Another newbie question about lens choice

[Jonathan Perkins]

Hi Paul,

You've received some good lens advice above. I'd certainly recommend a little longer lens like the 180 in addition to the 90, as the image on the ground glass is a lot brighter and easier to use - I certainly found that when I started last year. My first was a 210, but that suited me as my style preferred the slightly longer lens. I managed without a darkcloth using the longer lens, but needed to sort something out having now gone wider with a 110. All Toms and my lenses are second hand from eBay (mainly)/Large format Forum/Robert White, just use common sense and steer clear if it doesn't feel right. If you're not sure then visiting to check like you are doing is great.

Hi Joanna,

Well having muddled along using my coat I took delivery of the Paramo darkcloth yesterday. First impressions are good, there's no velcro and it seems quite versatile. I can even block out the gap under the Ebony rear standard with it. I'll start a new thread with my thoughts on it once I've had chance to use it outside.

Jonathan

[Paul Mitchell]

Never mind the lens, how about the dark cloth?

http://www.lightandland.co.uk/article.a ... =2&conId=8

Too late... have just placed an order for the BTZS. The L&L version looks very interesting but I wonder how much extra are you paying for the logo's signatures etc?

Emmanuel - thank you for your very informative advice.

Nimy - Will send you a PM

[Charles Twist]

Haaa much?
I can't believe that some folk are prepared to fork out £80 for a dark cloth - repeat, two words: "dark" + "cloth". I hope you buy the Lee filter window wiper, with variable speeds, and automatic detection of damp conditions, to keep the drops off the filters too... Make sure you get one that is synchronised, so it fires the shutter when the wiper blade is just out of view.
What on earth is wrong with a dark cloth - ie a simple bit of dark fabric? If it is windy, get a pair of bulldog clips. If it is raining, use the cloth to wipe the gear dry (also good for wiping condensation off the GG). If the conditions are driving you mad, throw the cloth on the ground - immediate stress relief!
Get real.
Charles

[Paul Mitchell]

What on earth is wrong with a dark cloth - ie a simple bit of dark fabric?

I've been trying to get by with a piece of slinky black velvet until my wife told me I looked like a hunchbacked Shirley Bassey

[Charles Twist]

Ah yes, well... We do accept all types, so you'll be alright. How do you fit all the gear in your hand bag?
Charles

[Paul Mitchell]

Ah yes, well... We do accept all types, so you'll be alright. How do you fit all the gear in your hand bag?
Charles

Easily Charles, I have a wife who has lots!

[Ole Tjugen]

Dark cloth???

I found a black T-shirt from Levi's on a sale a few years ago, and that's perfect.

The neck fits snugly around the back of my 5x4" and 7x5" cameras, and I reverse it using the bottom end around larger cameras. No velcro needed, it's elastic.

The (short) sleeves flop closed so no light leaks in that way, yet they provide easy access for a hand with a loupe when I need that.

Total cost - about £3.-.

And if the weather changes suddenly, I can wear it for extra warmth...

[Nimy]

.... and there are so many Gucci accessories too:

Depth of Field Calculator : a precision tool to assist in determining whether to wear walking boots or wellies.

Light meter : A guage to tell you when you are about to hike into the foothills (and higher) with too much gear.

Double Dark Slide : Increase your chances 100% for the completely wrong exposure.

Graflex Grafmatic Holder : The world's first 6-sheet shredder.

Bag Bellows : The bellows of choice on a bad day with the Graflex

Monopod : Indication of a faulty DoF Calculator, Light Meter, and/ or Graflex, see above.

Lens Caps : Covert communication system, whereby "cult following" (insert: Adams, Cornish, Waite, et al as appropriate) photographers leave them behind for others to find; marking the spot for the iconic shot.

Lee Filters : Arguably the best on the market, providing you remember all the bits.

Cable Release : An all too regular occurance; see Lens Caps above.

Lens Hood : A means of displaying your ascension to the select higher-echelons of LF photographers. Only the chosen know precisely what goes on under the dark-cloth and changing bag/tent.

Lupe : (cunningly mispelled to confuse the uninitiated) A tool specifically designed to send you round in circles while adjusting all your camera's movements to get that plane of 'sharp focus' you set out for yourself as an impossible challenge.

