genetic.

[Mark Sawyer]

When I was in college in the '70s, everyone had 35mm cameras, including me with an old Minolta. The Center for Creative Photography was just starting up, and I was marveling over the Ansel Adams prints. One of the graduate students told me, "If you want to get 4x5 quality from a 35mm, you need to get a Nikon."

So I bought a Nikon, but my prints looked about the same. And one of the professors explained to me, "If you really want 4x5 quality from a 35mm, you have to get a Leica."

So I traded in the Nikon for a Leica, and my prints still looked about the same. And someone said to me, "If you really, really want 4x5 quality from a 35mm, you should get an Alpa."

So I traded in the Leica for an Alpa, and my prints looked about the same. And I said to myself, "If I really really really want 4x5 quality, maybe I should get a 4x5."

So I bought a cheap 4x5, and my prints looked a lot better.

Then I decided I wanted 8x10 contact print quality, so I bought an 8x10, and it felt like falling in love for the first time... :)

[Oren Grad]

Merged with the existing thread on the topic.

[maltfalc]

wanted a camera i could use for daguerreotypes, procrastinated about it for ages then found most of a voigtlander avus at a thrift store for $10. went looking for replacement parts on ebay, got distracted and ended up buying a dirt cheap speed graphic instead.

[John Kasaian]

All the cameras I saw on Looney Tunes andThe Three Stooges had bellows.
I naturally thought that was how all cameras were supposed to be :rolleyes:

[j.e.simmons]

In the early 70s I was shooting a Yashica TLR when I saw a magazine article on the Zone System. It immediately made sense to me. Shortly after, I saw Adams’ five little books in a store. Reading those made me want a view camera, and 6-7 years late I got an Omega 4x5.

[Michael R]

Mostly the work of George Tice, Mark Citret, Stephen Shore and a few others that made me want to try LF.

[Ulophot]

Mark, that's a great way to tell the story. I love it, even though I'll never get to 8x10. Thanks!

[Dugan]

For my portraiture class in community college, a minimum of one assignment was required to be taken with a 4x5. I paired up with a fellow student, and we muddled through with photos of each other.
When I got my chrome back from the lab, the "fuse was lit".
My next semester, I had a "Commercial Photography" class...(same instructor) and conveniently, a good friend of mine had just inherited his grandfather's Ansco 5x7.
I shot my first assignment for the Commercial class on 5x7 Ektachrome 64 and left my classmates in the dust.
I traded my Nikkormat FT3 for a Calumet CC-400 at a camera swap, got a great deal on a used 210mm f/6.1 Xenar, and off I went.

[Peter De Smidt]

My father lent me his Contaflex I for a year I spent in Germany. After that, I started using his Rolleiflex Automat. Someone, I came across a Zone VI catalogue when I worked in a camera store during Grad school. A biology professor came in one day, and he mentioned that he had a Sinar kit that he used for taking pictures for his text book. I asked if he wanted to sell it, and he said, "Yes!" That's a I acquired my first LF camera, a Sinar P Expert set.

[Bob Salomon]

Went to the USAF Photo School run by Yale at Lowery, AFzb.
End of the first week we we split into pairs, given a hard press camera case with a floppy wood tripod and were sent out to document the base.
Came to processing and no short top so we were sent to the kitchen to get vinegar.

That was the introduction.
Couple of weeks later we paired up with an old floppy Deardorff and that same wobbly wood tripod and sent to preserve the base on 810. Again no short stop so back to the kitchen again,

[LabRat]

Got my first sheet film camera at age 12... Photog mentoring me insisted I get a SG, and found a baby graphic... Started teaching me, and told me I wouldn't make a dime in the industry unless I could shoot babies and weddings... Then made me practice "the Pressman's hand" (a way of rapidly "motor driving" holders and camera operations, perfect for shooting burning Hindenburgs)... Made me practice them like a student playing piano scales... Almost burnt out with this "boot camp" approach...

Saw a tiny image in a library book (Laslo Moholy Nagy) of "Berlin/radio tower" that set me on fire... Photography can be this!?!!! Could now move away from pet photography... :-)

Found a Graphic View II 4X5 at a flea market I could afford, and took it into the backyard for hours every day for weeks learning how to make every movement work with a natural look (but didn't have film to shoot yet), so had to sharpen my eye to see every detail on the GG... Worked at labs, studios, on location to learn as much as I could, then off to more learning... Assisted at many major studios (used most all pro cameras, lighting, and formats), and printed for masters, collections, and museums etc... Read, studied, asked questions, tested materials often all night long... And developed my own eye in the world...

