I've been using LF (4x5 & 8x10) cameras since 1959, when I attended Brooks Institute of Photography. LF was how commercial photograph was done in those days. I used LF in commercial photography for a couple of decades after graduating from Brooks. I continue using LF to this day for 'larger than life' landscapes.
The Sinar F is a capable camera, but more suited for the studio than the field. Actually any LF based on a rigid monorail is a studio camera, unless you want to carry a very cumbersome load! I used a Graphic View II in school and started my commercial business with it. At school, carrying the Graphic View monorail in the field was always a pain. When I started my business, I got an 8x10 Deardorf and a 4x5 reducing back. This gave me a field camera for both 4x5 & 8x10. Even though being a large camera, it was much easier to carry out of the studio, AND, back then, advertising agencies wanted 8x10 Ektachromes. In 1970 I traded my Graphic View II for a Sinar P - a much more sophisticated camera, but even less portable than the Graphic View.
I no longer do commercial photography. All of my work is now landscape and nature fine art photography. Over the past couple of decades of owning (trying) various fold-up field cameras, a few years ago I finally found what I consider to be the ultimate 4x5 camera, the Linhof Technikardan. It is basically a fold-up monorail view camera. It folds very flat and the monorail cleverly collapses into itself making a very small and ultra portable package, yet will allow the use of lenses from 55mm out to 720mm (I have both) with ease. This camera is just as at home in the studio as it is in the field.
So, I personally recommend a field camera rather than the Sinar F. There are many capable used field cameras out there for very reasonable prices - Toyo, Wista, Tachihara, Zone VI, Canham, Linhof Technika & Technikardan, etc. And you can get a plethora of great LF lenses for pennies on the dollar nowadays.
I suggest that you also get a book on using view cameras, such as "Using the View Camera" by Steve Simmons ($8.00 used on Amazon)
IMHO, :-) Jim On Mar 25, 2008, at 10:53 AM, Jeff Kelley wrote:
I've been giving serious thought to trying 4x5 for the first time. I know nothing about it except from reading. I have about 40yrs of photo experience with 8mm through 6x9, though no view camera experience whatsoever.I found a local seller with a Sinar F, 2 lenses, and what appears to be everything needed to get going - except film.Does anyone reading know if this "kit" would be appropriate for a rank beginner to the world of 4x5?Jeff
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