karl_french

I thought that this thread would take off. I think it has the potential to be a really interesting and long thread. But we don't seem to be getting too many pix. Myself included.

So far the camera ID in the Dylan album cover has been wrong. Contax HA! No other classic rangefinder has a front window like that, look close now. What is attached to the end of that strap could certainly get you a new MP body if you were willing to sell it. Its a NIKON SP! The guy in the photo most likely picked it for next to nothing since it was just a 10 year old camera then.

Yes, I think you would have no problem fitting all that gear in the Photo Trekker AW. I use it for a 5x7 or 8x10 Canham woodfield. With the 5x7 I carry 4 or 5 lenses, 5 film holders, loop, etc. Although I generally am willing to sacrifice lens speed for size, so all my lenses are small. With the 8x10 I generally carry the film holders in another bag because the outer pocket will only take a couple, and I like to have 5 holders with me. But I still take 4 lenses with me on most trips. I hiked around Yosemite with this setup with the canham 4x5 back on the 5x7 with around 15 4x5 holders. It was no problem. Technikas are small, so you should have lots of room left over after the camera gets in the bag. You do have to become very creative in placing the dividers if you want to put a bunch of stuff in the pack. After many iterations I have it down to the point where I only have to change two dividers to switch from the 5x7 to 8x10 cameras. I find the comfortable for walking long distances. I've spent all day wandering around with it on at Point Lobos or in Yosemite. The rain cover is nice when the ground is wet but overall its not too easy to use. Its easy enough to get out but stuffing it back in its little pocket when the pack it full can be a bit of pain.

 

I haven't been on a plane with either of these set ups, but it appears that the pack itself will fit into an overhead bin. I guess I'll find out this summer as I'm heading back to California to visit my folks.

 

All in all I think its a great pack. Oh, I found the tripod holding setup that comes with the pack not to be up to the Gitzo 1325. A smaller tripod yes, but the 1325 is long enough that it was very unbalanced strapped on the back of the pack.

I Think he was refering to a GM670 that was on Ebay when he posted the message. Who ever won the auction got a great deal seeing that the camera came with the 65mm fujinon lens and finder. The lens alone usually goes for more than the final price the auction reached. I kinda regret not bidding for this item myself. I guess I was having one of those rare moments of camera related restraint.

 

Actually the g690 shows up on Ebay fairly regularly. I have also seen 2 G670s in the last few months. They seem to be much less common.

I can second the recomendation for ICT. Not the cheapest place, but the quality of work and level of service is great. I had an ektar in supermatic and a gundlach lens in betax CLA'd there recently. I was very pleased with the results. Frankly, I think they are your best choice in the Bay Area.

You might have luck at Jim's Campus Camera on Higuera Street right in middle of downtown. I pretty sure they have some 4x5 film. Another spot you might try is Photography 101 on the corner of Monterey and Nipomo(i think its Nipomo, it might be Chorro). Its just a block away from the mission. I didn't have a large format camera with me last time I visited so I was only buying roll film. You will not find anything in Morro Bay or Paso. I don't know the stores in Santa Barbara, but the big camera store that used to be there closed in the last couple of years.

Richard, not so fast.

 

The Fujica GM670 was made before any of the GW series cameras. It and the G690 series formed the basis for the current Fuji rangefinders. The GM670 is an interchangable lens medium format rangefinder made in the 70's. It has no light meter, it is heavy (almost 5 pounds with lens, and it can be good for hand held shots if you can hold a heavy camera still. The film should remain very flat considering the design of the camera. I am not sure what you mean by 'overlay'?

 

Dante Stella has a webpage with lots of good information about these cameras. www.dantestella.com

 

I have a G690, which I like very much.

