I have been using a Tachhara for about three years now and I specialise in B&W landscapes. By and large I think you will go a long way (or pay a lot more) to find a more appropriate camera. It's about as light and small as this style of camera can get. If you're used to a Linhof you may feel that things don't lock as tight as you would like, but everything seems to return to a square position so I guess that's all that really counts.
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As for lenses, I use 90mm and 210mm. Both are just fine, as is the 150mm, I find that you tend to see images that suit the equipment you have on hand. Therefore I think you will get good images regardless of the equipment you have. Only once have I felt the need for a lens between these two. Luckily I was with a mate who had a 150 (and the same camera) so I borrowed it. With only 300mm of bellows draw the above comments about closeups/long lenses are valid. However, unless you want to photograph flowers or use long lenses this is not a limitation in practical terms.
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For processing, the Jobo is renowned for being very good. It is also pretty expensive. I tried a daylight tank but could not get even development. I tried tray processing and the less said about my efforts the better :-) I then built my own dip-n-dunk tanks (grand total of $70 in parts) and ever since have had PERFECTLY even negs.
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Film. I used to use FP4+ but grew tired of carting 3kg of double darks around the bush. To get over the wieght problem I changed to TMX (it's available in readyloads) and soon realised that I should have used this film ages ago. Assuming that you have good control over your development this film is great and can easily have it's contrast controlled. (Of course this is a failing if you have sloppy processing procedures).
Landscape black&white
in Large Format
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I have been using a Tachhara for about three years now and I specialise in B&W landscapes. By and large I think you will go a long way (or pay a lot more) to find a more appropriate camera. It's about as light and small as this style of camera can get. If you're used to a Linhof you may feel that things don't lock as tight as you would like, but everything seems to return to a square position so I guess that's all that really counts.
<p>
As for lenses, I use 90mm and 210mm. Both are just fine, as is the 150mm, I find that you tend to see images that suit the equipment you have on hand. Therefore I think you will get good images regardless of the equipment you have. Only once have I felt the need for a lens between these two. Luckily I was with a mate who had a 150 (and the same camera) so I borrowed it. With only 300mm of bellows draw the above comments about closeups/long lenses are valid. However, unless you want to photograph flowers or use long lenses this is not a limitation in practical terms.
<p>
For processing, the Jobo is renowned for being very good. It is also pretty expensive. I tried a daylight tank but could not get even development. I tried tray processing and the less said about my efforts the better :-) I then built my own dip-n-dunk tanks (grand total of $70 in parts) and ever since have had PERFECTLY even negs.
<p>
Film. I used to use FP4+ but grew tired of carting 3kg of double darks around the bush. To get over the wieght problem I changed to TMX (it's available in readyloads) and soon realised that I should have used this film ages ago. Assuming that you have good control over your development this film is great and can easily have it's contrast controlled. (Of course this is a failing if you have sloppy processing procedures).