How long did it take you to pare down your large format kit?

Ian Grant · Jan 9, 2022

I have 2 main 5x4 kits, my UK kit and what was my lightweight kit in Turkey (& Greece) when I was living abroad. I'd been shooting LF for a decade (for work) before building up my main UK kit, but it's heavy, not good in hot climates.

The pared down kit is a small Slik tripod, a Super Graphic with 135mm Caltar-S II (Symmar S), 90mm f6.8 Angulon, and 203mm f7.7 Ektar plus a light meter. I can use it hand held and everything fits a small backpack including the tripod.

Overall though my LF collection grows, but then I do a lot of restoration work, I do need to sell off a few There's more cameras in Turkey that I'll be bringing back to the UK.

Ian

Patrick Robert James · Jan 9, 2022

I never pared up so I don't have to pare down. I knew pretty much what I wanted before I got it. I still do have to pick up a field camera to augment/replace my Speed Graphic. I'd probably shoot more 4x5 if I had that, and didn't live here.

Vaughn · Jan 9, 2022

abruzzi said:
Yeah, 8x10 has frustrated me. I got into it specifically to do alt contact prints, but shooting it has been frustrating. I was thinking 5x7 might be good for contact prints and maybe not as challenging as 8x10. Maybe I’ll break down and get one eventually.

It took buying a brand new Chamonix 11x14 to make me realize how much fun my 110 year-old 5x7 is.

Marginal equipment eventually replaced and have been doing more in the way of branching than paring: into other formats, printing processes and other ways of seeing. The various kits are subject to flux, but carry the inertia of decades of use.

GKC · Jan 9, 2022

AnselMortensen said:
Can't find it?
Well...the obvious solution is...
buy another one!

That's how I ended up owning four hacksaws!.

Lachlan Young · Jan 10, 2022

Finally getting the 8x10 enlarger (with pin registration) that I'd been hunting for has allowed me to start getting rid of the other enlargers (and parts) I'd acquired to try and fill the gaps.

GKC · Jan 13, 2022

Lachlan Young said:
Finally getting the 8x10 enlarger (with pin registration) that I'd been hunting for has allowed me to start getting rid of the other enlargers (and parts) I'd acquired to try and fill the gaps.

An old raincoat can provide dust protection. Put a wide brim hat on top and my kids call mine Uncle Elwood

jimgalli · Jan 30, 2022

Pare down?? What kind of blasphemy is this?? Although we do have a revolving door policy, but, when I am dead and cold my children will tell you "more came than went."

NB23 · Jan 30, 2022

lecarp said:
I like having twins or triplets of any important equipment...it provides that comforting Feng Shui sense of abundance.

Now you are talking.

gone · Jan 30, 2022

lecarp said:
Plus it provides that comforting Feng Shui sense of abundance.

That comforting sense of abundance just usually means I can never find anything. Edit, edit, edit! is a writer's command, but in this case, it's more of a Zen paring down to essentials rather than acquiring more stuff.

One thing I've noticed is: if you don't have something you can't lose it, so you're sorta ahead of the game already. It's already pre-lost.

GKC · Jan 30, 2022

momus said:
That comforting sense of abundance just usually means I can never find anything. Edit, edit, edit! is a writer's command, but in this case, it's more of a Zen paring down to essentials rather than acquiring more stuff.

One thing I've noticed is: if you don't have something you can't lose it, so you're sorta ahead of the game already. It's already pre-lost.

Now that is profound!

NB23 · Jan 30, 2022

Like if you were never born you can’t die, kinda sheet?

Sirius Glass · Jan 30, 2022

jimgalli said:
Pare down?? What kind of blasphemy is this?? Although we do have a revolving door policy, but, when I am dead and cold my children will tell you "more came than went."

Basically I run a one way door at my place.

Neil Poulsen · Jan 31, 2022

AnselMortensen said:
Pare down?
What manner of nonsense doth thou speak?
LOL.

Aghast, never could I admit to "paring down!" 'twould be, by it's own nature, untruthful.
Yet faintly, I might admit to having reached a peak.

Sirius Glass · Jan 31, 2022

It is nice to see threads like this in the morning so we can start the day with a good laugh.

Mal Paso · Feb 2, 2022

The 4x5 kit is approaching 100 lbs and requires a cart (Subaru). Paring down would be the Nikon D-word.

GKC · Feb 3, 2022

FWIW, my 8x10 kit is down to a manageable 2 cameras 8 lenses 20 film holders & 2 tripods.

mshchem · Feb 3, 2022

GKC said:
An old raincoat can provide dust protection. Put a wide brim hat on top and my kids call mine Uncle Elwood

That's funny! I borrowed a friend's 8x10 Elwood, marvelous enlarger for a while until I found my eight ten. I had a couple 5x7s over the decades. Great machines.

mshchem · Feb 3, 2022

GKC said:
FWIW, my 8x10 kit is down to a manageable 2 cameras 8 lenses 20 film holders & 2 tripods.

I keep accumulating stuff, paring down, and finding homes for surplus. I've been fortunate to find neat stuff over the decades.

I shoot Crown Graphic hand held and on a light tripod, Deardorff V8, 8x10 and 5x7. I love 5x7. I used to (40ish years ago) a old Agfa 5x7 portrait camera with a Wollensak lens. Great old camera.

DREW WILEY · Feb 9, 2022

I wonder how many of my classic 8x10 lenses I'd have to sell off to be able to afford an indoor electric Tesla bulldozer capable of getting all the other photo gear compacted into some corner.

Collin Orthner · Feb 9, 2022

I must be on the upswing still. I've got a tiny field 4x5 with 6 available pieces of glass, a 5x7(for sale)(downswing there), and an 8x10 with only 2 bits of glass. Still looking for another tripod and selling a few, so breaking even there. I still want(need) another lens or two for the 8x10, so yeah, on the whole still on the upswing. So to answer the how long question, 30 years or so now.

serouscam · Jul 16, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Easy. On www.graflex.org I contacted a retired Graflex-Graphic repairman who was selling off his collection. We exchanged emails for a while to figure out the best choices for me and I selected a 1938 4"x5" Graflex Model D and a 1953 4"x5" Pacemaker Speed Graphic which he said were the best of his personal cameras. He custom built an adapter plate for the Graflex so that both cameras could exchange film backs and Grafmatic 45s. Then I bought a few extra lenses and Grafmatic 45s, film holders on Large Format Photography Form, a camera show and AUG the next few months. FreeStyle supplied the Jobo 3010 Expert Drum.

There is no Model D, it is called Series D

grat · Jul 17, 2022

serouscam said:
There is no Model D, it is called Series D

You know, there's a lot of pedanticism around here, but you've definitely achieved a new level that no one was looking for.

Rayt · Jul 17, 2022

How is it possible to pare down a LF kit? As a novice i was concerned about the weight of the camera and whether the lens took a 0 or #3 Copal. They are so heavy oh yeah right. The holders are heavy, the tripod, a decent head (I like the Linhof cube), changing tent with the pain in the ass tent poles, extra meter just in case, shutter cables, extra GG loupe. I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into.

* and as usual I had forgotten about the dark cloth

GKC · Jul 17, 2022

I find the logistical challenges of 8x10 fun.
Especially when another hiker gasps "How did you get that thing up here?"

Andrew O'Neill · Jul 17, 2022

Pare down... what is this we speak of?

How long did it take you to pare down your large format kit?

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