Yes, the Focomat IIc can be partially disassembled. When I sold mine last year I delivered it in three parts. I took the the condenser out and wrapped it carefully. The whole hinged focusing arm can be lifted off the column. Finally I left the column attached to the base board because I did not want to upset the alignment. I delivered mine to its new owner because he was only about 45min away. I would make sure you get good innsurance before you ship. I don't have any particular companies in mind to recomend. Sorry.

I thought the Edward Weston Omnibus? (is that what you are talking about Merg?) was more of a catalog of prints rather than a biography. The little snippet I read seemed to imply that the biography she is working on is something else. What a great job she has, spending all her time writing about Weston and viewing his archive. There are times when I am very tempted to switch from philosophy to art history.

I am surprised that so many of you didn't like Charis' book right off the bat. Would you want to know only about the time with Edward without knowing anything about who was spending time with him? I think it is a great memoir, that is not meant to be an autobiography or a biography of Edward. I've read it 6 or 7 times. I think the only memoir or biography I've read that I liked better was Ray Monk's biography of Wittgenstein.

 

I've read that Amy Conger is working on a biography of Edward Weston that is slated to be the definitve account. Most references to Madlow's biography that I read are negative.

 

If you are interested in a portion of Edward's life that does not seem to get talked about too much you should check out the book about him and Margrethe Mather. "A Passionate Collaboration" is the title. I thought is was very interesting as well, with some amazing images.

 

Speaking of the hardback daybooks, keep your eyes peeled at used bookstores. I just picked up a set in January at Moe's in Berkeley for under $50. Along with a copy of Avedon's "In the American West", which seems hard to find used.

 

Good luck

I don't think so. I think they send most of the repair work they get out to other places to have the actual work done. I have had great luck with International Camera Tech in Mountain View.

 

good luck

In response to your last post... You may have trouble using a long lens with this camera because it may only be a double extension camera. I saw the pictures of the camera on ebay and it looked exactly the same as the 4x5. The 4x5 is only double extension and not very sturdy when it is racked all the way out. I had a 4x5 which i loved for being so light but hated for being so unstable at maximum extension. I would be surprised if this camera has more than 24" of bellows. I think it takes Linhof style boards.

 

I think you would be better off with a Deardorff, Kodak Master view or even an 8x10 Tachihara triple extension. You should be able to find a decent 8x10 Deardorff for around $1000. The 8x10 Deardorff with front swings weighs about 12lbs. The earlier non-front swings cameras are a bit lighter. If you want the most extension in the lightest package I think the Canham 8x10 woodfield is the way to go.

I had to jump in on this one because I use my 450 and 600 all the time with my 8x10 camera (and on my 5x7/4x5 for that matter). Although I think I use the 600 more. It is good for isolating specific features of the landscape, buildings or whatever. I'd like to find a good 30" Goerz Artar so that I could go out even farther. The 600 is nice when you find yourself in front of a huge vista and you just want to capture part of it. When I want to capture more of it I use my 210 G claron. I like the Fujinon 450 and 600 because they have great image quality and such a small size.

 

The only problem I have with my 600 (and I'm sure it will be worse if I find a long Artar) is the my Canham's bellows want to sag when they are racked out for focusing that far. Thats one thing I miss about my Deardorff, the bellows were made of a much thicker material so I never had a problem with bellows sag while using longer lenses.

 

Dick - Do you really use an 8x10 camera just to use a 6x17 roll fill back? It seems like you could do this with something much smaller and lighter.

 

Good luck

I ordered 8 boxes of Agfa APX100 9x12cm from them last year with no problems. It did take a while to get to me though. I wouldn't worry too much.

 

karl

Oh, I thought of something I noticed when I went back to reread the G690 section. I think the lenses have Seiko shutters rather than Copal. I read that somewhere on the net that talks about the G690 as well.

