[LargeFormat] Intro & Teaching Camera Advice

[Jonathan Taylor]

Hello all,

I'm new to the list (tho I have been lurking for several weeks now), and
figured it was finally time to introduce myself.

I've been shooting 35mm now since 1997, starting with Tri-X, a good deal of
darkroom experience, and an excellent teacher (http://www.JWillis.net/ ).

For my day job I teach a class called Design & Illustration that draws
wacky, brilliant, and otherwise students from 10 local high schools. We have
great students and a lot of fun (http://burlingtontech.org/ ). Although my
professional background consists mostly of graphic design experience, I get
to teach photography as well. One of the great side benefits of the job is
that I we have very good resources for buying equipment. Among other things
this has allowed me to put together a nice darkroom and a fleet of old
Minolta and Nikon manual SLRs to loan out.

This year I've gotten authorization to finally buy a large-format camera. I
have two motivations for doing so:

1) I think they provide a great vehicle for learning the underlying
principles of photography and cameras. (I remember my teacher's
demonstrations vividly.)

2) I started getting really serious about landscape photography using
infrared film, opaque filters, and a silly but fun Nikon shift lens
(http://sover.net/~jtyr/ ). It didn't take long working with this outfit to
realize my vision would be much better served by a LF rig.

So I have put together the following package from B&H and would greatly
appreciate any advice. LF is new and strange territory to me. What little I
know is purely theoretical. My goal is to get a solid and usable system for
the least money possible. I budgeted $1700 (not nearly enough)! The
practicalities of a public school purchase order precludes eBay and even
vigulent cherry picking from the usual online used dealers.

Here are the uses I'm anticipating for this rig:
1)  classroom demo- cheapest Polaroid film possible
2)  landscape- Polaroid Type 55 (lovely Polargoo!), HEI, Maco, & Tri-X
3)  architecture- same as landscape
4)  limited studio- 120 roll chromes

1 Toyo-View 4x5 45C Camera                                   799.00   799.00
1 Rodenstock 210mm f/6.8 Geronar Lens with Copal #1 Shutter  399.00   399.00
  >>>Both of these are USED items.<<<
1 Toyo-View 158 x 158mm Lensboard for #1 Copal                54.95    54.95
1 Rodenstock Metal Lens Wrench (for View Lens Retaining Ring) 14.95    14.95
1 Toyo-View 4x5 Folding Focusing Hood/Groundglass Cover      110.00   110.00
  >>>Do I need this?<<<
1 Horseman Roll Film Holder 451 - 6x9cm Graflok Back         398.95   398.95
4 Fidelity 4x5 Sheet Film Holders (Twin Pack)                 42.95   171.80
  >>>Not enough of these, right?<<<
1 Fidelity Dark Slide (Plastic) for 4x5 Sheet Film Holder     12.95    12.95
  >>>Do I need this?<<<
1 Polaroid Model #545i 4x5 Polaroid Sheet Film Holder        164.95   164.95
1 Toyo-View Focusing Cloth 36x48" (Black/White)               44.50    44.50
1 Wista 5x Standard Focusing Loupe                            52.95    52.95
1 Tenba CCV45 Car Case for View 45 - Black                   185.95   185.95
                                                                    2,409.95

These are "extras" that I really want but probably cannot afford.
1 Nikon Wide 90mm f/8 Nikkor-SW Lens w/ Copal #0 Shutter     699.95   699.95
1 Toyo-View 158 x 158mm Lensboard for #0 Copal                84.95    84.95
1 Toyo-View 4x5 Wide Angle Bellows                           369.00   369.00
1 Gepe 3.25" Cable Release Extension for Recessed Lensboards  17.95    17.95
  >>>Do I need this? I already have a nice Nikon standard release.<<<
1 Horseman Roll Film Holder 612 - 6x12cm, Graflok Back       699.95   699.95
                                                                    1,871.80

So there you have it. Please tell me what I've gotten wrong, how I can save
money, and anything else I'm missing.

jt