john_galuszka

Yes, this has been discussed in the past, but it seems that photo paper options become fewer monthly. What is the best paper currently available for shooting paper negatives, and what are the USA sources? I want to shoot an 8X10 with a old (and slow) 159mm wide angle lens. Thanks.

<p>A "GigaPan "might shoot the image you need, but it may not be fast enough to catch an action situation. Plus, there might be distortions like a "fisheye" effect. I built a digital view camera, but it is about 6,000 X 16,000 pixels ... too small for your application. A film 6X17 panorama camera could capture an action shot, but even scanning the film would only get you to 144 megapixels. A sample can be viewed at XtremeDigitalPhotography.com</p> <p>What did you find since August?</p>

<p>I agree with Mr. Gillis. I built a 4X5 decades ago, and have several manufactured LF cameras. Unless you need something specialized, a commercial camera is almost always more cost-effective. (My favorite film camera is a Mamiya Press that I modified to 6X12 format with a 50mm lens--about as wide as you can get with out "fish eye" distortion.)<br> Figure out what kind of photography you want to do, then get the hardware to match. I do a lot of panorama photography. For example, I got a Calumet 4X5 camera, mounted a sliding Nikon adapter to the film holder area, and put on a D3200 digital body. This gives me a 96 megapixel image with all of the swing, tilt, etc. adjustments of the traditional view camera and the convenience of a digital camera.</p> <p> </p>

<p>I coupled a Nikon D3200 body to a 4X5 camera. It is 96 megapixels. See the photo at the bottom of this site:<br> www.XtremeDigitalPhotography.com</p>

<p>I agree with Tim Ludwig's suggestion, however recessed lens boards sometimes have an extra lip for light blocking. You don't get this when you reverse the board, but you could just add some thin, closed-cell black foam on the rim to insure a light-tight seal.</p>

<p>If you are willing to shoot in manual mode, lots of lenses are available to meet your needs. A previous poster mentioned the Minolta adapter; I have one and it works well. There is also a lense-reverser (F mount to 52mm filter thread) that works for macro work.) There is a Leica adapter, but it doesn't focus to infinity. I mounted a D3200 to a view camera to use my old lenses, and this worked very well for macro work, plus also regular photography. Photo at www.xtremedigitalphotography.com. I am currently building an adapter to mount a Mamiya Press 250mm lens to the D3200. This should work well for moderate telephoto work. I'll post an update here in the future.</p>