sean_yates

If anyone could, it'd be Ken Hough (see 8 X 10 Deardorff this web page) Jack Deardorff (cf) Ron Wisner or Keith Canham. Whether the last two would be WILLING to do it on a camera not of their making I don't know.

I concur with all of the above but would like to add assorted IMHO's. Freestyle sells Arista 8X10 film in 100 & 400 asa for $36.00/25 sheet box - a good bit cheaper than TMAX.

 

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Which I guess brings me to one of my favorite topics, DOING THINGS INEXPENSIVELY. Why a monorail? There are many studios doing top notch work in 8X10 with flatbeds - even Dickie Avedon uses (or used until recently) a Deardorff (albeit on location). Flatbeds are often less expensive and often have adequate movements for most applications.

 

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This sort of ties into your tripod question which leads to a bigger question - what kind of work do you intend to do and how much do you want to spend? Do you want a Mercedes Sedan or a Ford F-150? Majestic geared heads and tripods with geared columns are quite nice and as they've been around awhile are often inexpensive - BUT HEAVY! The grey heads may require modifications to work on more recent tripods and the company does not stock parts for their older grey models. Bogen has a geared head but it's kinda pricey. Bromwell has several wooden tripods with a geared column and a ball and socket joint that might eliminate the need for a head completly, depending on what kind of work you want to do. Brett, Cole and of course Edward Weston got along fine with the earlier Ries sticks. I kinda like the idea of mounting a Ries single tilt head on a 100 or 75 mm ball head film/video tripod like the older O'Connors or Millers or maybe a newer Bogen 3190 or 3191. That way the camera is still quite close to the junction of the legs and can be leveled horizontally quite easily. I haven't tried it yet as finances haven't allowed. Some may balk at the idea of putting a traditional "wooden" head on modern aluminum sticks.

 

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But all of this is subjective and really dependent on your needs - what you're gonna shoot and where you're gonna shoot it and how you're gonna get your gear there.

Mr. Marty's response shows the wisdom of experience! If after reading it your still interested, you might try contacting some other practitioners Dick Arentz, Michael Smith, Zoe Zimmerman, etc. They have all written in View Camera magazine and can be contacted by consulting that publications "creative resources" at the end of the issue in which their articles appear. Ken Hough who shoots a lot of trains and things in 8 X 20 and larger is on the net, and he also repairs Deardorff Cameras and film holders.

Re Enlargers for 810, don't forget the 8 X 10 adapter for the Besseler 4 X 5 enlarger than Alan Ross created. It ocassionaly shows up used and of course is available new. Also, you'd be surprised how cheaply you can occassionally find the old Elwood (and I'm not talking 'bowt Jake's brother) ocassionally listed for - you gotta be persistent and have Cash on Hand! Rarely you might find an old and I mean OLD Kodak. Ken Hough recently got a massive massive enlarger for darn near nothing. One last possibility is to try a newspaper or other printing house place they often have old copy cameras and other graphic arts type gear they are getting rid of because they're going digital. All of this assumes you are capable of and willing to Do It Yourself! Your big expense would be glass - good 8X10 enlarger lenses are either new & costly or old and acceptable but you gotta get some kind of try out period. And of course you need to have a lense board for the enlarger made and drilled for the lense to test it. Lastly FILM FLATNESS - how does the negative carrier work, if it's glass then dust and Newton's Rings move in for a visit - if it's not then you need to check for sag and focus "pop" especially in the older enlargers with the massive 300 watt+ bulbs. I have been doing some digging in this area recently myself and hope what I have learned is of use. Living near chicago has many phot advantages -primarily a very large and active used market in large format gear.

The Yankee cut film developing tank can be found around phot stores, in the Calumet catalog (1-800-Calumet) and various other places and placed in a plain ol' bucket it works well. I have to admit I got that idea from Roger Hicks

Mr. Kadillak, I realize this is probably way too late to do you any good, but, when I purchased my Kodak Master View, the vender assured me that Kodak had not made a reducing back in 4 X 5. While that may be, it seems odd as the 8 x 10 back has the concentric format squares engraved on the ground glass. Michael A. Smith, a photographer based in Bunkerhill, PA has several Master Views, and his wife, Paula Chamlee shoots 4 X 5 with hers from time to time - you might see if they are on the net or see about getting their address from View Camera magazine as he has written 2 articles for them within the last 2 years. It would be in the creative sources index at the end of the magazine - or you could call View Camera direct and maybe they'd read it to you over the phone. Ken Hough of Deardorff repair fame assurred me he'd be able to modify a Deardorff reducing back to fit - just pull the retaining pins out, cut it down close to size and then sand it down the rest of the way to assure a snug fit and re-install the pins. Again I know this is very late and you've probably solved your problem already but if you'd like to e-mail me I be interested to know what you did wind up doing. I bought 1 Master View with a 5 X 7 back & 1 with an 8 X 10 back to use as parts and have been very happy with them so far. Good Luck

You can write or call Fields & Views @ P.O. Box 132 Old Chatham, NY 12136-0132 (212) 779-1471 and they can send you a circular. When I traded up to 8 X 10 they sent me info. That was around February '97 or so and at that time they wanted 2500.00 (+/-) for one. Quality and durability seemed good but the front tilt (40 degrees forward & 30 deg back) - based on the photo, seem to be a BASE TILT ONLY design, an evolutionary step backward seems to me. THe specs on the circular are as follows. 90mm to 550 mm extension

FRONT: rise 70mm up 50 mm dwn, 17 degrees swing BACK: 35 degrees swing (ea. way) 45 degrees tilt (fore & aft) and a weight of 4.5 kilos (9.9 lbs) The rear focuses forward but has no rearward extension as a Deardorff would and the front focuses forward only (ala Deardorff). They take their own wooden lensboard and also apparently SINARs as well. I haven't seen or used one. Deardorffs are plentiful and easy to get worked on, there are lots of used or new lensboards all over, often with lenses mounted in 'em. I'm not saying Wista is bad, but which is easier to get worked on, a Peugeot (sp?) or a Ford? I know this doesn't answer your question directly but I hope it helps.