[LargeFormat] Money With Menaces

[philip lambert]

>
> Today I spent 5 hours shooting 20 shots--30 sheets of film.  My cost
> for film and processing: $150 (I know this will look cheap to Uncle
> Dick)  My point is the same 20 shots could have been done on 3 rolls of
> 120 with my Hassy for less than $25, taken half the time, and without
> any loss in image quality.
>
> If I could have shot it digitally, the hard costs would be zero,
> excepting the extra time in Photoshop cleaning up the files. Another
> pressure I hadn't considered....Prints from a neg are more than twice
> the cost of RA4 prints from digital files.   The point is very
> clear....digital is more profitable, at least here.
>
> So now I'm in the painful process of selling off my extraneous
> equipment so I can buy digital.   I look around... some surplus protar
> V's might go up, a Minolta shift lens I never used....even a nice 250mm
> Hassy CF,  but as loudly as the bottom line screams, I still can't let
> go of the 5x7 Ansco, the 6x8 Century field or the Deardorff.  At least
> not yet.  In my heart, I'm still a Luddite.

If you actually prefer film to digital and the cost of 5x4 deters you why
don't you use the Century Graphic 8 on 120.
For those who haven't tried one, the undeniable advantages of the Century
Graphic are that they are cheap, can provide about 9mm rise with a 47mm S
Angulon (try doing that with a Linhof 6x9 Technika), have a coupled
rangefinder if you have the lens to suit and they are relatively light.  The
drawbacks are the generally limited movements, slight difficulty using
lenses longer than 180mm ( 203mm Ektar needs a protruding mount), the small
lensboard/bellows throat  and the permanently fixed bellows.  On the other
hand, 5x4 lenses that are a bit limited in movements (Tessar / Xenar type)
and accordingly cheap can work quite well on the Century, where their 5x4
coverage is generous on a 6x9 format.
If you prefer the full movements of a 5x4 camera without high running costs
then use one with a rollfilm back.  Calumet 6x7 RFBs slide in like a
darkslide
and other RFBs offer 6x12 (expensive ) down to the 6x6 MPP 5x4 back (cheap).
I don't care for square but 6x9 RFBs don't cost much
on Ebay.unless it's Linhof and you have to pay freight/customs round the
hemisphere.
Modern 120 rollfilm is so improved that it can give results on 6x9 almost as
good as a 5x4 did ten years ago.
That ought set the cat amongst the pigeons.
Philip