First foray into technical cameras

[dave olson]

I have spent the last several hours getting acquainted with my first view-technical camera. I purchased a pre-owned Horseman kit from a West Coast dealer. I have fifty years in photography 35mm and medium format. I had often thought about a view or technical camera. The model I bought is a VH-R with a coupled rangefinder viewfinder. It came with three lenses, 3 rollfilm backs, and a ground glass back. No manual but a check with Butkis showed he has one posted on his site. I followed the Horseman manual and opened and closed the body, fitted a mounted lens board, and checked both the rangefinder and the separate viewfinder. The cocking of the shutter employs several separate steps. I practiced mounting and dismounting the ground glass back and a roll film back. The two different backs are for 6X7 and 6X9 for ten or eight exposures. The next area will be learning the use of all the different movements, both front and back. It's exciting to me to finally have hands-on with a technical camera.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I have spent the last several hours getting acquainted with my first view-technical camera. I purchased a pre-owned Horseman kit from a West Coast dealer. I have fifty years in photography 35mm and medium format. I had often thought about a view or technical camera. The model I bought is a VH-R with a coupled rangefinder viewfinder. It came with three lenses, 3 rollfilm backs, and a ground glass back. No manual but a check with Butkis showed he has one posted on his site. I followed the Horseman manual and opened and closed the body, fitted a mounted lens board, and checked both the rangefinder and the separate viewfinder. The cocking of the shutter employs several separate steps. I practiced mounting and dismounting the ground glass back and a roll film back. The two different backs are for 6X7 and 6X9 for ten or eight exposures. The next area will be learning the use of all the different movements, both front and back. It's exciting to me to finally have hands-on with a technical camera.

congrats. LF is exciting and probably what they cal 'real' photography. If you're like me,You were amazed how much better the technical image quality of MF vs 35mm is. I expected a similar boost from going to LF from MF. but that did not happen. I think MF is so much better than #5mm because of the larger negative. Of course, the LF negative is even larger, but the image quality produced by MF lenses is second to none and not matched by LF lenses. just a guess. Anyway, enjoy!

 

[Sirius Glass]

You have taken a big step. Best wished in your education and exploration with the technical camera!

 

[AnselMortensen]

Congratulations!
LF photography is a very rewarding endeavor.
There are many steps to the workflow.
I recommend that you do a test run...set up the camera in your yard, focus on something, meter, CLOSE THE SHUTTER, cock the shutter, go through the process of putting an empty film holder in the camera, pull the dark slide, make an "exposure", and then tear down the setup, put everything away and repeat the process a few times.
I also recommend that you do the steps in a consistent order.
(I have found that if I don't, it is easy to make mistakes.)
There is a learning curve, you'll make a few mistakes along the way, but don't forget to have fun!

 

[John Wiegerink]

You will have a lot of fun and you'll learn from your mistakes. I know I did when I got my first view camera. You're not up to 4X5 size, but 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 is pretty close anyway. The first thing you'll find out is to work slow. If you don't do that at first you'll certainly forget one of the steps, like not removing the dark slide or something. I know that I surely had to slow down from the way I shot 35mm, but it was a "good" kind of slow. Enjoy!

 

[ic-racer]

VH-R was my introduction to large format also. I wound up getting a 4x5 then 8x10 cameras later. I found the electroinc shutter release made for sharper pictures.

 

[ags2mikon]

I bought my first Horseman, a 985 about 40 years ago and used it last Friday. It has been with me as a good friend for 40 years. It is a nice system to take images with but it can be intimidating at first. I made an index card with the steps needed and went into the back yard and did practice runs with out film every day after work before I went out that weekend with it. After a while it becomes second nature. I find it plays nice with my RB67 doing what it can't do, and vice versa.