jeffrey_scott

I have to go along with Paul Owen's recommendation for the Ebony 45SU. I bought one earlier this year and except for it's somewhat limited bellows extension, it does offer the most desireable features in one camera. I can use a very wide range of lenses on it and the movements are very flexible and more than any normal person would need. It is compact and sets up rapidly, plus the rear asymmetrical tilt and shift are very addictive; they make getting a shot in focus quickly. I use lenses ranging from a 58XL SA to a 305 G-Claron with no problems. It can go down to a 35mm or take a 500 tele lens. Ebony uses materials to build the camera that should easily last a lifetime and more.

I agree about the sharpness with tele lenses. I tried out a Nikkor 500T and was not impressed.

With the 240mm lens you would have about 37mm of bellows draw which could get you to around 0.15 life size on the groud glass (the flange focal length [FFL] for the Fuji 240 is 237.9mm to be precise, from my Fuji literature, which is fairly extensive, by the way). I do not know the formula for figuring out how close that actually get you to the subject, but I'm sure someone here does have that info. Personally I think the Fuji 240 lens would be a good choice or the 240 Schneider G-Claron is also an excellent lens to consider, I have one and it is great. It's FFL is 234.6mm so you can actually get somewhat closer yet although it is a pretty minimal difference. Using the Ebony lens extensions would be a viable way to extend the close range capability with a minimal weight penalty. Your lens choices would also be a good spread going 65/105/150/240. You can even go wider to perhaps a 58mmXL or 47mmXL lens. Wouldn't that be cool! However, a recessed lensboard would be in order for those lenses to give you sufficient movement.

I remember at a workshop once that Ray McSavaney had used a pencil in front of the lens to dodge a tree during an exposure!

I have the same drum as well as a couple of 3010 drums. I always use around 800-900 ml to ensure complete coverage. Unfortunately Jobo is very optimistic when it comes to chemical quantities. When you do use sufficient chemistry you will find that the negs will be very even and consistent in quality.

You may be interested in checking out the book " William Henry Jackson - Framing The Frontier" by Douglas Waitley. Great book and the photo in question along with many other great images are in it. The caption for the photo is "William Henry Jackson atop Glacier Point in Yosemite Valley, California" - Courtesy Colorado Historical Society. The book is a fascinating biography on the phtographer that is a must read!

Give Hoffman a call at 631/694-4470; they are indeed in business and they can send you info on all of their products.

Isn't it a shame that many people diss this brand without trying one. What it does, outweights it's one potentially negative point - weight. But even that isn't so bad and actually is neccesary for good stability with heavy cameras. In fact it is lighter than many other tripods out there especially the Z VI types in use, which are a PITA because the legs do not lock well and those spikes are just too large and heavy, not elegant and well designed as the ones on Ries tripods; come to think of it, the Z VI tripods are pretty basic and not at all elegant in design.

Regarding the "big boys", I had been involved in that industry while living in L.A. and yes they all used their Spectra meters but 99% of the time they had full control of the lighting so your point is only somewhat valid. I have gone out with a friend with my spotmeter and his incident meter and he and I never agreed on an exposure.

Those marks are from the clips used with a dip and dunk processor, they are normal but make sure your lab doesn't get sloppy. I've had scratches from these clips that went significantly into the image. To minimize this leave sufficient space around the edges, do not compose all the way out to the edges of the groundglass.

Give Hoffman a call at 631/694-4470; they are indeed in business and they can send you info on all of their products.

