Good book to explain the view camera?

[Brad Bireley]

What would be a good 1st book to explain the details of a view camera?
As stated in my other post I'm starting with a B & J Press.
Thanks again,
Brad

 

[Amund]

This book

 

[Dave Parker]

Hi Brad,

The book I started out with is called "The View Camera" by Harvey Shaman, and Steve's Book of the same title is very good as well.

Also, there are many great articles that can be read online and printed that will help out, the B&J press is actually a limited camera as far as View Cameras go, i would classify more as a press camera that was designed for quick shooting press photographers, but still offers some movements.

Good luck on your quest, if we can help, just let us know.

Dave Parker
Satin Snow Ground Glass

 

[JBrunner]

They are both good books.

Not books but,

if you haven't found it already, there is allot of great information here:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/


Also searching the archives of APUG using the advanced search can yield many useful answers to specific questions.

 

[ggriffi]

I have Simmon's book and agree with the above posts. Also, look here for more help. lfphoto.info There are several useful articles.

Hope this helps.

g

 

[Jon Shiu]

You might not need a separate book on large format if you have Henry Horensteins, Beyond Basic Photography, or the London and Upton text, Photography. Both have very complete chapters on view camera operations.

Jon

 

[r-brian]

I've looked at a lot of different books and I've found that Jack Dykinga's book "Large Format Nature Photography" is a very good. He explains movements very simply with great pictures utilizing his Acra Swiss without bellows to show exactly what he is talking about. And I picked it up used on Amazon.com for only $7.

 

[bob01721]

I learned a lot from The View Camera by Harvey Shaman and The Camera by St. Ansel. Always heard rave reviews on Simmons's book, too.

I also picked up a lot at largeformatphotography.info. There's an amazing amount of good information there—and a lot of arcane esoterica, too, if you're into that.

 

[Capocheny]

Brad,

I would also highly recommend the book by Kodak (Large Format Photography), and one by Jim Stone (A Users Guide to The View Camera.) The other one that I really liked was the one put out by Jack Dykinga (Large Format Nature Photography.)

The book by Jim Stone contains one of the best illustrations I've seen on how planes work. IMHO, it's excellent. The one by Dykinga shows the effects of various movements on the subject matter being photographed. I learned an immense amount from studying the images and looking at the camera movements shown along side the picture.

Eventually, the book by Leslie Stroebel (View Camera Techniques) will be recommended. I'd suggest that you look at others before making the attempt to go through this one. I (personally) found it a very difficult read and got lost in many places. But, this may not necessarily apply to other folks... I just found it a difficult read.

Anyway, there's a start... good luck and welcome to the fun, fun, fun world of LF photography!

Cheers

 

[Jim Jones]

The Stroebel book is my favorite of the several that I own. It is dense reading compared to the others. There are many editions by now. If buying it used, make sure the edition is new enough for your needs. For press camera photography, Graphic Graflex Photography by Willard Morgan and Henry Lester is specific to the graphic/Graflex system, but also has general information and is an interesting look back at the old days. It was published in many editions over many years, but not for a few decades now.