Photographing a wedding

Yes, you're reading the subject right. I'm talking about photographing a wedding using nothing but large format. 4x5. It starts like this:

Twenty-some years ago, my dear sister had her first son, and he is now engaged, the wedding is soon as in this year, and he's asked me if I will photograph his wedding with my own unique perspective.. and of course I'm thinking that has to be 4x5 instead of medium format even though I have a very nice RB67 Pro S system, and most would declare that is the perfect wedding camera, why I'd be a fool to.. <snip>

You see, my nephew is a film photographer himself. And he's also into digital. Both. And he's got the regular wedding photographer all set up doing the typical digital these days so he's left me with art.

So I have thought about this and I'm totally cool with using my Linhof Technika except that I've got the non-rangefinder version and I don't have a viewfinder, so... I'll be moving around with tripod, open the shadebox, focus focus, tighty tighty, close shadebox, reach in bag for readyload holder and insert, reach in bag for new readyload sheet, yadda.. I'll be missing all the action basically.

Well, I do have a decent Crown Graphic but no lens for it. Got a lensboard but no lens. The rangefinder operates, not sure if the cam is the right one for whatever lens I might find. I have a rockin' Nikkor 210 I could use but no lensboard. Assuming that, I'd have a viewfinder making handholding possible whereas I don't have the $2000 viewfinder for the Linhof so that makes a plus for the Crown, the possibility to handhold. Perhaps I should look into finding a proper lens for it, and check the rangefinder to make sure it's working, and if so, that would be the perfect camera for a wedding, don't you think? I could leave the film holder in the camera and just reach into my bag for another readyload sheet, zip zip, focus focus, clickity click, repeat.

I also thought about my other 4x5's and one 9x12. One of them a Korona in that familiar cherry wood finish, nice black bellows, everything wood, it's a show stopper for the peoples, it would really detract from the wedding to haul that baby up on stage and disappear under a dark cloth hahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahah. Let's say that's out of the question.

I could also haul my Cambo SC up on stage but for a different reason it would detract from the wedding like that Korona. And right about now I'm thinking the Linhof is out of the question unless I locate a viewfinder.

I have also an Avus 9x12 and thought about that because I have actually shot it handheld, it is possible. But I only have three film holders for it and they require a darkroom to change because they have this inner hinge mechanism... anyway.. that's out of the question too.

About half of my work is pinhole. I could... uhh.. nevermind. That just won't work. Exposures that long will be too impossible..

Anyone have any sagely advice for me? Stick with the Crown Graphic? That's what I'm thinking....

Dear Perry;
As someone who has done almost two hundred weddings with a 4x5 Speed Grahpic, I can tell you that covering a wedding without a working rangefinder will be SLOW!!! If that is what you must do, I would make a shooting script and go over it with the couple and try to limit yourself to a working limit of twenty five shots. I believe that will probably be the absolute maximum volume you will be able to manage without a rangefinder coupled camera and still offer a quality result. Good luck and I hope you will show us some of the results.
Denise Libby

Perhaps prefocusing and using a bit of string to gauge the focal point might help to speed things up when doing the posed shots. Personally, I'd be inclined to fit a lens to the Graphic and get it cammed right before going out to do any critical work.

Let us know how you get on - Looks like I might be in the same boat doing some shots when lil'sis gets hitched later in the year :eek:

I have only done three weddings. Two with an RB67 (which works fine) and one with a Spotmatic F (which was also o.k.). Given the choices you have given, I think I would use the Crown Graphic rather than the Linhof.

Most of all, don't listen to anyone who says it can't be done. My father started his wedding photography career using glass plates. He was usually given ten and told not to waste any!

Have you though about using flash? I usually use a couple of Vivitar 285s.


Steve.

You sound comfortable with the Linhof, so go with that. Someone else is getting the action and candids, so don't bother with that.

