mystique of an 8x10 Deardorff?

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

I went to a workshop in Virginia City Nevada in 1987 where I met Luis-F-S. He had brougt two Deardorffs, an 8x10” and a 4x5” and the teacher/master Oliver Gagliani had a 4x5” Dorff as well so I was bitten by the bug and ordered an 8x10” from Helix in Chicago right when I came back from the west. I never realy took to the camera. It sure was beautiful on the Ries tripod, but it was very heavy and I was always in panic that I would scrape of the glossy finish. So I sold it in Germany with good profit since there it was considered exotic. Then I got a Phillips Advanced Series 8x10” which has been my camera ever since. It’s light and if there is a mark on the stealth surface you make it black again with a permanent marker.

[profvandegraf]

Mystique? Maybe. I picked up my 8x10 Deardorff (most of it anyway)from a retiring photographer in Chicago. I was a poor student in 1990 and was told about the studio closing by word of mouth so I walked over to the building. It seemed huge to me, lots of studio and lab equipment in use since at least the 1950's. I was looking for cameras, he had 2 old beat up V8s and one slightly less beat up Burke and James 4x5. I wanted them all but could only afford one of the Deardorffs. No back, shredded bellows beat to hell and back. $50.00. Didn't eat much that week. Fast forward 20 years after lugging that hulk half way across the country decided it was finally time to put it back together. Added an Ebay bellows and a back by Richard Ritter, haven't refinished it, but cleaned up and lubed the moving parts and it works pretty good for me. Yes I kinda have a soft spot for these old wooden cameras especially Deardorffs and especially mine.

[diversey]

I once met a Chicago photographer and he used to work for Sears Catalogs years ago. He said Sears Catalogs owned sixty 8x10 Deardorff cameras when he was there.

[Jac@stafford.net]

I'd like to try one. But I always figure my $250 Kodak 2D [...]

By pure luck I found a Century 1 8x10 complete with matching numbered extension rail. It is a joy to carry folded into the field. Not such a thrill to deal with how it blows in the wind like a sail. I simply work in the wrong places, but I recommend it, and the many clones for a reasonable price.

I'm too decrepit to schlep a Deardorff V8 today. Getting old is okay considering the alternative.

[John Kasaian]

The OP's question was re mystique, right?



'Nuff said?

[domaz]

Attachment 170943 Attachment 170944 Attachment 170949

Where can I find a lens hood that big? I haven't looked hard but never seen one that style.

[paulbarden]

When I bought my Deardorff, I didn't know squat about its "mystique" - I just saw a camera that looked capable of doing what I needed it to do, and the kit came with a fantastic Kodak Ektar 14" lens. I couldn't care less if it has "magical properties", imagined or real. Its simply a solid camera that is easy to work with and performs as I need it to.

[Mark Sampson]

In 1982 when I was first shopping for a view camera, I could have purchased a new 4x5 Deardorff. But I was unaware that they were still in production; they didn't advertise (and of course no internet, oh the horror). So I bought a Tachihara, which was a fine machine, and then on to other cameras, eventually. 35 years later, I admire the 4x5/5x7 Deardorff, although I'm not likely to ever use one. But you never know!

[Jonathan Barlow]

Where can I find a lens hood that big? I haven't looked hard but never seen one that style.

The large square hoods that he's using might be from motion picture cameras of the day.

[Jim Galli]

Where can I find a lens hood that big? I haven't looked hard but never seen one that style.

On Ebay in the cameras and photography section do a search for "barn doors" and you might find something you could adapt for the purpose.