Page 7 of 7 FirstFirst ... 567
Results 61 to 69 of 69

Thread: the "best" 5x7 Camera

  1. #61

    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    146

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    I've been very happy with my Argentum 5x7 I received last year. My other 5x7 is a reducing back for my Svedovsky 11x14.

  2. #62

    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Canmore Alberta
    Posts
    754

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    Quote Originally Posted by FotoD View Post
    The Chamonix 57 N3 seems like a fine field camera, well designed and light. But it's horizontal only. I wonder if anyone here has worked with it, or a similar camera. Would tilting the whole camera 90 deg. to shoot vertical frames be a pain in the long run, if you work in that orientation say 1/3 of the time?
    FotoD, I had one for a while and used it as a back up to my old Deardorff. I liked it a lot. Light, relatively small can take a 4x5 back. I default to landscape composition frequently and don't shoot many images in portrait orientation. I didn't find it too aggravating to tilt the Ries double tilt head i use.

  3. #63
    Vaughn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Humboldt County, CA
    Posts
    9,206

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    Quote Originally Posted by FotoD View Post
    The Chamonix 57 N3 seems like a fine field camera, well designed and light. But it's horizontal only. I wonder if anyone here has worked with it, or a similar camera. Would tilting the whole camera 90 deg. to shoot vertical frames be a pain in the long run, if you work in that orientation say 1/3 of the time?
    I have been doing this with a light-weight 4x5 rail camera in the field since the early 80s (but less as I moved up in format). Changing the orientation on my camera was not easy -- removing screws in the field is a disaster waiting, speaking from experience (screw into the creek!) It is easier to turn the head 90 degrees to get the other orientation...other than the lens is now a foot or so to the side of where it is for a vertical. Sometimes not an issue.

    Depending on the camera, if the body only has front rise/fall and no shift, you will not have front rise/fall turning the camera 90 degrees...and so forth. For my camera's movements and design, it was easier to have it set up for vertical orientation, and then flip the head 90 degrees for horizontals.

    Swing becomes tilt and all that -- one gets use to it. I found whatever orientation I had the camera set up for was what I tended to see the most! You might find your work would start to trend towards 80 to 90% horizontals almost subconscienously.
    "Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China

  4. #64

    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Posts
    61

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    In wich situations do you use the reducing back? Studio shoots ? Seems like an interesting combo since there is such a huge side difference.

    Quote Originally Posted by cp_photo View Post
    I've been very happy with my Argentum 5x7 I received last year. My other 5x7 is a reducing back for my Svedovsky 11x14.

  5. #65

    Join Date
    Dec 2020
    Location
    EU
    Posts
    20

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    Thanks Greg and Vaughn for your comments! It sounds workable enough. And I agree with you Vaughn, the strengths/quirks of the camera really affect how you "see" and expose.

  6. #66
    Tin Can's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    22,319

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    Counterpoint

    What is the best, largest, heaviest, most intractable 5X7?

    I submit my Deardorff Studio Camera which I bought with only a 5X7 back

    The old box was sold to me completely dismantled from a storage locker with at least 3 of them, I got the reject. I spent 5 times the purchase price to make it good enough for me, not counting a lens

    A challenge to assemble. repair. To make it fit my 12' ft tall studio, I cut 5 ft off the top

    I have shot it fully extended as shown, which is 75"

    4 years ago I moved it 300 miles with the help of member Peter DeSmidt!

    5X7 Deardorff S11 New Bellows by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
    Tin Can

  7. #67

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Newbury, Vermont
    Posts
    2,255

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    ...great way to mitigate bellows-induced flare!

  8. #68

    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Posts
    146

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    I don't imagine I would have ordered a 5x7 back for the camera if I had bought it new. The camera included 8x10 and 5x7 backs which have proven fun and useful. Primarily in studio portraits and still life pictures experimenting with utilizing the generous bellows extension. Also I have been using 11x14 direct positive paper and I'll sometimes shoot a sheet of 5x7 to test lighting before using an (expensive) 11x14 sheet.

    Quote Originally Posted by BLATT LAB View Post
    In wich situations do you use the reducing back? Studio shoots ? Seems like an interesting combo since there is such a huge side difference.

  9. #69
    Bertha DeCool Bertha DeCool's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Location
    Cape Cod, MA, US
    Posts
    51

    Re: the "best" 5x7 Camera

    My teacher from the early '80s passed away a few years ago. His teacher was Gerta Peterich who died years before and who left him her papers and equipment.
    My teacher's daughter and some of my peers decided I should inherit her equipment, as and I quote "You're the only one stupid enough to want it" and, I will add, use it.

    The best 5x7 camera is the one you have, it seems. Mine is a Kodak 2D that came with two Wollensak lenses and a 36cm Nicola Perscheid f4.5.

    Also included was a 4x5 Graphic View set up that I gave to a friend's daughter who was very interested and who shows a genuine skill in portraiture. Pass it on.

Similar Threads

  1. "Vases. East and West." --- 12"x16" in-camera ilfochromes
    By Marco Annaratone in forum Image Sharing (LF) & Discussion
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 11-Nov-2015, 17:22

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •