10x8 Polaroid Portraits and Landscapes

[yaakov_asher_sinclair]

I am interested in doing 10x8 Polaroid portraits

and landscapes.

 

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Does anyone have experience of doing these?

 

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What are the advantages and disadvantages?

 

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I would be interested to know:

1. What is a good choice of camera and lenses for

portraits and landscapes.

2. What shold I expect to pay for a field camera.

Is it worth buying secondhand, and if so, where.

3. How much does 10x8 Polaroid film BandW and color

cost?

4. What accesories are essential and how much do

cost?

 

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Thanks very much

Yaakov Asher Sinclair

[tony_brent]

Calumet offers 8 x 10 Polaroid in Type 803 and 804. 15 sheets for $139.00 either one. The color is $139 for 15 sheets.

You will also need the special holder for $184.95. Calumet offers a package containing the film holder and processor for $629.95.

Calumet's processor is hand cranked, not motor driven like Polaroid's, so you can use it in the field away from power sources.

 

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One consideration is that the Polaroid print is moist when you peel it open. It MUST be protected from blowing dust while it is drying down to its finished state. Like Ansel says, it seems to act like a magnet for every bit of dust and fluff in the county.

 

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If I still had my 8 x 10 Deardorff I would do what you are proposing. I like the idea of an 8 x 10 contact print immediately!

Good Luck

Tony Brent

[derick_miller]

 

Well, this is a year after the questions were posted, but just in case

you are still interested, or if others are in the future�

 

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>I am interested in doing 10x8 Polaroid portraits and landscapes.

>Does anyone have experience of doing these?

>What are the advantages and disadvantages?

>I would be interested to know: 1. What is a good choice of camera

>and lenses for portraits and landscapes. 2. What shold I expect to

pay

>for a field camera. Is it worth buying secondhand, and if so, where.

>3. How much does 10x8 Polaroid film BandW and color cost? 4. What

>accesories are essential and how much do cost?

 

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My experience is with portraits in a studio environment. I have not

used the 8x10 Polaroid in the field.

 

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As posted above, Polaroid prints are dust magnets. I find that a

shallow tray with wax paper laid over it works fine in a studio

setting (the paper is supported by the tray and does NOT rest on the

print). In a field setting, you will need to work out some system.

These prints stay sticky for a long time and should not be stacked

with anything on top of them.

 

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8x10 Polaroid film is $7-8 a shot. B&W and color seem to cost the

same.

 

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You can use any 8x10 camera that takes standard 8x10 film backs. You

can use whatever lens you can put into a lensboard for that camera, as

long as the lens has enough coverage for an 8x10 and your camera has

enough extension to support the lens in practical use.

 

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The available cameras and lenses are many, since view cameras have

been in production for longer than any other system. A good place to

start is the large format page:

 

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http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/

 

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You could get into a camera for a few hundred if you shop around.

Lenses vary a lot. A new lens will almost certainly set you back at

least $1000. If you are willing to use an older lens, the price range

is quite variable. Read the articles on the page above to understand

pricing and other issues (barrel lenses vs. lenses in shutter, etc.

 

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I would recommend buying your first camera second hand. New 8x10s

cost a lot and there are a lot of used ones available. If you later

decide that you need the latest Brand X camera, you can sell the

camera for close to what you paid, keep your lenses and move up. Good

lenses are more important than the camera.

 

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If you don't know what you are doing with lens selection, I would

start with a normal lens if you are going to buy one. Otherwise, I

would get a 480 for portraits and a wider lens for landscape.

 

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You will need a Polaroid negative holder and a processor--Calumet

makes a less expensive manual version, Polaroid makes a more expensive

version that is heavier and requires AC. From what I have seen, the

Polaroid version is more reliable, but it can't be used in the field

without power.

 

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As for landscapes, I won't be able to offer you much advice, but there

are so many people using view cameras to take landscapes that I am

sure you won't have trouble finding advice in this area.

 

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As for portraits, you might want to look at Elsa Dorfman's page:

 

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http://elsa.photo.net/

 

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She uses the big Polaroid to make her portraits.

 

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Adams wrote a good book on the Polaroid (now out of print but

available used), as well as an excellent series (Camera, Negative,

Print), which may be useful. View Camera Technique (Leslie Stroebel,

now in its sixth edition) is the definitive work on the view camera,

although it is not light reading.

 

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As your negative size goes up, you need more light to make your

exposure and get reasonable depth of field. It is possible to use

available light or hot lights indoors, but strobes are much more

practical. Outdoors, you will probably have enough light. Use shade

on bright days and prefer overcast days if possible.

 

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As for accessories other than the camera, back and processor:

 

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Loupe for focusing (if you don't have one, you can use a normal 35mm

camera lens upside down. This doesn't need to be a high quality

loupe, just good enough to help you focus).

 

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A dark cloth is helpful. Anything dark colored that doesn't give off

a bunch of lint will work.

 

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A way to shade your lens from flare. Your hand or hat work well,

since you can stand at the front of your camera as you make the

exposure.

 

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A light meter.

 

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Whatever lighting equipment you need. The least expensive are

home-made reflectors (cardboard painted white being the very

cheapest). I can also tell you how to spend tens of thousands on

lighting equipment if you like :-).

 

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I like to use a reducing back and smaller sized Polaroid for test

shots, since it is pretty expensive at over $7 a shot.

 

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This can get quite expensive. If you are buying the basics new, you

will spend several thousand dollars for a minimal setup--camera, lens,

holder and processor. You can save a lot buying used, but it still

won't be cheap. I strongly recommend that you rent the equipment

first.

 

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Derick

 

[bill_jefferson]

Greetings,

 

I routinely use 8x10 Polaroids in the field. To process I bought a voltage inverter to run in the explorer. Which works well with no problems to the processor or the explorer. Keeping the film in the explorer after processing, I havn't noticed a dust problem.

 

Bill Jefferson

Sr. Tech.

Polaroid Corp.