[Lynne Evans]

Now what I need is a hands-free lupe so that I can fiddle with my adjustments while still checking the sharpness!

Any/most suggestions welcome!

Lynne

[Charles Twist]

Maybe I have seen too many films, but a jeweller's lupe held in your eye?
Charles
PS do folk here find lupes really that useful? I seem to get most things sharp without...

[Emmanuel Bigler]

Now what I need is a hands-free lupe so that I can fiddle with my adjustments while still checking the sharpness!

You could consider a pair of magnifying glasses as found in drugstores. They are supposed to help elder people to read their newspaper when they can no longer accommodate however those affordable spectacles are perfect for looking at a ground glass. But you do not have a high magnification.

Much, much specialised and much, much more expensive you have the binocular viewer with (or without) built-in mirror. The device is available from SInar, Toyo and Arca Swiss. Of course with a dedicated/proprietary system to attach it (remember the good old days of 35 mm photography, when except M42 lenses, you could not swap them from one brand to another ? You thought those times were over in LF? with everything compatible from one brand to another ! everything but binocular viewers !)
I have one for the Arca Swiss camera and I hardly ever use a loupe.
The device is attached rigidly to the camera so you are immmersed in the image with both hands free to manipulate the controls.
But the device is not very compact, the 6x9 model is even more bulky than the 6x9 camera + 75mm lens So for backpacking I usually leave the bino viewer at home.
The 6x9 bino viewer has a pair of 2X lupes. The 5x4" model has similar lupes but on the larger model you can flip them off if you wish.
Both devices can be used comfortably together with spectacles/ophtalmic glasses.
This is important for people (like me )suffering from astigmatism.

[Joanna Carter]

PS do folk here find lupes really that useful? I seem to get most things sharp without...

But then you haven't yet reached as ripe an age as some of us

[Lynne Evans]

My preferred option at the moment is for a second pair of hands to do my fiddly bits while I check sharpness.........

[timparkin]

Haaa much?
I can't believe that some folk are prepared to fork out £80 for a dark cloth - repeat, two words: "dark" + "cloth". I hope you buy the Lee filter window wiper, with variable speeds, and automatic detection of damp conditions, to keep the drops off the filters too... Make sure you get one that is synchronised, so it fires the shutter when the wiper blade is just out of view.
What on earth is wrong with a dark cloth - ie a simple bit of dark fabric? If it is windy, get a pair of bulldog clips. If it is raining, use the cloth to wipe the gear dry (also good for wiping condensation off the GG). If the conditions are driving you mad, throw the cloth on the ground - immediate stress relief!
Get real.
Charles

If people have the money and it makes the enjoyment of their hobby better then why not? Photography is an expensive hobby and what is an extra £50 over the lifetime spend of a photographer?

I bought a Black Jacket from America and paid more in postage than the item cost. I also bought new lenses instead of using ebay - does this make me less real... Oh, and I made my own dark+cloth initially and found it to be sweaty and sticky and stuck to my hair and didn't fit the back of my camera well.. The BlackJacket plus my mods (see my blog) is 100% light tight and makes sitting behind the ground glass a real joy.

I'd be interested in knowing from Jonathan how the paramo cloth blocks the gap between rear standard and base?

As for lens choices.. 90 and 150 are a couple of great angles and the ones the op has chosen will produce excellent pictures.

Tim
--

http://blog.timparkin.co.uk

[timparkin]

Maybe I have seen too many films, but a jeweller's lupe held in your eye?
Charles
PS do folk here find lupes really that useful? I seem to get most things sharp without...

I imagine for most smaller enlargments (i.e. up to 12x15 ish) and with good eyesight you won't notice much difference. When you find your perfect shot and want to blow it up to 20x25 then unless you are particularly short sighted, a lupe would seem essential to get the key parts of the picture sharp (at this level of enlargement, only the plane of focus is critically sharp).

I use a 4x lupe and have checked to see if I can manage with out it (try focusing without one and then see if you need to adjust it when you use one - if you do then it will make a difference when you enlarge significantly).

Only my opinion of course...

Tim