stuart_whatling

When backpacking I've used the 1228 with a 5x4 Wista and with a Pentax67 (always with mirror up) and found it perfectly adequate for both, though I never raise the centre column (weakest point on most tripods). Have also travelled with 1300 series legs and although it gave me more flexibility over workable height, I find it restricted my options for getting to distant or difficult places so now it stays at home.

 

 

If the wind is strong I just tend to shoot from lower down and paradoxically, I often end up with a better picture as a result. With a view camera like the Wista, where the bellows acts like a sail, no tripod would completely eliminate vibrations in strong wind so you work round the limitations. Reminds me of an interview I saw once with Akira Kurosawa talking about the battle scene from his film "Ran" - the interviewer asked him a long pretentious question about whether he'd chosen of a low camera viewpoint to maximise the impact and involve the viewer in the chaos etc. Kurosawa smiled and answered that the wind was really strong that day so he just shot from a low angle to avoid camera shake.

Sorry Harry but here in London, a pint is about two pounds fifty or more, depending on the pub.

 

Anyway, Florida just doesn't know what bad weather is - not like plucky little Cornwall...

I hear that some people even leave on that funny leatherette stuff that goes round the M6 body. I removed mine completely when it got a bit scuffed and kept coming loose. The nasty sticky gunk left behind came off easily with a dab of zippo fuel. Should I be worried about the metal body getting scratched?

Best folder? In 35mm the "barn-doors" Voigtlander Vitessa; innovative design that really works as well as looking beautiful. Especially the ones fitted with the Ultron f2 lens just before they spoiled things by adding a lightmeter.

For MF, the 6x6 Super Ikontas, though I sometimes wish they were a tad lighter and a lot cheaper (yes, I know, it's called a Nettar...)

 

Best MF RF? Don't own one but a brief try-out with the Mamiya 7 left me wishing I did.

 

Best value MF? The Bronica S2. Very reasonable second hand and the Nikkor lenses are fantastic.

The GS645S certainly feels light and plasticky but I've been mistreating mine for years with no ill effects (yet). I orginally bought it as a back-up for when travelling with a Pentax 67 outfit and for times when I didn't feel like carrying the extra weight of my old Super Ikonta. But ended up using the Fuji rather more often, partly because I find I can focus it much quicker than the Zeiss and partly because I like getting 30 shots on a 220 roll before reloading. The SBC lens also turned out to be better than I expected and is very contrasty. The rangefinder spot could be a little more distict but it's perfectly adequate once you get used to it.

 

If you're used to normal cameras with a square or landscape format, it's initially a bit odd to look through a portrait format viewfinder but you adapt very quickly and the camera works well ergonomically in either format. Having the focus, the aperture and shutter speed tabs all together works really well for me - I use my left thumb for all three when in portrait format and my 2nd & 3rd fingers when shooting lanscape format. All in all, a very easy camera to hold.

 

 

Long exposures are not difficult, though the mechanism is a bit unconventional - the little grey inset button on the right of the lens assembly opens the shutter (provided you've wound on). I find you can push it down carefully with a matchstick without causing too much vibration. THen when you want to close the shutter you just press the shutter release button. Crucial thing is not to move the shutter speed dial while the shutter is open as that is likely to jam the mechanism. There's no way of cocking the shutter without winding on so sadly you can't use this for multiple exposures.

 

Obviously with it's protruding lens and crash bar, the GS is never going to be as compact or as well protected in transit as a folding rangefinder camera but at least you never have to worry about how lightproof the bellows are and it is nice and lightweight.

Wow. And I thought the guys who bickered over Canon Vs Nikon were sad! Use what works for you and don't worry about what the rest of the world does.

For a new lens in London you could try either Jessops or Jacobs on New Oxford St (Tottenham Ct Rd Tube) - prices will be similar. Downstairs at Jessops is OK but the main floor is a dreadful place where the staff don't give a damn. Jacobs is much better and also has a good selection of second hand lenses round the back. Either way, if you get the appropriate form, I think you can reclaim VAT after leaving the EU.

 

Ordering from the states for collecting in London is a really bad idea because of the extortionate VAT/Duty that gets added at UK customs.

Try to find a grassy knoll to stand on.

Sorry, I know I'm missing something here but if there's enough of a market for people (including Leica) to make an accessory crank then why was the MP made with the old knurled knob? Was it just a cosmetic decision or were there really people who found it easier than an M4/5/6/7 style fold-out crank?

sounds like a troll to me. but at least it's a slight change from the usual canon vs nikon trolls.

