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GUIDES & SUPPLEMENTS
"I don't just like working with a view camera—I love it!" is the sentiment expressed by virtually every photographer interviewed for this article. Not only do they have a passion for large-format photography, they are totally brand-loyal. As we know, images captured with a view camera have negatives that produce prints with unsurpassed tonal range, sharpness, and extra-fine grain quality. And although it's possible today to get the same "look" digitally, well, it's just not the same thing. But why are view cameras the sine qua non for many photographers? "It's very simple," states Steven Inglima, Horseman product manager. "You can buy the world's most expensive 35mm camera with a fancy zoom lens, or a beautiful medium-format camera that takes excellent-quality pictures. But until you can take the lens and tilt, shift, or somehow change how the image is presented to the film, it's still a snapshot." As fine arts photographer John Sexton sees it, "When choosing a view camera, you find something that's right, then you establish a relationship with it. When I teach, I talk about learning to drive a view camera; it's a lot like learning to drive a car—especially a stick shift. Your first experience with a clutch and a stick was probably not very smooth. But when you get into your car now and fire it up, you don't think about depressing the clutch. You just go. It's the same with a view camera. It's a manual shift transmission, with gears and levers and dials and knobs." Although large-format cameras have a great reputation as tabletop workhorses, they're used to record pretty much everything. Read on to discover why some of the pros have had a long-standing love affair with their view cameras . . . |
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Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jack Dykinga (www.dykinga.com), perhaps best known for his wilderness advocacy books, including Desert: the Mojave and Death Valley and Stone Canyons of the Colorado Plateau, documents (and preserves) the landscape with an Arca Swiss F field camera fitted with a Horseman 6x12 panoramic back. Dykinga has just completed Large Format Nature Photography (Amphoto Books), a user-friendly guide to large-format photography, to be published in October. "The Arca Swiss F field camera combines the rigidity of a full-blown studio monorail with the lightweight, tapered bellows of a field camera," says Dykinga. "It has the ability, because it's a monorail, to loosen and tighten up a scene without moving the tripod. I can slide the monorail forward and back, which is really important for close-up work. It's as sturdy as some of the big, heavy cameras, but lighter than the Linhof, and about the same weight as a Toyo field camera. I like it because I always use the rear controls on a camera. I focus with the standard forward instead of the lens back. With the traditional field camera, the bellows always goes out and away from the film. I move the film away from the lens, the other way." |
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The fine arts imagery of Rod Dresser (www.roddresser.com)—who was once a special assistant to Ansel Adams and business manager for the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust—may be seen in The Weston Gallery in Carmel, Scott Nichols Gallery in San Francisco, and galleries in Tokyo and Washington, D.C. Dresser primarily works with the Cambo Ultima D, a 4x5 designed for use with film and digital imaging backs. "I love the Ultima D—it's the best camera I've ever used! Every movement of the Ultima is geared and it's very user-friendly. I can manipulate the camera to get what I want out of it, but most of all the camera doesn't come between the subject matter and me, so I can just concentrate on the image. Dresser also uses the Cambo 8x10 Legend. "Because a lot of the movements are not geared and have to be hand-operated, it takes a little longer to make the adjustments and get the precise focusing. But it's a good camera that I use in the studio, mostly for my ballet series, when I'm a little further away from the subject. I use both units for my flower project, but mostly the Ultima because it's such a beautiful camera." Dresser favors Rodenstock lenses—300 and 60mm for the 8x10—and a Fuji 180 on the 4x5, along with standard film holders. |
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Although digital imaging has replaced some of the time-consuming work photographer Neil Molinaro (www.neilmolinaro.com) used to produce with a multitude of Sinar Bron ps and p2s, he still uses the cameras today for his commercial work. "I started using them more than 20 years ago," says Molinaro. "At that time, there was no other camera out there that had the modular system it had—and still has. "The reason I got into large-format was for the controlled movements. I was doing a lot of multiple exposures and multiple sets and using many cameras to create one image. I'd move from film to film to camera to camera to camera. The stability and locking mechanisms and the repeatability of the Sinar camera gave me what I needed. I'm no longer doing all that moving because the computer has quite simply taken over most of what I did with several sets, but I'm still doing large format and mostly still life commercial work . . . and I'm still using the same system I've built over the years. The cameras are totally contemporary." |
