lf-photo.org.uk

Okay, spot the newbie!

Having been lurking on various forums and being an 8x10 sponge over the past couple of months, the time has come to pull the trigger and kit myself out from scratch.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

John

try this...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gandolfi-Traditio ... 45fa7438c5

Many thanks for the top-tip John. Goodness knows how I missed that, I've been doing "8x10" eBay searches for weeks.

What a beautiful camera!! It seems almost too nice to go out and take photos with! Too rich for me, but a wonderful one-stop-shop with lots included for someone with £4k to spare.

I have a Plaubel 8x10 /5x4 outfit for sale. It is monorail.all in its own box. I also have a wide angle 165mm super angulon 8x10 and a 300mm 5.6 schnieder symmar in a copal 3 shutter. there is also a 150mm symmar for 5x4 and a wide angle for 5x4.Peter

Many thanks for the reply Peter. I've really set my sights on a field camera because I'll be using it outdoors and will need it to break down into a rucksack for transportation. The Super Angulon is definitely on my radar as it seems to give great coverage at reasonable prices. My only concern apart from it being on the porky side is the cost and availability of the huge front filters. Is yours the older single coated or the multi-coated version. I understand that they have different front filter threads?

Cheers, John

Apologies for cross-posting, but I've just seen this camera on APUG. The seller doesn't make it clear whether this is a US only sale or not, but I thought it worthwhile bringing it to your attention. I have a wholeplate version of this style of camera and they aren't the smallest or lightest to carry about, but then I don't see a 10x8 field camera as being small and light anyway!

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum379/915 ... assic.html

Many thanks for the pointer Peter B. Definitely worth sending as I hadn't found that on my web travels. It does look like he's in the US and on balance there seem to be too many downsides (for me as a newbie anyway!): e.g. no standard lens board size, very old and bulky, paying for the 4x5 back that I wouldn't use...

Looks like a beauty of a camera (once it's had a good dust!), but at $2000 it has too many compromises for me when a brand new Tachihara can be had for $1700 from a reputable dealer http://www.mpex.com/browse.cfm/4,4157.html. Probably not the same craftsmanship, but new, guaranteed, standard lens board, available spares etc.

So my choice seems to be boiling down to a new Tachihara or Shen-Hao, or a (significantly) cheaper and cheerful "pre-loved" camera.

Might depend on your plans for tomorrow! If you can make it into London, who knows what you might be lucky enough to find?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/13452289

Cheer Peter. I missed the BBC article, but already got my space booked for Photographica tomorrow . I'll let you know if I come back with anything!

Well Photographica yesterday was worth a visit from an interest point of view, but not a good hunting ground for 8x10 cameras or lenses. There was only one 8x10 and that was a broken down antique. Lots more interest for 5x4 and 5x7 enthusiasts. There highlights being Aero-Ektar 178mm f2.5(!) lens for the former, and a lovely condition Linhof Technika for the latter.

I too was at Photographica yesterday and can also report that there wasn't a glut of LF equipment, some of which was a tad overpriced I thought. Mr Cad had one of his 'half price off everything for the first hour' sessions which was still going on 2hrs later! There was a very nice, clean MicroPress I had my eye on but the seller wouldn't budge on the price. Must have missed the Aero-Ektar... speaking of which there was some chap with Geiger counter offering to measure the radioactivity of your lens for 50p a pop!...

Sadly it was also frequented by quite a lot of saga louts... blokes of a certain age, don't believe in deodorant, wearing cruddy camo gillets with huge Billingham bags who took great delight in pushing and swiping people aside to pick up some piece of obscure memorabilia, perusing it for 10 minutes before offering the seller 5p, being told where to go, then starting the whole process again at the next table... sorry for the rant they just pi** me off with their rudeness.

Had a very nice pint and a half with some friends in the pub at lunchtime though which calmed me down.

Paul

Hi,
Just a quick note, as a regular visitor and stall holder at bike jumbles it is gratifing to know the 5p brigade are not exculsive to the bicyle world. Was there a pump poking out of the Billingham bag?
Regards,
David

Thanks everyone. Almost there having acquired a beautiful Gandolfi Traditional 10x8 camera together with 3(!) WA lenses. Tripod in the process of being sorted and I will post again here for the remaining bits and bobs.
Thanks for all the helpful posts and PMs. John