Cambo 5x4 Monorail

[dustym]

After christmas I promised myself a 5x4 and I managed to purchase a really clean Cambo with a Linhoff Schnieder Lens 210 mm and a light weight Gitzo tripod,the whole kit came to £250 everything is really clean, I just hunted around for the best deal.

The magazines are really starting to make noises in the the UK about large format,Black & White magazine had a few dealers running large adverts when I contacted them they said a lot of the equipment has sold and they had a huge response, the university shops in the UK are reporting an upturn in large format sales as well. The AP also ran a feature on large format recently regarding digital photojournalists who work in fleet street prefer large format photography in thier liesure time.

Having said all that whats the LF bible for beginners to intermediate so I can understand the moves and focusing principles any guidance would be gratefully recieved,something I could order of Amazon would be very helpful.

Rgds
Dusty

 

[argus]

I think that's a steal!
Congrats and have fun with the new outfit.

Unfortunately,the best online resource for focussing and camera movements I know is in French.

G

 

[photobackpacker]

Hi Dusty:

Welcome to LF. I too started with a Cambo mono but I paid a whooooole lot more for it than you did. Nice buy!

When I moved into LF, I discovered just how much I didn't know about photography. I found my thinking moving from "a roll of film" to a specific shot on a single sheet of film. I became much more focused on sheet-by-sheet results.

I found Jim Stone's book, Users Guide to the View Camera and Steve Simmons Using the View Camera both good. These cover much the same territory but each brings a slightly different take to it that I found valuable.

 

[dustym]

Thanks fellas, I look those books up, I think it will certainly change my outlook.

 

[another_dirk]

Hi Dusty,

I bought a Cambo Cadet two months ago, with a Schneider 150mm and two rollfilm backs (6x7 and 6x9cm). It's a dream. I used to shoot rolls and rolls of 35mm, now I load my three sheet film cassettes, and have more fun than ever.

Anyway, to answer your questions, I have two books which I found very helpful:

Stroebel, Leslie. View Camera Technique (7th ed.)
Simmons, Steve. Using the view camera

Have fun with your new camera,
Dirk

 

[johnnywalker]

I have Steve Simmons book, and found it to be clear and well-written. It covers everything I (a beginner) would want to know.

 

[dustym]

Thanks for the advice fellas

RGDS#
Dusty

 

[ggriffi]

Dusty,

I will second everyone's recommendation about Steve Simmons book. It helped me a great deal. You might want to look here as well:

http://largeformatphotography.info/

There is a lot of useful info here as well.

g

 

[davekarp]

I agree with Bruce. The Stone and Simmons books are good companions. The Stone book gives you a brief history and description of the various optical designs found in large format lenses, which I found extremely helpful.

Another very helpful source is www.largeformatphotography.info.

 

[cameracamera]

hi guys do any of you know the answer to this...

a 5x4monorail camera allowes for one of the below?

a minimal control over image shape
b minimal control over image sharpness
c extensive control over image shape and sharpness
d extensive control over image shape but not sharpness

 

[cameracamera]

another question...
what is a mono-block?

thanks

 

[jbbooks]

In addition to Steve Simmons’ book on the view camera, you might consider these as part of a basic collection on the subject:

One on the view camera from Kodak,

http://www.amazon.com/Large-Format-Photography-Kodak-Publication-18e/dp/0879857714

The first book, The Camera, in the series by Ansel Adams,

http://www.amazon.com/Camera-Ansel-...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310654825&sr=1-1

This is, of course, followed by The Negative and The Print.

While you wait for those, this is available on-line:

http://www.toyoview.com/LargeFrmtTech/lgformat.html

Just using this and looking at the effects on your ground glass will teach you a lot.

And, as someone has already mentioned, there is a lot of information available here:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/

 

[ronlamarsh]

Welcome to the club! Jim Stones book and Steve Simmons book are great overviews and have excellent examples of the different movements. That said I gained my greatest knowledge by going out and making mistakes and making great images.