Still shoot the Graphic View regularly... Non-modular, but a dream to apply complex movements to... (Got lucky with my "first" 4X5!!!) Many thousands of chromes shot with it...

Lesson learned was one can take any piece of gear, learn it inside out, learn to "dance" with it, and go to heights you never imagined...

Maybe all that "piano scale" tedium paid off??? ;-)

Steve K

[Ethan]

In high school I took a photography class where we were taught on 35mm cameras. In my senior year we were given the project of experimenting with something new. The school had a few medium format cameras, but none of them were very good, the teacher had a Zone VI field camera though, and the school had a single beseler 4x5 enlarger. After seeing what the "great" photographers were able to create with large format cameras, I (somewhat naively) decided that's what I wanted to do for the experimental project, and bought a Graphic View II off eBay. I didn't know much about large format when I got it, and I probably should have done more research, but I fell in love with ground glass focusing and what not. Pretty soon after getting that camera, I realized a monorail isn't the best for shooting landscapes, and I began looking for a field camera. I was lucky and came across a semi beat up 8x10 for a good deal, which I purchased and restored over the following summer, and I think that's going to be what I stick with. I like big prints and 8x10 is the largest which can be (semi) easily enlarged, but maybe some day I'll build an ULF enlarger and go bigger.

[John Kasaian]

In the 50's went spent part of every Summer at Camp 16 in Yosemite. My Dad bought film for his Brownie TLR and double 8 Kodak Cine from Ansel Adam's store in the old Yosemite Village. The very first time I saw Ansel Adams outside was one trip on our way home to Fresno. I would have been 5 or 6 years old. It must have been during one of his workshops and he had two 8x10 cameras set up at the Tunnel View, where we always stopped for one last look (this never gets tiring.)
It impressed me. The next year in Yosemite I saw one of Ansel's prints---I don't remember the name but there was Yosemite Falls and a bunch of blossoms. I though the image was enchanting. I asked why our Brownie TLR didn't take pictures like that and Dad told me the Brownie didn't allow for perspective control like those big cameras I saw last year could do.
That planted the seed.

Fast forward to around 1982 or 83, I was a reserve 2LT at Ft Huachuca, AZ, serving as the last Director of Industrial Operations for my 2 week summer camp as the Industrial Operations Directorate's duties were being contracted out to Pan American World Services.
My job was to basically to "turn out the lights." Perfect duty for a reserve 2LT:rolleyes: One afternoon was spent accompanying the Base Photographer around, shooting images of the real estate where Pan Am would set up business. I mentioned that I've always wanted to try shooting a View Camera and his advice was to just get one and go have fun.

Sadly, the equipment was just too rich for my blood, so once again my ambition lay dormant (although the ads for $200 Nagaokas ---from an outfit in Honolulu---in Popular Science magazine were mighty tempting I had no idea what else I'd need or even how to load those mysterious film holders!) Soon all the Pros, all the world embraced digital cameras and good professional quality large format cameras and lenses, even entire studios were selling off items at prices I could at last afford.
A copy Steve Simmon's Using the View Camera supplied most of the information I needed to get started
so I bought my camera, a lens, a tripod, three film holders, a box of film and went hunting for Ansel's tripod holes.
I never did find those tripod holes.

[rdenney]

At 15, I spent time one summer in Colorado with a much older gentleman who was a retired printer and photographer. I learned about offset printing, setting type in lead using a Linotype machine, making lithographic plates, bulk-loading 35mm film, and using a darkroom. My reward for a summer of hard work was a Yashica Lynx 5000e. I became a “camera nut.”

As a freshman in architecture school, a local photographer showed me two prints, one from his Nikon F and the other from his Yashica 635 (a cheapie Rolleicord ripoff). The latter print was noticeably better—smoother tones, better gradation. I bought the Yashica from him to go with my (by that time) Canon F-1. That’s when I realized that format matters more than just about anything. My school loaned me their architectural camera, which nobody else wanted to mess with. It was a Linhof Kardan Color, and I spent lots of time with that camera. I started working mostly in 4x5 and medium format for paid work, using a Mamiya C3 and that borrowed Linhof. I did everything from weddings to magazine covers to custom report covers to color processing for local pros, with lots of graphic arts work mixed in. I had free access to a large-format darkroom, too.

That Mamiya (and a couple more like it) was my for-money camera for 25 more years, before switching to a Pentax 645 system for paid work a coupla dozen years ago.

