Just watched the B-Side. Wonderful film. So the camera used 1200mm lens? It seems the sitters were placed only 8-12 feet away. Did Elsa used a shorter lens?
Found the answer: she used a 600mm f/11 lens made in Chicago.
The Fuji-A 1200s were extremely rare and not often used. The New York studio does have one again. The vast majority of work done with the camera was with 600mm as a "short-normal". Elsa used a "De Golden Busch" / Melles Griot which IIRC was 610mm. I used a Fuji 600A during my Boston years, a Fuji 600C for most of my California years, and later on, used 600 and 610 Apo NIkkors.
Tracy,
Thank you for this information.
Hugo
For my 20 x 24 work lens wise I use the Schneider 550 XXL Fine art lens for about 75 percent of the film work with a 1000 mm Germinar (sp) for the rest. Wet plate is the 37 inch Dallmeyer 8D, and a Dallmeyer 30 inch RR. Not sure if that is relevant in the thread but thought it might be useful for those interested in this format. If it takes away from the polaroid history purpose of the thread feel free to delete
Monty
Monty,
Good to know this. I always thought a longer lens is preferred for portraits. For example, an 18 inch lens for 8x10 portraits because you add 8 and 10 together. It seems ULF life size portraits can be done with shorter lenses, even for head/shoulder shots.
When I do 14x17 or 16x20 head/shoulder shots with natural lights, a 32-35 inch lens will require lots of bellows draw. Maybe I should just try to use a shorter lens.
John Reuter and the 2024 Polaroid made an appearance at Victor School (Al Weber) in Summer 1983. Not much of a camera in the outdoors. Hard to transport and wobbly. In the studio it was fidgety at best. John was the gem of the system. He handled the camera, lighting, and lenses with an expertise seldom seen. Fun times.
Not to derail the thread but... Tracy, are you still making studio camera stands?
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