Try a Cambo Wide 4x5, perhaps with graflock backs so you could do 6x7 or 6x12. If you want larger than 4x5, look at the Hobo or the Granview.
Try a Cambo Wide 4x5, perhaps with graflock backs so you could do 6x7 or 6x12. If you want larger than 4x5, look at the Hobo or the Granview.
http://www.gunsofscapa.demon.co.uk/overview.html
You might also think about adapting an aerial camera with an electric roll film back
What Wayne says is a good point. You see sometimes Aero-Technikas for sale at a good price. But I am not sure how wide a lens the camera can take. It probably would take a lot of work a nd $ to have it fitted in a proper box.
Matthew, Check out the used book stores for books by Eliot Porter and any of the "how to" national Geographic books from the 50's or earlier. Porter used large format to photograph all sorts of animal and plant life above water. The issues are still the same, creating a proper blind, knowing the critter's habits, and good timing. The other respondents make the case well that underwater with a LF will be tough. However, if I recall correctly, Kodak made an underwater (shallow depth)8x10 Kodachrome for their giant Times Square station display. The setup was described in one of the 60's vintage How To series of pamphlets. It took an army of people and equipment to pull it off!
Cathy Church at Cathychurch.com has been trying to come up with a system for several years. She is currently experimenting with a housed Rollei Sl66 but wanted to use sheet film for her B&W so that she could retouch the negative. The big problem is getting something compairable to the 13mm Nikonos lens for the 35mm RS. It has water contact optics and seems to preform better than a housed lens with a dome port. One quote she got was that a compairable lens for 4x5 would be bigger than a sports car, and cost more.
The reason you want extreme wide angle underwater is to minimize the amount of water between you and your subject. This is also important because you need to get your flashes close, as thats where the beautiful colors come from.
You might Email her but I think she has given up, and she did a lot of research.
Neal
Brett Weston had swimming pool with a window.that he shot thru.-J
There are lots of articles (and book chapters) from the 40's and 50's on using Speed graphics and Graflexes for wildlife photography. I did a little with my Supergraphic on one trip to the Yukon when my Nikon FE battery died and left the shutter jammed (the ONE time I didn't have a spare).
If you really want to do underwater 4x5, a Graphics with a grafmatics holder would probably be the least impractical. But even 50 years ago, people used medium format. On the other hand, I have seen underwater cases for 35mm movie cameras, which are MUCH bigger than a 4x5. Aerial cameras are usually fixed focused with telephoto lenses, and so not so practical - plus 5" roll film is available only in Plus- X
If you want to consider MF underwater, the 903SWC Hasselblad with an underwater housing (approx $5,000 new) would be a nice setup. Also, there are underwater housings for Pentax 67. I know, I know, it's not LF, but still it might be a viable alternative until you get your hands on a good LF underwater setup....
Did some google searching, found the following:
Clyde Butcher has a link for large-format underwater photography, and I think he either built or is trying to build one himself. http://www.clydebutcher.com/links.htm
This is a link to an Underwater Large Format movie camera, that you might be able to modify: http://www.dolphinsfilm.com/Behind/UWCinematography.htm
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks