Budget 8x10 Camera

Mainecoonmaniac · May 24, 2018

Alan Gales said:
A lot of people will probably disagree with me but why spend the money for 8x10 film and shoot pinhole? Maybe if you are shooting X-ray film. I just don't get it myself.

It all depends on what you want to do with the film. I like to contact printing alt processes like cyanotypes and salt prints.

removedacct1 · May 24, 2018

DWThomas said:
Well --- those of us who don't have a 4x5 enlarger can make 8x10 contact prints from an 8x10 pinhole camera. And the perceived sharpness of the larger formats is actually pretty impressive. I'm not trying to say pinhole is the be all and end all, but I have made myself an 8x10 pinhole camera. I've gotten shots from it in at least one juried exhibition!

I'm with Dave: a contact print from an 8x10 pinhole negative can be a magnificent thing.
As for buying VS making your own - it comes down to how much $$$ you want to spend. I have several bought pinhole cameras that I like a lot, but I also have several home-made 8x10 cameras I like just as much, in terms of the results. A cardboard box made into an 8x10 camera is just as effective as one bought from Zero Image for $500, it just depends on whether you want to admire the object itself, or just learn to make your own and find your personal preferences for technique and style. Personally, nothing beats an 8x10" round cookie tin pinhole camera with its curved plane.

Roger Thoms · May 24, 2018

Alan Gales said:
A lot of people will probably disagree with me but why spend the money for 8x10 film and shoot pinhole? Maybe if you are shooting X-ray film. I just don't get it myself.

Because the big negatives are great to contact print. I'm a happy 810 Titan owner btw. I know I could shoot X-ray or paper but I just like shooting film

Roger.

jimgalli · May 25, 2018

Hats off to the the Intrepid guys for working hard to make a bare bones no frills affordable basic camera. 22 inches of bellows would stymie me too often I fear. I hate limitations. There are complete outfits for sale here in the classifieds with excellent lens and holders included for under $1000. Why not use the same camera that both Ansel and Morley Baer swore by. The late 1930's and '40's Agfa's will be making pictures a century from now. And of course my preferred workhorse the Kodak 2D will also. Both of those cameras can hoist a 5 pound lens if the need arises. And both were standard with 30" bellows. The old generation knew a thing or two. Spend a few minutes looking through my web pages before you tell me I don't know what I'm talking about please.

Roger Thoms · May 25, 2018

22” would stifle me too, just had my 2D racked out 28” which was pushing it a bit since the camera has it’s original bellows from 1946. Important thing if you get a 2D is to make sure you get the extension rail.

Roger

jon.oman · May 25, 2018

If you are talking pinhole, you can build your own. Here are the two cameras I built:

Here is an image I made with the 8x10:

This was on x-ray film. Pinhole has its own look.

grahamp · May 25, 2018

I don't think it is fair to knock the Intrepid for being a double extension camera. So is my Wista DX. That's a design compromise both manufacturers chose.

I do not have, or the desire to have, lenses that need more extension as a rule. Of course I have an MPP VII with a triple extension capability when I really need it. So an Intrepid 810 meets my needs, but it would not suit everyone.

Large format cameras used to fall into two schools. The cabinet maker fine wood type, and the engineered carbon fibre, composites, and alloys type. Intrepid seems to come at it from a materials science approach. It will be interesting to see how their products hold up in a few years.

jimgalli · May 25, 2018

Didn't knock anything. Just stated that compromise is something some folk can't abide. Carry on with the love fest.

AigBlender · Jun 28, 2018

Mainecoonmaniac said:
If you use Xray film, you can shoot rather cheaply. Since it's green sensitive, you can process it under a red darkroom safelight in a tray.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HRU-810-FU...982651?hash=item27c3d10f7b:g:IzwAAOxyi3FR5s7I

I never used the sheet film Xray, what are the difference (in quality of image) between a normal film ? It's necessary a particular developer ?

bvy · Jun 28, 2018

AigBlender said:
I never used the sheet film Xray, what are the difference (in quality of image) between a normal film ? It's necessary a particular developer ?

Well again, it's not panchromatic, so reds will appear dark. Also it's typically coated with emulsion on both sides and the emulsion is sensitive when wet, so use a smooth glass bottom tray for processing and avoid tongs. No special developer is required.

DWThomas · Jun 28, 2018

bvy has covered the basics. The main thing is that information that comes with the x-ray material does not offer guidance for conventional visible light photography, so you need to experiment a little. I find it tends toward high contrast, so I develop in very dilute developer (HC110 1+63) to keep the developing time long enough to manage some accuracy in processing.

A most recent pinhole shot, (photographed from a contact print) :

btaylor · Jun 28, 2018

There is a massive thread over at the large format photography forum dedicated to using X-ray films, it has about everything you would want to know.
Just a comment on the Calumet C1, I have one and quite enjoy using it. It is well made, extremely solid and not that bad out in the field either (although I wouldn’t do any backpacking with it!). The front standard can support just about any heavy lens you could hang on it. I often see them in the $500-600 range. BTW, the lens boards are the same size as Deardorff boards which are very easy to find.

Alan Gales · Jun 28, 2018

Well, the images on this thread plus this one here are making me eat crow!

Dead Link Removed

I won't ask why pinhole anymore.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jun 28, 2018

Xray film is great film. As mentioned earlier by a fellow APUGer, it's not panochromatic. But it's an advantage because you can process it under a red safelight. Also, Fuji HRT does not have an antihalation layer so images won't be super sharp. The film is cheap enough to worth a try.

btaylor · Jun 28, 2018

BTW I bought Carestream because the emulsion is on one side only which means no stripping the second side.

AigBlender · Jun 29, 2018

Thank you very much for your informations about X-Ray film. My problem is the same of JADoss23, I want buy an 8x10 camera. But I live in Italy and when the camera arrive (if I'll decide to buy in U.S.A.) I have to pay Duty (a lot of €). If the delivery costs are about 200 $, the Duty is more or less three times the delivery costs. What kind of camera ? A Calumet C1 with lens on Copal 1 or 3, or an 8x10 craft camera (e.g. Intrepid In UK, http://www.argentumcamera.com/eng/pages/other/home.htm in Hungary, and some other) ?

btaylor · Jun 29, 2018

shipping a C1 to Italy from the US would be expensive, perhaps your best bet would be the Intrepid since it’s in the UK.

AigBlender · Jun 29, 2018

btaylor said:
shipping a C1 to Italy from the US would be expensive, perhaps your best bet would be the Intrepid since it’s in the UK.

I'm not agree with you, there is someone that have already try the 8x10 Intrepid camera ? In Europe there are other firm that produce large format cameras, but the costs are without any sense. And you have to wait at least three months before to have it.
In my opinion Argentum camera is a good solution (in the past I've bought a 4x5" pinhole camera).
At the begin (when the customers are few) of all this firm, the cost are 1500 € (without lens). After some years the costs become 2000 - 3000 €.

I am obliged to buy the lens in USA (only through eBay ?), I want it already mounted on lens board and Copal 1 or 3. For my 4x5" I've "followed this road". I'm not able to make this job.

Budget 8x10 Camera

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