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Large format photography on MC travelling, possible?
I think i'm one of those strange guys who has got into a serious photo quality illness...
I stepped from pro-digital into medium format, skipped 35mm. Now any highest end digital seems redicolous compared with MF when i enlarge big photos on my own lab. Also thinking about next step - buying 4x5" large format camera for nature and IR pictures. Does anyone have experience travelling with them? How compact 4x5 cameras there are available? How difficult is to handle separate negatives/slides in special holder on the road? I checked to Linhof website, they have some compact ones but they make extremely expensive stuff - any alternatives? Margus |
Have you tried
www.keh.com good source for used equipment, very good reviews for customer service. ------------------ Brooklyn Dakar http://motorcycleramblings.blogspot.com/ email: jacob@jbsherman.com |
Another site for used gear is
bhphotovideo.com |
Margus what about the 120 format Russian camera's, not disimilar to an overly large 35mm. I dont know how sharp the lenses are but you would certainly get a larger neg. You should be able to get them easily in Estonia. I think they also made some cool panoramic versions with rotating lenses. alec
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Accually, i'm already using 120 medium format russian camera - Kiev 60 TTL witch is 6x6. Extremely dirt cheap, robust, but needs some calibration to get it working on the same level as quality German or Swedish mediums.
Some pics with it scanned in with pretty crappy scanner can be seen: http://homepage.mac.com/nemos/PhotoAlbum34.html I get a very detailed pictures up to 50x50cm plus-minus, depending how good the focus and conditions are. From there some small grain starts to be seen. Now thinking about doing some bigger images (enlarging them myself on a lab) to cover walls. Large format seems the only unbeatable option for that... I really like big photos on walls. 6x6 medium format is averagely about equivalent to 500 Megapixel digital camera in resolution. 4x5" is about 5 or so times it, so count in gigapixels - stunning detailed big photos. Just looked on some used 4x5 gear, not that expensive as i thought. But getting a compact enough one for MC travelling is another story... |
Found some Linhof while searching on the net, camera that goes very compact for 4x5 LF:
http://www.linhof.de/english/images/...assic2_big.jpg http://www.linhof.de/english/images/...CHNIKA_big.jpg Good side is that it takes medium format rollfilm too, shooting with 6x9. Solid LF cameras like AERO TECHNICA 45EL just take very much room! http://www.linhof.de/english/images/...big/Aero45.jpg So it's mostly very uncomfortible format to take together with optics for motorcycle travelling where's room very limited... Margus |
Canon has released a new monster recently, the "EOS-1Ds Mark II-NEW". You are probably one of their target customers? It has 16 megapixel, I don't know if that's sufficient for you, well it looks cool at least!
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Get a 10x8 and be done with it.
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Indeed, i must replace all my darkroom equipment then - it needs special enlarger, developing equipment. So i'll stick with medium format and 4x5 for some time. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/wink.gif Margus |
Hi, Margus
I share your enthusiasm for large format, but, alas, like a lot of other mortals I can't afford to take the plunge. I'm a wedding photographer and use a Hasselblad (medium format) and stick to 400ASA, and that's fine for up to about 50cm by 40cm (20" by 16") enlargements. It's reassuring to be reminded of the limitations of digital, I have been tempted a few times but the quality is way behind that of 120 film. While of course I accept what you say about the supreme quality of large format, why not give medium format a try, the results always gives me a buzz when I use a slow (ie fine grain) film, pre-release the shutter, the lens (ideally) at f8 and use the remote shutter release. Oh, and a tripod, naturally. On the other hand a body and, say, three lenses are still pretty heavy. One definite plus should be the price of second-hand medium format kit, photographers are going digital in serious numbers and you might be able to pick a complete outfit very reasonably these days. Happy snapping (Oops! didn't mean that!) John ------------------ Johnefyn |
Margus,
I'm sorry, I've just read your first post again and have just realised you said you skipped 35mm rather than medium format. Sorry, sorry. Just forget what I said! John ------------------ Johnefyn |
John, no problem! It happends to me too.
Hassy bodys seem a bit too pricy though... Altough i admit they're equally good too. Rolleiflex 6x6 and Pentax 6x7 are very good price/quality MF cameras for mobile use i think that are widely avaiable. Rollei 6008 is my long dream machine, but financially out of reach... Hasselblads feels more like it's ment to be for dedicated studiowork...(!?) Margus [This message has been edited by Margus (edited 02 October 2004).] |
Hi, Marcus
Anybody mind if I go off-topic just a bit? Re Hasselbladder reliability, I've come through an appaling bad patch of unreliability with my 'blads. I've had a brand new 503cw body lock up, a lens lock up, the power winder lock up a few times, and have lost shots due to faulty frame spacing resulting in two insurance claims. The above locking-up incidents were all at different times, i.e. not just one big lock-up. All my equipment is serviced by Hasselblad UK and nobody else. The film magazine concerned (it is, I admit, an old one) has been with Hass UK three times and each time was intermittently faulty, i.e. excessive spacing between frames, on return. The last time it was sent by them back to Sweden, and I thought at last it was going to be sorted once and for all. After three months(?) back it came: 'No Fault Found'. I didn't use it again for a year or so, and, would you believe, same fault. My other three magazines have been ok with no bother at all. Thing is with so much money sunk into the 'blad system it's just too expensive to junk the lot and get another system. Why me, Lord, why me? Having said all tht everything seems ok now; when it's good it is really good. Hmm, I feel better now, a bit. Best wishes, John ------------------ Johnefyn |
That's very interesting. I always thought the Hassys are bulletproof because of their legendary history in quality and scientific success and sky high prices.
