dave schlick

im sure youll get a lot of professional anweres to your question but ive got some obvious solutions that may or may not help you in your ventures.. in our museum there was a display about a tree photographer that roamed the west in the 1800's taking pictures of the tall trees.. he had a ladder that i wouldnt even get 1/4 the way up on.. the problem with the 90 is that almost half the picture is of the ground(when you dont have a lot of movement.. so move the camera up...there also was a picture of maybe ansil adams car, i cant rememeber exactly who.. .. it was hilarious, it was if i remember right, a woodie with a platform on top for getting higher when taking photos.. so it works.. next is super obvoise, and that is move back.. sorry if this is too simplistic for your question..just trying to help.. good luck dave..... ..

there are some lessons here.. i have 148 positives (no negs or neutrals) and buy alot of gems, cowboy hats, rings etc for my pawn shop.. ..i consider myself a professional buyer.. alot of the buys i make on gems are wrong and or fake.. i dont worry a bout it..buisiness is a game of odds... if its a big purchase make a form letter and send it to 10 buyers that purchased from him recently that did not leave a responce.. if they are hot they will respond.. its against ebay rules and can get you in trouble... if the shipping is low enough to return it i do. dont buy from high shipping rate areas unless you have delt several times with small sales from the dealer and have total confidence in him.. dont leave neg feadback.. it will come back to haunt you.. if they have 99 percent they will almost always take a return.. go back and read negative feedbacks on thier record.. then read the negative feedbacks on the complainers record .. this will give you the real scoop of what kind of dealer your working with..if they get snippy on the feed back for any reason or are unprofessional about thier answeres dont deal with them.. dont buy unless you can return two and still come out happy with a good third purchase.. .. i returned 3 or four lenses to get three good c330 lenses for my mamiya. . dont worry about returning, let them have it back.. consider it a cost of your purchase.. always add the return shipping to your price you are paying , ask the seller if you can return it if your not satisfied,

before you buy and you will be ok.. .. costs can be 2 to four times as high at the local store..i can double or tripple costs of most goods purchased on ebay, if im carefull of what i buy. cameras excluded, its a tough market and sellers dont know if what they have is good or bad. they look nice they must be mint!!!.. good luck dave.

did you consider using postives? slides can be viewed directy with a light box and 10x loop. it will save you a mint and you will be surprised how you can put yourself at the scene of the shot if you slowly look over the positive.. i like velvea and can get lost when looking at flowers, bark on a tree, water and rocks in a stream etc.. it can be like your there.. somthing ive never seen in a print.. get glacine covers or put them in a plastic back so you dont scatch your slide......im guessing that a box of velvia ready loads, some good shots, a light box and a loop will blow your sox off. dave..

actual resolution tests can be viewd on this photography site.. go to large format lens tests.. they are individual lens tests and do not show a group from each of lense type .. http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/ .it should sort out the real sharpness of most popular lenses.......you will see that resolution is manufactured into the lenses and as new lenses and more modern mfg processes have come about quality lenses have become more financially available.. be sure to look at the hassalblad ziess lenses in medium format for comparison.. for what youve asked i would point to the nikon as shown a very fine lens on this web site... but like a rifle if you own the most accurate rifle in the world but cant shoot it strait, its still inaccurate.. the tripod with solid camera is very important here, getting the focus/apeture/ correct, a perpendicular(square) lens board to keep edges sharp ,picking low haz/polution days,, etc etc. we went to yellowstone last year and there were alot of forest fires.. im still not sure if i did a lousey job or got bit by the smoke on some of the shots.. .. good luck dave..

readyload/quick load if you do not like dust spots on your negs. then you can do 40 shots in a day.. but it will COST YOU.. start with the 2 and call it good for a while untill you v found a good lab, the right kind of film, before you start shooting up the neighborhood.. its expensive and you dont need a lot of duplicates of your mistakes.. my opinion only.. 4x5 is not about taking a bunch of shots , its about taking one GOOD shot.. if you get one good 4x5 a year youl be ahead of a lot of photograpers.. (Most dont shoot 4x5,,, hahaah..) thats to tonedown the hecklers.. realistically get some good shots.. ive driven to on spot across town to a parking lot to take a shot of the cathedral in my town many times.... it had to be at the right itme of day, the right time of year and i wanted no cars in the parking lot.. i finally got my shot.. but to me if you want a good shot youl have to work at it not wasee alot of film.... i think 4 shots will be fine for a while.. dave..

