Chamonix and Ebony's are gorgeous & Old Kodak 2D's are UGLY but they have their place

[Ari]

I can find myself admiring attractive equipment or nice workmanship when I don't really need those objects. I've started making myself do two things before buying any piece of equipment. I make myself record three specific instances of wishing I had it in a three month period. If I'm not going to use it more than that it's not worth having. Once I've done that and established to myself that I "need" it, I make myself wait a month. That takes impulse and the "new toy" factor out of the transaction.

Chris, I do the same, but it's often much longer for me. I sometimes forget about it altogether until one day I remember and start the process over again.

While I admire good-looking and/or high-quality gear, it has to fit into how I like to work and not annoy me.
All due respect to the venerable 2D, but it failed on both counts. Then again, so did the expensive Gibellini.
Best 8x10 I owned was the Toyo 810M, but now I need it at half its weight.

[John Layton]

Drew...the one on the left is patented - so has a logo.

The one on the right is what I use most these days.

And I like your "camera as kindling" idea...maybe use the lens to start the fire? Who knows...this could save my life someday!

[Drew Wiley]

You could eat the bellows if trapped in the snow. I'm borrowing that from what my nephew's sherpas told him when he was about to enter a completely unexplored section of the Karakoram Range on the Chinese side, behind K2 etc. The sherpas had been flown in from Nepal, then the expedition traveled about 200 miles on camels before heading up the glaciers. At a certain point, after crossing a difficult divide, the sherpas refused to go any further. They said it resembled a valley in Nepal where climbers got stranded and ended up eating their boots.

[John Layton]

Yeah...but that bellows would need to be the classic leather (as in an original 2D?) Nylon sounds a bit too crunchy for my taste!

[Bernice Loui]

When it comes to getting the best out of a long focal lens used at full aperture (480mm f4.5) in barrel, this can be a serious challenge for any wood folder camera due to:

Lack of precise and absolute precision alignment between front to rear standards, camera stability, precision of focusing movements, on camera shutter with precise, accurate and consistent shutter speeds, cycle after cycle.

If you doing 8x10 with a 12" or 14" lens stopped down to f45 or smaller or using a Sorta-Focus lens, any reasonable wood folder should be easily good enough.

Really comes down to the print image goals again.

BTW, done the wood folder thing. Just not for me. IMO, best 8x10 folder would be a Toyo 810M with a Sinar front frame instead of the Toyo. This allows using the Sinar shutter with zero issues and Sinar lens boards and other Sinar front accessories. The overall stability, precision, and feel of the Toyo 810M is good, better than any wood 8x10 folder I've used to date.


Bernice

[John Layton]

Thinking further about the camera as kindling idea...why not make the wooden camera into a survival camp cooker? First, remove the lens. Next, insert raw food (something wild and meaty) into the opening. Then reinstall the lens, and focus at infinity (accounting for depth of food of course). Place camera on ground...pointing at sun. Set shutter to "T" (or just use your hat if your name is Jim Galli) and leave open until food is cooked...should work!

[dodphotography]

At the end of the day it’s a light tight box intended to make pictures. I laugh (and cry) at myself all the time for some interesting decisions, unfortunate scenarios, destructive friendships, impulsive moves, etc that have essentially allowed me to either borrow, rent, purchase, or trade cameras.

I’ve owned them all... from a 275 dollar BJ 810 to an Ebony SV810 and everything in between. I think if I compiled a list, it would make users here vomit.

However, the pictures matter and the rest is just unnecessary. The only thing that ever left me sleep peacefully at night is that despite changing cameras like they’re underwear I’ve never had either a colleague, a curator, a critic, a friend, a gallerist, a whatever comment on any kind of inconsistency etc that could have possibly come about by a change in a camera. Point being, if you buy stuff that works then it works... locking down is locking down no matter if it’s X, Y, Z.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vaughn]

...If you doing 8x10 with a 12" or 14" lens stopped down to f45 or smaller or using a Sorta-Focus lens, any reasonable wood folder should be easily good enough... Bernice

Worth the whole thread (bold)!

[John Layton]

...and if the sun is hiding, you could remove lens elements and use them to make really sharp spear points (hey...six chances to get it right with a plasmat!), and assuming that your hunt is successful, you can then point the rest of the camera up as before...extending the bellows to make a nice chimney! Maybe rub the two front standard uprights together to get a fire going!

OK...I'll Stop Now!! (time to move on to the musical, camera bellows/accordian attachment!)

Now...back on earth...need to put on mask and gloves to navigate the local grocery store gauntlet - which is nothing compared to what my dear wife faces, every day as a Nurse Practitioner, doing test after test. She's my hero!

[Bernice Loui]

That came from a Foto friend from decades ago with my first "exposure" to Soft Focus lenses on 8x10. They were quite magical, totally undesirable back then with a market value of nil.

Countless piles of Kodak Portrait Ektars in Ilex# 5 were gutted for their Ilex# 5 shutter and the glass inserted into the garbage can. Numerous other now desirable soft focus lenses were easily available for well under $100.

That was a time and era when GOOD monorail camera were gold, modern lenses were available new with good used ones not much less than new ones. Color transparency film plenty as was high quality E6 processing and more..

Wooden and metal folders were not desirable and low cost.

How the entire world and market of LF has changed since then.


Bernice

Worth the whole thread (bold)! a Sorta-Focus lens