sandy_sorlien

God, what an annoying thread. Allow me to add to it. Terence, your name sounds Irish but single malt is not called scotch in Scotland, nor here in the US where we female 6x9-shooting, Honda Civic-driving photographers drink it -- it's whisky. Get with the program.

Jason, your analogy between camera format and vehicle size is brilliant. Thank you.

Everybody, I am shocked that LF photographers, who perhaps value the character of place more than normal humans, do not see the Satanic relationship between vehicle size and loss of the sense of place in America. Suburban sprawl, anyone? Requiring more acres of parking, higher parking garages, wider streets? Blocking sight lines on city sidewalks? Living in your car?

Don't even get me started on how dangerous those high & wide SUVs make driving for everyone, and how they increase congestion everywhere....

Off to pour a wee dram of Bowmore Darkest,

Sandy

Hi all,

Thank you so much for all the valuable answers so far. (Keep 'em coming.) I also have a hard time believing it would take more than a few minutes to correct keystoning digitally --- I suspect the "hours" were actually occupied with the printing of the final file...

Anyway, I do agree that it takes very little time on-site to correct with the view camera. I'm very fast at it, as I must be as I'm often in the middle of the street, illegally blocking a lane with my orange traffic cones! However, please note that my need for digital correction is mainly for my little digital point-and-shoot Olympus 2020 which I use for quick scouting shots, running all over town. To get these same shots with the view camera would take hours and hours of tripod & camera setup as the light changes irredeemably. They help me scout the BEST spots to set up the view camera. But later I find the scouting shots useful for posting to certain websites and listservs, and would like to correct them first.

I am curious whether anyone else agrees with Tony's assessment of Picture Window Pro as compared to Photoshop. (I have a Mac.)

Cheers,

Sandy

Graeme,

Thank you for your quick response! You are quite right, and I do have it on version 5. I never would have figured it out.....

Still curious about digital cameras with shift --- do they exist and are they worth it?

Sandy

Hello Michael,

I returned yesterday from 5 days of shooting in Vermont. Zero degrees, anyone? I had to keep running to the car to defrost my fingers.

I have an all-metal Arca Swiss FC69 Metric. In Bellows Falls at dawn, the usually smooth geared rise/fall controls stiffened up so bad I could barely budge them, although they did eventually get where I wanted them to go.

I had no problem with fogging or condensation that I could see. (Haven't developed film yet.) I use the reflex viewer, so no under-darkcloth heat is generated. I kept the film relatively cold, in the trunk of the car or in my jacket pocket. The camera was in the car so was somewhat warm before setting it up. After that it was outside for a couple of hours and got increasingly stiffer.

Still working on the best glove + mitten combo.

Thawing out here in PA,

Sandy

In a recent thread on architectural photography, someone mentioned

that you can correct keystoning and other distortion on buildings by

using Photoshop. My PS version 5 does not seem to have this

capability. What upgrade do I need for this ?

Also, are there any digital cameras with perspective controls in-

camera? How easy are they to use?

I use my pocket digital camera as a "sketchbook," walking around towns

before I set up my view camera. I would like to post some of these

quick shots on web pages but many of them need the correction.

(I do have Nikons with 2 shift lenses but processing and scanning film

would be far more tedious and expensive than going directly from

digital to computer.)

Cheers,

Sandy

In spite of my previous answer in favor of view cameras, I do occasionally need to correct keystoning distortion on snapshots done with my little digital, which I post on the web for screen viewing only. My question is, which version of Photoshop has this capability? I only have PS 5 and it doesn't seem to have it.

Thanks,

Sandy

I'm blowing 6x9 negs up to 30x40 (well, a bit smaller with borders) and I think they look damn good. Not razor-sharp, but gorgeous color, minimal grain, no loss of detail compared to 16x20s from same negative. I use a Horseman rollfim back on an Arca-Swiss FC69 view camera with Schneider lenses.

Cheers,

Sandy

I have a new strategy for shooting when there is not enough time for the view camera, and also when there is. I take the little digital Olympus 2020 and walk all around the area that attracts me, shooting like a mad 35mmer. These can be erased later, no cost. The act of photographing helps fix in my mind what views would be good for the "real" camera, and keeps me from being stodgy about it. Or, if the view camera is not with me and time is short, I just shoot the digital as scouting pictures and look at them later. If I still like the scene I can return another time.

