Appropriate equipment for LF

[Turner Reich]

Do a bit of home work, go through some back issues of View Camera and read some posts on the net. Find someone with the type of camera you are moving up to. A minute with a master is worth more than reading a thousand books. And there is noting like jumping right in then finding the answers later. That's the most expensive, in time, which is the least available for most.

How about a Calumet cc4x5? Some sell with a lens for the same as without. Some sell with a lens and a case and some holders. Look on the eBay, you should be able to come up with a nice kit for a small amount. It's not like decades ago where you paid full retail price or bought the scarce used equipment.

and Good luck

[Jonathan Rice]

I have taken a lot of the advice given to me here. I've done some reading and have found an experienced LF photographer locally who will help, as well as an LF camera club.

In the end I bought a Sinar with an extension rail, 24" in all. I also bought a cheap lens, just to get the hang of things before I plunge into true expense. A 210mm F4.5, which, with the bellows extended, will focus pretty close up to my intended subjects. I'm still hunting for film holders. I'm going for a polaroid 545 to begin with, so I can shoot polaroids and try out some Quickloads with it.

Thanks all.


Jonathan

[Richard Kelham]

considering the lens, i will go for an apo ronar 240 MC in black copal (from 200 to 500 $)

I would think that if Jonathon wants to copy paintings as small as 25cm square he would need one helluva lot of bellows draw with a 240mm lens. Most of the field cameras (such as the Wista, Mpp etc) only run to double extension, or about 300mm.

The best colour fidelity would come from using a multicoated APO lens such as the latest Symmars or Sironars, but that kind of quality comes at a price. For all but the most critical work a multicoated Symmar-S (or equivalent) would be perfectly adequate – it should be possible to pick up such a lens (150mm f5.6 version) in excellent condition for less than £150.



Richard

[wistarf]

Right. The extension is often maxed out on my Wista technical field camera when I use my 300mm lens.

Also, regarding the film holders; I bought a Grafmatic holder many years ago thinking it would be more efficient and save me time, but in practice I've found that I still prefer the standard holders, both for loading, and for shooting.

I think the Grafmatic holders were most useful in the days when press photographers had to snap away like they do today with SLR's, but in today's more deliberate and contemplative "large format" work (the 4x5 was once considered medium format by the way), I think that the standard film holders are easier to work with. The only slight downside is the bulk.

[Ole Tjugen]

...The best colour fidelity would come from using a multicoated APO lens ...

I agree on the multicoating, but not the APO bit. An apochromatic lens will focus all colours at the same point, which does not imply better colour fidelity. At the working distances in question, an Apo Repro lens might be a good idea though, since the main interest is at ratios of 1:4 to 1:10. An APO lens optimised for infinity will be no better than anything else at these distances.

A couple of posts further up someone recommended to get a lens in a Copal 1 shutter.
I disagree - for your use, I would recommend any shutter size except #1!
Why? Becaause #1 is the only standard shutter size with asymmetric threads, which means that you cannot reverse the lens cells if you want to go closer than 1:1!

My favorite "close-up-and-macro lens" is an old 240mm f:5.6 Symmar. It's optimised for 1:10 (according to old Schneider literature), and the #2 shutter lets me swap the lens cells if I go closer than 1:1. Of course that takes a lot of bellows...