master technika and fashion pics.

[marco barba]

my question is very simple,since i know little of LF and i just started: i do fashion photography,and like to use 4x5 MASTER TECH. for some upcoming pro jiect. the basic idea is to do portraits using monopod and focusing with the rgf. i've bought the camera used,and right now i need the lens. what i would like ,it's a very sharp and contrasty lens,i photograph people and i want to read everything on the final product,but i will be able to shoot only from f8-f11 1/2. now ,how accurate will be focusing with the rgf from differents angle of wiew? is 210 a suitable lens to fit inside the camera when closed? which ones fit inside? i don't need lot of camera mouvement,i will just take the picture like the old d ays. with this data,any one with suggestion will be apprciate. thank you marco barba

[Rob "John Henry" Rothman]

Not having worked with this particular camera, I can't help with the camera-spec ific questions, but you should be aware of one general point. Stops in the vici nity of f8-f11 1/2 are almost unheard of in large format work. For one thing, y ou won't get a lot of depth of field at these stops--you lose approximately 4 st ops worth of depth as compared to shooting 35mm with an equivalent lens. Second , most LF lenses have maximum apertures in the f5.6-f8 range, so you'd be shooti ng almost wide open (and hence not at the sharpest apertures). In 4x5, stops of f22 or so are about the maximum that is typically used; shooting at f45 is not a t all uncommon. If you can't get enough light on your subject to shoot at small er stops than f11 1/2, you might want to reconsider whether 4x5 is really the pr oper tool for the job.

[MTHOMPSON_162]

Robs right, DOF is going to be a problem. Remember, a 35mm lens in 35mm format i s the equivalent (approximately) of a 135 mm in 4X5 format. The 135 mm gives yo u the same DOF in EITHER format, large format users have camera controls availab le to increase the DOF that the 35mm format doesnt offer. I think you will find that in the old days they always used either a tripod or strong flash guns to ac hieve the look you find in photos from these eras. I'm not 100 % sure, but I don 't think you will find anything much bigger that a 135 or maybe a 150 that will fit in the camera when it is closed.