Hand-held 4x5

I saw a gallery show today (at the Edwynn Houk Gallery, NYC) of Danny

Lyon's recent 4x5 work, "Heart Butte." These pictures were made on

B&W Polaroid negative film, apparently hand held in natural light.

Some pictures had very funky focus and others showed lots of blurred

movement-- but they were beautiful! Has anyone had experience

shooting hand-held 4x5? Which camera(s) would be best for this kind

of photography? What techniques are useful?

Although I'm can't say for sure what camera danny Lyon uses, although I do like his work alot. There are lots of great cameras for this. On the cheap side look for any old press camera like a speed graphic, or if you want to get spendy linhoff makes models that would also be great for this. Some things to look for would be a comfortable grips, and a working rangefinder for focusing. If you want sharp shots uses things like walls to help brace yourself when shooting. Another interesting camera to look at would be a gowland twin lens 4x5 although they can be a bit beefy.

 

good luck

doug

Hi Arthur, any old press camera will do. I have a Graflex with a Sironar N. But the photos aren't as crude as you are describing. I think Peter Gowland has some interesting looking hand held 4*5. If I had the money and I wanted to shoot hand held, I'd look at his stuff.

 

Best, David

Go to Graflex.org. it is the complete guide to Graphic cameras. I have used a Speed Graphic 4x5 for about 3 yrs as a back up camera to my monorail 4x5 and quickly began to appreciate its handheld capabilities.

 

The nice thing about the Speed Graphic is it has a focal plane shutter (1/1000th on the high end) in addition to the typical lens mounted shutter. Mine was very accurate and consistent when purchased. The other advantage is it allows you to use in barrell lenses with the camera. Lenses such as a 127mm Ektar are perfect for hendheld and can be sometimes found with various graphic models on Ebay.

Arthur,

 

I several 4 X 5 cameras. My favorite for hand held use are the Super Graphic or Crown Graphic because they are lighter. Although I LOVE my Super Technika V, it is considerably heavier. I also worry more about it because of its value. If the Super Graphic is in tip top shape, it's electronic shutter release fires gently and smoothly. The Super Graphic would get my vote.

 

J. P. Mose

In the B&H ad in Shutterbug in the medium format section there is a new NPC(?) camera, I believe #195, that takes Polaroid film and maybe even sheet film. This might be the style camera used, except being an older model that used 3.25x4.25 film packs. Check for the most recent Polaroid models now discontinued. Their lenses were very good and they were rangefinding or you could of course use them by DOF per aperture. I myself use a Super Graphic which is rangefinding and has a sportsfinder for quick compositions, or just shoot it off the hip. Best lens choice is a 90mm which is approx a 26mm in 35mm camera terms. This lens will give enough DOF hyperfocally focused so you won't have to necessairly bring it to eye level. Shooting it will be easy once you determine handheld exposure and set the lens. Lighting changes are a hassle and best you change shutterspeed so you don't change you DOF. Be perepared to be noticed with a camera as such, but the conversations are usually a plus.

Doing aerials for work, I use a Linhof V and love it. I shoot out of a helicopter and use the 400NC with great results. I usually prefocus with either a 150mm or 180mm before going up and just shoot away when I'm airborne!

B&J press camera, e-bay for cheap fun.

Hi Arthur

 

I use my Horseman HF (Handy field)pre version of FA, but not so much for handheld shoots. With a Linhof Viewfinder on it.

Almost with a 135mm or a 150mm Sironar N, works fine and is not so heavy like a Linhof Technika.

I have sucessfully hand-held a number of 4x5 cameras over the years, even including an Ikeda wooden field camera. Folding metal technical/press types, such as the Linhof Technica, Horseman and Wista cameras, work reasonably well, but by far the best option IMHO is the Cambo Wide. This camera is just perfect for hand-held work, light and well-balanced, and probably 25% of all my 4x5 photography is hand-held with the Wide fitted with either 90mm or 65mm Super Angulon lenses. With a shutter speed of 1/60th second I don't find the hand-held shots to be any less sharp than the tripod mounted ones. The Wide lenses have helical focussing mounts so they can be accurately focussed without using the ground glass. A good viewfinder is a must for framing the picture though : I use a Silvestri Shift Viewfinder which ensures pretty accurate framing even when using upward or downward lens shift.