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Greg Ross (www.ross-studio.com), who works a lot in the resort industry, says, "Ninety-seven percent of everything I photograph, from lifestyle to product to food to architecture, I shoot with a Horseman L series 4x5, even fashion, because I do more big-set designs as opposed to using a model on location and blasting away with 35mm. Ross uses a variety of Schneider lenses, including 75mm, 90mm, 120mm, 210mm, and 300mm. "I've been working with a Horseman camera for about 16 years. It's traveled the world with me and taken quite a beating. It's a very solid camera with accurate movements—both the swings and tilts. Everything is gauged and I can control my front and rear standards; I don't have to `guess-timate.' There are three rails, so I can put on a very short rail for extreme wide-angles. I can also change the bellows from standard to a bag, and break the whole system down, pack it up, and put in on a plane. For me, the beauty of the view camera is it doesn't outdate itself." |
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Portrait/architectural photographer Gary Auerbach (www.platinumphotographer.com) has been working extensively with Native Americans. "I'm documenting different tribes and establishing a collection of work that might ultimately lead to a project involving the same family groups Edward Curtis photographed some 100 years ago. This project would hopefully be funded by the Smithsonian and involve a five- to 10-year effort." Auerbach uses both a Wisner 8x10 Expedition field camera and a Wisner 11x14 Technical Field camera. "For close-up portraiture work, a long bellows extension is important. I need 30-plus inches of bellows," says Auerbach, "which not all view cameras have. I produce platinum prints, which are made by hand-coating watercolor paper with a platinum-palladium emulsion and making contact prints. I'm not actually enlarging. I also have 4x5 reducing backs so I can shoot a 4x5-inch size negative (with Polaroid 55 film). I generally use a 450 Nikkor M lens—which covers 8x10 and 11x14 when there aren't a lot of extreme movements—a 250 wide field Commercial Ektar, and a 24-inch Artar lens." |
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Joseph Deiss (www.josephdeiss.com) is a Deardorff die-hard who works with an 8x10 field camera. "I like it because it's 8x10, made of wood, and I can disassemble it into a million pieces (actually, 216 pieces when fully disassembled). It can be put on a tripod or a stand, it folds into a box, and it's portable. I use it for everything from the trumpets to architectural work to portraiture. "The Deardorff presents a great many challenges when doing architectural and product photography because it's a bit harder to control the perspective and depth of field. When I shot the trumpet I had to control the perspective and the focus in two directions, because the bell is closer to the camera than the mouthpiece, and the camera is looking down on the instrument. It doesn't have the movements of, say, a Sinar or a Wisner, but it's such a simple, elegant camera, and I love it. My dream is to use the 20x24 Polaroid . . ." Deiss uses a 330mm Wollensack lens (vintage 1950, uncoated) and a 240mm Schneider G Clarion F9 240mm. |
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Stacy Apikos-Boge would agree with Deiss that using the Polaroid 20x24 is a dream come true. "I do photo-documentary, portraiture, and fashion. The advantage and beauty of using Polaroid is its immediacy. I can alter the color and experiment. It allows for accidents—which I believe in, in art. The manipulation comes from exposure time, lens, lighting. There's a real honesty with it." Apikos-Boge used the 20x24 for a recent Estée Lauder campaign promoting a new men's skin care line called "Surface" (see image at right). "I thought because the packaging was so modern that I'd take what was going on in the fashion/music world and show more skin—photographing very close-up portraits of men without their shirts. The 20x24 was the only camera I could use to get an actual reproduction of the models' faces. After the campaign, Estée Lauder put the prints in its art collection. Apikos-Boge also shot for Vera Wang on the 20x24 camera after Wang saw her Lauder images. "There's this whole experience that goes on between the photographer and the sitter—whoever you're photographing has to remain perfectly still because the lens is an eyelash away. It's truly a collaborative process between the photographer and this incredible piece of machinery. There's a group of people in there helping me to create these images. John Reuter, who operates the 20x24 camera, is the one who helps `stretch the canvas' so I can `apply the paint.' I only have one chance to make sure everything is right." |