I used to have a 180mm as my normal lens but after a couple of years I decided the good old 150mm suited me better as I wanted a little more in my negs and if I wanted to I could crop a bit when printing. As to a tripod I have a Ries J100 with the Ries J250 head, a little heavy perhaps but I have hiked for several miles at a time with it and it really ins't all that bad. But once I put it down and set up my camera I am very glad I did carry it; it is the most rock solid tripod I have ever used throughout the years, plus having individual control over the tilts and pans and side to side leveling is important, why use a precision camera that is fully adjustable and not have the same ability on the tripod? Would you want one control that unlocked all the movements on your Arca Swiss at once? Ditto for the tripod head. Of course if precision in composing is not that important and speedy set up is than a ballhead would be okay. I have used several ballheads over the years and personally found them unsuitable for LF work because I like the ability to fine tune my camera positioning with the movements on the head. I also have a Gitzo 224 with a Bogen 3029 pan-tilt head that I occasionally use for travel purposes and that works just fine; it is not as stable as the Ries but it gets the job done when neccessary, plus it is about half the weight of the Ries. However 99% of the time I use the Ries; the J250 double tilt head is the finest head made for LF photography but it really works best on a Ries tripod because of the way it attaches to the tripod. As far as carbon fiber is concerned, didn't Jack Dykinga mention in his book the lack of stability of his CF tripod in windy conditions? The Ries has withstood very windy conditions along the California coastline with nary a trace of image blur! I must say though that the Ries would be unsuitable for the Nikon but most other typical tripods will be better suited for that, including the Gitzo/Bogen combo I have which I use for any smaller format I shoot with.

Both of these cameras have limited utility because of the lack of movements or limited movements in the case of the Cambo. You are also limited in your choice of lenses. I would imagine that part of the reason for venturing into LF is for the corrective capabilities of the genre. If you are seeking something compact that has a more complete range of usefulness you might consider some of the very fine cameras from Ebony, specifically there non-folding range of cameras. There are other brands to consider and I know you will hear from others with their contribution to this query. Spend the time digesting all this info and choose wisely for your needs.

I have encountered the same problem with the Rodenstock lens. I now have a Schneider 90/8 that works better because it's flange focal distance is longer than the Rodenstock by around 10mm; you will still need the recessed lensboard however and you should also drop the bed to the second notch, push back the upper track to the rear-most position and tilt the front standard back to parallel with the groundglass.

Welcome to the "best damned tripod in the world", not to paraphrase some one for a change. I have had my J100 with J250 head for about 12 years now and I never leave home without it!

It has been quite a while since I used my 2521 tank for inversion agitation but I beleive I used about 1400 ml of chemistry. Somehow I get the impression that the double reel tank may be a bit large to do inversion agitaion very well.

If you are still interested in mail order processing, I run a custom b&w lab in Cleveland, Ohio - Labwork - that does custom processing and printing. Check out our ads in B&W Magazine, or call us at 216/621-7567. We do fiber base and RC printing in sizes up to 20x24 and film up to 11x14.

Most 4x5 sheet films do not have any edge markings so that would not be an indicator of proper development. I agree with the others that you fixed the film first, because even if you needed to develop for 11 minutes and you only gave 6 minutes there should definitely be an image, just a bit flat in contrast.

I Agree that the Bogen hex plate system works just fine. I have been using this system for about 18 years with no failures plus it is very quick and I can rotate the camera 180 degrees when needed, something many other quick releases do not allow. The AS release is nice but you do have to turn the knob a lot and you must make sure it is good and tight especially if the camera is tilted up or down on the tripod.

Not true, but we will leave that for another century!

Brian,

 

Why is that you have unfortunately needed the services of Marflex repeatedly?

For the last several years I have been using Jobo Expert Drums to process film in sizes from 4x5 to 8x10, with a Beseler Motor Base, with excellent results. I make sure I have about a liter of chemistry in the tank to ensure even development. It may be more expensive than going to the hardware store and jury rigging various means for processing film but the results are well worth the extra expense. Besides, it is a one time purchase that down the road you will be saying "How did I manage to do without this thing!?"

Using filters on the back is fine but you must do your focusing with them mounted since they affect the focus when installed on the back of the lens. This could prove troublesome with some of the darker filters, plus I do not believe polarizers will work on the back of lenses, they must be in front of the lens to work properly.

By the way I routinely use anywhere from f32-f128 as needed. I rarely go wider unless I really need the extra shutter speed.

I wouldn't worry about diffraction too much unless you are making really large prints. It is very easy to get carried away with sharpness, too many folks go nuts worrying about such things. Make beautiful images and sleep well at night not thinking about whether this or that lens is sharper than the one you do not have or if you should limit your f-stops because of sharpness issues. By not having enough DOF you might in the end sacrifice having what you need in focus in the image; many times I have stopped down to f90 to get the image I want and unless I am making very large prints they are just fine.