How long to build up your LF camera and darkroom kit?

I try very hard not to be limited by gear which---coming from Nikon, Canon and Hassy systems--- I found was a big part of large format's allure
A camera that locks down securely and has adequate bellows
A tripod that holds the camera steady
A clean lens with a shutter that works and a cable release to fire it
Three good film holders
A couple of filters
A light meter, a focus loupe, dark cloth and a light meter.
A box of film, a nest of trays, a graduate, thermometer, clothes pins, a pane of glass, a timer and some bottles for chemicals
Your only limit is your imagination
Everything else is either icing on the cake or a gimmick you'll soon realize you didn't need.
My 2-cents anyway

It has taken me 25 years to end up with the kit I have, in part due to experimentation, part due to evolving needs (new project, new gear to fit that project's requirements), and in part due to fiscal issues (not having money when I was younger, and now my inner cheapskate who loves a bargain). Unless you're seeking something exotic AND antique/out of production, the only obstacle to acquiring what you want in your kit is your budget. That and clarity of vision of what you want. If you don't know what you want, then having six figures to spend on gear isn't going to help you complete your kit any time soon because you won't know what "complete" is.

GKC said:

I try very hard not to be limited by gear which---coming from Nikon, Canon and Hassy systems--- I found was a big part of large format's allure

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Large format is really only limiting if you want to do certain kinds of photography that involve high speed or great distances. One of the great non-limitations of large format is the fact that your gear is virtually 100% interchangeable. Calumet film holders work on a Burke & James, Nikon lenses work on Canham cameras, etc etc etc. And while there are dedicated macro lenses, if you have enough bellows, virtually any lens can serve as a macro lens. And outside of some very specialized lenses and bodies, smaller stuff cannot provide movements for perspective correction/film plane adjustment.

I've had a 5x7 in. Omega enlarger for years but have only used it up to 4x5 in. Negatives so far.

It also has, in addition to a Omega circle light head with the power supply, I also have a 5x7in. Omega dicro colour head, power supply but the head may need some electrical circuits replaced

I have a single 5x7 in. Kodak rubber tank, and ten 5x7 in. Kodak single sheet developing racks, which arrived today, an hour or so again

I'm looking for affordable film holders, and more Kodak rubber tanks and other pieces, such as a basic LF lens, rotating back and basic frame to build a 5x7 in. camera with.

I will try building a pinhole camera and a sliding box camera first, so any tips and links to designs are welcomed.

Cheers and Godspeed to all!
Eli

It took me two years to build up my 8x10 kit. Much longer for 4x5, as I didn't know what I was doing at the time and had no real direction as far as imagery goes. Last summer, I bolstered up my medium format RB67 kit with another lens, prism finder, and a third film magazine...I also added a couple of medium format cameras.

GKC said:

Starting with an 8x10 and contact printing, I avoided the entire enlarger issue.
A lot of gear carried over from my 35mm kit. My bride made me a dark cloth using the instructions from Steve Simmons Using The View Camera
The film holders I bought used, I think they were three wooden ones for $40 or two plastics for $35 from Clayton Classic Camera, which ran an ad in Shutterbug.
I saved up for a 14" Commercial Ektar on the recommendation of a local old time photographer,
For printing I used a sheet of heavy glass from a Pier 1 Import shop,
Newlywed, I was on a super tight budget, it took a very understanding bride and maybe a year to accumulate the minimum. Since then I've upgraded and added items every year as the need arised.

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Do you mainly do contact prints vs any kind of scanning?

I am trying to figure out what I will do when I choose to go 4x5 or 8x10. For 4x5 I was set on getting an enlarger. I feel like the "right" way to do darkroom prints is with the enlarger and second best is a regular scanner or drum scanner.

Thanks!

5150Bronco said:

Do you mainly do contact prints vs any kind of scanning?

I am trying to figure out what I will do when I choose to go 4x5 or 8x10. For 4x5 I was set on getting an enlarger. I feel like the "right" way to do darkroom prints is with the enlarger and second best is a regular scanner or drum scanner.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

No scanner. I actually do use an enlarger----a cheap elderly Meopta 4x4 (about $20 used)---as a light source, and a Printfile Proofer for the "sandwich." as it's easier to register the negative with the paper and I always worried about dropping and breaking the glass back when I used a small heavy glass top from an end table
I did replace my GE Guide Lamps(plug in night lights) when they gave up the ghost after about 40 years. Now I use a short string of red LED Christmas lights I purchased on clearance at CVS for my safelight
A piece of scrap marble slab (free on Craig's List) from a countertop presses the fiber prints flat.
I tend to obsess on keeping things simple and inexpensive and I prefer the tactile sensations inherent in making contact prints.

I do have an old Omega enlarger for 4x5 negatives, but most of my photography is 8x10 YMMV, of course.

Sixty years but that was simply an evolutionary process... changing directions more than anything else. Looking back the changes were small over long periods and I can't really point to a "watershed" event which precipitated major upheavals after realizing (in 1961) that large format was the direction I needed/wanted to go. I made the seemingly inevitable mistake that I needed a variety of focal lengths and was surprised to discover that I had complicated my life with too many choices and I realized that (for what I wanted to do) I needed one camera (Wista 45SP) one lens (Fujinon 135 f5.6 W - old type with lettering in the bezel) one meter (Pentax Analog Spot calibrated/modified by Zone VI a long time ago). Enlarger is an Omega D5XL with Modern Enlarger Lamps LED cold-light head and Nikon 150mm f5.6 Enlarging Lens. Would this setup work for everyone/anyone else... nope! As I approach my eightieth year I find that, despite failing eyesight and diminishing physical stamina, the vision is perhaps clearer than ever - the execution simpler.
Joel