Must remember that the first Apollo manned moon mission pictures were taken with Hassy medium format camera. http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html That good 60s Kodak slide film aura emotion around those pictures make me to look them over and over. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif Not counting the most famous picture of all: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/Hi...11-40-5877.jpg Let's see what 202x year Mars mission makes - probably Hasselblads with digital backs... Margus [This message has been edited by Margus (edited 04 October 2004).] |
I have a pentax 6x7 and they are bullet proof. The optics are wonderful, you have a choice of 120 or 220 by flipping a switch, and the lenses are reasonable for a med format. Also TTL metering. As you can guess I highly recommnd one.
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Speed Graphic! If it can do combat it can do a bike no problem. You loose movement, but it's reasonably sized and 4x5 is SO good!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...844631940&rd=1 |
Sounds promising. Will check it.
Thanks, Margus |
Taking 5x4 sheet film cameras on a bike trip. :rofl: I'd hope they've come to their collective senses since 2004.
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If you were going to announce the death of film I'd have gone for the mid-life of this thread, say about 2008 :rofl:
Since then it's come back a bit like vinyl records and brit bikes. No practical reason, it just feels right. I carry a 35mm FED (1956) rangefinder. My 1953 Ensign 120 is a bit bulky and at 12 frames per roll a bit pricey to run, but is probably the better camera. https://photos.app.goo.gl/FjJ1sRBdScw8amV3A Andy |
If someone can carry a surfboard on a bike trip, they can certainly carry a large format camera! It's all about your passion, and what you're willing to sacrifice for it. Some would say riding a motorcycle around the world is insane, when you could have an air-conditioned car, or better yet stay home where it's warm, dry, and safe!
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If it's that important to you and you're happy to dedicate a pannier to packing a Sinar monorail with all the associated bits and pieces, lenses, boards, backs, etc then, yes, it's possible. They're not even that expensive these days.
Even something like an old MPP 5x4 folding field camera is cheap enough and that would only fill a tank bag. But unless you want to produce (a few) images suitable for a billboard I'm not sure of the point. Unless I've thrown it out there's an old MPP up in my loft somewhere and a no name 10x8 in the store that we used to use for corporate challenge type events. There's also about half a dozen old medium format cameras, including my all time favourite, a Mamiya RB67. I've taken the RB on bike trips but by the time you've wrapped it in a blanket and packed it away carefully you have to leave loads of other luggage out. For anything smaller than a door sized print I can't see much, if any, difference between 5x4 and medium format - if visual 'quality' is your primary criteria. It may not be of course. Some people just like being hands on with this stuff, coating their own glass plates in the moonlight etc. I can understand that - I spent some time once trying to work out a way of taking an 8" reflecting telescope on a bike (unsuccessfully). Good luck to them but take another camera to show us how you did it. |
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For example take a look at this recent news item: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-47118130 |
Has anyone come up with new digital filters?
There are plenty that ape things you can do optically or chemically (Tungsten, pushing film, polarising, casts related to film structures, grain etc) but nothing obviously new. It seems a bit like vegetarian sausages to me. The vegetables are probably lovely but why use them for fake meat. Andy |
Only one that comes to mind straight away are the ‘big stopper’ range of ND filters. Hard(er) to use with film cameras because of reciprocity issues that digital doesn’t have.
Photoshop can fake most other filters but not polarising as far as I know. Veggie sausages - part of my desperate attempt to lose weight for a year of sporty stuff. Like petrol they come into the category of ‘distress purchases’. :rofl: There is some debate within the photography world as to whether it’s worth teaching students about film / processing / printing etc., the argument being similar to whether new mechanics should learn about carburettors / points ignitions etc when the world is now FI and electronics. Better to dump carbs and learn about electric motors and batteries. I couldn’t get rid of my film and paper processing equipment fast enough when I went digital back in 2002. I heard the argument about offering customers something different, ie film, but despite having a section offering it on my website for over 10 yrs nobody has ever asked for it. The reason is money. To do a shoot using film these days costs (substantially) more and you get less - less images, less flexiblbility (you can’t do much with the images unless you scan then, in which case you might as well have shot it digitally). I fully appreciate the tonal differences between eg a medium format negative and a digital file but very few clients outside the fashion industry do. There are so many downsides to film that the romantic folk revival movement gloss over. I’ve had film snap inside a camera when on a high end shoot, labs process e6 as c41 by mistake, power cuts half way through a film processing cycle, the post losing the negatives from an expensive client shoot when sending them to a lab for printing and loads of others. Goodbye to all that - thank God. |
But apart from that....
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As much as you can teach photography I'd vote for at least understanding film. If you know Kodak has a yellow tint because of how the film is layered etc. working out why a digital display is or isn't doing the same has to be easier. More like getting your head round a crash gearbox made out of Lego before trying DCT than carbs and FI.
If I want the picture I use my phone. If I want to play I pick up a camera. Andy |
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