If I were you, I'd focus on still-life scenes (flowers, rings, table settings, etc) and where there are people involved, you can fix latency issues (head under darkcloth time) by pre-focusing and then fetching the people once you're ready.

Say you put a line of tape on the ground at your focus plane (test it with two helpers) and a tape marker at each end for the frame boundaries. You fetch a pre-determined list of small groups once that's setup, tell 'em where to stand and pull the trigger without even looking at the camera. I bet you spend way less time changing film holders than the people spend faffing about.

As for the ceremony... it takes a few minutes. You can easily setup, focus-on-GG and take a shot of them talking. You can probably guess exactly where the kiss will be, even more certainly if you coordinate with the participants beforehand. As long as you're ready near the end of the ceremony, you should be able to get that.

All the better if you can take flashes and radio triggers.

If you use the Linhof, is there any way of fitting the Graflex viewfinder to it? It might not match the focal length you are using but it would give you an idea of the direction you are pointing and where the centre of the frane is.


Steve.

As Steve suggests, cobbling up a workable viewfinder for the Linhof wouldn't be too difficult, though probably not pretty.
There are hand held range finders that you could use if the distance scale on the Linhof is usable.

OTH, except for a lens, there is nothing you could do with the Linhof in that setting that you can't do with the crown, and the crown's rangefinder will make life much easier. I'd be inclined to find a lens for the crown and use it.

hi perry

i hate to suggest this, but you might consider a graflex series b slr
( rorye has one in the classifieds right now --->>> (there was a url link here which no longer exists)! )
the graflex slr is the perfect portrait camera ... much easier to deal with focusing, no rangefinder .. you just look down, focus
stop down ( if you are that kind of person ) and shoot. piece of cake !

the events that i covered with my series d the clients were drawn to the graflex photos right away and made
them the cover of their coffee-table albums ...

if you have a roll back chances are, you can just tape it on the back if you want to shoot wide and use roll film....
and these cameras are steady and solid like a rock, so if you have to do a slow exposure you are fine ( i hand hold 1/15th S all the time )

good luck !!
john

I photographed a Bishop's ordination mass with a Sinar F1. Only shot about a dozen views of the mass. Stunning images.

Perry Way said:

Well, I do have a decent Crown Graphic but no lens for it. Got a lensboard but no lens. The rangefinder operates, not sure if the cam is the right one for whatever lens I might find. I have a rockin' Nikkor 210 I could use but no lensboard. Assuming that, I'd have a viewfinder making handholding possible whereas I don't have the $2000 viewfinder for the Linhof so that makes a plus for the Crown, the possibility to handhold. Perhaps I should look into finding a proper lens for it, and check the rangefinder to make sure it's working, and if so, that would be the perfect camera for a wedding, don't you think? I could leave the film holder in the camera and just reach into my bag for another readyload sheet, zip zip, focus focus, clickity click, repeat.

Click to expand...

You have one lens board. Graphic lens boards are not hard to find. Select one of your Linhof lenses and remount it on the Graphic lens board. You can find lensboards at APUG's Classifieds and http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/. No buying or selling is allowed at http://www.graflex.org.

If it is necessary to recalibrate the rangefinder look for instructions at http://www.graflex.org/technical-information.html where there are instructions for rangefinder cams and rangefinder recalibrations. http://www.graflex.org/helpboard/ is a good place to go for more information. At http://www.graflex.org/helpboard/ there is a retired Graflex/Graphic repairman who is on the board and posts occasionally. Also there are some others who have a lot of repair experience. If you have a top mounted rangefinder, be very careful about "loosing your marbles" when adjusting or opening the rangefinder.

Steve

Perry Way said:

Well, I do have a decent Crown Graphic but no lens for it. Got a lensboard but no lens. The rangefinder operates, not sure if the cam is the right one for whatever lens I might find. I have a rockin' Nikkor 210 I could use but no lensboard.

Click to expand...

Lensboards are cheap. Get a lensboard for the Nikkor, mount it on the Graphic, and recalibrate the rangefinder.

