Tim L Lowe
This Old Camera
So, a few comments on getting an 8x10 ready to use and using it.
First, it wasn't really in horrible shape. The bellows are sound. The movements, such as they are, moved. It needed a good cleaning and patching all the holes in it. It was purchased with a beautiful 300mm Schneider lens. But, it had no shutter. As you can see, the hole in the board is way, way larger than a Copal #3 shutter. And there were a couple holes, both in the front standard and in the 3 lens boards, that looked like they were used to trigger some sort of shutter that sat behind the lens. I have found exactly zero references to this. But I plugged up the holes and mounted a different Schneider lens, with a Copal shutter and mounted on a much smaller Linhoff board, with copious amounts of duct tape.
I loaded two film holders which was an adventure in and of itself. My changing bag was a poor choice as the 8x10 film holder took up way more than half the width (or length) of the bag and it was really cramped in there. I even had a bit of trouble getting the triple box open and stacked. I damaged one sheet which I discovered when I developed it and misloaded another which I discovered when I pulled the dark slide and heard the film falling into the camera.
My general impression of the camera and the format:
Some wise man once said, "Problems of scale are real." And this format proves it pretty obviously. I remember having to learn pretty much everything I thought I knew when I first switched from medium format to 4x5. I think the jump from 4x5 to 8x10 is at least as hard on the confident photographer. EVERYTHING is so much more difficult. Form the simple task of carrying, setting up and handling the camera to setting up and making a shot. DoF becomes just ridiculously thin and the distance at which you no longer worry about it is much farther than you think. With no shift (only front rise/fall) composition become more of a chore with this camera. And having only back base tilt (with nothing to tell you when the camera is zeroed out save a small pendulum similar to a clock hand hanging from a tack in the side of the back) added yet another critical step to setting up a shot.
I had two fairly bad exposures. It was a close scene in a wooded area. I think I overestimated the DoF I would get once I stopped down. There was no way to get the important elements in focus on the ground glass at f/5.6. I think I also had some issues with camera shake as the lens had no cable socket and I had to open and close the shutter by pressing the shutter release lever. I tried using both the two press and the press and hold technique (4 second exposure with reciprocity failure figured in) and neither had a single sharp area. But I'm certain that the farther element in the composition would not have been in focus regardless of my shutter technique.
Tray developing was not much different than 4x5. I was still just completely in awe of the size of the film. I was pleased with the one exposure (next image in this stream) that was shot in full sun late in the day. The detail in both sun and shadow is really amazing and my critical focus seems just fine.
I do recommend this to anyone interested. Just beware, it's not a walk in the fen.
This Old Camera
So, a few comments on getting an 8x10 ready to use and using it.
First, it wasn't really in horrible shape. The bellows are sound. The movements, such as they are, moved. It needed a good cleaning and patching all the holes in it. It was purchased with a beautiful 300mm Schneider lens. But, it had no shutter. As you can see, the hole in the board is way, way larger than a Copal #3 shutter. And there were a couple holes, both in the front standard and in the 3 lens boards, that looked like they were used to trigger some sort of shutter that sat behind the lens. I have found exactly zero references to this. But I plugged up the holes and mounted a different Schneider lens, with a Copal shutter and mounted on a much smaller Linhoff board, with copious amounts of duct tape.
I loaded two film holders which was an adventure in and of itself. My changing bag was a poor choice as the 8x10 film holder took up way more than half the width (or length) of the bag and it was really cramped in there. I even had a bit of trouble getting the triple box open and stacked. I damaged one sheet which I discovered when I developed it and misloaded another which I discovered when I pulled the dark slide and heard the film falling into the camera.
My general impression of the camera and the format:
Some wise man once said, "Problems of scale are real." And this format proves it pretty obviously. I remember having to learn pretty much everything I thought I knew when I first switched from medium format to 4x5. I think the jump from 4x5 to 8x10 is at least as hard on the confident photographer. EVERYTHING is so much more difficult. Form the simple task of carrying, setting up and handling the camera to setting up and making a shot. DoF becomes just ridiculously thin and the distance at which you no longer worry about it is much farther than you think. With no shift (only front rise/fall) composition become more of a chore with this camera. And having only back base tilt (with nothing to tell you when the camera is zeroed out save a small pendulum similar to a clock hand hanging from a tack in the side of the back) added yet another critical step to setting up a shot.
I had two fairly bad exposures. It was a close scene in a wooded area. I think I overestimated the DoF I would get once I stopped down. There was no way to get the important elements in focus on the ground glass at f/5.6. I think I also had some issues with camera shake as the lens had no cable socket and I had to open and close the shutter by pressing the shutter release lever. I tried using both the two press and the press and hold technique (4 second exposure with reciprocity failure figured in) and neither had a single sharp area. But I'm certain that the farther element in the composition would not have been in focus regardless of my shutter technique.
Tray developing was not much different than 4x5. I was still just completely in awe of the size of the film. I was pleased with the one exposure (next image in this stream) that was shot in full sun late in the day. The detail in both sun and shadow is really amazing and my critical focus seems just fine.
I do recommend this to anyone interested. Just beware, it's not a walk in the fen.