help please !!

[hlrscott]

hey -- am ptogressing up from Mamiya 7 and Rollei to large format...

Have been offered the following ::

5X4" Toyo View 'C' camera and heavy duty wooden tripod with pan and tilt head.

150mm Schneider multicoated 5.6 lens. Note: cable release mounting screw needs screwing back on.

90mm Schneider multicoated wide angle F8 lens

210mm Schneider multicoated 5.6 lens.

Bag bellows.

7 double dark slides.

Cable release

Is this a good starter kit ? will be getting some tuition and will be using it mostly for landscapes but some portraiture...

thanks alot !

[Jack Dahlgren]

Looks like a reasonable kit. You can always buy a different camera as you move along.

[hlrscott]

will it be a fairly easy camera to step into LF with ?
i understand that i will have alot to learn !

[Dan Fromm]

Every starter kit is wrong. Few of us have stuck with the first view camera acquired.

Take what you're offered, use it and you'll discover what would suit you better. The lenses should serve you for quite a while even if the camera and tripod don't.

[Gem Singer]

It's a great camera. and the 90-150-210 focal lengths make an ideal set of lenses for the 4x5 format.

However, a Toyo C is a large, heavy monorail camera. better suited for use in a studio.

It is not the ideal camera to use outdoors for landscape photography.

[hlrscott]

thanks very much!!

[hlrscott]

what would you recommend instead ?
i can get this set up of a friend for around 250 gbp..
mostly it will be travelling in a car for landscapes with the mamiya 7 for the harder to reach places...

[Patrick Dixon]

The lenses are worth at least £250 (assuming reasonable condition), so buy it and try it for portraits, and look at swapping the camera later on when you've figured out what's important to you.

[bvstaples]

One of the great things about LF is how modular it is. You can buy this kit (and I think it's a good price for this kit), and if you don't like the camera, sell it and get another. The lenses can be used on almost any camera, save for having to change out lens boards, but other things like your tripod and film holders work with almost anything. As mentioned very, very few of us are still shooting with our first kit. And, LF equipment tends to hold its value.

Brian

[JohnN]

Go for it.

Time's a wastin'

You won't be let down.

Have fun!