Alternatively, make a "sports finder" for your Linhof out of a cardboard tube (toilet paper roll and crosshairs, make it look nice). Mark distance on a piece of tape on your camera bed for the lenses you will use. Preset your aperture, and use fast film, or a good flash.

If someone can photograph a wedding with a Holga, you can certainly do it with a view camera.

THere's a guy in NYC who does banquet camera portraits at weddings. Super boutique, charges like $6K.

What you are describing sounds like a nightmare. Why not just shoot the RZ and use the 4x5 for a few select images?

Sirius Glass said:

You have one lens board. Graphic lens boards are not hard to find. Select one of your Linhof lenses and remount it on the Graphic lens board. You can find lensboards at APUG's Classifieds and http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/. No buying or selling is allowed at http://www.graflex.org.

If it is necessary to recalibrate the rangefinder look for instructions at http://www.graflex.org/technical-information.html where there are instructions for rangefinder cams and rangefinder recalibrations. http://www.graflex.org/helpboard/ is a good place to go for more information. At http://www.graflex.org/helpboard/ there is a retired Graflex/Graphic repairman who is on the board and posts occasionally. Also there are some others who have a lot of repair experience. If you have a top mounted rangefinder, be very careful about "loosing your marbles" when adjusting or opening the rangefinder.

Steve

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the extra mile Steve. I'll check out that link to recalibration for sure!

ParkerSmithPhoto said:

THere's a guy in NYC who does banquet camera portraits at weddings. Super boutique, charges like $6K.

What you are describing sounds like a nightmare. Why not just shoot the RZ and use the 4x5 for a few select images?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the boutique idea! After everyone sees me doing this, there will be those who will inquire...

Nightmare? There's a digital photographer who will get everything "necessary".

Brian C. Miller said:

Lensboards are cheap. Get a lensboard for the Nikkor, mount it on the Graphic, and recalibrate the rangefinder.

Click to expand...

I thought of that the other day. But I thought the lens was physically too large, but it's not. I got it to work for a moment with the wrong size (larger) hole on the lensboard I do have for the Crown and guess what? You can barely focus anything close up.. there's just not enough bellows. My Technika has plenty of bellows but the Crown doesn't have enough.. it was making stretching noises I didn't like....

jnanian said:

i hate to suggest this, but you might consider a graflex series b slr
( rorye has one in the classifieds right now --->>> (there was a url link here which no longer exists)! )
the graflex slr is the perfect portrait camera ... much easier to deal with focusing, no rangefinder .. you just look down, focus
stop down ( if you are that kind of person ) and shoot. piece of cake !

Click to expand...

Thanks John I will look into that but at this point I don't need more things to buy. I need to sell things, lots of things. Yikes, I just saw the prices on eBay for good Crowns and Speed Graphics, someone has a series D slr on eBay for $775 I think it was. Yikes! Well, if I could find a buyer for my RB67 system, I would consider that. You're a lucky dawg to have yours

archer said:

Dear Perry;
As someone who has done almost two hundred weddings with a 4x5 Speed Grahpic, I can tell you that covering a wedding without a working rangefinder will be SLOW!!! If that is what you must do, I would make a shooting script and go over it with the couple and try to limit yourself to a working limit of twenty five shots. I believe that will probably be the absolute maximum volume you will be able to manage without a rangefinder coupled camera and still offer a quality result. Good luck and I hope you will show us some of the results.
Denise Libby

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Denise. 200 weddings with a Speed Graphic? Wow! That's plenty of experience. How many shots did you/do you normally get in?

At this point I'm aiming to get a proper lens for my Crown Graphic because at the end of the day what matters the most is the rangefinder and viewfinder!

paul_c5x4 said:

Let us know how you get on - Looks like I might be in the same boat doing some shots when lil'sis gets hitched later in the year :eek:

Click to expand...

