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Thread: Does It Really Matter?

  1. #61

    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Location
    Central TX
    Posts
    580

    Re: Does It Really Matter?

    No love for whole plate?
    Just kidding. Sort of. I'd like one. I have nice half plate camera to keep it company.
    Can I put in another plug for the joys of imperfect equipment at a possibly lower price point? Someone was railing against modern digital. Ok. I kind of agree. But some subjects, particularly in b/w, do really well with pinholes, and 19th and early 20th C lens designs. Weird things like projector lenses can work and yield pleasing results. Sometimes the simplicity of older cameras is a blessing too (or modern cameras that have restricted movements). If nothing else they frequently weigh less. And, contact prints even of 4x5's can be powerful. And, carry more detail than you need for prints that seem huge to me. I've heard the case made for contact printing Rollei and Hassy sized negatives and those little negatives can make huge enlargements. I realize not everyone likes to build or rebuild stuff and all, but LF cameras aren't that hard to use as improvised enlargers too. Particularly now that we have LCD screens or LED arrays that could be used as diffusion light sources. Or if you can find one that did not hit the scrap dealers a copy camera could be made into an enlarger. There is a converted 11x14 studio camera as horizontal 8x10 enlarger in one of Ansel Adam's books.

    Reaching for perfection is laudable (and scriptural) but sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. Get something that you can make pictures with and have some fun. You might need to upgrade or make a lateral move that's ok.

  2. #62

    Re: Does It Really Matter?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bernice Loui View Post
    With all this debate over 4x5 -vs- 8x10 again, why not 5x7?

    8x10 has significantly limited choices in optics, significantly increased cost, challenges with camera movement during exposure, increased film cost, physically larger-heavier than smaller formats, challenges with depth of focus and more.


    As for optics, the Fuji A240 appears to be the choice by many, yet IMO having owned and used both Fuji A240mm & A180mm, both did not impress me image quality wise. Do consider the host of vintage optics (Cooke, Kodak, Goerz and others) that are available and have a long history with being used on 8x10 and other formats. Really Good wide angle 8x10 optics will be modern-large-expensive like Schneider's XL series.

    Really "big" prints, how big is really big? Projected Cinema once came from 35mm film projected on to very sizable screens.

    View camera has a learning curve, larger the camera makes this learning curve more difficult. Be prepared to burn a significant amount of sheet film before being comfy with the entire process of using any view camera. It is completely different than using a modern digital imaging camera in many ways.

    IMO, 8x10 (and larger) is best and idea for contact prints.

    As for digital... Recent experience with Canon digital has been interesting yet, in ways bland and binary-contrived. It appears modern optics + digital camera system appears to be engineered-manipulated for producing images that are high contrast, overly sharpened, look good in a display and such. It has crowd appeal, yet IMO lacking in feel, depth and image complexity content. Digital is instant-easy, yet the image they produce still come up lacking in many ways.



    Bernice
    Agreed... I spent first year of graduate school experimenting with a number of digital options and while the final output print has it's own unique qualities it's a very cold and distant process of working.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  3. #63

    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    SooooCal/LA USA
    Posts
    2,802

    Re: Does It Really Matter?

    Quote Originally Posted by dodphotography View Post
    Agreed... I spent first year of graduate school experimenting with a number of digital options and while the final output print has it's own unique qualities it's a very cold and distant process of working.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    To me, working with the "distant" digital process, reminds me of using those arms in the containment booths of nuclear labs... You have controls (on your screen) to manipulate what you are working with, but no real contact with it...

    Steve K

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