4×5" film camera at USA House impeachment hearings

[Kodachromeguy]

Hi Everyone, this morning I started to watch the USA House of Representatives impeachment hearings and was amazed to see a photographer taking some portraits with a 4×5" reflex camera. He placed the dark slide in his mouth, composed, and fired. Then he put the dark slide back in the film holder, removed the holder, turned it over again, removed the second slide, and took another picture. Most interesting. The link below may show the photographer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinte..._guy_shooting_the_impeachment_hearing_with_a/

Can any of you identify this big camera?

 

[LiamG]

Pretty sure that's Dave Burnett, he's a well known fan of Aero Ektars, but I don't know what reflex camera it's mounted on.

 

[Lachlan Young]

Hi Everyone, this morning I started to watch the USA House of Representatives impeachment hearings and was amazed to see a photographer taking some portraits with a 4×5" reflex camera. He placed the dark slide in his mouth, composed, and fired. Then he put the dark slide back in the film holder, removed the holder, turned it over again, removed the second slide, and took another picture. Most interesting. The link below may show the photographer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinte..._guy_shooting_the_impeachment_hearing_with_a/

Can any of you identify this big camera?

That looks like it might be Dave Burnett - camera looks like a Graflex SLR stripped of its leather & the hood replaced with one off a Pacemaker Speed or Crown Graphic back. Front standard has been modified to tilt - lens looks like an Aero Ektar. I've seen a similarly modded Graflex in a few places online & I think another photojournalist called Cory Lum made/ had made a very similar device.

 

[Dahod]

According to an article on DPReview, it's an "Aero Liberator – Made by John Minnicks". Very cool

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/2...david-burnett-at-today-s-impeachment-hearings

Regards
Dave

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Pretty darn cool:

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Another video with examples of both cameras and photographs they took:

 

[warden]

Pretty darn cool:

Wow!

 

[Ian Grant]

Good to see DAve Burnett at the cutting edge of modern history. Hadn't realised he's moved on from the Speed Graphic.

Ian

 

[Sirius Glass]

Sometimes you just need a bigger camera.

 

[AndyH]

This is great! Minnick doesn't make cameras, he makes functional art.

I've seen some pretty ratty Graflex models on auction sites and in junk-tique stores going for very short money. Now if I could find one of those Aero Ektars, I might have sufficient woodworking and mechanical skills to attempt my own conversion.

Brilliant work!

Andy

 

[Luckless]

Feels like a good reminder for me to load up more film and lug my Pressman around... I let it sit on a shelf far too often for a camera that is so enjoyable to use.

 

[James Bleifus]

Does anyone know how much one of these cameras weighs?

Cheers, James

 

[James Bleifus]

I found the answer in his portfolio of cameras. 9.5 pounds.

Cheers, James

 

[Arklatexian]

Sometimes you just need a bigger camera.

Back before Speed Graphics, etc. for "Press" work, guess which camera was used by "press photographers". As the saying goes:"what goes around comes around". It isn't a factory-made Graflex but it is "close enough for government work".........Regards!

 

[Ian Grant]

Back before Speed Graphics, etc. for "Press" work, guess which camera was used by "press photographers". As the saying goes:"what goes around comes around". It isn't a factory-made Graflex but it is "close enough for government work".........Regards!

The choice of cameras used by the Press varied depending on the location choices in the US differed from Europe and the UK,

Europe favoured mostly metal bodied 9x12 cameras some with focal plane shutters, but thewooden bodied Goerz Anschütz was also popular in the UK and continued to be made after Goerz was absorbed into Zeiss Ikon by Peeling and Van Neck. There were also various SLRs used in the UK for press work from the early 1900's onwards like the quarter plate Dallmeyer Press with an f3.5 lens, the cameras were made by Thornton Pickard or Houghtons and the same as a Ruby or ensign reflex but with a Dallmeyer name badge. UK reflex cameras mostly had self capping shutters unlike Graflex SLRs this made them faster to use with film packs and roll film backs.

The ability to use either a focal plane or leaf shutter gave greater flexibility, leaf shutters arev better for slow speeds, a German example sold for Press use is the Ihagee Zweiverschluss Duplex but tehre were similar 3 shutter cameras from other German manufacturers.

So if you see photographs of groups of Press photographers from before WWII the cameras used look quite different depending on location.

Ian

 

[Kodachromeguy]

Here is an interview with Mr. Burnett:

https://www.dpreview.com/interviews...pher-david-burnett-i-felt-that-historic-pang?

He is an interesting guy!! The article is good, but some of the comments are horrifying. A real cesspool.

 

[jtk]

This technique is far better than photography for courtroom events such as "hearings"....

https://hyperallergic.com/538153/fr...a Reiter captured that world-shattering event

 

[pentaxuser]

Here is an interview with Mr. Burnett:

https://www.dpreview.com/interviews...pher-david-burnett-i-felt-that-historic-pang?

He is an interesting guy!! The article is good, but some of the comments are horrifying. A real cesspool.

Your quote on the comments made me read the comments but which ones are horrifying? Is it these comments that qualify as a cesspool?

This is genuine curiosity on my part. Not looking to start an argument but it looks as if I am missing these horrifying comments in what I am seeing

Thanks

pentaxuser

 

[Nodda Duma]

Dave Burnett isn’t the only cool cat shooting 4x5 in the Capitol!

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/frank-thorpe-dry-plates-in-the-us-capitol.172641/

 

[Cholentpot]

This technique is far better than photography for courtroom events such as "hearings"....

https://hyperallergic.com/538153/fr...a Reiter captured that world-shattering event

Look at that DOF compression. I wonder what kind of lens is being used?