 

or could it be b.k. that you're not holding that new and unfamiliar M4 as steadily as your old canons and focussing it just as carefully? try some proper controlled tests with slow film, a tripod and static targets.

Buy the 47 and eat lots of carrots. Borrowed one once and had to give up - couldn't see a damn thing on the glass. The 55mm Rodenstock, being a bit less wide and a bit faster should be a lot easier to use.

The large-format specialists "Teamwork" on Foley St (nearest tube Goodge St) have an excellent range of focusing loupes which are just as good for viewing slides. Much nicer shop than Calumet.

Used to have this problem with the older P67. 120 was also slightly loose but just becomes a lot more obvuous with 220. Solution was to be to get the first few turns on nice and tight - when winding forward to the start mark I always keep a finger of my left hand on the film to tension it and that used to do the trick. Is the frame spacing nice and even? That's always the first warning of winding problems.

Why do it? You mean why use a roll-film back on a 5x4? For me, as an architectural historian, it's because as well as shooting the overall building or ruins, I also need to photograph details - mouldings, carvings, capitals etc - for which I don't need (and can't afford the cost of) the full 5x4 quality. And because of the kind of pictures I'm using the roll-film back for, I don't need to worry about short lenses. Using a 6x7 back on a 5x4 camera is a damn sight easier than carrying a separate 6x7 outfit; my 300mm nikkor is a fraction of the size/weight of the 300mm takumar I used to lug around for a Pentax 67.

I started out with the Summicron but got fed up with the weight and size. When I replaced it (having previously had to sell it to pay the rent) I found a cosmetically ugly but optically perfect Tele-Elmarit-M 90/4 (thin) and I love it. Fits comfortably in a pocket, nice to use and the reversable hood is great. Sadly they stopped making them ages ago so I guess your determination to buy only brand new kit rules it out. But I'd still suggest going for the smallest lightest option for anything which isn't your primary lens, even if that isn't the lens that gets the fetishists most excited. Doesn't matter what the MTF or bokeh are like if you end up leaving at home half the time.

Mine always goes as checked luggage in a rucksack. I pull out the centre column (with the head left on) and put that and the legs either side of the pack to balance the weight. Been doing this for years and never had any trouble. Caught a glimpse of it once on the x-ray scanner - the carbon fibre doesn't show up and the remaining metal bits look perfectly harmless. As for theft, I doubt if there are many crooked baggage checkers who know what a Gitzo's worth - they're looking for consumer electrical goods, not tripods.

A slight tangent but Pentax make an adaptor for reverse-mounting any lens with a 49mm filter thread onto a Pentax 6x7 body. With step-down rings I've used this to reverse mount 55mm and 35mm Nikkors onto a P67 bellows unit for medium-high magnification (2-6x) macro. The results are very sharp and because the lens is reversed, have excellent coverage. Because of the design of the adaptor, it would also make a good starting point for bodges to forward mount 35mm lenses but with the deep mirror-box on the P67, infinity focus is a no-hoper.

 

B&H list it on their web-site; <a href=http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=41512&is=REG>Reverse Adapter for Pentax 67 Cameras</a>

 

<p>But as others have pointed out, using a lens which only covers slightly more than the 35mm format on 120 film when forward mounted is not going to give good quality results, even if you can get it close enough to the film plane. If price is the key consideration, lenses for a Pentacon 6 will give better results across 6x6 than even a top-notch 35mm format lens and cost less than a custom-made mount. If on the other hand the driving force behind this project is good old fashioned bloody-mindedness or a pioneering/experimenting spirit then best of luck and do please post up the results.

The instructions for the 6x7 back I got for my Wista said to pull back the GG and slide in the holder. Which I did. Incredibly easy and held the rollfilm holder nicely - but left two annoying little scratches in the fresnel screen. So now I always remove the glass before graflocking the RFH on. I probably could put some foam on the back of the RFH to stop it marking but since it only takes a few seconds to swap the backs I'm happy doing that.

For several years my standard travel kit was a Pentax 67 with 45mm, 75mm Shift and the 135 Macro (perfect for friendly penguins), all packed in a Domke bag. Squeezes comfortably into overhead luggage bins but definitely not suited to open boats - that's what Pelicans are for. Obviously the shift lens wouldn't be much use in Antarctica but a 45/135/200 combination would be even more portable and flexible and could probably be put together s/h for less than the price of a new hasselblad. The big Takumar lenses are bulky but not that heavy and for the format they're reasonably fast. There's also a handy external battery pack for the P67 which would be a must-have - never used mine anywhere really cold but even on chilly mornings in the Himalayas that battery drained pretty quick.

