If $$ was no obstacle, what would you buy?

[JKADIS]

It all depends on what sort of pictures you want to make. In a studio setting, Linhof or Arca would be excellent choices but they're fairly heavy for field work. Ditto for the ULF suggestions. Five years ago, I swapped my Technikardan (a compact folding 4X5 Linhof) for a Canham. It's beautifully made and exceptionally light. Don't forget about your lenses. In most ways, the lenses have a greater effect on image capture.

 

[domaz]

I would make and design a LF camera totally out of carbon fiber and aircraft aluminum. Perhaps find some new and exotic lightweight material for the bellows as well. Put in a specially designed integrated light meter for the shots you don't feel like spot metering or calculating bellows extension factor for.

 

[keithwms]

Domaz, I've got one of the lightest 5x7s money can buy... it's incredibly light, people are amazed when they hold it. It's a wooden king poco 5x7 field camera from 1902. And... it is completely useless in the slightest breeze.

 

[David Brown]

What did Ansel have?

 

[removed account4]

What did Ansel have?

troublemaker!

 

[nickandre]

ansel adams

 

[DanielStone]

Well...

1. A Home, or two (money's no object after all). Designed to my specs of course =)
2. Build a big darkroom on house #1 with a Durst Horizontal 8x10 enlarger(like http://www.christopherburkett.com/home.html ----click INFORMATION ---> IN THE DARKROOM), actually have a custom color head built 12"x12"(no loss of light on the negs edges). It would be color and b/w friendly, with a wall-mount vacuum easel. And a HUGE sink for my 44"x54" trays i'm welding up right now(stainless)
3. Build a woodshop on house #1 (to build more cameras of course)
4. A truck with camper shell. Preferably a Chevy 2500 HD Diesel with a bio-diesel conversion. Veggie oil baby =). And a prius for going around town
5. A freezer or two for film and paper
6. And a few cold ones to wash away the sweat from the building
7. oh... almost forgot.... a few boxes of LODIMA(gr. 2) from Michael and Paula

then i would be set

 

[Ole]

I would make and design a LF camera totally out of carbon fiber and aircraft aluminum. Perhaps find some new and exotic lightweight material for the bellows as well. Put in a specially designed integrated light meter for the shots you don't feel like spot metering or calculating bellows extension factor for.

I have that - it's the Carbon Infinity.

There's a little titanium in it, too. But no integrated light meter - I wouldn't have a LF camera that required batteries.

 

[Wade D]

Some new LF gear would be in order. Most of my gear is 60+ years old but still work great. Then maybe buying a small island, like Hawaii, would be nice...

 

[funkpilz]

I'm liking the look of the Toyo 8x10 View and I hear Linhofs are very good, but I don't really have any idea what I'm talking about.

 

[sidearm613]

Just for the hell of it, if money were no object, I would go buy an Ebony 20x24, and be virtually guaranteed of the biggest camera in any particular photo juncture. That little twerp with his Nikon D40 has nothing on me

Oh, and outfit it with nothing but Schneider glass. Woohoo, set for life, until I blow my back out trying to carry the darn thing!

 

[Mick Fagan]

I would think long and hard about an extremely small, light weight 4x5 camera.

In fact I have and the answer to me was the, "Excursor I" camera manufactured by Argentum in Hungary.

This camera is extremely light according to the manufacturer, the weight is 0.8kg. Allowing for a lens and two film holders and a small light meter, about 2.5kg.

Now even allowing for some fudging, this is pretty much lighter than any current camera for this format.

There are drawbacks in that you cannot change the orientation from landscape to portrait, if it is a landscape version. Or the other way around if you have a portrait version.

An 8x10 camera in this model range is quoted at €990. The 8x10 camera weighs 2.1kg.

If I wish to do 8x10 contact printing in the future, then this camera will come into contention because of it's extreme light weight, compactness and ability to obviously be carried in a backpack with relative ease.

Even if you start carrying something like this through Brindabella or the Snowy Mountains, you should be able to still walk and talk at the end of a day

Mick.

 

[Steve Smith]

2. Build a big darkroom on house.

I would build a big darkroom first and then perhaps build a small extension onto it to live in.


Steve.

 

[Holly]

i love how this started out as which camera brand is most desirable, and now its
moved to building our dream darkrooms, attractive assistants, lavish piles of rare
and exotic film...its great to dream huh
so i'm seeing a few arca fans, and some ebony fans. but DIY seems popular too.

 

[Besk]

Money no object -- think inovative - I would hire a staff to build a lightweight, compact monorail camera with all controls (focus, rise, tilt, shift PLUS stop down and shutter cocking) done via small servo-motors with a joystick control at the rear of the camera and under the darkcloth. (Of course, I would keep my Busch Pressman as a backup when something fails.)

 

[Paul Goutiere]

Oddly, I think I may actually have what I would want if I didn't have it. Far from having a lot of money or a fancy kit, I like pretty well what I have.

OK...perhaps a iiif in good shape.