[LargeFormat] Greetings and questions.

[Hornford, Dave]

John,

By day I'm an IT strategy consultant - but in real-life I'm a backpacker
with a penchant for landscape photography.

I have a good understanding where you are - there are a myriad of LF
choices, its a very different world than 35mm and finding people who are in
is not easy.

Last summer I decided I wanted to try LF after some enlargements of the
Paine del Torres range in Chile were not as sharp as I wanted. (I think we
can all ignore the impact the 70 km/h wind would have had on LF gear. I miss
my hat...)

I wasn't sure if I would take to LF, so I deliberately tried it on a budget
- with a Calumet 400 monorail & B&J Pressman - so I have tried both monorail
and field camera formats. I use a Wollensak 162 and Ektar 127. My total
trial equipment spend was around $us400 (with probably 250-300 easily
recoverable if I sell the gear). This approach gave me a window to
experiment with LF and gain the understanding I needed to move forward.

Since September when I bought the Calumet I've taken the gear all over the
place (hiking, alpine skiing snow shoeing, etc) and I am absolutely
converted to LF for my preferred photography.

My current kit is to large, to heavy, and in the case of the B&J rigidity
and locking down are merely concepts. Over the course of this year, I am
going to be replacing them with either a Canham DLC or Wisner Exp or P Exp.
(Introducing one's spouse and children to one's recreational pursuits tends
to impact the funds available to extend one's equipment holdings -  and are
all now ready for our first major backpacking trip in June - I'm working on
my load to be able to take the B&J because I now find my Nikons quite
constrained). 

I'm somewhat comfortable with the Wollensak and Ektar for B&W work right now
while I investigate further better lens. Here I'm luck three stores in
Calgary carry a reasonable selection of used LF glass and all will let me
rent the lens while I try it out - it took a bit to get them over the hurdle
that I was on an exploration and was not going to rent then promptly buy.

-----Original Message-----
From: John [mailto:johnp@novia.net]