Will do Paul. It looks like I might have two weddings. I just extended another offer to my coworker who is getting married soon. If there's any advice I can give you after my first, I'd be happy to share!

Hi Perry,
My vote would be to use the Crown. Well, I guess my vote really doesn't count because you are the one who will be photographing. As for the lack of a lens, I will make you an offer to borrow a lens from me if you are serious. I have a 135mm Optar in a Graphex shutter that is mounted on my 3x4 Speed Graphic. My camera is a Pacemaker with a Kalart side rangefinder so I don't have a cam for a top rangefinder or a lensboard for a 4x5. The shutter for this was CLA'ed a couple of years ago by Carol at Flutots and it is working great. I also have a 127mm Optar in a Graphex shutter that should be serviceable. If interested, send me a PM.

Sirius Glass said:

If it is necessary to recalibrate the rangefinder look for instructions at http://www.graflex.org/technical-information.html where there are instructions for rangefinder cams and rangefinder recalibrations.

Click to expand...

Awesomeness! Just the ticket! I had no idea where that cam was, and there it is now. I have a 135mm cam. Not exactly what I was hoping for. I was hoping for more of a prime lens like at least a 150mm. Well, I think I have a way to do this wedding if only I find a 135mm lens for a good price and fits this lens board. It's got a 45-46mm hole. Well anyway, thanks so much Steve, you set me on the right path for sure!

I just had a look in the cupboard and I found a recent e-Bay purchase: an Ilex Paragon 6 1/2 inch in an Acme Synchro shutter. I haven't really had a chance to track a lensboard down for this one yet, but it is mounted on a 4x5 Pacemaker board. Shutter seems to work just fine. Same offer to borrow. You're on your own for a cam.

mopar_guy said:

I just had a look in the cupboard and I found a recent e-Bay purchase: an Ilex Paragon 6 1/2 inch in an Acme Synchro shutter. I haven't really had a chance to track a lensboard down for this one yet, but it is mounted on a 4x5 Pacemaker board. Shutter seems to work just fine. Same offer to borrow. You're on your own for a cam.

Click to expand...

Wow, what a nice gesture. I will consider that but, my first instinct is to buy because then I'd have a complete camera I could sell later on (to help fund a master technika IV with rangefinder and telescoping viewfinder). Have you seen the prices of complete Crowns and Speeds on eBay lately? Lucky me though, I got this Crown and a super Speed Graphic basket case (which I'm going to hack in pieces to create a variable depth of field pinhole camera - with rotating back!) and a very nice, and complete 3 1/4 x 4/14 Crown Graphic on a trade for some Polaroid film I wasn't going to use. So the least I can do is buy a lens for this. If I run into a problem sourcing that, I'll come back and find you! Thanks for the generous offers!

Perry,
If you're interested in buying that Ilex, I could be persuaded to sell it, but you may not want to get rid of it later.

Dear Perry;
The number of shots for a big wedding could run up to 100 on 4x5 with a fast loading assistant and ten rolls of 120 in a Rollie. The average wedding would be 40 shots with 4x5 and 6 rolls of 120. Believe me, by the end of the day, I was shot and still had to return to the studio to unload holders and put the equipment away and put the Ascorlight 12lb battery on the charger. I often looked back with longing for the good old days of flash bulbs after carrying that monster battery all day.
Denise Libby

archer said:

and put the Ascorlight 12lb battery on the charger. I often looked back with longing for the good old days of flash bulbs after carrying that monster battery all day.

Click to expand...

One of my earliest childhood memories is of the flash which my father used in the late 60s and early 70s. I think it was a Braun. It had a separate leather case for non-rechargable batteries. I think it took six of the 90 volt batteries which used to be used in portable valve (tube) radios.


I think it was a bit like this one: http://ecklunds.com/ebay_stuff/Braun_RL_515.htm except that this one uses a single 510 volt battery (scary!) and my father's had a brown leather battery case.


Steve.