Newbie questions forum?

**Bill_1856** · 22-Jul-2007, 16:51

Actually, I think it's an excellent idea.

**Dave Jeffery** · 25-Jul-2007, 03:05

Rivermandan,

Be prepared to do some reading as there is a lot to learn.

The home page of this forum is a great place to start as a lot of the information you may need is well laid out under the various headings there. If a question comes to mind look for relevant headings on the home page. I read through most of the information as well as using Google to find similar information. I didn't need to ask any questions at first because of the wealth of information linked to the home page. Most of the questions had been asked by others at some point over the years and a keyword search would turn up the answers.

Also a number of books are always highly recommended repeatedly on this site and I bought a few of those books which I think were a giveaway for the price. Three of the most popular are

Using the View Camera by Steve Simmons, The Negative by Ansel Adams, and Basic Techniques of Photography by Ansel Adams and of course there are many more.

Google is the ultimate information search tool as others have stated and when you are on a topic search the archives for a few other opinions on the same topic as well.

It's good to title the questions you post as "newbie" or "begginer" posts as that will attract the people that most willing to respond and maybe a seperate forum may not be needed.

After you get a good grasp on the basics you will be amazed at how much there is to learn and how many nice people there are on this forum with a lifetime of experience that are willing to help.

I appreciate Scott Knowles stating that he spent two years reading and studying as I have spent about a year and a half and I still know very little.

Once you get in the field shooting you will be hooked.

I hope you enjoy it half as much as I have.

**rivermandan** · 25-Jul-2007, 14:04

Though any question is always answered here, I simply thought it would be a swell idea to consolidate newbie questions to its own forum to keep the other ones clean of threads most vets wouldn't want to read but to answer a question. Thanks for the book advice Dave. I actually have yet to read any books on LF, I've been using a mix of intuition, esoteric google searches, and the advice of the community so far and have been getting pretty good results considering the macguiver approach I've been using.

CG · 25-Jul-2007, 17:50

What about a FAQ index of some kind, since there are a certain predictable set of basic questions everyone needs to get past at some time. I suspect a really good set of answers would eventually result, better than what happens on a piecemeal basis.

Best,

C

**Nick_3536** · 25-Jul-2007, 18:14

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/mistakes.html

Isn't that the Newbie Faq? Complete every one of those steps and you'll not be a Newbie any more -)

**Clay Turtle** · 28-Jul-2007, 09:42

A Newbie question& answer forum . . . na, might be a good thing then those of similar level of experience can go off & play together . . . then maybe some kind of heart old timer might browse through to make sure they didn't become lost in their own misinformed opinions? Like game site, they rate players abilities so they can play against others of similar experience, unfortunately the best in play is generally when matched against better players so too the answers generally come from the most experienced photographers, at least what they are willing to share.

Ha, ha ya Nick, I checked the link & ya I made most of those mistakes more than once & will probably make some of them again . . .

**rivermandan** · 28-Jul-2007, 09:50

...

or this hypothetical forum could be a place for amateurs to ask questions.

**Dave Jeffery** · 30-Jul-2007, 01:06

Rivermandan,

If you send me an email I will send you all the links I thought were the best (in a Word file) as well as other information that was cut and pasted as I studied that I thought was worth saving . Things you have already read you can just skip over. This may save you some time and it won't take me long to condense things.

I used to carry the list of mistakes to study when I had some free time. I also edited the list of how to operate the view camera for my specific camera and visualized and memorized the list for my very first shoots. I use readyloads and have asymetrical tilts which made modifying the sequence necessary. Studying and following a set sequence of steps was very valuable for me as well as the list of ways to save time.

Have Fun!

Dave Jeffery
zzing@cox.net

**Robert Hughes** · 31-Jul-2007, 10:25

I don't think a newbies forum is all that necessary for 2 reasons: (1) the basic info is already out there in faq form for anyone to read, and (2) more experienced photographers will get tired of answering "What's the best camera" and "how do I white balance a 4x5" questions. I actually saw someone ask about white balancing a film camera earlier this week on a motion picture forum.