[pure-silver] Re: OT Large Format Question
- From: "Stein" <rstein@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 13:59:55 +0800
Dear Justin,
Just a little idea for your new camera when you get the urge to go out
and take landscapes.
Panoramic pictures are all the go right now. In metric terms, 6 x 12, 6
x 17 and now 6 x 24 are do-able with a number of camera systems. Linhof,
Horseman, Plaubel, Cambo, Fotoman - list is considerable.
What I failed to realise until I bought old Roger Hicks' book is that I
owned several panoramic camera myself. My ratty old Nagaoaka for one and the
Linhofs as well. I just needed a special back for the cameras....
My local camera knackers yard wants me to purchase a Linhof Techno
Rollex 6 x 12 for $ 3000. Ahem. Hahahaha. Failing that he wants me to leave
half that money for a Cambo back that slides under standard GG back. Again
Ha. Hicks has a plan that lets me take 6 x 12 panoramas using my standard
film holders.
Really, any film holder is a 6 x 12 if you just blank off the top and
bottom of the GG and then shoot between the lines, cropping it in the
enlarger later. But Hicks has a trick of taking a spare darkslide and
cutting it in half lengthways while leaving the handle end undisturbed - it
blanks off one half of the slide from the incoming light. You insert it in
the holder as a mask once you have framed and focussed on the top half of
the GG screen and it leaves the bottom half of the film dark. Then you
recover with the standard slide and re-insert the holder from the other side
of the camera - a camera with a reversing back can do this or the revolving
back of the Linhofs makes it a doddle. To get all the definition you can
from your lens you position it so that the central path of light is slightly
raised up into the top half of the film - a rising front or dropping back
does this easily. When I cut down a spare darkslide I did it conservatively
so that there is a small clear margin between the top and bottom image.
It is still not as economical as a dedicated roll film back for the 6 x
12 size when you cost it out negative by negative, but if you figure the
costs of those roll film backs initially, you can afford a very great many
sheets of colour film before the equation is anywhere near equal. And the
spare darkslide is small and easy to carry in your camera bag.
Uncle Dick
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