two bits of trivia to add that may not mesh totally here, but also points in quality of enlarging.. some photo enlargers will take a 4x5 posotive and make a 35 mm interneg then make your print.. some printers will think its not important to let you know this.. one guy did this for a nice 6x6 of mine and said my positive was fuzzy.. one company out here that does quality digital reading and printing warned me that the inks they used were condusive to landscapes, not protraits.. something to do with the base colores of the inks that one works best for skin and the other works best for the greens or somesuch.. so in the beginnings of getting prints for your hard earned negs/posotives we need to throw in some variables like a differnt printing company or paper negatives etc, in the mix to get the results we want.. sorry if this is too far off track.. dave...

i got a crown graphic years ago with original lens for around 225. i still have it and like it alot.. later i got a good 135 rodenstock symer s i believe its called.. it takes outstanding pictures.. as a friend of mine once said you give a good photograper some film and a cardboard box hell take good pictures.. that being said the most important part of any camera system is the lens.. or hole in the box (:<> ... my opinion only.. dave..

in the 70's i called canon about a bubble in my lens.. they knew how to handle this kind of problem.. they said take a picture, get it printed, and circle the problem area with a marker where it shows.. i still have the lens and camera, works fine.. .. on your lense they didnt notice it becouse you told them to work on focus.. if you send it to a good teck and have him clean it he w ould be able to tell you what it is.. i bought a schnieder a couple years ago used and the owner said hed clean it.. when i got it it was bad on the edges.. my lens shop in bozeman mt said it was probably sepparation that could get worse but hed see what he could do.. when i got it back he said i was probably fingerprints and it was nice and clean.. i was lucky... if it was sepparation i would have sold the lens before it got worse.. separation is not the end of the world, and may not be of any consequence also.. but there should be no problem on the film side of the lens.. if you send it to a second shop and the white stuff cleans off id send the original company the bill.. they wont pay it but it would let them know what you think of thier workmanship my opinion only.. dave..

the lighter the system you go with the more wobble,shake and fuzzines possible in the final product.. the bigger, heavier the system you get the harder to pack,store, and the more of a crowd youll gather, so thiers no free lunch.. make sure theres a good accurate level in both axis on your system somewhere..i use a crown graphic with 135 5.6 rodenstock symmer s, and just got a 90 mm single coated schnieder.. all goes into a lowenpro bag with meter, film, and my choice of kodack ready load back, 405 polaroid back or lynhoff 6x9 back.depending on what im doing.. start downloading or looking for bellows compensation, and hyperfocal dystance tables.. first book, the camera by ansel adams.. most lybrarys have it.. good luck dave..

the camera was finished when it was made with some kind of varnish i would guess.. it gets a little tricky here and you may need some profesional help from a antique refinisher from here.. if all the parts of the wood are finished well inside and out, and you arnt seeing cracking or peeling the finish is good and sticking.. this is extreemly important in keeping the wood from changeing very fast or as much as it could with out finish.. if the camera has parts that are unfinished or it is coming off for some reason it should be properly recoated with a good quality thin finish that is water and humidity resistent.. this is a tough choice also, as varnish is thick, tung oil wont resist water like varnish.. i would lean towards a tung oil varnish like formbys. this was a thinner(probably mineral spirits, tung oil, varnish mix.. you could put it on with foam brushh and rub it in with your hands so it warms the wood a little.. and take all excess off so it is a thin coating..when it cools the finish is drawn into the poors and joints.. a couple coats will protect your camera (wood) very well in and out doors and thru the seasons.. . ... if it is in good shape i woulnt worry about the wood so much.. the lens is very important as noted above to keep fungus from ruining it.. good luck dave.

