mark_cudworth

The Midwest Large Format Asylum covers several states, including Illinois, and there are members who live in central Illinois. Last winter we made a trip to Starved Rock S.P., in fact. You might try looking into this group, or starting your own. In either case, go to http://www.dunnamphoto.com/ and select "Groups" from the menu. You can check out the MWLF Asylum or start your own St. Louis area group.

 

Also, you will likely find subscribing to the MWLF mailing list to be helpful. You can subscribe to it by sending e-mail to majordomo@deepthought.com with the command "subscribe midwestlf" in the body of the message. The group is fairly active and actually tries to go out and take pictures about once a month.

If you can find one for rent in Indianapolis (or possibly Jack's in Muncie), I can bring it over to Turkey Run for you. I own several old view cameras, but all of them are smaller than 8x10.

Have you considered listing an informal group on the LF home page groups directory?

 

http://largeformatphotography.info/~lfgroup/groups/

 

It could be a way to attract others in the future.

 

Good luck!

"Bob, we'are not speaking movements on a camera with lens shade. Without going to lengthy discussions if you want to have an empirical proof of your error make a simple experiment. Take your 24x36mm SLR camera with a 28mm lens, put a cardboard opening (24x36mm) 28mm in front of the lens and you'll see that it wouldn't work. Unless I misunderstand your quote your theory is wrong."

 

I'm not an expert on lens design, but I see a couple of problems with your experiment. First, Bob said to place the opening an equal distance from the lens as the film, whereas you are holding your cut-out 28mm in front of the *front element*. A closer approximation would be to hold the cut-out the same distance in front of the *center* of the lens as the film is behind it. The iris should provide a reasonable approximation of *center* for normal lenses.

 

That said, please note that all bets are off for retrofocus or telephoto lens designs. No 35mm SLR can handle a true 28mm lens, as the mirror would be in the way. All 35mm SLR lenses that have a 28mm focal length are retrofocus lenses, which means that the "center" of the lens may not be anywhere near the lens!

I'm not much of an artist, but a group photo of some of the memebers of the Midwest Large Format Asylum is available at:

 

http://www.deepthought.com/photos/st.joseph/tn/dsc00036.jpg.html

 

We all look a little looney, I think. I'm third from the right, behind the Linhof Tech III.

I'm still looking to buy a Jobo myself, so I can't help with the first question.

 

I do have a Linhof Tech III, though, and I use an old Polaroid #500 holder in it. Any of the Polaroid holders -- 500, 545, 545i, 545Pro should work fine. The pack film holders may also work, but may require that you take the back off. (You didn't say if your Linhof had a Graflok back.) I prefer the single-sheet holders, myself, and they will slip under the ground glass like a regular film holder.

 

As for film, any Polaroid film that will go in the holder you choose should work fine. I have used Type 52, Type 54 and one of the color films (maybe Type 79?). I have also used Quickload and Readyload films in my holder.

I use one of these and it works quite well. With Polaroid materials, you just need to make sure you don't pull the sleeve out too far, as the paper stops on current Polaroid films don't work with it. With Quickloads and Readyloads, the stops do seem to work most of the time. (I've had some problems in sub-freezing conditions when the dimensions of the all-metal holder change a bit.) After reading about other people's problems, I am becoming convinced that most people yank on their packet film sleeves much too hard. Work slowly and methodically and you should have no problems.

I haven't had any focus (film flatness) problems with my #500 holder, and I have shot Polaroids, Quickloads and Readyloads in it.

I have been to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, and have even taken pictures using 35mm hand-held. Does anyone know for certain if tripods are allowed? I have been considering going back with large format but was wondering about this.

My personal favorite photographic urban legend: that the stops on modern packet films won't work with the old Polaroid #500 holder. While modern Polaroid films have this problem, the Quickloads and Readyloads I have tried in my #500 work pretty well.

I have an old model, which came with my Tech III. I find it useful for checking potential compositions without having to set up the camera. I can use it with my glasses when set for 150mm or greater lenses, but I have to remove my glasses to use it at the 90mm setting. (I only have 90mm, 150mm and 300mm lenses.)

 

I find mine to be a useful gadget and I am glad I have it, but I don't think I would pay the high prices I see on eBay for it. (Mine was free with the purchase of the camera.)

There is a new section on the Large Format Photography page that lists groups. There is an entry for western Massachussetts. Why not check it out? http://largeformatphotography.info/~lfgroup/groups/

If you're not oppossed to used equipment, you may have more options. My Linhof Technika III has about 16-18" of bellows extension, and I got it for around $400 a few years ago. I don't know if you will be able to find a Technika IV or newer in your price range, though. I think my B&J press even has more than 12 inches of bellows, but it doesn't have any back movements.

 

Bellows can always be replaced, so I guess the real question is whether or not the camera has a rail/bed that extands as far as you want.

I have even seen a monorail available at Cord Camera on the north side, but I wouldn't claim that Cord carries LF gear. (They can't even print 6x9 cm negatives!) I second the recommendation that Jack's in Muncie is the best bet. Personally, I mail-order most stuff these days because I have little choice.

Tor Johnson wrote:

 

"Currently films like PanF or Delta 100, Xp2 super, etc aren't available in large format"

 

Actually, Delta 100 is available in 4x5 and is listed for sale on B&H's web site. I didn't check 8x10.

I am at work at the moment, so I can't check this myself right now, but I think this lens may have some amount of pincushion distortion. While this may be easily overlooked in portraits and landscapes, it could cause problems for architecture. I might be wrong about this, so be sure to check other sources or, if at all possible, try the lens out before purchasing it. Other focal lengths of this lens are pretty common (especially the 360mm), so you may want to do a Google search on "tele-xenar pincushion" or something similar.

 

Also keep in mind that using front swing/tilt can be a real nuisance with this lens because of its telephoto design. I find my lens useful, but I think it may be a poor choice for architecture.

I actually have one of these (they are rare when compared to the 360mm version). Unfortunately, I haven't used it enough to have a definite opinion on it. It seems as contrasty as my other lenses, but they are all uncoated, so take that for what it is worth. I intend to use this lens mostly for portraits, so sharpness isn't a big issue. I bought this lens at the same estate auction as my Linhof, so it was a fair deal at the time.

 

As someone else has asked, what do you intend to do with this lens? If you are shooting lanscapes and your camera can handle a 300mm non-telephoto lens, you might consider getting one of the small, coated 300mm lenses available.

I'm glad Steve has already posted with a link to his web site, so I don't have to look it up. These adapters are the first thing that came to my mind for this situation. I had Steve make a filter adapter/lens hood to adapt 52mm filters to the tiny Optar 101mm of my Century Graphic. (I have 52mm and 58mm filters from my 35mm equipment.) I have been quite pleased with the result.

I have the Bogen 3021N, and it also allows the center column to be removed. There is an adapter on the bottom of the column that can be removed and used to replace the column for the direct mounting of a head. This also allows you to use the column "upside down" which would allow for shot *really* close to the ground.

I was one of the three at TurkeyRun/Shades -- I live in Indianapolis. It looks like there is going to be a return trip there on Oct. 12-13. It is being "planned" on the Usenet newsgroup rec.photo.equipment.large-format. If you want to check it out, the current subject line is "LF Illinois, Indiana, Michigan".