 

karl

Dante-

 

I've really enjoyed your web page. I started looking at a long time ago from your posts to the LUG. Your section on the fuji rangefinders inspired me to pick one up recently. At times i find the camera just hilarious due to its size. I mainly wanted it as something to use handheld when i feel like its too cold to mess with a large format camera and a tripod. I have yet to shoot any film with it, especially since the 150 needs a CLA. The 100 is a bit sticky too. This being one of the disadvantages of shutters in lens, each lens has to go in for a CLA. But the whole outfit was so cheap I couldn't resist. I am planning to take it out this weekend and see what i get. I exprect good things from the lenses as I have 3 Fujinon large format lenses that are amazing. I would love to find a 50 or the 250 as well.

 

thanks

 

karl

I have used International Camera Techs in Mountain View with great results.

 

karl

Now I know why people often say the large format kits weigh less than the 35mm kits they used to carry.

 

If you keep the weight of your camera bag down you are more likely to take it out shooting.

 

karl

Well, I think only the 12" and 14" lenses will cover 8x10. Unless the 10" ektar is a wide field ektar. I generally think its good idea to spread out the focal lengths of the lenses in your kit. 12" and 14" seem too close for me. I went for 210, 300, 450, 600 and I generally use the 210 and 600 more than others. With that said and the fact that you are going to spend a fair bit to have all the shutters CLA'd you might want to pass on the lenses. You can sometimes find the Fujinon 300mm compact for around $500 on ebay. That and a 24" artar or a schneider 210mm g-claron should get you set up. You would probably spend the same as on the other lenese plus CLA but you get more recent and smaller lenses (although the artar my be of the same vintage as the commercial ektars).

 

Thats my 2 cents.

 

karl

I use a Gitzo 1325 as well. I've used it with a Deardorff 8x10 and now a Canham 8x10. It works great for cameras of this size. I would have to second the opinion that a ball head is not a great idea with an 8x10 camera. Too easy to lose control of the camera. I like the Gitzo low profile pan/tilt magnesium head.

 

karl

Wayne-

 

You point out an interesting mistake on my part. I should point out that I am

intending to travel on Interstate 40 not US40. Most people responding to my

thread seem to be on the same wavelength.

 

thanks for all the advice.

 

karl

Eugene-

 

I am concerned about the weather (I'm driving a toyota 4x4 which should deal

with a lot of the weather just fine) but I keep hearing about how boring

Interstate 10 is. Although a visit to the Center for Creative Photography and

Saguaro National Park would be interesting. I did consider the southern

route. Interstate 40, in addition to being closer to many areas I would like to

photograph is a more direct route.

 

thanks

 

karl

The problem you describe is fairly common with older FS Deardorffs. I've had

2 and they both had bent front swing plates. My theory is that heavy old

shutters and lenses just put more weight on the front standard than that metal

plate (especially the thin parts where the lockdown knobs are) could handle.

It never really bothered me that much. I just moved the locking knobs to the

back of the arc and kept on shooting. Although for a number of additional

reasons I recently sold my 'dorffs (and a bunch of other cameras) and

replaced them with a Canham 8x10 wood field. What a great camera. I liked

the Canham 5x7 so much I knew the 8x10 would be a winner.

 

Good luck.

 

karl

I am looking for more information on this lens. How does it stand up against

the Wollensak 159 f/12.5 ExWA? It seems that the Wollensak is more

common and thus easier to find information about it on the net. After a lot of

searching I still haven't come up with much on the Gundlach lens. I am

looking for a small 8x10 wide angle. I'm thinking about buying the wollensak

and a Protar V wide angle as well to compare them all. That 165mm super

angulon I bought when I didn't know any better is just too big to lug around for

any long distance. Its a nice lens and I got it for a song, but talk about bulky.

 

thanks

 

karl

I wish I could wait until Spring. But, after a 5 year hiatus I am finally returning

to Pittsburgh to finish my Ph.D.

 

These suggestions have all been great. Any recommendations for the space

between eastern New Mexico and Memphis? Most of the middle of the

country is new to me. Growing up in California I spent most of my time in the

pacific north west.

 

Thanks

 

karl