Child Portraits on LF : Impossible?

[jnanian]

<p>with kids you have to anticipate what they are going to do. while i have made<br />portraits of kids with a variety of cameras the easiest by far was with a graflex slr.<br>

no fiddling with film holders and hoping the focus is still on ... look into the top, and press <br>

the button, and that's it ... i'd rather thake a portrait with that than anything else i own.</p>

<p>good luck !</p>

[Ian Taylor]

<p>I photograph kids <a href="http://iantaylor.ca/">for a living</a>. Personally I find autofocus the only way to be sure of getting reliable results.<br>

Still, LF would be nice for the right subjects. So, it's possible but extremely impractical. </p>

[dave_d2]

<p>I picked up a Cambo 8x10 Legend with an 8x10 and 4x5 back. Entirely impractical for field work,<br /> but we have a very bright room where I'll set it up.<br /> Now the lens. The Cambo has 705mm reach. I'm considering a Fujinon W 250mm f/6.7, which has<br /> a 398mm image circle. The lens falls within my lens budget (350). For portraits, my thinking is<br /> that I can either (a) shoot 8x10 at close to 1:1, or (b) put the 4x5 back on, in which case it<br /> it the ideal portrait lens. I might also checkout the Nikkor-M 240mm f/5.6, to get me a brighter<br /> finder for indoor focusing.</p>

[AJG]

<p>The difference between f/5.6 and f/6.8 is barely observable in my experience, so I wouldn't go by that in choosing a lens. My 300 mm Nikkor M is f/9, and that can be difficult to focus in interior situations at times, even with 250 watt strobe modeling lights turned up all the way. I bought it originally because it was cheaper by far than the f/5.6 equivalents from any of the major manufacturers and had plenty of covering power for the 4x5 I was going to use it on.<br>

Both lenses you have mentioned have good reputations and should cover 8x10 at infinity, so close up you should have all of the movements that you could want. Assuming that both of them are in good shutters, I'd go for whichever one is cheaper.</p>

[dave_d2]

<p>Picked up a Rodenstock APO Sironar-N 360mm f/6.8 for a little under $400. Included the Cambo board.<br>

IC is 435mm. With the Cambo 8x10 plus this lens, I'm wondering if my tripod will be up to the task.<br>

Bogen 3021 (3221) with the 3055 Heavy Duty Ball head.<br>

I probably won't be doing an steep angles, so the stress on the ball should be minimal.<br>

Camera arrives Friday, so we'll see ... ...</p>

[AJG]

<p>That combination will be pushing it, but if the camera is level you might get away with it. If you start to tilt forward by much, the whole thing will probably tip over. Don't ask me how I know this... I'd look for something heavier duty if it were me, perhaps you'll find something on Craigslist.</p>

[valdormar_hauslendale]

<p>We have 4 kids all boys, 13, 9, 4, and 2. Our 13 yr old is always a bit squirmy, I can work just fine with our 9 yr old, our 4 yr old is a dream to work with he gets into it. As for our 2 yr old, I would not even attempt it. I think it really depends a lot on the kid.<br /><br /><strong><em>camera - </em></strong>Deardorff 8x10<br /><em><strong>lens - </strong></em>Kodak Commercial Ektar 14"<br /><em><strong>film - </strong></em>Fomapan / ARISTA EDU ULTRA 100<br /><em><strong>tripod - </strong></em>Manfrotto 058B Triaut Camera Tripod<br /><br /><em><strong>Portrait of my Deardorff 8x10<br /><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8850/17338007252_126af8ae03_z.jpg" alt="" width="427" height="640" /></strong></em><br>

<em><strong> </strong></em><br>

<em><strong>Film/Development test image (UNIT 2 of 4) 8yrs<br /><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/533/20068641606_36ded02b37_c.jpg" alt="" width="641" height="800" /><br /></strong></em></p>