Progression to ULF ... yours ?

coriana6jp

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I went from 4x5 to 8x10 and now 12x20. Costs aside, I suggest you stop at 8x10 first. The jump from 4x5 to 12x20 while not impossible is difficult I think. I would have never made the jump without using 8x10 for a while. My 12x20 is much harder to move around than my 8x10 which I can carry on my back.

Just my 2 yen.

Gary
 

eclarke

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eclarke said:
Somebody finally made me a digital pic of my new camera..
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I have been making negs with this camera and I now have so many printing possibilities that it makes my head spin. This thing handles extremely well and the rig is light to carry on my back..happy..happy...happy!..EC
 

TheFlyingCamera

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Ok- the big beast just arrived today in FedEx - WOW! I'll post some pics of it when I can get it set up on the tripod. I'm actually quite surprised at how light the thing is, and how compact. It actually folds up slimmer than my 5x7/5x12 Canham. I'm just waiting for the lensboard adapter to arrive so I can use my existing lenses mounted in Linhof boards.
 

Jim Fitzgerald

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TheFlyingCamera said:
Well, I'm finally venturing whole-hog into ULF territory - I've acquired a 14x17 Canham. 11x14 pales in comparison to this beast.
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I know this post is a few months old but I'd love to see the pic's. I just got two 14x17 walnut holders from Sandy King today and based on my drawings you are right. My 11x14 will pale in comparison. Can't wait to start and finish this beast. It will be beast #3

Jim
 

mhcfires

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Jim, would like to see pictures of your beast #3 as it progresses from a pile of lumber to a finished camera.
 

TheFlyingCamera

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Pics of the 14x17

here are a few snaps- they only show the camera from the rear, but I think the self-portrait really gives you an idea of the scale of the thing - my head and shoulders are probably a bit larger than life-size on the ground glass. To do that, I was using a Nikkor 450mm M lens, so that was somewhere in the region of 3 feet of bellows extension, which is still NOT the maximum for the camera.
 

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Tom Kershaw

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Thanks for posting the photos of the camera Scott. It makes my 8x10" look like a compact. Thinking about the 20x24 polaroid camera, while I realise that camera is huge from Scott Sheppard's feature about http://20x24studio.com/ (New York) - http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-analog-photo-tv/id335449202 - I understand that Keith Canham, Richard Ritter, and Lotus View are able to make more portable units; particularly with regard to Sandy King's camera: http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2007/12/sandy-kingsultr.html . Do you have any view on maximum camera size for field use?

Tom
 

TheFlyingCamera

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The 20x24 Polaroid is not man-portable by virtue of the polaroid back with the processing unit built in. I'm sure bigger field cameras have been made than 20x24, but that seems to be about the upper limit for most people. Anything bigger and you start running out of lenses that will cover the format, you'll have to special order your film to the tune of a $10-15K minimum order, and just about anything else you want will have to be custom made at significant expense.
 

TracyStorer

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The Polaroid 20x24s weigh between 235-275 lbs depending on which camera....while not easily portable, we DO do some location work with them....with the proper set up and support, the resluts can be pretty cool. "Field" cameras for conventional film use can be MUCH lighter....I make one that is around 40lbs, and Richard Ritter uses carbon fiber for a very light camera.
 

sanking

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TracyStorer said:
"Field" cameras for conventional film use can be MUCH lighter....I make one that is around 40lbs, and Richard Ritter uses carbon fiber for a very light camera.
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The 20X24" field camera that RR made for me weighs less than 20 lbs, and has about 45" of bellows draw. Three walnut holders weigh about the same as the camera.

Sandy King
 

jp80874

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Back to the Progression to ULF. I was attending photography class one day. I am 70 and graduated from college the first time in 1964. The professor said Lois Conner was coming to town, would show her 7x17 China work, critique our work and give a platinum workshop. I was shooting an RZ67 then.

Along came a view camera class, a 4x5, an 8x10, Michael Mutmansky came to town to install the 8x10 enlarger he had built and then sold. Michael had 7x17 work of a railroad workshop in View Camera Magazine. I said bring your camera. I think you will like the twenty abandoned green houses, weathered by Lake Erie, that I am shooting in 8x10. I asked him to compose and think out loud and I was sold. Later I met Dick Phillips but he had run out of the fifteen 7x17s he made. Michael introduced me to Clay Harmon who wanted to sell his Phillips 7x17 so he could have multiple formats on his Canham. Then came a baby jogger, up to four mile walks from the car, a CPP-2 Jobo, and Rollo Pyro in tubes. Fred Newman says this year’s allotted film will be here Wednesday. Good thing, I only have 25 sheets left in the freezer.

John Powers
 

sanking

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Tom Kershaw said:
Sandy,

How much use have you made of the 20x24" so far; last I read, you were looking into ordering film from China?

Tom
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Not as much as I expected when I bought it but I still have plans for a few big projects with the camera. However, I will likely be using it more with my 12X20 and 10X24 reducing backs than with 20X24, partly due to the availability of film, partly to the fact that I really like using this camera with the panoramic formats because it allows easy switch between vertical and horizontal formats.

Sandy
 

rjmeyer314

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In about 1968 or 1969 my girlfriend (now my wife) and I were at a garage sale. There was a broken 8x10 view camera (a Seneca Competitor) hanging on the wall of an old barn. They hadn't even thought of selling it. When asked they said they would take $1.50 for it. After some repair work I started using it. I still use it sometimes, even though I have better cameras.
 

Jim Fitzgerald

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Since I was asked to post some pictures of the finished 14x17 I will do so. Took it out to Joshua Tree for a show and tell last weekend but to much wind to use it. I may have to wait until Yosemite!
 

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bliorg

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Does 10x12 count as ULF? Seriously. I don't know.

I started, like, four years ago with a Super Speed Graphic. Went to a Seneca Competitor 5x7 I completely rehabbed, kinda arbitrarily settling on the format. Been hooked on fixing old woodies ever since. Got an 8x10 Gundlach a couple years or so ago, summarily sold it for financial reasons. Later regretted that. Bought a Seneca Improved View 8x10, rehabbed it, bought a Seneca View 8x10 (in mahogany and brass), and sold the Improved View. Bought an Asanuma half plate and converted it to 4x5 (recently), but have been dying to finish the Seneca View 8x10. Until a few days ago when a Star Camera Company 10x12 showed up on LFf. Was second in line for it; the first sale fell through today. Now it's mine. It's shipping tomorrow. Woot!

[EDIT] I totally forgot my foray into 5x12 in the middle there - converted a 6.5x12 Indian plate camera. That was a fun experiment!
 
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Sanjay Sen

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In my book, 10x12 definitely counts as ULF. As I see it, a format with an image area greater than 8x10 is ULF. But of course there's more than one way of looking at this, as some consider 5x12 ULF since one dimension is greater than 8x10, etc. etc.

I will be looking forward to your rehab of the 10x12 as I'm sure it will end up looking very nice!
 

Sanjay Sen

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After the 8x10, the 4x5 looks small. After the 8x20, the 8x10 will look small. The 20x24 folks probably consider 8x10 as miniature format.
 
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