david_bishop3

<p>David:<br>

You are likely to evolve your tastes in cameras as you shoot lots of film. However, your lenses should be a lifetime purchase if selected carefully. I suggest a new, inexpensive wooden field camera such as the Shen Hao, Tachihara or Chamonix. Probably not the last camera you will buy but you will be able to sell it for most of what you paid for it when you move on and you will move on.<br>

There is no perfect camera, they are all designed to different tastes and ways of working and until your tastes develop and mature it will not be possible for you to know what will matter to you. I have owned a number of the cameras mentioned above and they are all fine cameras and excellent photographers will swear by any of them. For instance, I now own an Ebony but would have likely made an expensive mistake if it had been the first camera I bought instead of the last. I started with a Toyo 45AII and have used many others before I decided on which Ebony I wanted and the one I picked was not the one I would have guessed five years earlier.<br>

However, lenses are another matter. If you pick well and wisely, your selection of lenses should last a lifetime. If you buy high quality lenses in new or good used condition from one of the major four (Nikon, Fuji, Rodenstock or Schneider) and are thoughtful in your selection of focal lengths, you should never outgrow them.<br>

The best advice I have ever heard on the subject is to leave plenty of money to shoot lots of film. That will make you a much better photographer than a more expensive camera and fewer shots.<br>

Good luck and have fun,<br>

Dave B.</p>

<p>A trick that sometimes works is to place a light in the field of view where you want the plane of sharp focus to be and then focus on it. An LED light works well. Or you can use any other bright, easy to see object such as a white water bottle, etc. A lot of times you are focusing at a hyperfocal distance not too far from the camera. Obviously you remove the item before you take the photo. This does not work very well with tilts dialed in. Shifts are OK.<br>

Most landscape photographers have a strong aversion to staging the photo, moving branches, adding rocks, etc. However, help in focusing is fair game to even the most compulsive of us. The picture you take is as you found it and saw it with your own eyes.</p>

<p>If you have Aero Ektar lenses in your camera, you should know that they are mildly radioactive. Might want to do a search and read about them. With care there is not too much to worry about but you should be aware of the issue.<br>

Dave B.</p>

"Is it wise to move up to 4X5?"

Short answer: No

Longer answer: Not wise but a lot of fun. We have all done it and so you can at least join a group of interesting photographic throw-backs.

Cheers,

Dave B.

You may want to try these folks. They advertise film for odd formats. I have not used them and so can't give a personal recomendation.

Cheers,

Dave B.

www.filmforclassics.com/

I second the Nikkor 300M suggestion. It is one of the sharpest lenses I own. Small, excellent color rendition and light. It is one of Kerry's future classics for a good reason.

Cheers,

Dave B.

Jim Galli has a technique of using a couple of darkslides that he moves rapidly across the shutter, similar to the way the focal plane shutter works for a Speed Graphic. Google it for more details and a picture of how it does it. He can get sub-second exposures with some consistency.

Good luck,

Dave B.