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Thread: Getting started in 11x14"

  1. #11

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    Re: Getting started in 11x14"


  2. #12

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    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    Worn Deardorffs are "wobbly" the ones in good shape are not. My V11 is so tight that the knobs used to hurt my fingers until I found some rubber o-ring covers for them.

  3. #13

    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    My 11x14 Dorff is similarly tight. But that is not a bad thing.

    Right now there is a Wisner 11x14 field camera on E Bay that is in Chile that is listed as a field camera but appears to be a Tech Field for the fact that it appears that it has a read standard rise that adds some weight but some optionality to its use.

    I owned a Wisner 11x14 for some time and found it to be a good camera with some issues that one needs to work around. One issue I had to deal with was sagging bellows which simply needed to be propped up when making a photograph. The second issue from my perspective with the Wisner camera was the less than robust thickness of the front standard (relative to the Deardorff V11) when this front standard component is extended and heavy long lens are put in play. Not a deal killer just some realities that need to be dealt with.

  4. #14
    Jim Graves Jim Graves's Avatar
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    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    Tim ... where are you located?

    It might be easiest to borrow or rent an 11x14 to try out. Until you've dealt with the size, weight, and $$$ of 11x14 it's hard to understand why some posters are so cautionary about going so big to start out.

    I went from 4x5 to 8x10 and thought 11x14 would just be a step up. For me, it was like 4 steps up.

    That being said ... the ground glass view and the contact prints are pretty amazing.

    Let us know where you are and maybe we can get your hands on one for a tryout.

    Jim in Sacramento

  5. #15

    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Graves View Post
    Tim ... where are you located?

    It might be easiest to borrow or rent an 11x14 to try out. Until you've dealt with the size, weight, and $$$ of 11x14 it's hard to understand why some posters are so cautionary about going so big to start out.

    I went from 4x5 to 8x10 and thought 11x14 would just be a step up. For me, it was like 4 steps up.

    That being said ... the ground glass view and the contact prints are pretty amazing.

    Let us know where you are and maybe we can get your hands on one for a tryout.

    Jim in Sacramento
    He is on the other side of the planet Jim in New Zealand.

    Given the lack of sufficient infrastructure and executable options, I would opt to tag along with Luis in recommending that in the likely extended period it could be before finding an 11x14 that fits the billing, getting an 8x10 camera and honing in on the analog skills that can be scaled up to 11x14 when this opportunity presents itself is a logical conclusion. Both formats can be contact printed without the need to acquire an enlarger and that way you are learning skills that have forward applicability.

  6. #16

    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    I'll concur with Michael. My 11x14 Dorff is #245. Never checked when it was made but it was originally in a studio in New York City. Ended up here and I bought it years ago. Mine is tight as it could be after some obvious use in the "City" and I lugged it all over Big Bend and the West for years. I did replace the black bellows with some red bellows from Camera Bellows over in England a while back. It's now doing wet-plate work with a nice heavy 6.3 14x17 Tessar on the front and still stays locked down tight like an inmate at San Quentin. I've thought about getting a Chamonix replacement several times but this Dorff keeps on ticking. Rarely see one up for sale anymore so she's going to just keep plugging along in my studio unless she tells me she's ready for retirement, or I beat her to it.

  7. #17

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    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    Wish I could see it, but I'm too new to the forum to be able to see the Classified section. I think I have to be registered 30 days?

  8. #18

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    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    Hi again all,

    Thanks again for the comments.

    Regarding my friends 'wobbly' Deardorff, he's one of New Zealand's top photographers and has used his trusty 8x10 in more places with more success than I could ever imagine, so something about it must be right! Odds are though it's the person working the thing that matters most, and that I guess is the most important point to remember...

    Anyway, I tend to agree that it might be morse sensible starting with 8x10", but considering I've been using view cameras for years for almost everything I do, plus have worked in the darkroom extensively already, I'm a little impatient to go big or go home, as they say. I've been looking at the prices of the Chamonix and Shen-hao 8x10" cameras and as opposed to the 11x14" options which are worlds apart in price–the Chamonix being nearly half the price for reasons I have no idea about, anyone care to elaborate?–the two brands are pretty much neck and neck price wise. I see there is a model of the Shen-hao that is remarkably similar to the Chamonix (and the Phillips?) but can anyone comment on which is better built? I'm guessing though it's like comparing Arca to Linhof, or Arca to Alpa, they're probably pretty much on par with some things people like better on personal grounds? The videos I've seen of the Chamonix look very impressive, the camera looks very rigid and easy to manipulate and set up. I can't find anything about the Shen-hao, just a few of the Canham, which seems a bit rickety? And I suppose there's always the Intrepid, but to be honest it doesn't look all that inspiring feature and build wise. Maybe I'm just a snob?

