A trip with my Pony Premo No. 4

So I had the privilege of taking a weekend trip to Star Island a few weeks ago, and decided to go fully antiquarian on camera equipment. I brought my Rochester Optical Company 4x5 Pony Premo No. 4. No vernier focus, so probably an early one from about 1900.

I brought a partly used pack of Kodak Tri-X Pan Professional TXP523, which probably expired about 1980, in a film pack adapter. I brought 5 plate holders, 10 Kodak film sheaths, and a slightly expired (2015) box of TMAX-400 film.

The lens is a Rapid Rectilinear, in a Victor shutter with air-piston timing. The aperture scale is in "U.S." units. (Just remember that 16 is 16.) Shutter speeds from 1 to 1/100.

Tripod is a reasonably beefy Manfrotto, probably overkill for such a light camera.

Here's a picture of the camera in our room.

Here's a shot of buoys on the boat on the way out. Obligatory artsy shot. This is on the TXP523. It has held up very well. I exposed it at EI 200, and base fog wasn't bad at all.

Here's a shot of one of the rockers against the front wall of the hotel. TMAX-400.

I have no idea why I can't put thumbnails inline in this forum, but can in Large Format. The madness of the new photo.net continues.

OK, I'm hacking it by putting links to the stored locations in. Sigh!

Not a lens that's happy shooting into the sun, completely uncoated, but only four glass/air surfaces. TMAX-400.

View down the path to the chapel. TMAX-400.

I should have brought my air bulb as a shutter release. Some of the shots at low shutter speeds are blurred, and the camera is not very rigid.

Plate holders are such a pain to load and unload, the spring is very tight.

Great quality from the old Pony Premo, John. Considering the age and design of the lens, I think your results are excellent. I particularly like the "Evening Porch" and the "Chapel Path and Ocean" images. Posts like these get me hankering for a step back to larger formats... Thanks for posting.

I usually assemble my posts to this forum using the "More Options" panel, and as I recall there's a "Thumbnail or Full Frame" option there, though I've never used the thumbnail option as I size my images to fit the page.