But after college, I lost access to large format for about a year, and also to the darkroom. Then, I ran across a Newton NueView at a used camera store in Austin. That nearly ruined me on large format—just torture to use. But I traded it on a Calumet CC-400–a big improvement. By the mid 80’s, I had upgraded to a Cambo SC in Calumet trim, and that was my main 4x5 camera for 20+ more years. I moved to San Antonio, built a darkroom, and made the old missions there a multi-year large-format project—some of the most satisfying work I’ve ever done. But after 1992 when my work moved me to Dallas and put me on the road a lot, I ran out of inspiration and just stopped making serious photos.

By the mid-aughts, I had come to a dead end playing with crap cameras as a junque hobby instead of making serious photos, and decided it was time to be more serious for avocational photography. My good digital cameras (Canon 5D) were fine except for making big prints, which I missed. (My current Pentax 645z rectified that). I bought a Pentax 6x7 in 2007, and joined this forum in 2009. Soon after I switched to Sinar with an F that I morphed into an F2, and more recently a P. I wish I’d made that move years before.

Time is scarce but when I pull it out I do it intentionally. I have to make every photo count. I am ready to do it more. Maybe this will be the year.

Rick “print quality and flexible image management brought me to large format” Denney

[Jim Jones]

I bought an Anniversary Speed Graphic in the early 1960s to shoot Polaroid film, followed by a NeuVue (me, too. Yuk!). Next came Burke & James 5x7 flat beds and monorails, and a few other cameras from 4x5 to 8x10. The convenience of digital and a move from the family farm to a smaller house in town a few years ago meant the end of a darkroom and film. Tomorrow night comes a digital shoot digital color in the old home town gym which should produce far better images for far more people than any film ever did. It is sometimes better to sacrifice the print quality of LF for convenience and for public service.

[bob carnie]

I moved to large format film - 4x5 and 8x10 later in life, I am working on a now 20 year project loosely based on Consumption , I solarize all my work and at the beginning of the project I was hesitant to do film solarizations as Man Ray and Lee Miller set the bar and I wanted my work to not look anything like theirs. After about making a few hundred print solarizations and being very comfortable with the methodology I concluded I did not really like the white maki lines but actually wanted black maki lines on my finished work. I therefore switched to 4 x 5 and large and using the old hanger system and a point light source above the developing station I am able to get the types of prints I was dreaming of. Shooting Roll film was not an option any more for me. 223781223782 These images are my tests from this past weekend, they are my dogs bones that they would chew on or Consume over the last 14 years.

[Tin Can]

Awesome!


I moved to large format film - 4x5 and 8x10 later in life, I am working on a now 20 year project loosely based on Consumption , I solarize all my work and at the beginning of the project I was hesitant to do film solarizations as Man Ray and Lee Miller set the bar and I wanted my work to not look anything like theirs. After about making a few hundred print solarizations and being very comfortable with the methodology I concluded I did not really like the white maki lines but actually wanted black maki lines on my finished work. I therefore switched to 4 x 5 and large and using the old hanger system and a point light source above the developing station I am able to get the types of prints I was dreaming of. Shooting Roll film was not an option any more for me. 223781223782 These images are my tests from this past weekend, they are my dogs bones that they would chew on or Consume over the last 14 years.

[otto.f]

Awesome!

+1

[Myriophyllum]

I moved to large format film - 4x5 and 8x10 later in life, I am working on a now 20 year project loosely based on Consumption , I solarize all my work and at the beginning of the project I was hesitant to do film solarizations as Man Ray and Lee Miller set the bar and I wanted my work to not look anything like theirs. After about making a few hundred print solarizations and being very comfortable with the methodology I concluded I did not really like the white maki lines but actually wanted black maki lines on my finished work. I therefore switched to 4 x 5 and large and using the old hanger system and a point light source above the developing station I am able to get the types of prints I was dreaming of. Shooting Roll film was not an option any more for me. 223781223782 These images are my tests from this past weekend, they are my dogs bones that they would chew on or Consume over the last 14 years.

Very impressive!
Never liked my own results...

[bob carnie]

Thank you for the nice words. I must also say I introduced two young women to Large Format 8 x 10 and 4 x5 as they assisted me on this recent project and we did over 100 setups which they both shared the duties of setting up the camera, loading film and eventually they also processed the film and solarized it. I think they are hooked , we will buy two Intrepid cameras 8 x 10 and 4 x 4 as the young women loved the process and are my day to day lead hands.

So for under 1000 dollars we will have cameras - I have all the holders and lenses so it is perfect storm for us.