you mentioned that you may want to shoot with a wide angel lense for the 6x9.. i struggled with this for some time and fianlly got a 90mm.. well thats just barely normal with 6x9! i like the rodenstock 55 for 4x5 wide angle but havnt come up with the money to make the plunge yet.. when i shot 35 mm,the wide angel shots i took were few and far between, so its not that prevelent (for me). unlesse you really love wide angel.. but consider this, when you want a wide angel shot carry a couple extra flim holders in 4x5 along with that 6x9 back.. .. it will be very wide with the 90, and youl have the density that wide witch 6x9 does not.. the bigest problem with wide angles is that you have smaller subjects, more of them but smaller..to me it seems to loose detail or something.. the 4x5 film holders cost less, are less suseptable to dameage,lighter,than an expensive 4x5 wide angel lens, and for the cost of the lens you would have to pay, in the long run would be cheaper, unless you shoot a lot of 6x9 wide angle. even then i would be tempted to go to 6x12 with a 90 instead of 6x9 with wider angle.. isnt the reason your getting the 4x5 is for larger blow ups?? better density per print size compared to medium format..?. i would try the 90( with g00d quality modern lens)with 4x5 and i think youll be very impressed. i like 6x9 with 135 becouse its inexpensive, but for cost of a third lens, a few 4x5s here and there arnt a problem.. good luck.. dave..

find a camera shop in your area that has polaroid film to fit your holder and a salesman that knows how to use it in your camera.. take it all down there and take a picture with his help.. then buy a pack of film and pull out a sheet in the darkroom or darkbag and load it, over and over until you get the hang of it.. start win open light and then regress into the darkrness.. when you want dustless shots get a readyload insert and readyload film for that perfect shot..but id start off wit sheets of black and white.. when the you get decent black and white shots, color will look great.. good luck dave...

i dont know how to look at your work as i cant find it but i do know about artists and buisiness.. there are basically two kinds of artists.. (of course no one likes to be put in a clasification and they are never compleetly correct).. one type of artist makes art or photos, carvings etc for money and does what pays best and re-copies art that sells, or does work for hire.. the other kind of artist does what he likes and doesnt care if it sells, or if anyone likes it, and usually is not makeing alot of money..but this kind of artist usually makes the most if he does get on top... from a buisiness point of view you should have a huge portfolio of available negatives that can be printed for your customers that you seek out thru various means,, that you carfully cultivate into repeating buisiness.. you can buy prortfilos from widows and estates that are clearly marked not yours with the artists name for your money paying customers and of course fill in empty spots withyour own work that will keep cutomers from going elsewere.. then you can do your own thing and have some money to do it.. youl probably get some great shots filling in your portfolio tho. , ... i run a small buisiness and am constantly amazed how different my competition is in how they run thier buisiness.. to a great extent your cusomers will lead you the way to profits.. if you want greater profits i would have a large selection or varitey, and go by what sells not what others say.. if you want fine art i cant help you there.. my son is 17 and designs my store windows and gets plenty of compliments.. never had a days training.. he was good at art in school tho.. just kind of had a knack for what looks good.. artists are born not made, but they have to cultivate it with expereince, trial and eror.. .. if an artist does what others say he should do, he will be lost in the confusion.... you will have to follow your heart to do original art..... good luck.. dave..

thanks Robert i needed that burst of color to remind me to get my act together for a glacer trip this summer with the boys.. some like saturated some like ..... what else is there? dave

i agree with pat.. i use a crown with a modern multicoated lens and it will take nice photos (usually) that are crowd pleasers..most photographers have never seen a 4x5 slide..i like to keep box level and use front tilts shifts etc, and it does ok for me.. good luck dave...

ive been searching, searching,searching for a decent condition

decent priced high quality type used (old school) nikon or cannon

manual camera to replace my cannon a1 when its electronic mother

board dies... . today i was looking in my used camera case and i have

two k1000 for the school kids... one in 98+ percent condition with

the 50 mm 1.2 lens.. i thought for a minute why am i looking for

these other cameras when i have this one here.. from your experiences

will i be dissapointed? thanks dave.

the crown comes with a set of stops that you can pull the lens out to and set exactly at that point on the rails ..you can buy extra stops. then there is a scale that you can set the focus distance whithin that stop range. , with a little homework you will be able to set up a particualar repeatable focal length to about 1/32 of an inch or so depending on how good you are at this type of stuff, with a camera in good shape. id guess this camera would work well for you.. i have one, and for the money its a great camera when the lens is replaced with something like a rodenstock apo 135 sirornar s. ..of course there are olot of other great lenses,or pinholes in your case.... dave.

