[LargeFormat] Advice on Purchase

Fri Oct 12 17:50:04 2001

I have been there too.  Also on budget constraints, I purchased a Toyo
C, which is modular in many ways (bellows back, rail) and has given me
good service for the past 12 some years, still ticking. 

It is the photographer behind the camera who makes the picture, and
though all those oiled and geared adjustments are nice, I got very used
to moving the parts by hand .... And the results show it: Great work
doesn't need a fancy looking camera.  Simplicity and efficiency is more
valuable.  After you make some good money in the photo trade, you can
always buy a more expensive model to impress your clients.   The picture
taking is pretty much the same whatever LF camera you use.

The only thing that really counts is that when you make an adjustment,
and lock it down it should stay put.  Nothing is worse than working on
shifting sands.  Some real cheap 4x5s ("student cameras") with round
rails and questionable locks are going to drive you bananas.

That said, my first lens was (and still is) a true gem .... A Schneider
210/5.6 Apo .... And that has become my workhorse.  From tabletop to
industrial shoots, to copy work it gives me all I want from a lens.  It
will even yield a very good image at 1:1, although it wasn't
particularly designed for close range.  It has large coverage and a very
sharp contrasty image.  You can find those kind of lenses in the used
market in near mint condition, for reasonable prices.

For one of your purposes, i.e. table top work, you may find the 150 too
wide.  When I shoot a shampoo bottle by itself, the 210 even tends to be
too short/wide already.  For small groupings (3 bottles) and up, the the
210 is perfect, all the way to a 150 item product lineup.

In industrial plants, when I don't have space to use the 210, I revert
to a 135 or 150 to get into tighter spaces when shooting larger
machines/objects.  I also use a 90mm for wide angle shots, but find it
somewhat too wide in many cases, so it takes a while to get it to work
right (empty foreground syndrome).

There is a large used market in LF out there so you may get some good
deals buying near mint equip.  
If you know a reputable dealer (someone who you can trust and talk to)
who also has great prices, than there is nothing wrong with buying used.

Good luck on your hunt.

TigerShark

BTW, LF is so nice, I have skipped MF for many years, just shooting 4x5
and 35 mm.  Later I purchased into MF for quicker people shots, but my
love is still with 4x5.

Sorry for being so long threaded here.

-----Original Message-----
From: largeformat-admin@f32.net [mailto:largeformat-admin@f32.net] On
Behalf Of Joe Tait
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 9:39 PM
To: largeformat@f32.net
Subject: [LargeFormat] Advice on Purchase

Hello.

New to the group and sorry to start in with neophyte inquiries, but I am
trying to think through my first large format system & could really use
some guidance. 

-Body-

My initial impulse was to get a used contemporary body, either a Cambo
4x5 nx or Toyo 4x5 cx, with the understanding that these bodies are
modular and compatible with current accessories in their respective
lines.

This would really be a little more than I want to put into the body (I
have about a $1300 dollar budget to get a body, lens, tripod, loupe,
backs, etc.; going to evaporate quickly I know).

Upgradeability seems to me to be a really solid sell. I know that I'll
be aching for bellows extensions to do macro work, and a reflex view
seems nice. I just don't know what else an accessory is going to offer
me and to have that as an option seems prudent.

If I were to get an older model, say a Toyo View 4x5d, would I be able
to "accessorize"? The going rate for that model used is more in-line
with my budget.

-Lens-

My intention is to just get a 150mm standard at first. I will be doing
75% studio controlled lighting in B&W; with a mixture of scenes (maybe
20% requiring wide-angle lenses) and close-up macro work for textures.
All of the work would be artistic, nothing for reproduction and I'm not
going for realism. I lean more on the contrasty, chocolatey, vintage
look a decent amount of the time; although not exclusively.

The rest of my shots would be outdoor stuff and maybe 5% color work
overall.

Given these intentions, do I need modern, multi-coated (often times
expensive) lenses? If not, what older lenses would get good results? I
imagine long exposures, and if that were the case, can I get away with
slower lenses?

For macro work, would a standard 150mm give good results with long
bellows? What makes a good macro lens for artistic work (beings that I
don't require accurate reproduction)?

Thanks for enduring the email.

-Joe

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