Practical Resource on Movements for Beginner

[Preston]

See if you can find a copy of The View Camera-Operations and Techniques by Harvey Shaman (ISBN 0-8174-0598-4). My copy was published in 1977 by Amphoto.

It's a well-written book that is profusely illustrated.

--P

[Bob Sawin]

Fred Newman, The View Camera Store, has some resources on the VCS website…worth a look.

[Mark Sawyer]

There have been some good resources listed, and any will work well. But the big learning will come when you buy a camera with lots of movements front and rear, and put them to use. Then you'll start to understand, oh, this does this and that does that, I can compromise here or I can compromise there, I can use these movements for this and those for that...

I'd suggest a good cheap 4x5 monorail, Toyo, Calumet, Cambo, even an old Graflex monorail. They're dirt cheap right now, sturdy and tons of movements. Trying to learn camera movements from a book is like trying to learn to drive a car from a book. The information is there, but you're not really learning much til you get behind the wheel...

[jbenedict]

Here's an interesting one from Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. It appears that it is possible to check out a Calumet view camera kit if you are a student and this is the usage manual which comes with the camera. You have to pass a proficiency test on the camera before you can have it. Loading it, exposing it, movements with it...

http://www.evergreen.edu/medialoan/docs/photo_4x5.pdf

Here's a manual on the Calumet from Butkus.org It is what Calumet paced with their CC400 camera and would be a good primer on view camera use:

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/calumet...alumet_4x5.htm

[Lenny Eiger]

Find another LF photographer in your home town and go shooting with him for a morning... Anyone experienced should be able to explain he whole thing in about 10 minutes, or certainly plenty to get you started.

We have a Meetup group out here in the Bay Area that goes shooting together once every month or so, and you can see beginners to experts and all sorts of cameras, lenses, light meters and everything else. Very nice group of people, they're all friendly and all happy to show you how their Chamonix does it vs the Ebony, etc.

Good luck,

Lenny

[christian.rudman]

See if you can find a copy of The View Camera-Operations and Techniques by Harvey Shaman (ISBN 0-8174-0598-4). My copy was published in 1977 by Amphoto.

It's a well-written book that is profusely illustrated.

--P

I'll have to see about locating a copy here in town, thanks!

Fred Newman, The View Camera Store, has some resources on the VCS website…worth a look.

I actually found a few of his videos on YouTube a couple weeks ago, they were very helpful. Good advice there.

There have been some good resources listed, and any will work well. But the big learning will come when you buy a camera with lots of movements front and rear, and put them to use. Then you'll start to understand, oh, this does this and that does that, I can compromise here or I can compromise there, I can use these movements for this and those for that...

I'd suggest a good cheap 4x5 monorail, Toyo, Calumet, Cambo, even an old Graflex monorail. They're dirt cheap right now, sturdy and tons of movements. Trying to learn camera movements from a book is like trying to learn to drive a car from a book. The information is there, but you're not really learning much til you get behind the wheel...

That's definitely my most trustworthy method of learning, but I'm still trying to determine if my application is more big rig or sportscar, hence the reading stage for now. Thanks for the camera suggestions though!

Here's an interesting one from Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. It appears that it is possible to check out a Calumet view camera kit if you are a student and this is the usage manual which comes with the camera. You have to pass a proficiency test on the camera before you can have it. Loading it, exposing it, movements with it...

http://www.evergreen.edu/medialoan/docs/photo_4x5.pdf

Here's a manual on the Calumet from Butkus.org It is what Calumet paced with their CC400 camera and would be a good primer on view camera use:

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/calumet...alumet_4x5.htm

Those are interesting resources, thanks!

Find another LF photographer in your home town and go shooting with him for a morning... Anyone experienced should be able to explain he whole thing in about 10 minutes, or certainly plenty to get you started.

We have a Meetup group out here in the Bay Area that goes shooting together once every month or so, and you can see beginners to experts and all sorts of cameras, lenses, light meters and everything else. Very nice group of people, they're all friendly and all happy to show you how their Chamonix does it vs the Ebony, etc.

Good luck,

Lenny

I'm still hunting around to see if I can find some LF photographers here in town. Good way to start by observing real practical application in the field, thanks!

Attachment 118554
Attachment 118555

See if this helps.

This is very helpful and a bit more like what I was looking for in my OP, thanks man!

[TXFZ1]

snip...

I'm still hunting around to see if I can find some LF photographers here in town. Good way to start by observing real practical application in the field, thanks!

...snip

There is a Austin meetup group call Texas Large Format Photography but their last meeting was held in April.

David