im using the 90 f8 super angulon.. it needed a 100 cleaning even tho the seller said it was perfect.. its great but after reading some on it and looking at the specs i would prefere the nikon. i have trouble focusing on little lite shots.. its my eyes. even a loop wont help alot when i had no troubels 5 years ago.. . i wonder if the optics of the 4.5 90 nikon are as good as the specs on the f8 90 nikon? but anyway ill use the sa for a goodwhile and then sell it and be able to move up a rung one day not haveing to take on the entire expence of the nikon at one time....

coppying photos that dont last as long as the originals can be a real dissapiontment.. look at some color high school graduation photos to see what i mean.. if there out in a lighted area since the 60s it obvoise they wont last 100 years.. the cheaper processes that some are using will last less.. so if you wish shoot some silver proccess black and white shots along with the coppies while your doing them it shouldnt take much more time once your set up, and youl be putting some time on your family photos.. good luck dave..

i second walts opinion, i put a variflash on my 283 and its been a dependabble power house for non pro work..add a couple more on stands to get real nice.. .. to hand hold youl need to mount a flash shoe or some kind of base on your camera.. then you can get a good flashmeter. we get home late after hunting some nights and take shots in the pitch dark and with a flash meter get perfect exposure every time where the meter is held..when its that dark its kind of one dimentional tho.. i think that youl have depth of field that your looking for optically sometimes not even lighting in depth unless there is some outside light.(on dark lighted shots. .. closer white objecta may wash out and further black objects can fade out before your depth of field goes if you get too powerfull of one directional same possitioned lighting. there will be middle ground there that you can work with.. its all in trial and error, itll be the fun part, shooting all that film.. good luck.. dave..

a developer didnt use enough time/ fresh devloper in one of my best velvia shots i ever took.. it came out with a yellow/darkish cast.. may help?, maybe.. dave.

you will need a polaroid back to shoot polaroid.. look for a black and white developer around your area and get some tmax 100 and have him make contact prints for starters they will be cheapest probably at four to a page.. black and white film and the develper should be a huge help for you to learn the ins and outs of quality photography..once you can shoot good black and white shots color is easy as falling off a log .. after you get the hang of it get some velvia and a light box. you did say scenics?. first thing you need to learn is how to keep dust off the negs.. the only way to keep them perfectly dustless is to get ready loads and a holder for those..it will be a leaning process and none of its cheap, but the results can be staggering on a good shot.. good luck dave..

i think the second lense would be a 90. also the 210 i have is huge and the difference between 150 and 210 sometimes can be made up in the lab.. i guess it depends on what your doing in the swamp... sometimes you can get closer but not maybe in a swamp.. it seems your getting by cheap for those prices anyway.. dave

backs actually vary as to thier format lenght as they roll thru the camera. as the roll gets larger it pulls the film more crowding the shots on one end.. my 6x9 graphlex does it and my 6x9 lynhoff does it.. you really have to be on your toes to not get double exposures and the like. use diffeent lenses to compensate for this.. so getting tecknical about size doesnt mean much. different film complanies make it more difficult trying to figure which exact place to start. when you get several different backs with several films makes one tends to pull his hair out by comming short on a shot at the end of the roll etc.. but the rise fall tilt etc,adjustmets are fantastic.. the cost is wonderful, and you can open a stop, close a stop for exposure controle without loosing the farm.. i think 6x9 is the best all around back for cost, usefullness etc.. have your developer make prints from the center of the shot and pick the ones you want to enlarge from there.. better yet use velvia and light box and you dont need to get prints for the first go round.. good luck dave.

i bought a crown graphic with two lenses for my first camera years ago forabout 225 dollars.. it needed a 135 rodensstock simmar s about 700 dollars, and its in a small bag ready to carry now with a 90 mm super angulon, readyload back and notebook, meter, flash cablerelease and other small assundries..the film goes in a cooler.. very nice set up, and not as huge. as my calumet 4x5 rail camera that is for sale.. its for all around general photography, a lot of situations do call for the full sized 4x5 rail camera, but scenics usually for me, is not one of them.. if you go to glacer park in an average sized car youl have to leave the kids home with the bigger cameras.. dave..