You evil, evil people...

[Stephanie Brim]

I want a press camera...I think it'll be a few years before I get something I can't carry by myself.

Glad for all the support. If only someone would step forward with a 4x5 they're not using.

Keep an eye out for me, will ya? Lord knows I'm not going to find one sitting at a garage sale in Iowa.

 

[Dan Fromm]

I posted a wanted ad for a 4x5. Are you happy now? Where does it end? By the end of this year I'm going to have an 8x10 and a Cirkut...I swear. I'm selling my PS2! Darn you, fellow ape-huggers. Darn you to the deepest bellows (no pun intended) of heck.

I'm not happy at all. I've been reading your confessions for a while now, and wish you would settle down, get over acquiring, and get on with doing. You don't need a larger camera to be a bad photographer, or to be a more thoughtful one.

I stopped at 2x3, which, according to many here, isn't even large format. Its big enough to solve a problem that had bothered me.

So what's bothering you about 35 mm and 6x6? What can't you accomplish with them that can be done with, say, 4x5?

Cheers,

Dan

 

[Dorothy Blum Cooper]

(((((SIGH))))) it's only the beginning. Just wait. Got my 8x10 and a Fujinon lens. But no...that wasn't enough. I just had to have more. So what do I do? I get an Ajax Petzval (aka a Jim Galli lens). That gets me thinking...there has to be more!! There is!! Now I'm learning wet plate and it's time to acquire more 'stuff'. There's no end to the madness! This is definitely more than an addiction!!! Thanks ape-huggers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[zenrhino]

Could be worse -- you could have Leica Lust(tm).

Student loans...M6. Student loans...M6. Somedays that choice isn't quite as clear. =)

 

[Graeme Hird]

I see we are in the middle of another outbreak of Largeformatosis. I prescribe daily doses of d76 and a good lie down between each sheet.

Face it, once the thought of LF enters your mind, you are obsessed until you use. After you've tried it, LF becomes an act dependence. I'm speaking from experience here - one look at the ground glass turned my world up-side-down. Nothing has looked the same since. You will need bigger and bigger fixes (and fixers) until the day when nothing in a big yellow box can sate your desires and you move to the more exotic brands.

Give in now. A little 4x5 won't hurt much, and it's certainly not enough to get you addicted. Just stay away from the ULF, and if you do go there, stay away from the light at the end of the pleated tunnel - nobody has ever returned from there .....

Cheers,
Graeme

 

[BrianShaw]

I'm not happy at all. I've been reading...

Dan... your maturity is showing. BRAVO! Wonderful observation!

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I'm not happy at all. I've been reading your confessions for a while now, and wish you would settle down, get over acquiring, and get on with doing. You don't need a larger camera to be a bad photographer, or to be a more thoughtful one.

I stopped at 2x3, which, according to many here, isn't even large format. Its big enough to solve a problem that had bothered me.

So what's bothering you about 35 mm and 6x6? What can't you accomplish with them that can be done with, say, 4x5?

Cheers,

Dan

You know what? I don't need it. I *want* it, and that's completely the point. I'm sure you buy things that you want, too. I think that I'm allowed.

I wrote a long response to this, and then I erased it. That's all that really needs to be said. Not because it'll make me a better photographer...not because it will fill a void I have in my soul. It's just a camera. The magic happens later with film and chemistry in the dark.

 

[Bruce Osgood]

Here's the problem Steph...

You'll lust for the 4X5 and even find an enlarger that's affordable BUT, you will soon realize the lust has not been sated and begin thinking in terms of 8X10. But here is the dilemma: Once you have the 4X5 and enlarger will you scrap it all for a new 8X10 enlarger or tell yourself you will be satisfied with contact printing 8X10? No, you will crave enlarged prints. How to get an 11X14 print from an 8X10 neg? You can't. So stop all the fantasy and go for an 11X14 camera and find happiness and tranquility in contact printing 11X14. I wish I had done that.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I thought about saving a bit more money and doing what Nicole is doing (8x10)...but at the moment the film would KILL me price-wise. It's more a matter of that than not wanting to just go ahead and make the plunge head first. I'll be going to school, probably where I'm going to have to use a digital SLR most of the time, and I want to have something that is a COMPLETE 180 from that for when I'm doing my own personal work.

