Righteo... the 4x5 must go. Time for the 8x10!!!

[Nicole]

OK, I've played with the 4x5, not enough of a jump from MF, time to look for an 8x10. Such cameras are a little like hens teeth in my home town so I'm hoping to find one when I come to the US to run my workshop at the Foto-3 conference. Let me know if you'll be there and have an 8x10 goodie. I might bring my 4x5 along, if I can schlepp all my gear along including exhibition prints... aak!

 

[eclarke]

The conference will be the best place to look at 8x10 cameras, period. Bring your stuff to trade in!!..Evan Clarke

 

[SuzanneR]

Hmmm... planning some shopping!!??

 

[Nicole]

Perfect, thanks Evan.
Hey Louise, better make room in that Mustang.

 

[MenacingTourist]

Heh-heh...We're all very proud of you

 

[Steve Hamley]

Nicole,

I'd call Jim Andracki at Midwest, and Jeff Wheeler at Quality Camera. Then if they are going to be there, ask them to bring the camera(s), and maybe hold one if you find something really interesting. I know Jim's had a couple of pretty Deardorffs lately. Good hunting!

Steve

 

[phfitz]

"OK, I've played with the 4x5, not enough of a jump from MF, time to look for an 8x10."

Oh, no. Time for a new house. EVERYTHING about 8x10 is SO much larger than 4x5.

Good luck and great fun with it.

 

[Robert Hall]

Speaking of the evil spiral downwards.... I seem to think about my 8x10 the same way. You know what I shoot now so be forewarned. lol

BTW, check out what film holders cost while you do your shopping. It may slow you down just a bit. (ouch!)

Come to think of it, with what they are going for on E-Bay, I could plan my retirement around selling half my stock.

 

[Nick Zentena]

Just go to 11x14 and skip the 8x10 -)

 

[rootberry]

skip the 11x14 and just get the 20x24.

 

[Robert Hall]

See what I mean?!

 

[Ole]

Forget the BHF's and go for Goldilocks: 5x7".

(BHF = Big Heavy Format)

 

[mark]

Depending on what you plan to do with it, the 5x7 is probably a fine idea. I thought 8x10 was the way to go and am not as enamoured with it as I thought I would be.

Plus most of the same lenses I use on my 4x5 will work on the 5x7.

just thoughts.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I have formats from 2x3 to 11x14. My format of first resort, though, is 5x7. It's a nice size for contact prints, and as a camera, it travels extremely well. If you want to enlarge, well, that's pretty manageable too. I found once I used it a bunch that 8x10 is just too square, and that becomes more obvious once you start contact printing it since you can't crop the aspect ratio without cutting down the prints. That said, I'm still keeping my 8x10 and the 14" Commercial Ektar to have it as an option for shooting portraits.

 

[DougGrosjean]

Another vote for 5x7 from a person who already owns 4x5, and just bought a simple lightweight 5x7. Reasons I like the 5x7 are the same as Ole and FlyingCamera. Almost as portable as the 4x5, but almost twice the neg area. Not expensive to buy filmholder, around $10-15 USD on *bay. Only slightly larger and heavier than 4x5.

Disclaimer:
I haven't shot anything yet with my 5x7, as I'm a newbie to it, and am in process of putting a decent lens / shutter on a lightweight Seneca No. 8. And my 5x7 is really really basic. But I have shot some paper negs with the original lens and dead shutter, and am greatly pleased.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Drill a hole in the house and put the paper on the opposite wall.

skip the 11x14 and just get the 20x24.

 

[blaze-on]

You go girl!

 

[rootberry]

I dunno, my wehman is really compact and pretty easy to get around with. I've done 6-7mile hikes with it, and I wasn't uncomfortable with it.

Wehman + Photobackpacker Kelty = comfy.

But then again, I like Bob's idea. I could buy an old airstream trailer, convert it, and just travel around that way- sleeping inside of the camera.

 

[Black Dog]

As we say in MTBing circles, go large or go home dude...have fun!I'm going for 8x10 too

 

[Bandicoot]

I have formats from 2x3 to 11x14. My format of first resort, though, is 5x7. It's a nice size for contact prints, and as a camera, it travels extremely well. If you want to enlarge, well, that's pretty manageable too. I found once I used it a bunch that 8x10 is just too square, and that becomes more obvious once you start contact printing it since you can't crop the aspect ratio without cutting down the prints.

(I like 5x7 too.)

A thought about 'cropping' contact prints: rather than cut the print, is a better answer to mask the negative? This just needs something opaque (I mean opaque, not translucent) and really thin with the appropriate aperture cut in it. It needs to be thin so the glass still sandwiches the negative well, whether the mask is best between the glass and the neg. or between the neg. and the paper (which should make for a sharper edge but may make the flatness issue worse) I'm not sure, but either way it must be really thin.

I would be wary of using aluminium foil in case the cut edge scratched the negative, maybe Mylar would do the trick. Or maybe the glass could be painted with a mask. Alternatively, put the mask on top of the glass and accept that the edges of the print would fade out in a 'short' vignette rather than be clean-cut, which might be a desirable feature for some prints.

This is all just thinking aloud as I haven't tried it, but now that I've started thinking about it, I will...


Peter

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

when printing platinum, I use rubylith material for masking the borders - I think it is thin enough you could mask over the negative with it without causing serious contact issues. I've not tried it with any VC silver-gelatin paper so I don't know how effective it would be for that.

 

[jd callow]

If Rob "Big Camera Workshops" Skeoch is at foto3 you will get to see one of the finest collections of LF cameras I've ever seen. He is, of course, a sponsor as well.

 

[kjsphoto]

Nicole, if you can try to find a 8x10 Master View.

 

[Alex Hawley]

OK, I've played with the 4x5, not enough of a jump from MF, time to look for an 8x10.

I TOLD YOU this would happen!

All that addictive stuff aside, look forward to seeing you at Foto3.

 

[vet173]

Trade the 4x5? I thought you were supposed to just add to the collection. I love my V-8 but sometimes the shot calls for 4x5, and a reducing back is a PITA. If you can swing it, own both.