jim_rhoades

You can still buy a new Schneider Xenar 210mm f6.1. But for very light nothing can beat a Ektar 203 f7.7 in a Epsilson shutter. These can be remounted in any #0 just by screwing it in.

I use three lenses for my CG. A 135mm Schneider that the camera is cammed for. A 90mm Optar and a 203mm Ektar. The ektar is a wonderful lens BTW. I use two extra infinty stops for 90 & 203. I find it very fast to focus then with the GG. I have the top rangefinder. I like having the split beam focusing for working in the dark. Doing night scenes of outdoors and buildings with the rangefinder and sportsfinder will show you what L/F speed work is all about.

 

Please learn to use the bed drop then front rise, forward tilt. A lot of misguided souls wreck their SG,CG by chopping them up with files and hacksaws attempting to get front tilt thats already there. There's a touch of shift built in too. Don't expect much movement because the light small Graphic lenses don't have much coverage anyway. (Except the 203) It's a great camera, good luck.

Boy, Texas State will sure be bummed when they figure out old AA sandwiched it in during an all night darkroom session.

Not to be missed is the Great Sand Dunes Nat'l Park. You will be so close.

Nick; Mr. Baznik is the only one with a, take it to the bank, honest answer. Not only will the D-20 be dead and gone but so will what ever it wrote on. BTW I have some 8-track tapes for sale.

Interesting. "Struggling to have camera's standards aligned prior to shoot..." A wood field camera with a very heavy lens or crunched up with a wide angle or cranked all the way out will have problems keeping the standards aligned. You have to tighten them down alot more under these conditions. This is a good reason to have bag bellows for a wide, less stress on the standards. You can buy a gear driven technical camera or a high end monorail. The cost will be five to ten times that of the Shen Hao. This is the reason there are Linhof's, Sinar, Arca-Swiss etc. You get what you pay for. $600. vs. $6,000.

What H.C. and Jeff did not say is that your "small speed" might be a 31/4x41/4 known as a 3x4. Hard to find film for. Everything you need to know can be found at Graflex.org. Please learn to use the drop bed and lens tilts. Do not chop up your camera with a hacksaw because somebody knows a shortcut to forward tilt. Those articles telling you how to reverse the front stage for easy tilt are by hack writers that never learned what a Speed or Crown Graphic can really do.

Another "rule" of photography is to shoot in the golden light. Early or late. E.W. sure did shoot a lot of famous nudes on dunes and rooftops at noon.

One other thought. If you find a Ektar 203 in a Epsilon shutter(370 mount,It says so on the lens). This can be direct screw mounted in a new #0 shutter. My Epsilon works fine and is lighter than air. They are tin-cheap looking though. It's a great back packing set-up.

Steve, I have used the Germinar on 4x5 and 5x7 so far. As Donald says it's as sharp as anything. I'm glad to hear that it has good coverage as it's going on my 8x10 next week. I would rank it with my 300M in quality. The weight and size saving is wonderful. It's also the biggest non-tele that I can fit on my Horseman HD.

 

Justin, the suggestion of a Xenar is a good one depending on the coverage you need. I use a f/5.6 Xenar in 150mm. for packing on a small 4x5. Weights about the same as a Claron and much brighter. Way cheaper than the others too.

Steve wacked the nail on the head. I would stay with the Fuji. I use a 240 f/5.6 Schneider and a 240 f/9 Docter Optic Germinar. The Schneider stays within a 100 feet of the Jeep. In fact it's not even packed much anymore. The question to you is, how do you get into your landscape?

Avi,

An awful lot of good color work has been shot with the 203 over the years. Some might say that you "must" have a $1800. APO XLH Quadruple coated lens to shoot color. Bull. If your prints depend on an expensive lens your not shooting and printing enough.

 

I bought my 203 in person so I knew what I was getting. If a seller on e-bay is willing to admit "cleaning marks" He is very honest (rare) or very crooked. Check the feedback carefully. How much photo equipment does he sell? Is it from an "estate" sale? Selling for a friend? Then run. Start keeping a list of the major photo dealers that start bidding too high, then only sell as is. Give wrong info on a lens coverage etc. If they don't know the lens will do for the other guy, then they will screw you too.

I have the 612 PC II, with the 65mm and 135mm lens. Can it be hand held? Yes. Would I ever do it? No. The idea of using all that film is to get a really sharp photograph. That means a tripod. Use your Xpan for street work. The negatives this camera produces are wonderful. I strongly diagree about the viewfinder. Mine developed haze and a touch of fungus while the lenses are pristine Jim from Midwest said that it was a commen problem with the Linhof. H P Marketing says no such thing. Nope, never happen. I dropped my finder off at Marflex for repair. Next thing I know it's in Germany. I did get it back in three months in quite nice condition.