[John Kasaian]

Thank you for the nice words. I must also say I introduced two young women to Large Format 8 x 10 and 4 x5 as they assisted me on this recent project and we did over 100 setups which they both shared the duties of setting up the camera, loading film and eventually they also processed the film and solarized it. I think they are hooked , we will buy two Intrepid cameras 8 x 10 and 4 x 4 as the young women loved the process and are my day to day lead hands.

So for under 1000 dollars we will have cameras - I have all the holders and lenses so it is perfect storm for us.

Very cool!:D

[Collin Orthner]

Started with a Kodak 110 when I was maybe 7 or 8 and even won an award at our local fair using it. I loved making images and scrounged and save hard to acquire my first 35mm (Minolta XG-M + 45mm) when I was in grade 10. I used it exclusively for a few years when an older gentleman who printed my colour images for me offered me a Yashica Mat 124G for a crazy good price. A lot of film went through that camera and to this point (maybe 10 years or so) I had only used cameras with a single prime lens. The simplicity was fabulous! I started working at the Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (now the Royal Tyrrell....) when they were looking for help in the design studio back in 1986. I did a lot of photography there for brochures and publications or the curators, and they came to me asking if I would copy all the original paintings used for the large murals in the museum and if I could do it in large format. Well..... no hesitation was necessary to decide that indeed the work could be done and I was capable! I ordered up a Zone VI camera and a process lens for copying. I now use both 4x5 (Anba Ikeda) and 8x10 (Wehman). So I progressed through the formats from 110 to 8x10 and continue using all the formats mentioned including a couple of digital Sigma cameras every now and again. I also own a Korona 7x17 which is being worked on to make usable.

[esearing]

Because Internet! I was happy with my 135 Minolta x700 and having my color snapshots produced at the drugstore. But then I saw black and white images which led to developing at home. That led to research around the time digital 2MP cameras were all the rage and people scanning negatives were making serious gains in pixels. Then found forums like these with developer info and printing tips which led to single shot development for quality control and 4x5 was a nice entry level price since everyone else was going digital. Then Sandy King starts touting Pyrocat HD and Bergger 200 film combo so I just had to try it. Fast forward 20 years and I bought a 5x12 after searching for 7x17 for many years. And now branching out in to ALT processes.

Forums are the reason I also own two rarely used Digital SLRs and two 135 range finders. And will likely add a Hasselblad to my gear at some point. Discussions and info leads to GAS.

[Luis-F-S]

I began photgraphing in high school with a Pentax Spotmatic. After a few years of fooling around, I began to get better assignments and bought a used Hasselblad 500C, followed by two new 500 C/M' and then three more followed by a SWC/M.

I met someone a couple of hours away who was a great photographer and he used an 820 Korona and an 810 Deardorff always with Dagor lenses. He introduced me to LF, so I bought a wooden Wista and a couple of Zone VI cameras. Dissatisfied with the Zone VI's, I bought my first Deardorff, new at Central Camera in Chicago. This was followed by a 5x7 Dd, an 8x10 Omega F. I stupidly sold my 8x10 Deardorff(still have the V5) and the Omega F and bought a Zone VI 5x7 enlarger which I never liked. I eventually replaced it with a Durst SM-183 that I still have. Later I bought a used 8x10 Dd followed by two mint ones. Since I wanted to enlarge 8x10, I found a DeVere 5108 and when my lab went all digital, I picked up a second 5108 with a closed loop head for free. I've made a lot of money with my Cameras but all of my commercial work is digital. When the digital cameras got good enough and reasonable, I bought a couple of D70's, to replace the 'blads followed by D200's, followed by D800's which I still use. Still have all the 'blads and the digital bodies I've bought. Well, there you have it. My journey in a nutshell. L

[r.e.]

I started working at the Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (now the Royal Tyrrell....) when they were looking for help in the design studio back in 1986. I did a lot of photography there for brochures and publications or the curators, and they came to me asking if I would copy all the original paintings used for the large murals in the museum and if I could do it in large format. Well..... no hesitation was necessary to decide that indeed the work could be done and I was capable! I ordered up a Zone VI camera and a process lens for copying.

Cool. The Tyrrell is pretty high on the list of museums that I'd like to get to:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Tyrrell_Museum_of_Palaeontology

The Tyrrell Museum website: https://tyrrellmuseum.com

[Collin Orthner]

Cool. The Tyrrell is pretty high on the list of museums that I'd like to get to:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Tyrrell_Museum_of_Palaeontology

The Tyrrell Museum website: https://tyrrellmuseum.com

It really is worth a visit - truly world class! Not just for those interested in earth sciences either as there is something for everyone and a great "museum experience". Pretty fantastic place to work as well.