One reason that drive-by scenes don't look the same when you stop is simply that in motion you can actually see more -- you can see through the trees as they move, for example. Sometimes I wish to be a filmmaker instead!

(Thanks Jim, nice to be back.)

Cheers,

Sandy

Oooh John, I could go on and on about this one. I'll try to keep it short.

For those of us who travel and explore a lot and consider ourselves alert and observant, it is exhausting to always be "on the lookout." While I have frequently spotted great subjects from the car and made some fine pictures as a result, it is almost always when I am on a dedicated "road trip" -- whether three weeks or a half-day --- and put myself in the frame of mind to take my time with any given subject. (I usually photograph houses and downtown streetscapes.) That means I am not stopping during my commute (well, I don't think I could make the bus driver stop and wait for me anyway) or on casual drives for other purposes. I need to clear my mind and schedule of distractions, and just GO SHOOTING. There is no cell phone on, there is no laptop, there is no companion, there is just me and the Arca and my hiking boots and music in the car for maximum joy.

Then if I have to take time to park and walk around, or talk with the house owner, or wait for the light to change or for cars to move from in front of buildings, I am not impatient. In fact this waiting time is useful because the intensity of the shooting trip is quite exhausting.

I once thought I could do the interviewing and writing for my books while also out there shooting, but soon realized that it drains too much energy from the photography. I do my writing after the trips are over, on another visit or by phone or email.

There are too many great pictures out there, yes under our noses, in our own neighborhoods. We must remember that we cannot make all of them, that there are thousands of other alert photographers out there making pictures. Each of us should realize what our passions and strengths are, and arrange our time to maximize the opportunity for those obsessions to produce amazing pictures.

I am happy today because on Thursday I will take off on one of these road trips, 6 days through Vermont. Point me to the distressed Main Streets, everybody!

Cheers,

Sandy

PS to James Norman,

My last challenge was not directed at you; I know you love structures. It was a rhetorical question to the community at large.

The large community.

The large format community.

Better sign off now.

Sandy

If you love buildings, you will want to spend as much time with them as possible. Either outside photographing them, or inside the buildings themselves photographing them. NOT in another room looking at a virtual image on a screen.

If you don't love buildings, why are you photographing them?

Sandy

Does the end justify the means? The last two posters put image quality issues in perspective (sorry) very well, but I would like to put forth the revolutionary concept that work done physically with the hands engages the brain in a different way than work done on a flat screen. Creatively, isn't it possible that the view camera work (of whatever format) which relates to the buildings on site, not after the fact, will produce a more sympathetic vision of the architecture? The more time spent outdoors with the real buildings the better. If you want to make pictures indoors of scenes that exist outdoors, you should be a painter.

Cheers from a former studio painter of architecture, now a photographer of architecture on location,

Sandy

Sorry about the confusing terminology in my last post. A "shift lens" is the same as a PC (perspective control) lens such as Nikkor makes in 28mm and 35mm focal lengths. Thus the little cameras are capable of shift, rise & fall. Essential for shooting architecture. If you do not have these expensive lenses or otherwise do not have any shift or rise on your hand-holdable camera of any format, simply stand on the Werner stepstool and you have rise! Only $34.

Cheers,

Sandy

I can't complain about the flatness in my Horseman 6x9 back (with Arca adapter). When I researched my purchase and settled on the 69FC, the consensus on this forum was that Horseman backs are flattest. Where I have unsharpness problems, it is usually either a funky enlarger lens (I sometimes print color at the school where I teach), or sloppy focusing on the ground glass by me. Now things are worked out and as I mentioned before they are going up to 30x40 equally sharp all over. I am not a sharpness freak, however; if I were I'd be using a much larger negative. In my experience photographs can be too sharp. I'm more interested in the impression of color and light on buildings, without any _distracting_ unsharpness. Or distracting sharpness!

Tip: If the film has been in the holder awhile, the next frame may not lie as flat as usual, but if you waste a shot (cheap with roll film, one reason we use it) and go to the next frame, it's more likely to lie flat. So I'm told.

Cheers,

Sandy

Yaakov,

I am ignoring the part of your question which implies you want something very small, How about something tall but lightweight? I tote around an aluminum Werner stepladder, the one that's 30" high with a blue plastic top. It costs about $34. It is an awesome "shift lens." Very stable. It is also a comfy seat to eat your lunch or wait for the sun to come out. You could tie it to your backpack.