    I love New Zealand, but it is pretty much a dead zone if you want to buy this kind of equipment without ordering blind off the internet. Same with colour processing, E6 and C41, there is only one place nation wide that does dip and dunk and only once a week at approximately $28USD per sheet of 8x10". I'd just as soon buy a Jobo and do it myself in batches.

  9. #19

    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    Quote Originally Posted by Tim V View Post
    Hi again all,

    Thanks again for the comments.

    Regarding my friends 'wobbly' Deardorff, he's one of New Zealand's top photographers and has used his trusty 8x10 in more places with more success than I could ever imagine, so something about it must be right! Odds are though it's the person working the thing that matters most, and that I guess is the most important point to remember...

    Anyway, I tend to agree that it might be morse sensible starting with 8x10", but considering I've been using view cameras for years for almost everything I do, plus have worked in the darkroom extensively already, I'm a little impatient to go big or go home, as they say. I've been looking at the prices of the Chamonix and Shen-hao 8x10" cameras and as opposed to the 11x14" options which are worlds apart in price–the Chamonix being nearly half the price for reasons I have no idea about, anyone care to elaborate?–the two brands are pretty much neck and neck price wise. I see there is a model of the Shen-hao that is remarkably similar to the Chamonix (and the Phillips?) but can anyone comment on which is better built? I'm guessing though it's like comparing Arca to Linhof, or Arca to Alpa, they're probably pretty much on par with some things people like better on personal grounds? The videos I've seen of the Chamonix look very impressive, the camera looks very rigid and easy to manipulate and set up. I can't find anything about the Shen-hao, just a few of the Canham, which seems a bit rickety? And I suppose there's always the Intrepid, but to be honest it doesn't look all that inspiring feature and build wise. Maybe I'm just a snob?

    I love New Zealand, but it is pretty much a dead zone if you want to buy this kind of equipment without ordering blind off the internet. Same with colour processing, E6 and C41, there is only one place nation wide that does dip and dunk and only once a week at approximately $28USD per sheet of 8x10". I'd just as soon buy a Jobo and do it myself in batches.
    If there is one thing that rings true to your condition is you have to deal with the reality of being separated from the rest of the world. Color photography in ULF is something I have no clue of but the logistics are challenging to say the least and costly is par for the course. Not even sure if they make the color chemistry for the Jobo. The Wisner I was referring to was on E B***.

    Eventually you will find someone that is moving on from a format in downsize mode. I have a 12x20 F&S that is like new that I am not using that I need to sell in downsize mode since I do not use it so I know it is possible if you are patient. Reaching out to folks that use particular cameras and having that data set filled in will be of value since you do not know what may pop up. I have a Canham 8x20 and find it to be rigid in that format. I have seen their 11x14 and 12x20 cameras that exhibit a bit of elasticity due to their sheer size, but they make great photographs. Weight reduction comes at a price. I know a few folks that have the Chamonix 11x14 and 14x17 and I can put you in touch with them.

  10. #20
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    Re: Getting started in 11x14"

    One important variable to think about is camera weight. At one extreme, the Phillips Explorer (horizontal only) weighs less than 13 pounds; Richard Ritter's camera is in the same ballpark. Some of the antique cameras are less than 15 pounds. The Canham and Dick Phillips' reversing-back 11x14 are a few pounds heavier. Hugo's website specifies the Chamonix at "approx. 20 lb / 9100 g". At the other extreme are 11x14's that weigh 30 pounds or more, like the Wisner Technical, the Tachihara or the E version of the Ebony SV.

    So it's important to think about how you intend to use the camera and how that relates to your tolerance for lugging and manipulating very heavy kit. I can backpack an 11x14 Phillips Explorer or Ritter or some of the antique cameras, with a couple of holders, a small lens like a 305 G-Claron, and a suitable tripod - not for many miles, but far enough to get decent distances away from the car and into places where a cart can't go or isn't allowed. I can't do that with a 20 lb camera and the beefier tripod it requires. And a 30-pound camera is basically a non-starter for me unless it's going to sit permanently on a studio stand and not ever have to be unmounted and mounted, let alone go anywhere. Even if I just want to set up in a friend's back yard, for me there's a world of difference in handling between an ultralight 11x14 on a Gitzo 5-series and a 20 pound camera on a Ries A-100/A-250. YMMV, of course; you may well be stronger than I am and so less constrained in what you can comfortably handle.

    And OTOH, if you do intend to leave the camera set up in a studio and not be constantly moving it around, all of that may not matter to you at all.

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