But anyway, the real reason I want the camera: I've wanted to do some still lifes for a while. It isn't something that I do normally. I like being outside photographing trees, signs, streets, etc. I'm also wanting to do some landscapes and some night cityscapes on black and white film. I want something that SHINES with those things and 4x5 seems to fit the bill. I can get a 4x5 press camera for about the amount of money I'd spend on a decent medium format SLR. In fact, I'd almost say that I can get one for less. The film will cost me a little more, but something just...I don't know...calls to me about the larger format.

I'm indecisive and all over the place most of the time, but I never make a decision rashly. I've actually been thinking about this for a while now...three or four months. I know the price I should expect to pay for a Speed or Crown Graphic in user condition with the 'normal' lens and rangefinder. I've thought about selling a few things for a while. I'm keeping a lot of this stuff for petty reasons...the PS2 hardly gets used anymore because I don't have time and the Gameboy was an impulse purchase that does get used, but isn't necessary.

So great, NOW I write the long post explaining myself and I still don't do a good job. Can we go back to talking about how it's a very slippery slope downhill from here?

 

[argus]

My girlfriend just called me:

Look what's in the mail.
A package from Germany.
There's a lens inside.

I looks clean, nice shutter, lens board mounted...

You didn't pay too much for it I hope???

Luckily I warn her about my purchases

One of the reasons for keeping my current job is the LF-addiction I picked up last year.

G

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Stephanie - it is a neverending downward spiral into the bottomless pit that is large-format lust. Eventually you'll find yourself in the boat I'm in - BUILDING your own 12x20 portrait camera to fill a unique niche. Then you'll want something better than silver prints to show off what you captured with the massive negative. Platinum/Palladium, here you come! While I love my 4x5, after handling an 8x10, it feels like my 'small' camera. The Hasselblad is for snapshots. If it's worth photographing, it's worth doing on sheet film.

 

[jeffneedham]

when you're broke from buying all of the equipment you need, you'll want your ps2 for something to do while you're unable to afford food, heat, entertainment, etc...

you'll never get what the ps2 is worth by selling it. look at ebay, and decide if 50 bucks is worth it. get rid of something less important, like your car - or a kidney.

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

Just stay away from inexpensive barrel lenses on ebay.. Especially if you get a speed graphic with working focal plane shutter.. It's addictive!

 

[Steve Hamley]

Stephanie,

I'm going to post a Kodak 2D for sale soon on the classifieds if I don't trade it with someone. It will be about $250, has the rail, a good ground glass, and a good bellows, and is resonably light. if you're interested I can send pix, and I'll see if I can't throw in a holder with a few sheets of in-date film to get you started. Add a G-Claron or an Ilex Tessar and you're in business!

Yes, we are evil, evil, people...

Steve

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I'd actually get more selling the Gameboy Micro (it's the Intellivision model) and keeping the PS2, but I'd much rather have the portable thing than the large console (especially when I plan on preordering myself a PS3 ). You don't really know the value of a Gameboy until you're sitting at your significant other's place watching HIM play a video game with nothing to do.

 

[Ole]

... Can we go back to talking about how it's a very slippery slope downhill from here?

You know - a press camera isn't really all that great for still lifes. And a rangefinder is just about useless at that range

A monorail is more suited to that. There are many different models, in a bewildering range of prices. My first 4x5" was (and still is) a monorail - a Linhof Color. Small, light, portable, and great for both still life and field use. It's difficult to use with very short lenses (shorter than 90mm, a 90 is fine), and has 42cm total extension.

I haven't yet found a field camera that can replace it, even if I do 99% of my photography outdoors.

So what I use most is 5x7". The one I use most is a Gandolfi, which is a wonderful "modern" field camera. As far as I know that particular model has been in continuous production for a century, which is why I put "modern" in quotes...

