gregory_owens

It's really hard to beat a nice Deardorff, and for $2.5K you could get a really nice one:)

Mike,

 

You might try calling Jim Ormond at Western Bellows here in southern California. I recently bought a new bellows for my 8 x 10 Deardorff from him and he did a super job with a quick turn around time to boot. He can be reached at 909-980-0606.

 

Greg

Uli,

Several years ago I picked up some g-claron's in the barrels. A 210, 240, and a 305. I also had a #1 Copal shutter lying around, so all being plasmats, I started experimenting combining cells. I discovered that I several usable focal lengths; 210, 225, 240, 270 and 305. I also had some others close by like 255 etc. I also tried single elements on the rear for longer focal lengths. While they were OK for contact printing 8x10 negatives the quality started to degrade, by the time I got to 16x20 enlargements the quality was on the borderline. I later had a millimeter scale made for the shutter and still use them when I want to go light.

Greg

Scott,

I had a 120mm Apo Symmar for a few years and the one thing that really bothered me was the small image circle. I finally broke down and bought a Super-Symmar 110mm XL. I have been very happy ever since. It is probably my most used lens in 4x5 and I can even use it on my 8x10. It fits in nicely in that 90 to 120 range.

Cheers, Greg

Was'nt me! I did not get there until Friday. What a Zoo! The place looked like the local Mall on the day after Christmas Sale :^)

Adam,

 

There has been some discussion in the past that Sekonic meters all seem under expose by about a stop. I have a L-558 and it reads two thirds of a stop different from my Pentax Spotmeter V and my Luna Pro F. Several friends also have the same problem with their Sekonics. Rumor has it that Sekonic calibrates their meters to 13% gray vs. 18% gray for Pentax and Gossen. I don't know if it is true or not but, every Sekonic meter I have used seems to be off just a little. I was able to adjust my L-558 to match my other meters via one of the advanced settings on the meter. That fixed my issue with the meter and I am very happy with it. The simple answer really is to do a film speed and developement test with whatever meter you decide to use. And like everyone else has mentioned, make sure your shutter speeds are fairly accurate.

 

Good Luck,

Greg

Jose,

 

You might try Adorama, I just ordered some Cokin stuff from them today and they seemed to be fairly well stocked. I recently rediscovered a bunch of Cokin stuff I had used back in the early 80's on my 35mm cameras while cleaning out an old camera bag last week. I have been using B+W glass filters for over 20 years and got to thinking about a couple of older lenses I have that I can't find filter rings for and Cokin just happens to make a universal ring for the P holder that would most likely be much better than holding the glass filter in front of the lens while taking the photograph. So I went out on a limb and ordered one. I noticed they had a A to P adapter, I am not sure about the 40mm or 34mm rings but you may try the universal ring if you can't find the others. Good luck.

 

Greg

While shopping today with the wife at Costco, I went looking for the

insulated tote bag mentioned by John Kasaian in an earlier post.

While there, I ran across a 50 can collapsible cooler that came with

a rolling cart attached made by the same company John had mentioned

in his post. Looking at it I thought it might also be a great bag for

8x10 film holders or maybe even hold my 8x10 camera. Against my

wife's ardent protests that the bag was too small I forked out the

$24.00 and figured at worst I would have cold storage for the two

cases of beer that would be keeping me company out back in the

doghouse, away from the "I told you so's" that would certainly be

coming my way. Well, low and behold, the bag exceeded my

expectations. Not only did it fit my 8x10 Zone VI, it will also hold

4 - 8x10 film holders, dark cloth, light meter and misc. filters. I

can probably even fit my G-Claron Casket set in there somewhere. So

now instead of making multiple trips from the Jeep with a Pelican

case for the camera, Tamrac bag for lenses and filters, and another

tote for film holders, I now have it all in a great compact wheeled

case that cost next to nothing!<div></div>

Steve,

Look for a Caltar WII f8 3 1/2" (90mm)Multicoated. They are f8 Schneider Super Angulons with the Caltar name on them. They usually go for about $300 on *bay. I bought one on *bay from a dealer for a little less than that and am really happy with it. If you were to buy the same lens with Schneiders name on it, it would go for $500 or more.

