Large Format

[Nomad]

I just bought an MPP monorail.

Am I mad?

:)

[chaz]

For quality and in the right hands you will not beat it, what lens did you get, film and processing will be costly so don't waste any :) your contact prints if using negs will be superb though.

[simonpaul64]

LOL - nope - I don't think you're mad - just brave.

Mind you - have you considered doing this?

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/canon-view-camera.html

[appleuser]

I think your looking at £2.00 per "click" so I guess it will make your photography very thought full. :)

Quality over quantity is the name of the game.

5 x 4 slides look outstanding on a lightbox, or have you gone 10 x 8?

[paulmag]

Never mad buying a camera Like others have said each exposure willhave a lot more thought behind good luck

[Nomad]

Lens? I was supposed to get a lens?? :)

No lens yet - need to do research on that before I buy. (Aside from that, what with the DSLR stuff as well, my bank account has been royally humped this month, and I need to get a grip.) I happened on that site with the Canon on the back of the MPP last night. Interesting idea, but not sure I'm terribly into trying that, other than as a means of exploring the MPP's movements -the detail from the large neg size is the main motivator.

It's a 5x4, and described as very good used condition. Only fault seems to be one of the spirit levels is dry (but the Cambo ones from Calumet for a fiver look very, very similar, and I can do precision work if needed, so that won't be a problem). Research so far indicates that it's the later design of MPP monorail - it has chunky black plastic knobs for some of the adjustments, while the earlier ones had metal knobs all over. The later ones are possibly the better choice because the parts were more standardised - there were detail variations with the earlier ones. The transition date was mid 60s.

It comes with three lens boards, each with different size holes in the middle, so I should have little trouble in getting a lens/shutter combo to fit. Also has a viewing hood that clips on the back, replacing the ground glass screen protector. No film holders, but it uses international standard ones, so I'll pick some up as and when the right deals come along.

I know film will be expensive, relatively speaking, but the overall expense should be okay due to the low number of shots. My main interest is B&W, and the half-baked plan so far is to process the negs myself, and then see about scanning and printing. Might scan myself if the gear isn't too pricey, but largish prints will likely go to a professional printer. I dare say there are other ways to approach printing (rent a darkroom?). It's possible that I could tidy up my little workshop (spare room) enough to set it up to do contact prints, but I don't think I have the space for an enlarger.

I've always had a hankering to try the 'considered approach' to photography, and I had recently been entertaining ideas of making a large-ish camera from scratch (more like a box camera, maybe a pinhole, add a lens later). I've always been fascinated by monorails and their movements, so there's an element of learning by doing involved with this as well.

A voyage of discovery. :)

[Nomad]

A quick update...

The camera has arrived, and all seems in pretty good order. The movements all feel smooth, the centre detents are positive, and everything seems to lock down well. Bellows looks in good nick, and I found that it has spirit levels on the sides of the standards, including for tilting the whole camera 90 degrees for portrait shots - I'm not about to do that, so I'll swap one of those for the dried-out one, until I get round to buying a replacement. About the only other thing that needs looking at is one of the slides for the geared focussing - it's a little loose at the dovetail, but this should be a case of adjusting the gib to take up the slack. I may be mistaken, but it seems to have a fresnel lens on the back of the ground glass screen, which is a plus. The nearest I've got to using it so far is to put some tape over one of the lens boards and use it as a pinhole camera to get a lamp and a window just visible on the screen.

Today, I got 4 film holders (double-sided), a polaroid back and 14 sheets of B&W Polaroid film on eBay. The Polaroid back is the all-metal 545, and the film is Polapan Pro 100 (type 54, I gather). The purpose of getting the Polaroid stuff is to speed the initial learning process, and to give me time to work out how I want to deal with processing normal film (do it myself or use a lab).

Getting close to buying a lens now, and I'm gravitating towards a multicoated Schneider Symmar-S 150mm f5.6. The main attractions of this are the multicoating and a decent image circle of 210mm at f22. It's also pretty compact and fits nicely into a Copal 0 shutter (which has a good range of speeds - up to 1/500th). The only thing I'm a little unsure of is the choice of focal length. My main interest is landscapes and maybe some architecture, and I dare say I should be considering a wide angle (Super Angulon 90mm?). At the same time, I want to learn about the movements of the camera, and don't have a bag bellows, so I'm a little concerned that a 90mm won't work as well with what I have. Also, at this stage, I'd like to concentrate on learning about the camera, how to get exposures right, and on getting sharp results.

My feeling is that I don't neccessarily need a wide angle to do landscapes (I realise I may be trying to justify to myself buying a near mint 150mm Symmar...). Landscapes don't have to have a wide angle perspective to work (and I have silly-wide on the DSLR for that anyway). I'm also temmpted by the Symmar because it's a more general purpose lens - I can try out other types of photography with it as well (still life springs to mind).

Am I missing something? Should I go for a 150mm Symmar, or wait for a nice 90mm Super Angulon? (Either lens would be f5.6 - don't want the screen too dark.)

[Adam J Binnie]

Amazing, can't wait to see the results. My Dad took some pictures at my Sister's wedding on his old Mamiya 64..something and scanned the negatives, and the pictures are just incredible, and that's not as large a format as what you've got.

Don't suppose you'll be selling any of your Canon kit now :)?

[appleuser]

Amazing, can't wait to see the results. My Dad took some pictures at my Sister's wedding on his old Mamiya 64..something and scanned the negatives, and the pictures are just incredible, and that's not as large a format as what you've got.

Don't suppose you'll be selling any of your Canon kit now :)?

FYI a mamiya 645 is classed as a medium format camera, way smaller than a large format camera. :)

[Garry_Edwards]

I've used LF mainly for food and other small product photography and have always found 150mm on 5 x 4 to be too short for anything, unless it's being used for macro. 180 or 240 were the lenses which always got the most use from me.
And, although it doesn't necessarily follow, coverage is generally better with longer lenses, and you'll definately find coverage to be a major limitation when putting Captain Scheimflug to the test:)

If you do go for the 90mm S.A. you will definately need bag bellows.

[Nomad]

I went for the 150mm Symmar - I didn't want to go any longer for landscapes (and your comment about macro is noted). I noticed on the Schneider site that longer lenses within a particular range tended to have better coverage - something to do with the basic design and the distance from the film, I guess.