Show Us Your Camera

Here's my Arca Swiss. It's nothing special but has been a very good and cheap introduction into LF for me so far.

 

It's not that bad to be honest. I've got a pretty big back pack that I can carry it around in, but it needs to be taken completely apart, so that the bellows, lens, back and both standards fit in like a jigsaw. If I'm walking short distances and taking more photos I don't tend to pack it away though, I just walk around with the tripod over my shoulder with the camera on top.

 

Me & my Kodak 2D 8x10

Moi 8x10 by Mathieu Bauwens, sur Flickr

 

This is my camera - a Toyo 45a which is strong and fairly light making it pretty portable.I have a Nikkor W 180 mm lens and a 135 mm Schneider Symmar S which covers most of my requirements although later I would like a longer lens for portraits.

 

Hello Ian, yest it was too thin, so I bought a Ries tripod, far more heavy but also more accurate for the use of the big camera...

 

Why is there a gas mask in use?

 

I've used a tripod far flimsier looking beneath an 8x10 2D A little Gitzo traveller, with the thinnest leg section unused. It worked...better than hand holding! My stronger tripod (a bigger manfrotto) isn't really up to the job either.

 

This is the last custom LF camera I built from a Polaroid 110a donor.

 

Thanks. I removed the original top plate rangefinder entirely because I found it too small and uncomfortable to use. I machined a friction mount on the rear of the body and lasercut a new ground glass holder out of 6mm acrylic so I could slot it into place and focus as with most other LF cameras then remove it and insert a film holder to expose the image.

 

No, the front standard is fixed on these although I have seen a some builds where a new standard was machined to allow a small amount of movement. I built it with the intention of keeping it small/light and was able to carry it in a small shoulder bag with 2 film holders, ground glass and a compact tripod so I could take it to work and use it at lunchtime etc.

 

Here's one of me with the Walker Titan SF from earlier this year. Note that the Paramo focusing cloth can be press studded together round the neck to hold it conveniently; and the Billingham waistcoat will happily hold 5x4 double darkslides. The tripod is a Manfrotto carbon fibre model.