Greg<div></div>

There were two versions of Caltar Pro Series lenses offered by Calumet, the first was made by Komura in Japan, the second, to which the lens you are inquiring about belongs was made by Schneider beginning in 1982. It is a Xenar series lens, which follows a Tessar design. It consists of 4 elements in 3 groups, comes in a Copal 3 shutter and has a 57 degree angle of coverage with an image circle of 347mm at, I believe f22. Hope that answers your questions, for more information see Kerry Thalmann's exellent article in View Camera Magazine the May/June 2003 issue. -- Greg

Per,

Count me in whichever place you decide. Just for thought, Death Valley is spectacular that time of year.

Greg

It's probably not the answer you want to hear but here goes, I have both a Zone VI and a Wisner Tech. Field camera and can tell you that the bellows are not interchangable between the two. Good Luck, Greg

I have been using a 3221 for about 11 years with my Zone VI 4x5(about 6.5#'s). I removed the lower section of the original 2 piece center column when I first bought it and recently replaced the 3047 head I had been using with a new lighter 3437 magnesium head. The tripod has taken all the abuse I could dish out on backpacking trips. It has also survived numerous airline flights, including three trips to Europe and a couple of horse packing trips too. In my opinion it is a great tripod that you will get alot of use from.

Hi all, I will be going to Europe for a month beginning the middle of

June. I will be starting in Italy up around Trento with side trips to

Venice and Rome for a couple of day's each. Then off to Munich,

Germany and then on to Sweden to visit my wife's relatives. I am

looking for information about photo restrictions, such as tripods and

large format cameras in churches, I was hoping to photograph the

Vatican and some of the other historical churches and buildings. I

have not had any problems photographing inside churches, or other

buildings in Denmark, Sweden, etc., with a tripod and 4x5 camera, but

I have not been to Italy or Germany with the large format camera. I

primarily shoot Historical Architecture and landscapes, so any info

would be of great help, also if anyone has any suggestions of

shooting locations or would like to get together for photography

while I am there, please let me know.

Thanks, Greg

Let's try this again, sorry about the dust spots and bad scan, but I am digitally inept.<div></div>

Sometimes you just get lucky<div></div>

Mine also covers 8x10 @ f22 on my ZoneVI. In fact wide open I am getting better coverage then you seem to be getting.

Jay,

I use a 250mm Rodenstock Imagon in a Copal #3. I bought it used for a reasonable price of about $500. I tried soft filters but did not like the results. The Imagon is also fun to play with in the field, giving me some interesting results when I was shooting in the Redwoods up in Northern California. I plan to play some more with it in that respect. A friend uses an old portrait lens he bought on Ebay really cheap and loves it, that might also be an option. Hope that helps a little bit.

Greg

I have a 390mm B&L Series V Protar that has a 36 inch + image circle, I showed it to Ron Wisner and I understand that the B&L's cover 90 degrees and the Ziess about 110 degrees. I was also told that the longer focal lengths are hard to find, but you might try as it would make a great ULF lens.

Bob, I have ben using a frontload Kelty Redwing (any good sized frontload pack should work) for my 4x5 for five years now. It works great and holds the camera (Zone VI), spot meter, six lenses, filters, six to eight film holders, a Calumet roll film holder, dark cloth, and alot of other junk I tend to carry along. It fits the airlines carry-on dimensions and have had no trouble taking it on the plane to Europe (The tripod straps onto the pack for normal use but for traveling on the airplane I pack my tripod in my large suitcase as checked baggage). For dividers I cut up a thin closed cell foam sleeping pad I bought at Big 5 or somewhere like that for less than $5 and glued it together with some silicone I had sitting around the house. The pack fits close to the body and is easy to carry for hiking and rock hopping across steams etc.