[LargeFormat] Planning Advice

[Pam Niedermayer]

"Hornford, Dave" wrote:
> 
> Pam,
> 
> Why a Gowland? And, I may be reading more into your phrase, 'have to choose
> a Toho'... but it implies I wouldn't want to.
> I like the look of the Wisner Expedition/Pocket Expedition and admit I am
> influenced by their styling - but am concerned about wood from a durability
> & environmental variation standpoint (hot/cold/dry/humid)

The Gowland Pocket View (I have a Calumet branded one with all
movements except rear rise and fall) is small, light weight (depending
on model 3 - 4 lbs), easy to set up, easy to rotate the back, easy to
change bellows (although not cheap, since the front lens holder body
is glued to the front of the bellows, I'm in the process of modifying
this slightly) nice looking to me.

I didn't mean to imply anything bad about the Toho, looks like a great
camera. It is much more expensive than my Gowland (used $300), few if
any used ones available, and probably close to a pound lighter weight.
The only problem criticism I have is the way you have to move from
vertical to horizontal - somehow you rotate the body. Too bad Kerry's
largeformat.com site is down, he has a great review of this camera.

I don't know how old you are, but unless bashed about, most any Wisner
will outlast me. I have a 5x7 Tech Field, very heavy, but certainly
sturdy and a really good camera.

> 
> Sorry about left out bits, for backpacking I'm limiting myself to 4x5 - for
> non-backpacking I'll look into 5x7/8x10 in a bit. However one kit at a time.
> Regarding lens I recognise that I will have to make trade-offs, and will
> trade weight for function in this category. Again, for the non-backpacking
> kit I'm more open. Regarding time & price - I'm quite open on both of them.
> I'll wait as long as I need to either get what I want or arrange either
> money for what I want

After looking at Ted Harris' Phillips, if I were buying new it would
be hard to choose anything else; although I haven't seen a Canham in
person. Very innovative touches, logical, light weight; but there
normally is quite a backlog of orders, so you may have to wait a
while, seldom seen used.

Pam

> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pam Niedermayer [mailto:pam_pine@cape.com]
> Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 9:49 AM
> To: largeformat@f32.net
> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] Planning Advice
> 
> Most of the major vendors have light weight field cameras. For
> "feather" weight you'll probably have to choose the Toho. A friend
> loves his Phillips 4x5; and it's a great camera, but not cheap and
> probably backordered. Also check out Canham, Wisner (their Tech Field
> models are heavy, but not the Expedition series). I use a Gowland
> Pocket View, about 3 lbs, found a used one for $300 a few months ago.
> Also there are Fatif in Italy, Panfield in South Africa, Ebony.
> 
> All depends on the format size you want, how much you want to spend,
> how long you can/will wait. If you'll be using large heavy lenses,
> your options are narrowed.
> 
> Pam
...
-- 
Pamela G. Niedermayer
Pinehill Softworks Inc.
600 W. 28th St., Suite 103
Austin, TX 78705
512-236-1677
http://www.pinehill.com