LF 4x5 - What to buy?

[Wayne]

Puh. I finally managed to read all of the posts. First and foremost thank you so much for all that information and advice. To start with LF is quite challenging. So I'll take this weekend, wrap my head around it and do some more research.

If you feel like there's too much information to absorb it all, and plenty of helpful-minded people here are making it seem that way, just get something cheap and start learning that way. A press camera, an older wood view camera, or one of the entry level Cambo/Calumet monorails that can be had for a couple hundred bucks. Some research is good, but some shooting is even better.

You can approach large format photography as a complex, orderly, highly technical "science" where you must know everything in advance, or you can get some gear and learn most everything you need to know by the seat of your pants method.

[John Kasaian]

I'll recommend yet another book: Ansel Adams Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs It looks at 40 iconic AA photos and describes how they were taken, why Ansel used the gear he used, location, dark room and printing.

[Jim Jones]

I'll recommend yet another book: Ansel Adams Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs It looks at 40 iconic AA photos and describes how they were taken, why Ansel used the gear he used, location, dark room and printing.

It's another fine book on AA. However, he eventually had plenty of equipment to choose from. A 1958 movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-BhJQqHXfQ shows him cramming his vehicle with cameras in 6 formats, maybe 20 lenses, and lots of other equipment.

[jnantz]

hi marcia

large format can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it.
don't forget the 2nd part of the equation which is processing the film ..
and with that, it can also be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it.

good luck sifting through all the info !
john

[John Kasaian]

It's another fine book on AA. However, he eventually had plenty of equipment to choose from. A 1958 movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-BhJQqHXfQ shows him cramming his vehicle with cameras in 6 formats, maybe 20 lenses, and lots of other equipment.

Jim, just like in Steve Simmons Using The View Camera the book demonstrates that excellence can be accomplished with a variety of older lenses, and gives visual examples of what has been done with them.
Not everyone can afford a Cooke triple convertible (I cannot) and I'm certainly not advocating being an Ansel-oid copycat, but I found that Ansel's attitude about his gear quite helpful when I was starting my journey with one camera, one lens, and three film holders. A lot can be learned, and accomplished, using the most basic tools. Too often it seems, newbies feel the need to buy more stuff without first taking the time to really learn what they have to work with, when they'd learn more and have a more rewarding experience by picking up any camera (in good condition) learning to load film and just going shooting and spending time in the dark room.
My 2-cents anyway.

[Jim Jones]

I agree. Not one photographer has all of the equipment to photograph all subjects under all circumstances. We are all limited to some extent by our equipment. However, we can all try to do the best with whatever we have whenever we have the opportunity. At least one Pulitzer Prize photo was taken with an ordinary box camera.