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John Sexton (www.johnsexton.com) has been working with Linhof cameras for about 20 years now, photographing primarily the natural environment and landscape. His most recent book, Places of Power, features natural as well as high technology, man-made subjects, including the U.S. Space Shuttle and Hoover Dam. Sexton photographs with both the Linhof Technika 2000 and the Technikardan S 9x12 (4x5). "My experience with Linhof goes back to the 1980s, when I started with a model 4," states Sexton, "which I purchased used and refurbished myself. I fell in love with the camera. I also had a Master Technika, which is now called the Classic. For fieldwork, where I'm taking the camera quite a distance, the smaller, lighter, more compact 2000 without the rangefinder is perfect. Many times," he continues, "when you have a compact 4x5 camera, you sacrifice some of the rigidity and precision you might expect in a larger, monorail camera. The Technika 2000 has proven to be the best blend of a relatively lightweight camera with precision and rigidity. And when it's folded up into its little package, it's well protected. It's also a versatile camera because I can use it with very wide and long lenses. I have one Schneider 50mm lens and one Fuji, a 450mm. All lenses today are of exceptional quality, but I've never been anything but thrilled with my Nikon lenses." |
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Cameras: TechTalk
Arca-Swiss Cambo/Calumet The cameras can be used for both traditional and digital photography, and offer precision geared focus, rise-and-fall, tilt, swing and lateral shifts. A dual-range focusing feature allows for both rapid coarse and precision fine focusing; a "virtual pivot" design provides yaw-free variable axis tilts. They convert to 8x10 inches and 2- 14 inch roll film formats. Their design also allows the use of lenses down to 47mm, without a recessed lens board. The Ultima weighs 13.2 pounds, has a 300mm monorail length for digital shooting and 480mm monorail length for film shooting. Ultimas are compatible with every digital scanning and three-pass back on the market, including models from Better Light, Eyelike, MegaVision, Leaf, and PhaseOne. The Cambo Cadet 4x5—compact, easy-to-use, affordable, lightweight—is recommended for those looking for a portable back-up camera for travel. It features a rigid L-frame design that ensures vibration-free performance as well as simple operation. A built-in, fixed, pleated bellows allows the use of a wide range of focal length lenses from 75mm to 305mm. A Cadet Wide Angle 4x5 (popular among architectural and fine art photographers) with built-in bag bellows is also available. Both models accept 4x5 sheet film holders, Readyload holders, Polaroid 4x5 film holders, and Calumet slide-in 120/220 roll film holders available in 6x7 and 6x9 formats. Deardorff Horseman The LX-C 23134, a 4x5 optical bench modular camera, is the top-of-the-line in the Horseman L series. It features a built-in focus computer, and digitized depth-of-field measurements that are computed for the user by the on-board focus computer. The LX-C, states the company, represents a generational development in camera design and an advanced level of technical excellence. Specifications include a die-cast and machined aluminum alloy body, rack-and-pinion drive, 10mm grid pattern w/6x7/6x9/6x12cm marks,140mmx140mm lens panel, a standard Fresnel lens, yaw- free base tilt. The camera weighs a little over 15 pounds. Linhof Polaroid Sinar
Bron The Sinar x (4x5) and p2 (4x5 and 8x10) are the most advanced, feature-packed easy- to-use view cameras available. Both cameras are based on asymmetric tilts and swings, not the traditional center or base tilts, for rapid and precise settings without losing sharpness on the axis. In addition, users can calculate exact swings and tilts. All movements are gear-driven with precision micrometer drives that are smooth and self-arresting. All controls are on the right side of the camera for one-hand operation, and there is a depth-of-field calculator. Both are compatible with all Sinar accessories (back to 1948). Toyo Wisner The 20 x24 Technical Field camera is not for everyone, states the company, but no camera can match its results if the ultimate in large contacts prints is the goal. This camera has full movements on the front standard, including geared front rise and fall, base tilt and geared axis tilt in the rear, and a rear focus knob that faces the photographer for easy simultaneous viewing and focusing. This is a true field camera and the only one of its kind, according to Wisner. The camera is built to order. Announcing the long-awaited processor for 20x24 Polaroid film. The new system allows the photographer to use the Wisner 20x24 camera with Polaroid film anywhere, anytime, and in both vertical and horizontal mode, something the original Polaroid cameras were unable to do. The complete system includes the film holder, which holds the negative material, the processor and camera. The processor will run on 120, 220 or 12v for remote field use. The Processor for Polaroid film and Holder are custom orders. Wista |
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