Sandeha Lynch

Of course, Lester - leaving a quick message on the bulletin board for other canines. Just couldn't work out which kind of terrier he is - Welsh, maybe.

If you can bear with the appalling title, "How to look at Photographs" by David Finn (1994, Abrams) gives an interesting perspective on the 'art'.

Well, if you haven't already done so, I guess the only thing is to look at the prices of s/h lenses at KEH. That's a final warning.

Thanks, Donald.

In another thread about "Haze" I mentioned that I used a slide projector for measuring, but I'm interested to hear about your scanning technique. What do you measure against, or by what calculation do you arrive at the actual size of the pinhole?

I guess the grain is a little strong on the polished enamel paint here, but in the others the colors have come out quite richly. Smart wheels.

I passed up on an Ensign blue box the other week - and seemingly in very clean condition. But the bloke wanted 4 quid for it and I'd just bought a Ful-Vue for 2. I guess I'm a bit fussy about cardboard things :)

The 124G is fine and totally on a par, but your choice, I'd say, should be down to condition - none of them will take good shots if the lens is badly blemished, the shutter's dying, or the focusing is out of sync. And you can only test the winder by putting a film through it. Good luck with whichever.

Congrats, Ian. And that has to be a fair price ... (I wonder who pushed the window in :)

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BTW, I took the one-piece shutter off the camera to clean the lens from both sides - it needed it.

Well, to throw one in here, having seen quite a few ancient Rolleiflexes and Cords with lenses in appalling condition, I was very glad to pick up a YashicaMat 124G at a giveaway price with two bits of pristine glass.<div></div>

On checking, I see it was only the Super Speed Graphic and Super Graphic, not the Crown, that have the full range of movements appropriate for table top work. The Pacemaker Crown doesn't have the tilt forward or swing. You can use the drop bed for a forward tilt, or turn the box sideways to swing one way but you can't do both - it's an either/or situation, which was the same limitation I had with the Speed. That may not bother you for now.

If it's mechanically sound, then that's it - you're gonna have fun.

<p> I know there's a whole lot to be said for getting a rise out of architecture, or hand-holding in the street, but for me, going upside down, and having selective focus by tilting and swinging completely changed my attitude to image making. <p>

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Not everybody's brew, and I don't know how much bellows extension you have on the Crown, but this was taken with a 4x5 and a very old 135mm lens.

It might be a functional "pancake" but black tape suggests a hack job somewhere along the line, so GG focusing may be off. Apart from the bellows, check for straightness and wear on the metal struts, and wear, smoothness, and tightness of the knob threads. You'll spend a lot of time with those knobs on the front standard so they need to be easy-loose and solid-firm. Ditto the rack and pinion. Being so boxy and functional, I never found much else to worry about in the basic kit.

Two years ago, I paid a total of $150 (including shipping) for a good 1955 Speed Graphic with a 128mm lens, bought here (on this site) on trust which worked out very well. But ... it needed care and attention, lens not original, etc, and mostly, by way of comparison, <b>it wasn't a Crown</b> and lacked the movements I really wanted. My point is only that $200 might be very fair, but condition is all. (The Speed later went off to a new home and I built my own.)

Worse than drugs, innit. You start off with a little point and shoot (probably a gift from some <i>kind</i> uncle) but nothing serious, and only on weekends. But it doesn't take long before you're hankering after a <i>real</i> camera, the sort of whizzgimcrackery 35mm that everybody else seems to have - everybody except <i>you</i>, that is. And you're fine with that, once you've got it, but then a <i>friend</i> shows you a chrome 6x6 and you know, deep inside, that you won't rest until you have that in your mitts as well. And of course as soon as you enter the fold of MF you start hearing rumours about some ultimate format with negatives as big as picture books ... quit while you're ahead, you might say, just say NO, because 4x5 is not the end of the line, not by a long way.

<p>My sympathies to your family (but can't wait to see your shots man.)

I bought some copper sheet from a craft shop after trying out foil baking tins because I realised that with use and abuse there was no way the foil would survive any damage. You can also get a firmer, and more importantly, a rounder hole by using a stiffer material. Copper is not as tough as brass, but still, it is rugged enough.<p>

One neat thing, IMO, is to cut the sheet to 35mm film size and slide it into a plastic slide holder. That gives you a solid and interchangeable unit if you're making your own pinhole camera boxes from scratch, but also it allows you to test the pinhole size by putting your pinhole 'slide' into a slide projector (damn near give-away on eBay these days).

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Knowing the exact size of the pinhole helps in selecting an appropriate pinhole for the focal length and with judging the exposure, but at the very least, you can quickly spot which holes are ragged (and bin those immediately) and go on to refine your drilling technique to get a variety of perfect circles.

Absolute magic, Gene. Well done - so uncertain, yet some of them you've pulled through as though the film were just a tad past the sell-by. The third shot, from the high castle walls, is very dramatic (perhaps one that Nicolas refers to as having a Capa look) while many of the others - the balcony shot, or the man strolling into the frame - suggest a photographer who knew what he or she was creating in those moments. Wonderful.

Beaches are a natural for this kind of thing. <p> <img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/1619185-lg.jpg"><p> Fuji Superior 100 (I think) through a Pentax 200mm.

Hey Glenn - didn't realise you were making a 4x5. Sounds great. Any work-in-progress shots yet? And curious to know what kinds of wood you're using ...

Much less rugged than your pro-spec camera, Jonathan, the lens system on my 'garden' camera (it's too small for a 'field' :) follows a similar pathway with interchangeable lenses. In this case I used a Prontor shutter from a 1950s 6x6 folder and obtained some new single diopter lenses from an optician who cut them to size. They just push into place. This shot used +6 diopter optical lens (focal length 175mm) and a Polaroid back. Lit with a softbox.

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The simple method I use for changing the glass means that I lose the original filter mount from the shutter, which is a loss! However, it also takes a 6x7 RFH so I might try some colour shots some time. Your step forward is a great advance.

Don't worry, it is a gorgeous little camera and the lens is pristine. I was joking about the conversion.

Sheldon, I wonder how much it's the camera and how much your way with the 400CN. These are so nice - I especially like the chair.

Heehee ... that has potential, and the steer looks interested. I had the same problem with a loose rolling on the Ful-Vue, but it took me by surprise. Fortunately I was in a very dim place, but I'll know better next time.

Ian, it's south Wales, and not far from where I bought the camera last week at a car-boot sale. Funny thing is, I was in Swansea Museum today looking at the Royal Photographic Society travelling exhibition, and they had an accompanying display of old cameras - including a badly beaten up Ful-Vue. Charity shops? ... well ... the asking price for mine was two quid - I didn't haggle.

In the car park<div></div>