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Thread: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

  1. #11

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    Quote Originally Posted by r.e. View Post
    If you're talking about "street photography" as that term is usually understood, there are black and white films available in 4x5 that will yield a shutter speed that is plenty fast enough, and one would normally use zone focusing. Also, there are important practitioners of street photography, such as Bruce Davidson, who reject the approach of catching subjects unawares.

    As a focal length, 120mm should work well. Just looking at Ilford and Kodak, there's one 4x5 film stock rated ISO 320 (Tri-X), and two rated at ISO 400 (HP5+ and T-Max). For that kind of photography, I wouldn't hesitate to push any of them a stop, in some circumstances two stops.
    I guess with a freezer chock-full of Acros-100, I hadn't considered alternatives.

    What exactly are the objections to capturing subjects unawares given that we're constantly being monitored?

  2. #12

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    Quote Originally Posted by trog View Post
    What exactly are the objections to capturing subjects unawares given that we're constantly being monitored?
    Sounds like you've never been confronted by someone on the street who objects to being photographed without permission Been there, done that. It can be a very unpleasant experience, especially if others join in. In the current environment, I would also regard taking photographs of kids without consent as off limits. You may have a legal right to do it, but parents and older siblings have a right to go up one side of you and down the other, possibly on the way to demanding your film.

    Look at a book like Davidson's Subway or Brooklyn Gang, thinking about whether the subjects had consented. In 4x5, Davidson's East 100th Street is an eye-opener. Davidson has talked quite a lot about those photographs, which were shot with a 4x5 camera on a tripod.

    I think that a lot of the people making street photographs on the sly are mostly demonstrating their own insecurity and fear of interacting with strangers. In post #9, you mention making photographs "at a distance". That isn't what street photography is about. A "street photographer" with a long lens is a sure mark of someone who shouldn't be practicing the genre. Your 120mm should be fine. If you go significantly wider, one result will be that you have to be that much closer to your subject. You can quickly be in a situation where you are invading your subject's space. Might be fine if you're working with the subject, probably not so fine if you're in their face unilaterally.

  3. #13

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    I have proper parts to make several point & shoot cameras, but I realized that they can be a little bulky (as they don't fold flat), so can be as big as a toaster while carrying in a bag, so settled on a folding press camera instead... A little heavier, but you can change lenses and have a proper GG and more choices for film back options...

    Steve K

  4. #14

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    Quote Originally Posted by r.e. View Post
    Sounds like you've never been confronted by someone on the street who objects to being photographed without permission Been there, done that. It can be a very unpleasant experience, especially if others join in. In the current environment, I would also regard taking photographs of kids without consent as off limits. You may have a legal right to do it, but parents and older siblings have a right to go up one side of you and down the other, possibly on the way to demanding your film.

    Look at a book like Davidson's Subway or Brooklyn Gang, thinking about whether the subjects had consented. In 4x5, Davidson's East 100th Street is an eye-opener. Davidson has talked quite a lot about those photographs, which were shot with a 4x5 camera on a tripod.

    I think that a lot of the people making street photographs on the sly are mostly demonstrating their own insecurity and fear of interacting with strangers. In post #9, you mention making photographs "at a distance". That isn't what street photography is about. A "street photographer" with a long lens is a sure mark of someone who shouldn't be practicing the genre. Your 120mm should be fine. If you go significantly wider, one result will be that you have to be that much closer to your subject. You can quickly be in a situation where you are invading your subject's space. Might be fine if you're working with the subject, probably not so fine if you're in their face unilaterally.
    Sorry, but I respectfully disagree with everything you stated.

    Your commentary would most certainly put an end to journalism in all its forms.....and anyone demanding my property does so at their own peril. I have no desire for this thread to become political...but I will not stand down especially when I'm exercising my constitutional rights.

    (Oh, and I have been confronted by an angry person taking umbrage with my photography....to put it plainly... they scurried away after I stood my ground.)

  5. #15

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    Quote Originally Posted by trog View Post
    Sorry, but I respectfully disagree with everything you stated.

    Your commentary would most certainly put an end to journalism in all its forms.....and anyone demanding my property does so at their own peril. I have no desire for this thread to become political...but I will not stand down especially when I'm exercising my constitutional rights.

    (Oh, and I have been confronted by an angry person taking umbrage with my photography....to put it plainly... they scurried away after I stood my ground.)
    Hey, if you think that that approach to street photography will work for you, go for it

  6. #16

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    Quote Originally Posted by trog View Post
    The viewfinder is made by Voigtlander.
    The camera is fixed at infinity. The rangefinder is used to confirm near-field which can be as close as 4-meters depending on f-stop.

    Perhaps I should adjust my lens position to its hyperfocal position? Does anyone know what spacing is required to achieve hyperfocal at say f/8? Or can this location only be accurately determined via testing?
    Thank you for the explanation. And congratulations for your workmanship.

    As concerns hyperfocal setting. I give below a numerical example rather than abstract equation; you can easily change the numbers if you wish. First you need to decide what is the tolerable amount of departure from ideal focusing; that is defined by the circle of confusion, the diameter of a point source at the limit of acceptable focusing. From :
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle...ased_on_d/1500
    for 4'x5" the conventional COC diameter is 0.11mm. Adopting your value of f/8 for the aperture, this means that at hyperfocal setting, the lens is racked forward (from infinity focusing) by:
    d = 0.11mm x 8 = 0.88mm. With the 120mm focal length of your lens, this corresponds to focusing distance:
    D = 120x120/0.88 = 16400mm = 16.4m
    and the near limit of the hyperfocal range is half that, 8.2m.
    If you would adopt f/16 instead of f/8, the lens should be at 1.76mm from the infinity setting, and your hyperfocal range would extend from 4.1m to infinity.

    What needs to be determined accurately by testing is the infinity focus setting, which is the basis for the rest. This might help:
    http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-123.html

  7. #17
    Tin Can's Avatar
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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    I use a DOF Simulator nearly daily

    https://dofsimulator.net/en/

    It has options from tiny to 11X14"

    I prefer a wire Sports Finder as it is very quick, and has been used on many cameras since the 1900's
    Tin Can

  8. #18

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    Quote Originally Posted by Tin Can View Post
    I use a DOF Simulator nearly daily

    https://dofsimulator.net/en/

    It has options from tiny to 11X14"

    I prefer a wire Sports Finder as it is very quick, and has been used on many cameras since the 1900's
    Exactly. Street photography is done with zone focusing based on apparent depth of field. It's probably where the expression "f/8 and be there" comes from, although as David Coleman says in this video a lot of people would choose f/11. Zone focusing is a fundamental reason why manual 35mm lenses have depth of field scales. This video explains zone focusing and how it is different from hyperfocal focusing:


    Last edited by r.e.; 1-Sep-2021 at 06:48.

  9. #19

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    Some very good information here. All of which I'll take under advisement when I start the design of my next 4x5.

  10. #20

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    Re: DIY 4x5 Point and Shoot

    Snapped this pic the other day. Velvia 100 at f/16, 1/60s. Handheld.

    Lens still needs some shimming...but plenty of DOF.

    Click image for larger version. 

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