----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Dayton" Subject: Re: PESO - The Stand
> Would you give me some ideas of exactly what kind of setup I would be > looking for? Such as body, lenses, tripod, backs, etc - I really know > nothing about large format - the biggest I have shot is 67. Most of the stuff of yours that I have seen would be well served with a wood field camera. This is what mine looks like: http://users.accesscomm.ca/wrobb/temp/tachihara.html. I've used everything from old Dagors to modern Nikkors, and am very partial to Schneider and Fujinon lenses. On 4x5, the 150mm is considered the "normal" lens (similar FOV as a 50mm lens on 35mm film). That picture you just showed would have required a 600mm ($$$$) lens to achieve the same as what you got with your 135, so keep in mind, there are some pretty serious limitations with big film. A nice 4x5 kit is something in the 65mm to 90mm range, a 150ish mm and a short telephoto, 250mm-300mm is nice. I preferred the 210 for most of my LF work, and as I noted a while back, I just found a 65mm Super Angulon that I had completely forgotten about. This is exciting for me, as I really like wide angle lenses. I don't know much about scanning big negs, I prefer wet prints from film. The few scans of a big neg I have done were with my Epson 2450 scanner, and they scans were quite acceptable. They are also huge, and will bring lesser computers to a standstill as they attempt to manipulate the files. A PSD file from a 4x5 tranny scanned at a decent resolution will be up around 600mb or larger. Bring a big computer to this game if you choose to play it. Film backs are what makes the kit big. My 4x5 kit weighs in at close to 40 pounds, half of which at least is the 2 dozen film backs whick allows me to take 48 pictures before reloading. You think carefully about every exposure before you push the button with large format, both because of the cost of film, but also because a wasted shot is a big waste of resources if you can't reload your backs easily. When we were touring the Southwestern States on a yearly basis back in the mid 90s, I carried a dark tent with me, and reloaded film backs every night at my campsite. If I was in a particularly photogenic place, I would sometimes find a shady spot and reload film on a picnic table. This does tend to attract attention from other tourists, and in the era of paranoia that we live in now, might attract unwanted attention as well. You are doing something unusual, therfore you must be investigated, after all. The point is, as long as you are willing to reload film backs frequently, you can get by with fewer backs. If you aren't venturing far from your vehicle, you can carry fewer backs as well. Something I thought about doing, but never did, was to make a set of saddlebags for my dog so that he could carry some of my gear for me. If and when I start shooting large format again, Jester will probably find himself a new job as a pack mule. As for the finished product, I can pick out an 11x14 made from 35mm film from across a room. the quality difference is that apparent. It's more difficult with digital because of the lack of grain, but if you get closer, the lack of fine detail becomes apparent. The real beauty of large format is the smoothness of the finished prints, and this is something that is readily apparent in print, though digital processing takes much of that advantage away from big film, as digital printing ends up being 8 bit. Something I've been playing with in an attempt to get decent resolution from digital is multiple stitched exposures. This shot http://users.accesscomm.ca/wrobb/peso/pages/Arch1Panorama1.html is a dozen exposures pasted together. No big deal on a computer screen, but the 16x24 inch print that rolled of my Epson does rival large format for visual appeal, though I have a hunch that I would still prefer a wet print made from 4x5 FP-4+. I'm kind of a contrary person that way. William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
