Appropriate equipment for LF

[Jonathan Rice]

I'm about to plunge into 4x5 phtography as cheaply as possible but without compromising the final print. This is driven partly by professional need to be able to take good clear transparencies of watercolour paintings either in the studio or outside under whitish sky conditions. I guess that a monorail studio view camera would be sensible but I fancy taking the thing out for landscape photos too. Because I'll need to take good colour transparencies I'm guessing that a modern, double coated lens is probably required? But could I get away with a good single-coated lens and does anyone have recommendations for affordable second-hand lenses? I'm guessing that I would need 150mm , 180mm or above? The smallest paintings I'll neeed to shoot would be about 25cm square.

Ought I to be considering only modern equipment or can something like a MPP Micro Technical camera with an International Back be used effectively (I know it would be good for B&W field work). I'm so new to this game. Do I use Dark Slides?

Any information would be useful...Thanks

[Pete Watkins]

Jonathan,
I would go for a light monorail camera. I have an M.P.P. Micropress camera and I'm not very impressed with the build quality. In don't know about the other M.P.P.'s but I would steer away from them. Lenses, G-Clarons are reasonably cheap and very sharp at f22-f32, for copying Tominons (from Polaroid cameras) in Copal Press shutters are really nice. When photographing the paintings tungsten lights and tungsten balanced film is worth considering. I'm sure that I'm gonna be shot down about some of my opinions but thats life!
Pete.

[Richard Kelham]

I have an M.P.P. Micropress camera and I'm not very impressed with the build quality. In don't know about the other M.P.P.'s but I would steer away from them.

As you say, you don't know about other MPPs....the Micro Technical is a very different animal. It would be quite good for Jonathan's uses as it is easy to keep the lens-panel and film plane parallel – very important for copying work and not easy with a wooden field camera. The MPP micro Technical is solidly constructed from metal and is to all intents and purposes a copy of the Linhof Technica. It does only have double extension bellows so don't buy too long a lens.

A modern lens in a good shutter is probably worth the extra expense. For copying work again good lighting is essential...but read up first, as everyone has said, 'cos mistakes start getting expensive when you're shooting LF colour.



Richard

[steve simmons]

There are several articles in the Free Articles section of the View Camera web site that will be ehlpful

www.viewcamera.com

I would not copy paintings outside under 'whitish' light and expect to get accurate color. Copywork is exacting and the lighting must be carefully controlled.

steve simmons

[Ralph Barker]

Welcome to the LF world, Jonathan. You'll find a number of helpful articles regarding camera and lens choices on the home page of this site. Just click on the "LF Home Page" link in the blue navigation bar above. There's more than enough information to get you completely confused.

For copying artwork, almost any LF camera will do the trick for you - assuming that it has sufficient bellows draw for the lens being used and the working distance. If you set things up correctly, you won't need any movements. Other uses for the camera, however, may mandate other features. To maintain even lighting and controlled color temperature, however, you may find that getting a couple of electronic flash units advantageous.

As to lens choices, modern multi-coated APO lenses are a safe bet. But, you could easily get by with older lenses that are highly color-corrected (APO or near-APO), too. Note that a major function of multi-coating is to reduce flare - a situation that will be under your control when copying artwork. Multi-coating will, however, provide greater flexibility for other uses.

[Ernest Purdum]

You are going to get some recommendations that you buy a book before buying a lot of (comparatively) expensive equipment. That's very good advice.

There are many earlier lens and camera combinations which would well accomplish what you have in mind. The MPP is neither the lightest, nor the most convenient, but is a fine tool that would do all you have in mind. A good compromise, I think.

Multicoating has to do with avoiding flare and reduced contrast. It isn't a necessity for good color rendition. Single coating with careful lens shading will do fine.

Unless your lens works at a rather wide angle, you need a minimum of 150mm to cover 4" X 5" at infinity focus. with hopefully some extra coverage to allow use of movements.

One of the many affordable lenses is the 203mm Ektar. It would do your copying work well. Some people would prefer a shorter length for landscapes, but this is a very personal matter.

[Ernest Purdum]

I see no one has yet chimed in with specific book recommendations, so here they are:

Shaman "The View Camera"

Simmons "Using the View Camera"

Stone "A user's Guide to the View Camera"

Stroebel "View Camera Technique"

Try a library first.

All of these are very worthwhile. The last is a little controversial. It is the most thorough, and gthe mos t expensive, but meny complain it is less readable than the others.

[Ole Tjugen]

Simmons "Using the View Camera"

Steve Simmons is too modest to suggest it again, so I will. This is without a doubt the best investment for anyone about to enter LF. Read the book first, then decide on what equipment you want and need.

[Capocheny]

Jonathan,

I'll second the notion that you should do some reading prior to doing anything. IMHO, there's nothing worse than spending a lot of hard-earned cash on equipment only to discover that it's not suitable for your needs.

Second worse thing - buying the appropriate pieces of equipment only to discover that you've absolutely NO idea on how to use them to your advantage.

Thirdly, understanding the barest of basics, loading up some very expensive color transparency film, taking the shot, having it processed only to discover that there's nothing recorded onto the film due to a small procedural mistake.

There are some people who like using monorails out in the field and vice versa. There are all kinds of cameras out there... and lenses.

It's really up to you to do some basic groundwork to understand the differences between the various camera types, lens types, films, etc.

Large format photography isn't like any other format whereby you pick up a camera and start shooting with it. There IS a bit of a learning curve that you have to go through in order to understand how things work.

Do some reading, ask some questions... we just don't want to see you wasting your money and taking the wrong path towards your objectives!

Good luck.

Cheers

[naturephoto1]

Points well taken. You like others may find that you do not like or have the temperment for large format photography. Some find that the care, time, expense, relative slowness in set-up and operation, weight, as well as the upside down and backward imaging not to their liking.

Rich