Is it wise to move up to 4X5

Great answers from all of you, you got me sold !

Bruce - "The 300mm Caltar was overly contrasty and crude. A 16 1/2 inch Goerz Dagor was fabulous."

 

It seems that's what they are offering with this package a Catar, but it's a 210mm. I guess I still got some reading to do.

 

I was also looking at the Toho lightweight camera, but it's a little beyond my budget:

 

http://www.thalmann.com/largeformat/toho.htm

I would pass on the Calumets and pick up a Shen Hao field camera from eBay. I have one and it's my third 4x5. It's truly great! Very easy to carry and use in the field and all the movement you'll ever need. They show up on eBay for $500 fairly regularly. I think this would be much more useful for you than the Calumet. I would get a 150mm or 180mm lens instead of the 260mm anyway. A field camera such as the Shen Hao is a joy to use!

 

I still shoot my 4x5 despite having a DSLR. The reason is I just like using it. It's a slower, much more deliberate kind of photography. The detail I get from it is stunning! Nothing else looks like a 4x5 shot. I have three lenses for it, 90mm, 150mm, 300mm. That covers me pretty well.

 

 

Kent in SD

Harry:

 

If you're willing to put up with a little ugly from use, you can find a few Sinar 4X5s and 8X10s on fleaBay and occasionally, a 5X7 for a very reasonable price.

 

 

I had wanted one of them since the early 80s and now that digital is all the rage, these things have become reasonable in price since the "pros" are throwing rocks at film now.

If I may say something here it would be this!

 

Great answers and I can feel a great commitment to the traditional photographic art which makes me feel warm inside my heart. Keep on the good spirit with your art!

I only wish the great yellow father was commited to the traditional photographic art:

 

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/discontinuedNotice.jhtml?id=0.2.26.14.25&lc=en

"Demand for these products has been declining significantly in recent years, and it is no longer practical to continue to manufacture given the low volume, the age of the product formulations and the complexity of the processes involved."

 

The above was stated as the reasons by Kodak. I don't see anything wrong with that. They also said it was a replacement to be substituted with the ISO 100 stuff. I see no problem just yet. The key word they said was demand. Many pros have switched to dslr and digital backs for their medium format work, but it does not mean they stopped using 4x5 and 8x10 for their personal landscape work. I expect these films to be around for a long time. There will always be demand. It is the small format market (6x6 and lower that is suffering). There are new cameras introduced in 6x12 and 617 frequently. Look at the new Linhofs (inc 4x5 field camera), Fotoman introductions, also Goaersi (probably spelled that one wrong).

I agree with Van and I have written about it here before. The small format is the looser in the long run and it's not going to disappear but, choices of the type of the films which are available going to be less.

In large format even new manufacturers emerge (in China) and they order book is full. Now it happened to be so that the Hungarian film manufacturer Forte disappeared because the property speculations but in the very same country Argentum manufacture view cameras in any sizes for order. Just look into this one!

 

http://www.argentumcamera.com/

 

So girls and boys don't worry, enjoy yourself!

It is a lot of work to develope film and print them. Setting up the darkroom and then cleaning the trays, etc, can be time consuming. I work with computers all day long, I am a clinical chemist. I used to manage tests, now I manage computers that manage tests. They have invaded almost all aspects of our life. For me, going digital is just extending my sitting in front of a CRT, and they call it WORK for a reason. I love wet chemistry, it truly is darkroom magic sometimes, and I surprise myself all the time. I have worked with digital photographs and I have not found it to be nearly as satisfying as deciding on the exposure, then the development of the negative, then working in the darkroom to make an expressive print. If you enjoyed your class in photography, go for it. There is nothing like large format; perspective control and decent sized negatives, it doesn't get any better than that.

 

Paul

Paul, I am exactly the opposite. I am tired of chemistry....mixing, cleaning, fumes, inprecise dodging/burning and repeatability, color contrast problems,washing prints, etc. The digital process is clean, relaxing... you sit down instead of spend long hours in front of a huge sink. It was about time darkroom processing moved out of the dark ages. LOL.

It's WELL worth it if you have the right attitude for it, and shoot a subject matter that lends itself to it. Otherwise, you may be impatient and frustrated.

 

It's just a camera. You've taken the class. You know what it's good for. It's worth every penny to me. You just have to decide if it is for you.

 

I am also weird because I love being in a darkroom engaged in a physical process, and I hate being on my butt in front of a screen, where everything is reduced to on or off by digital sampling. That's not why I got into photography. 95% of the joy for me is the process; not the result.

 

Keith

Over the years I've worked my way up through many cameras from 6x6 through all sorts of point and shoot to 35mm slr's and digital slrs up to the Canon 5D. With every new iteration I just got to learn more and more and enjoy photography more and more. I'm a recent convert to large format and I've rediscovered the part of photography that I lost/forgot along the way, it's about being engaged in a process, and creating every shot is a joy. Is it wise to go large format. You betcha!

If you go to

 

www.viewcamera.com

 

and then to the Free Articles section you will find several articles that will be helpful to you.

 

steve simmons