[LargeFormat] Planning Advice

Thu Apr 5 00:54:00 2001

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Dave,

I mainly day hike or camp from the Jeep.  The camera, lenses, film and 
tripod weigh to much to think about adding a tent, food, etc.  I use a 
Tenba Photo Backpack that holds pretty much everything I need.  I could go 
the custom made route but I haven't had a need to do so.  Add a polarizer 
to your filter kit and you just about have it made.

Let me know how that Manfrotto works out.  I need to get a light weight 
tripod for some hiking later this year.  Ilford makes good film.  I've 
settled on HP5+ for my B&W film and I really like the way it reacts with 
the Xtol developer.  Plus, I have a 12 x 20 that I'm having restored and 
HP5+ is readily available in that size.

The best large format website is: 
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/.  The best large format 
book is "Using the View Camera" by Steve Simmons.  The best large format 
workshop is the Mammoth Camera Workshop in Sandy, UT (near Salt Lake 
City).  Check the latest issue of View Camera Magazine for info.

Talk to you later,

Drew

At 10:02 AM 4/4/01, you wrote:
>Drew,
>Thanks - I thought I was getting enough looks just using a tripod, you'd 
>think no one has ever seen one on a summit...but with the old Calumet & 
>B&J I get even more looks - no overnight trips with them.
>Where do you go backpacking? What kind of trips (weekend, week, longer)? 
>How about carrying the gear - do you have a case, etc.? How do you find 
>this impacts available pack volume?
>
>I was planning on leaving filters out until I started on a permanent lens 
>collection, in 35mm I mostly use a 81C, ND & ND Grad.
>
>I didn't like the Gitzo mechanism, struck me as an excellent collection 
>point for grit & hard to use with mittens (I live in Calgary, Canada and 
>go out to the Rockies year-round, so mittens are an issue). I'm leaning to 
>adding a Manfrotto CarbonOne to my 190 & 055. I use a Manfrotto 352 QR 
>head right now, but it struggles to hold the Calumet and I have had 
>problems with it and my 35mm with the 300mm. Its light enough to pass that 
>test, but may not be a long term solution.
>
>Right now I shoot only Ilford B&W (with my approach of buying a less 
>expensive kit to try out  LF I picked up some older lens/shutters, so I 
>expected sharpness & colour issues). Once I'm more comfortable I'll add 
>colour. Since I prefer Fuji (NPS & ProviaF) I'll probably go that path - 
>unless I discover film availability challenges. The Fuji Quickloads looked 
>very promising for backcountry work. I was also thinking of one of the 
>older Grapmatic 6-shot things for minimising weight/volume with B&W.
>
>Is there a general lens guide? I have found a couple web-sites, but am 
>unsure what is available.
>
>regards Dave
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Drew Eschbacher [mailto:dreweschbacher@sc.rr.com]

Drew Eschbacher
Columbia, SC
dreweschbacher@sc.rr.com
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Dave, 
 
I mainly day hike or camp from the Jeep.&nbsp; The camera, lenses, film
and tripod weigh to much to think about adding a tent, food, etc.&nbsp; I
use a Tenba Photo Backpack that holds pretty much everything I
need.&nbsp; I could go the custom made route but I haven't had a need to
do so.&nbsp; Add a polarizer to your filter kit and you just about have
it made. 
 
Let me know how that Manfrotto works out.&nbsp; I need to get a light
weight tripod for some hiking later this year.&nbsp; Ilford makes good
film.&nbsp; I've settled on HP5+ for my B&amp;W film and I really like
the way it reacts with the Xtol developer.&nbsp; Plus, I have a 12 x 20
that I'm having restored and HP5+ is readily available in that 
size. 
 
The best large format website is:
<a href="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/" eudora="autourl">http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/</a>.&nbsp;
The best large format book is &quot;Using the View Camera&quot; by Steve
Simmons.&nbsp; The best large format workshop is the Mammoth Camera
Workshop in Sandy, UT (near Salt Lake City).&nbsp; Check the latest issue
of View Camera Magazine for info. 
 
Talk to you later, 
 
Drew 
 
 
At 10:02 AM 4/4/01, you wrote: 
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Drew, 
Thanks - I thought I
was getting enough looks just using a tripod, you'd think no one has ever
seen one on a summit...but with the old Calumet &amp; B&amp;J I get even
more looks - no overnight trips with them. 
Where do you go backpacking? What kind of trips (weekend, week, longer)?
How about carrying the gear - do you have a case, etc.? How do you find
this impacts available pack volume? 
&nbsp; 
I was planning on
leaving filters out until I started on a permanent lens collection, in
35mm I mostly use a 81C, ND &amp; ND Grad. 
&nbsp; 
I didn't like the
Gitzo mechanism, struck me as an excellent collection point for grit
&amp; hard to use with mittens (I live in Calgary, Canada and go out to
the Rockies year-round, so mittens are an issue). I'm leaning to adding a
Manfrotto CarbonOne to my 190 &amp; 055. I use a Manfrotto 352 QR head
right now, but it struggles to hold the Calumet and I have had problems
with it and my 35mm with the 300mm. Its light enough to pass that test,
but may not be a long term solution. 
&nbsp; 
Right now I shoot
only Ilford B&amp;W (with my approach of buying a less expensive kit to
try out&nbsp; LF I picked up some older lens/shutters, so I expected
sharpness &amp; colour issues). Once I'm more comfortable I'll add
colour. Since I prefer Fuji (NPS &amp; ProviaF) I'll probably go that
path - unless I discover film availability challenges. The Fuji
Quickloads looked very promising for backcountry work. I was also
thinking of one of the older Grapmatic 6-shot things for minimising
weight/volume with B&amp;W. 
&nbsp; 
Is there a general
lens guide? I have found a couple web-sites, but am unsure what is
available. 
&nbsp; 
regards Dave 
&nbsp;
<dl>
<dd>-----Original Message-----
<dd>From: Drew Eschbacher
[<a href="mailto:dreweschbacher@sc.rr.com" eudora="autourl">mailto:dreweschbacher@sc.rr.com</a>]</blockquote>
<x-sigsep></x-sigsep>

</dl>Drew Eschbacher<br>
Columbia, SC<br>
dreweschbacher@sc.rr.com</font></html>

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