Which brings me to another point: "Modern" cameras. My other cameras are all old, or at least old-fashioned. The 13x18cm (=5x7") tailboard camera gets an airing when I need to use very long lenses, or very short lenses, or very heavy lenses. Movements are limited, but it balances that with pure robustness and solidity. With film adapter sheaths in the old book-style plate holders it's even easier to load than "modern" (there's that word again!) film holders; besides, they hold both 5x7" and 13x18cm film equally well. That's nice for me, living between the "metric" continent and "imperial" UK.

Another nice thing about 5x7" is that it's big enough for contact prints and small enough for enlarging. A 5x7" enlarger can often be had simply for picking it up, and they fit in "normal" darkrooms. 4x5" enlargers seem to be more popular, and may actually cost money! And 8x19" enlargers are too tall for most ceilings, or too long for most darkrooms.

Speaking of contact prints: I took my 24x30cm plate camera out today, with a sheet of film glued to a glass plate in a plate holder. I used a 150mm wide-angle lens made in 1904, it covers the necessary 385mm film diagonal with room to spare. I had a 550mm lens with me as well if I decided I needed something longer, but didn't use it today. Price of the kit? It cost me about $300.- all told - camera, holders, and two great lenses. And a hat to use as a shutter

 

[kaiyen]

Stephanie,
Didn't someone on APUG just send you a 5x7? Did I miss something?

Personally, I am glad that I got my 5x7, even though I can't enlarge. The negative is just so much larger. I am floored. And I still don't see why 4x5 is so much cheaper, really, than, say, 5x7. Sure, there are a lot more film options, but with the efke and foma stuff, you can get some great options for really, really cheap prices. And it's not like you need special chemistry for 5x7.

APUG is a dangerous place if you are easily convinced to buy things. And LF stuff can be a heckuva lot more expensive than rangefinder stuff. I hope you find time to do some good shooting.

allan

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Trust me...if it can be done I can make it work. Whether it will work WELL or not is the real question.

Considering my very small budget (I'll be going to school and having to pay the bills for an apartment, food, etc), 4x5 would be the most economical large format camera in many ways. There's really only one reason for that, too: the film is cheaper. I'm on a budget of around $150-$200 here.

Oh, and by the way...I may have a camera. We'll see. Gotta get the money together completely first. I thought it would take longer than this. When I asked for film I got nothing.

 

[kaiyen]

Ole,
I re-read the thread and you make an excellent point about the right camera for the right job. That recent thread about rear-movements helped me understand the need for this movement or that one much better.

Stephanie - try to get a monorail if you can for what you're talking about. Though I guess a field camera with a lot of movements would do the trick, too. And you can still take it out. I don't know if selling a PS2 for $50 is going to put much of a dent in, say, a shen-hao.

allan

 

[Stephanie Brim]

And Allan, Ole offered me one and this is kind of my official no. 5x7 film is too hard to find and too expensive for me at the moment. I want more film choices than that. Maybe sometime down the line, though, after I find the second job for the summer and I get my plans for school all figured out, I'll find one.

 

[epatsellis]

Stephanie,
I have a graflex view (original) that isn't that pretty, has a few minor issues, but the bellows are light tight and I'm sure I've got a lens to go with it (and could spare a handful of 4x5 holders)


erie

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Doesn't need to be pretty. I'm not picky about cosmetics...in fact, I like a bit of wear on a camera. Don't understand buying something pristine when I'm just going to use it and make it UNpristine.

PM me with a price.

 

[kaiyen]

How much cheaper than $.68 a sheet is 4x5 film? If you got the 5x7 use the 5x7.

okay. I'm out.
allan

allan

 

[Stephanie Brim]

.33. A 100 sheet box of Arista EDU Ultra is $30. I can spend that every once in a while, methinks. I plan to pick up some Efke eventually too, though. Figure I'd start with the Foma, though. Cheaper and less chance of me feeling like an idiot when I mess things up a few times.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I have tentatively agreed to purchasing a camera. I have to sell the necessary items (goodbye PS2, Ansco, and Star Ocean 2) and then I'll be a Graphic owner, too!