 

Having said all that though, if it were me going to Antarctica (and I wish it was), I'd probably take a Hasselblad instead - and a couple of A24 backs to cut down on the need to reload film with cold fingers. I'd also cover all the metal parts with Gaffer tape!

 

As for choice of film, this is probably a trip when you leave the Velvia and polariser at home, unless you really want black skies. Provia would be my preference.

 

Finally, you mentioned that you would be wanting to project your images too - which to my mind would mean steering away from 6x7. You don't see a lot of 6x7 projectors while the 6x6 ones are a bit more practical.

In Aachen last weekend I was rather disappointed to find that S/H Leica kit in Germany isn't significantly cheaper than in the UK. Good luck, but for EUR600 I think you'd be hard-pushed to find a body and a lens-cap.

 

Haven't been for a couple of years but there used to be a fabulous second hand camera shop in Cologne, just over on your left as you come out of the station heading forthe Cathedral - again not especially cheap but loads of interesting and obscure stuff and looked the sort of place that might have a cheaper "well-used" model.

The 35mm ASPH 'lux was my first leica lens and proved very useful. I've often had to use it wide open when photographing gloomy church interiors and frescoes, so that extra stop was certainly worthwhile. Because you often get strong point-sources just outside the frame in such circumstances, I never risked using it without the hood. So I can't comment on flare without the hood but never had any probs with it. The other pleasant surprise for me was how well-corrected it was for linear distortion (anyone know how the 'cron compares in this regard?)

 

On the down side, I was never that crazy about the handling. Personally i'd have preferred a normal focussing ring, rather than the tab (though I'm probably in the minority there). Other minor design flaw that really used to bug me when travelling is the little rectangular rubber cap that fits over the hood. Doesn't grip on well so very, very losable. Usually after the first week of any trip I'd end up having to make do with a bit of plastic bag and an elastic band.

 

Sadly, that lens is pretty much dead now, hence the past tense. Despite having been repaired twice by different engineers - the whole front half comes loose and flops forward (still get focus but only across half the image - perhaps the first tilt lens for a leica m!) For financial reasons I'll probably have to replace it with a s/h 'cron but looking forward to having something more portable. And for the benefit of El Macho Fang, it ain't the weight mate, it's the space it takes up in my bag. When I want to carry a bulky heavy outfit, I take my Wista. When I want something small and discrete that I can carry every day, I take the Leica.

I'm with Kipling on this one. I was in Germany at the weekend and loved that sense of being somewhere where ordinary eveyday things work well and look good. Sweden's the same. It's not the big expensive status-symbols discussed above but the really mundane and banal stuff like loo-roll holders, public buildings and street furniture. For an Englishman there's also a certain delight in going to a country where the trains are comfortable and run on time.

Yes, there are some badly made German products (though many are actually made by multinationals under a German company badge) but on the whole it's a country which still values good design and production quality in a way which some other countries (eg mine) don't.

 

When was the last time a company in England, France, Italy or Spain produced a really great, high-quality camera? Or even America for that matter?

 

But I wouldn't pay too much attention to the Alain de Botton quotation that started this thread. That man makes his money out of convincing middle aged middle class Sunday Times readers that they can think. Not a very credible starting point for a would-be contemporary cultural critic.

sadly true - it's on the Beeb too;

<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/entertainment/3536724.stm">Photographer Cartier-Bresson dies</a>

<p>

Finally reached his most decisive moment.

Can't remember where or when (sorry for the vagueness) but I saw a very impressive fashion shoot once in which the photographer had used tungsten film in daylight, about half a stop underexposed but with fill-in flash with a warm-up gel over the flash tube. So the models in the foreground were naturally balanced but the background had a marvellous coldness. Nowadays they'd probably do it in Photoshop but at the time I was really impressed.

I've never had any stability problems with the G1276M, even when using it with a 5x4 field camera. Personally I prefer the quick-mount heads because I like to screw and superglue them onto the camera body (just to make damn sure they never come loose). The offset design also means you can twist and fold the head back so it lies almost flush against the shoulders of the tripod, which makes them a bit less bulky when travelling. They do get gritty sometimes but not difficult to dismantle and clean.