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What is your back worth?

I try to keep the 4x5 kit below 25 pounds. The camera body is a little Wista DX45. The tripod is a Velbon "El Carmagne 540" CF with a magnesium alloy ball head. Too...

I started out with a black sweat shirt: ?That worked well and I already had it.

Then my wife made me a dark cloth; black on one side, white on the other . . .with large-ish washers sewed into the...

I have long felt that the "best" camera gear to shoot with is the gear currently in your kit: Go out and shoot with it!

Now then; there are lenses designed and manufactured in recent years...

An interesting discussion.

Does anyone want to step into the quick-sand of comparing the L?W ratios of various LF formats with the standard 35mm film format or the several digital sensor sizes?
...

I have noodled around online, but can't quite find out what I would like to know:

How are the f-stop numbers derived? i\I understand that it is a ratio of focal length to aperture . . .but can't...

Again: Great Stuff!

Anyone doing pinhole imaging in formats larger than 8x10?

Anyone doing pinhole imaging with dry plates?

Great Stuff!

I ask because I am thinking of going larger than 8x10 and a pinhole set up would be a less expensive intro to ULF. Posted a similar thread the ULF Forum but got no response.

In...

Anyone out there doing pinhole photography with 8x10 format materials?

What is your experience?

While waiting on my first try with 4x5 dry plates . . .my best thought just now is to sandwich a plate in the recess created by two beveled mats face to face.

I think that some vintage lenses were made with a right-angle mirror or prism in front of the lens.

A few years ago I modified a 70s vintage Spiratone "Circo-mirro-tach" to thread onto a 210mm...

Anyone ever look at something like this? I would guess that a 5x12 would fit in there.
...

Making a contact print with any paper print technique is straightforward in terms of matting and framing.

What are the options for displaying the glass plate itself? I am aware of the...

Anyone out thre doing pinhole photography with ULF format materials?

What is your experience?

In years past, I have occasionally sold an item on this site. I have never had a problem. I have had the buyer send me a chck or money order and shipped on reciept. This always worked for me in...

^^++

Most of my LF gear was bought used or traded for. The exception is my light mter I think. I might also include the very nice Rodenstock loupe which was a gift.

Every bag was acquired...

I put a Kodak 2D 8x10 on a set of Burlbach legs. The camera has a tripod sliding block under the bed rails, so it can be well centered and balanced.

I have used a ball head at times without it...

I have not rad much of this thread, so this response may be redundant.

There mare two threads on this forum where members may post images of their cameras.

I, myself, use a Wista-made 4x5 ...

Tin Can: Your suggestion to buy new from Lane is what I have done in 4x5. What about the ISO 200 plates from Beautiful Thing? Anybody have experience with them?

Tin Can: The really old plates expose successfully?

Eric: I haven't heard that joke in years .. . .my father used to say that before driving off on a family vacation.

Other things I have done to simplify:

I use three lenses most; a 90mm, a 150mm and a 210mm. I got step-up rings for each lens to standardize ion72mm filters. The rings stay on the lens with a...

lan: Thanks for that. Sounds like a workable plan.

Does any one else use a different alternative? What do other folks do?

I am gearing up to do some dry plate photography. Just now waiting on my first batch of 4x5 plates to come back from Blue Moon. ..getting my feet wet. Eventually will do some in 8x10. What...

GoodOldNorm:

Did any of this he;p you out?

What is your current thinking on how you work with the gear you have?

I don't recall the shutter speed for that eye-ball shot, but it was relatively slow. Don't remember the extension, but it was long. The shot was metered for the strobes. They were around 12" from my...

I have also tried to streamline the workflow in the field as I shoot.

I have pre-calculated the extension factor for my two most used lenses. Its written in pencil on the lens board. The 210mm...

A LF selfie :Koidak 2D, 8x10, B&W Ultrasound film "Ektyascan" rated at ISO 200, 210mm f/5.56 Caltar II N, four Vivitar 283 strobes.

Shutter tripped by hand at arms-length.

No "special" tools...

I am with Ben on this. Maybe it could be done4, but the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Never made one myself.

But my first LF camera was a "Franken" of sorts that I got for a few bucks at the Houston Camera Show in the very late 1980s. Someone had rescued the carcus of a...

No body tried sheet film?

Some one or several someones here will probably come post accurate information with detailed formulas, optical theory and concepts involving ratios,the circle of confusion and lots of other really...

Went out last evening to shoot the conjunction of Jupeter and Saturn. Set up in a local park just before sunset looking to the SW across a lake. Focused on distant trees for infinity (4x5 format,...

I will try out that LED flashlight technique!

Love the OOF explanation too.

My fall-back is to just not showanyone the images that don't work!

Ummm. . . .NO.

My 4x5 bag is packed as a grab-and-go shooting kit. The only thing holding me back might be loading the film holders. Often times, that is done in the car with a changing bag on...

If it is OK to show a light, try a cheap laser pointer aimed back at the camera from the subject.

The old press cameras often had a light on the Kalart range finder that projected twin beams at...

I have a Burlli with a leveling center post. I use it to hold up an 8x10 Kodak 2D. The camera is mounted directly to the center post as the movement it provides is usually enough for what I do. ...

Blue Moon . . .
Thanks guys.

I send my LF lenses to Expert Camera Repair in Houston for maintenance.

www.expertcasmerarepair.com

Lookinf for a lab that will develop dry emulsion glass plates.

Can't get done at home for several reasons.

Any suggestions on this?

Looking for a la that will develop dry emulsion glass plates.

I just can't do this myself at home.

Any Suggestions?