 

If you like the format the camera is very well made. The finder...

When the sale is made the service is over. I have a 50 year old finder from a graphic. It's perfect. I would expect no less from a $1,200. dollar finder.

 

Oh, and the 65mm lens is no longer made, nor is the finder.

While I love my Xenar lenses, remember there will not be much coverage with the 150. Only testing will tell you how far to push it. The sharpness falls off faster than the light. Back movement will be better than front. For your typical landscape, wonderful. Good light, happy shooting.

If that's the one being sold on e-bay by camera$ it was remounted with the wrong scale. I asked them over a month ago to price it knowing that it would need S-K's work. They said, what you see is what you get. I would love to have that lens for my 5x7. But I crossed them off my list of who I would buy from.

The blocks of wood are to keep spring tension on the battery door. If you remove the wood, without batteries, the door will fall off and be lost forever.

 

The bubbles are a sign of good glass. It's a dinosaur thing.

I just checked my Schneider convertible. Using the rear element it's about 12 3/4 inchs from GG to flange. Too long for a CG. If you use the front element it's just over 7 inches. The CG has very little movement so you would be no where mear the edges, that's where it would go a bit soft. Use a yellow, orange or red filter and check for focus shift as you stop down. If you do this you can make photo's that will knock the pants off anything the lens snobs shoot.

 

Weston and Adams used convertibles. It's the photographer not the equipment.

In NYC, Lens & Repro. They are high price.

After reading your snide comments on the other forum about the President, I think I will partake in censorship and erase Domenico.

I'll bet that your Goerz is in better shape than the $5.oo RR that Eddie Weston used and made himself famous.

Film company reps are nothing more than civilian politicians. In a room full of large format photographers they will say film is here to stay. We are investing in new film, coating, production and oh yeah, Tri-X in readyloads in 4x5 and yeah, yeah, 5x7 too.

 

Then it's back to Rochester, Japan or England and it's cut, slash and burn.

 

It's up to the little guy with the mail-order business that will keep film and paper alive.

The 360/620 is one of the few Schneider convertibles that I don't have and wish I did. IMHO if it was ever weak in color saturation in the '60's it was because of the film not the lens. The film of today carries a lot more saturation than 40 years ago. As a 360 it was state of the art. While converted it was not as good, it can be helped along with a yellow or orange filter in B&W.

 

Now while I contact print my 8x10's. Some say that a converted, convertible is go good for enlarging. If that is so, go tell Ansel Adams, who made many of his most famous photographs with converted lenses. Many of these prints were made 20-30 years before Schneider made their Symmars. He was not known for making dinky enlargements either.

 

I too use the 240/420. As a 420 it produces wonderful negatives.

 

Go forth and make beautiful prints with both the 360 and 620. If any lens snob tells you that you can't make sharp prints with the 620, show them. Then demand to see theirs.

 

I hear this crap all the time at various workshops. The guy with a bag full of $1,500. lenses telling you how they are the best. Maybe so, but how come they never show any prints?

Yes, The Maine workshops are expensive. They are also very well organized and the food is top notch. With luck there will be different programs each night at the Union Hall in town. You may learn more from the slide shows of the visiting photographers/teachers than the course your signed up for.

 

Up at 5AM to catch the morning light, Union Hall programs until 9:30 or 10PM. But wait, there's more. Then it's off to Camden to tell war stories on the deck of a waterfront bar. Complete with rats running across the deck. Not to worry, this is Camden, they are very high class rats.

 

Go very well rested. You will burn the candle at both ends. Last year I was there after a grueling cross country motorcycle trip. I was totally wasted and did not have near as good a time as I have in the past.

Oh, and don't even think of driving into Maine on a Saturday morning/afternoon. Sometimes the N.H. turnpike is backed up for 10 miles at the tolls.

With so little movement available I would wonder why? You all ready have a viewfinder, sportsfinder and the groundglass. If you really need a reflex viewer, save it for another camera.

To add to the confusion I find that what's "normal" can also depend on what 4x5 you are using. To wit: When using my 4x5 Crown Graphic I carry 90-135-203 lenses. Because the Graphic has such limited movements I tend to use the 135 as a standard lens. I use the rangefinder or sports finder and allow for some cropping. You need the wider lens to help prevent converging lines. It's made for fast shooting.

 

With the 4x5 wood field camera I have a choice of 90-150-190-210-240-300. Because I'm shooting much slower I compose tighter and with all the movements I find my "normal" lens is the 210. If my 190 was coated it would be my most used lens.

 

The saying "horse's for course's" can apply to photography too.

 

The advise to try out a El-Cheapo 135 Optar to see what you like is good but don't blame anyone if you don't like it.