Beginning LF in the tradition of Alec Soth, Stephen Shore

[Alan Gales]

Don't waste your time and money. Color is better done with a digital camera.

Really? Then why does my Fujifilm digital camera have a bunch of film simulation modes?

[v.kapoor]

Maybe she used an iron all the time. Sort of proves my point! Thanks for the insight! L

Your point is nothing new, and there's really no point in hijacking this thread to make it.
Thanks.

[v.kapoor]

Peter, this was really helpful. Thank you for your insight!

I wouldn't use the word "overkill." While there is always some enjoyment from owning an absolute top-of-the-line camera, ultimately a view camera is a flexible box with a lens at one end and a film holder at the other. I would instead approach it from a budget angle, where the amount of money you are comfortable spending has the largest impact on what you buy. There is nothing "wrong" with a beginner owning a Linhof or a Canham, but you certainly don't need one. My second view camera was a Wista Field, and it was a pleasure to work with. Really, most of the wooden field cameras are very similar, so it comes down to what you can find in good condition and a price you are happy with. They all have sufficient movements. The biggest difference comes at the extremes, meaning their ability to handle very wide angle lenses (say something wider than 90mm) or longer than 300mm; the vast majority handle lenses in between well, and any camera will be fine with a 135-150mm which is what several of us have recommended as your starting point.

A couple of personal facts. My second camera, after a Rollei 35mm, was a Leica M4. I loved it, but I could afford it, and it was much more camera than I needed. But I loved both the quality of the camera and its "feel." So that would have been overkill to some. My first view camera was a Sinar F, the second was a Wista Field, and my current is a Canham DLC upgraded by Keith to the current DLC^2 model. Could I have done 95% of what I do with the Wista? Certainly, but I also enjoy the workmanship of the machined aluminum Canham (and it handles my 80mm wide angle with a bag bellows, which is the 5% extra capability over the Wista, and would handle a lens longer than my 300mm, if I ever needed one). My point is that ultimately there is no such thing as "overkill" because a lot depends on how much you feel like spending on the camera as an "object" as opposed to as an image-making device.

[Luis-F-S]

Your point is nothing new, and there's really no point in hijacking this thread to make it.
Thanks.

So why are you fixated on a 12" lens?

[Serge S]

I don't know, but judging from how good a cook she was, it must have been a very nice one...

She once told a story of when she was doing a demo at a department store and the hotplate she was supposed to cook on didn't work. She used a clothes iron instead. Might there be a lesson here?

Interesting story about the iron. She was resourceful.
After she died, her kitchen was placed in the Smithsonian.
I remember seeing a photo of it when it was in Cambridge, Mass., based on that observation.
She would of had a nice camera

[Alan Gales]

So why are you fixated on a 12" lens?

The OP is a fan of Alec Soth and wants to use a lens with the same perspective. Alec Soth used a 12" or 300mm lens on his 8x10 so it was recommended to the OP to use a 150mm on his 4x5 for environmental portraiture.

[Drew Bedo]

Folks: Food is food— color is NOT B & W—and film is film, NOT digital capture.

There have been thousands of pages written about color vs B & W and more thousands of pages discussing the characteristics of various emulsions, both from a technical approach (development, d-max,saturation/hue and all that—with graphs and curves of everything) as well as the visable esthetics of prints from film. Digital has a similarly large body of discussion, much of it using acronyms and abbreviations( that look like my grand kid's text messages).

Each is its own little continent in the world of photography. If you don't like the cold of Alaska, go to Australia. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen (so, now we're back to food).

The OP needed a welcome to our LF world and asked for some strategic advice. I told him what a great bunch we all are .. . . . and now I'm a little disappointed.

[Rodfjell]

OP, I had my first LF camera for 6 months before I bought a better one. I got an old used Wista 45 field camera - the metal ones. Not all the parts worked and there were pinholes in the bellows BUT since I spent very little on it that freed me up to spend more on film and the other things you'll find you want/need down the line. The cheapest option would arguably be the Intrepid Camera from England, a 135mm f/4.7 Graflex Optar and Wista/Technika style lensboard. And you would be very happy with it. The camera with that lens would be no more than 2 lbs so any old tripod would work as well.


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[callmebrick]

The OP needed a welcome to our LF world and asked for some strategic advice. I told him what a great bunch we all are .. . . . and now I'm a little disappointed.

Artists are weird.

Engineers are weird.

Here we've got Artist-Engineers and Engineer-Artists.

[mathiasprinz]

To add to whats been said: I personally much prefer the look of C41 color film, both scanned and ra4-printed, over any results I´ve gotten with digital cameras. Scanning has got a bit of a learning curve, if you want to to it yourself. Balancing color isn't always easy, but if you get it right it's just great. If you like the colors of the Work of Soth and Shore (this school was my reason to go into large format also), large format C41 is the way to go, if you ask me.

If you want to shoot in that style, your setup should be quick to set up and lightweight. A Technica should meet those requirements. The Canham DLC that was mentioned meets the same requirements. The Technica is probably a bit quicker to set up and possibly a bit more sturdy, the Canham a little lighter and offers more flexibility in movements and bellows extension. It was my first large format camera, it`s still the only 4x5 i use. Lenswise, all modern 150mm will do. On 4x5, 150mm lenses seem even more universally useful to me than 50mm on 35mm for example. I really think you can go without anything else for starters.