Cheers,

Sandy

Eric,

I agree with Mike Kravit. (Hi Mike, I've been gone awhile...) I've had the Arca 6x9FC Metric for about a year and a half and I worship the ground its tripod stands on. I'm blowing these 6x9 negs up to 30x40 and they are gorgeous. The camera has all the movements needed for architecture yet the rail folds so that it will fit in the top part of a small Outpack with a lens attached. Quick to set up and use, smooth controls, and the bino viewer helps you feel safe (not hidden under a cloth) and compensates for your middle-aged eyes. (Well, mine.) I use a 47XL, 80SS and 65SA. You just need a 7mm rceessed board for the 47.

I doubt you'll find a used one because no one wants to sell theirs.

Cheers,

Sandy

I use a 240 G-Claron on my ancient Elwood enlarger to blow up 2 1/4 x

7 1/2" negatives. (Quiz: guess how they got to be that size!) When I

bought it new to go with the ancient enlarger I was given for free,

the photographer (Jack Carnell) who gave me the enlarger advised that

I get a lens with a shutter in case I ever wanted to use it on a

camera, or sell it. At the time I did not own an LF camera (hint for

previous quiz question).

<p>

Now the proud owner of an Arca-Swiss FC69, I am so grateful for that

advice especially now that I am reading this thread! I didn't think

the lens was appropriate for my infinity subjects, old buildings, but

I see that someone is using it for just that purpose. I'm gonna order

a lens board for it right now, Jeff at Badger!

<p>

Nora, f/22 doesn't cause me any reciprocity problems shooting

buildings even in the low light of dawn and dusk. I shoot ISO 160

color neg film and never had to go longer than 2 seconds and never

added any compensation and if there were color shifts, they weren't

too strange so I accepted them.

<p>

Cheers,

David Stein wrote:

"My article is designed to aid common-sense photographers-not the

artsy crowd."

<p>

When are we going to get over the annoying anti-"art" rhetoric on this

forum? David, do you think "the artsy crowd" has no use for "common-

sense" advice? Do the rest of you with artphobia think artists cannot

possibly be serious about their process or their equipment?

I recommend highly the set of pre-drilled pinholes you can buy from

Pinhole Resource. They come in 10 (12?) different diameters with a

chart that tells what they are, what aperture that equals, and what

exposure factor to use. I have taped these small pieces of aluminum

over the lens board hole and used them on my Arca 6x9 with great

results. You can even see the image (sort of) on the ground glass. You

do have to measure out the correct focal length to extend the lens

board. The chart is right on. The holes are perfectly machine drilled

so the images are sharp, maybe sharper than a typical pinhole vision.

<p>

The only problem is, it makes it so easy it takes some of the fun out

of experimenting.

Matnikon,

<p>

How are LF shooters' droppings different from other animals?

<p>

(oh-oh, this is a soft lob--- the answer is obviously LARGER FORMAT.)

Jonathan,

<p>

I don't think it usually says black tea. Any cheapo regular tea is

good - Tetley, Master Choice, Milford, Lipton.

It doesn't work on RC paper.

Couldn't tell ya about the coffee. Get in there and experiment!

<p>

Cheers,

My gear is protected against all theft but not accidental damage. Does

anyone have insurance against that? I am a lot more worried about the

tripod and camera falling over and smashing than about theft (since

it's insured & replaceable). I was just shooting in windy West Texas,

had the tripod set up in the street, and it blew over and the head hit

the asphalt hard. Sturdy Bromwell, didn't break! But what if the Arca

had been on there??? Less likely to blow over with the camera, but not

impossible, plus I am sometimes clumsy.

<p>

Ideas? (I do put out orange traffic cones so at least a truck won't

knock it over.)

Sally Mann tones with tea. Coffee works, too, as I discovered when my

brother spilled an extra-large cup of it all over a table where I had

30 of my 8x10 prints spread out. He managed to hit every print!

<p>

I've tried tea a few times. The best kind to use are the cheap,

garden-variety black teas, as they have the most tannin.

I'll be 48 on July 1. Please send me presents:

- 110 XL

- 7x Silvestri tilting loupe

- medium Domke cloths (2)

<p>

Thanks!