DaYi Roll film back

Do you want to shoot 6x12 ?

For many years I carried a 6x9 Wista roll film back and Agfa APX25, in those days late 1980's early 90's I would often be out shooting most of the day miles from my car with my Wista 45DX and the roll film back was a backup although occasionally I wanted the 6x9 format - I shoot to the negative size very rarely cropping.

There were one or two locations where 6x12 was a more appropriate format but at the time only Linhof offered a suitable back which was way too expensive, so I cut a card mask and composed to that, then deliberately cropped while printing to the format. A lot cheaper than a 2x12 back.

However I was often frustrated as I wanted wider than 6x2 (or 5x4) so n, although I have a cone and spare 90mm lens I never use it instead I now I have a dedicated Gaoersi panoramic camera that can shoot 6x12, 6x15 and 6x17, while I have a spare 90mm lens and a focus cone I never use it instead I prefer my 75mm f8 Super Angulon. I equate the 75mm to being a normal lens - in terms of the vertical aspect, and quite wide - in terms of the horizontal. I practice just right for the images I want to make with it.

So you need to think what you want to do with a 6x12 back and what lenses you'd use it with. when using my Wista 6x9 back I usually used my 90mm f6.8 Grandagon N as a Normal lens, I don't remember ever using my 65mm f8 Super Angulon with it but then it's a lens I've only used sparingly over 30+ years.

DaYi make a 6x12 to 6x17 back for 5x4 but it's useless with wide angle lenses as it includes an extension back. If you don't want to shoot 6x12 or are prepared to compromise a regular 6x9 roll film back would be a lot cheaper and they are useful.

Ian
 
I would tend to agree with Ian. I too succumbed to buying a Fuji 617 camera, tried it out for a couple of weeks, then passed it on to someone else who could make more use of it.

In the end, I too made a mask for the 5x4 screen and use that to compose, then crop the image afterwards for printing. The only subtle difference was that I finally settled on a ratio of 6x13.5 as being the most pleasing proportion (to my eye)

Cadre6x135.jpg

Perhaps, James, the answer is to make up a couple of masks of differing proportions, to scale, for the back of the 5x4 screen, then try them out until you find what suits your eye.
 
Ironically this is how APS cameras shoot Panoramics, the whole negative is exposed but data tells the printer just to use the Panoramic section of the negative.

I guess one could go a step further and place the mask inside the camera attached to the back but that would be a personal choice not to expose the whole 5x4 negative area. I just did the same as Joanna.

Joanna Carter said:
I would tend to agree with Ian. I too succumbed to buying a Fuji 617 camera, tried it out for a couple of weeks, then passed it on to someone else who could make more use of it.
Click to expand...

617 is not the easiest format to use, it doesn't lend itself to a lot of subject matter. I use my camera only where I think it'll be appropriate, which tends to where 5x4 (or 6x9) just won't work

upload_2019-1-8_12-23-49.png

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Had to crop slightly as my wife's knee was in the bottom right corner :D

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I guess I could get away with the 6x15 my Gaoersi allows, and 6x14 would be OK so I can understand your choice of 6x the full width of a 5x4 negative, in practice approx 12.5 cm.

Ian
 
Thanks everyone for the comments.
My thinking was that in this part of the world there are a lot of "horizontal" landscapes, and so there's often quite a bit of rather dull foreground and sky. Also colour 5x4 is extortionate (and hard to find processing as I don't yet do my own C41), so the DaYi would, for colour use, pay for itself in about 60 frames!
I would probably mainly use it in 6x12 and 6x9 modes, although even in 6x6 and 6x4.5 the adjustablility of the field camera could be useful.
What I was really hoping was that someone would have experience as to whether it actually works well as a tool.

I had ruled out the 6x17 because of (a) the price and (b) the fact that it does look very cumbersome as well as the fact that I'm not sure it would even focus the 90mm without a recessed board.
 
One advantage of using a mask on a normal screen is that by moving the mask up or down you get some extra rise and fall for free.
 
James T said:
Thanks everyone for the comments.
My thinking was that in this part of the world there are a lot of "horizontal" landscapes, and so there's often quite a bit of rather dull foreground and sky. Also colour 5x4 is extortionate (and hard to find processing as I don't yet do my own C41), so the DaYi would, for colour use, pay for itself in about 60 frames!
I would probably mainly use it in 6x12 and 6x9 modes, although even in 6x6 and 6x4.5 the adjustablility of the field camera could be useful.
What I was really hoping was that someone would have experience as to whether it actually works well as a tool.

I had ruled out the 6x17 because of (a) the price and (b) the fact that it does look very cumbersome as well as the fact that I'm not sure it would even focus the 90mm without a recessed board.
Click to expand...

That's sound reasoning for a 6x12 back so go for it.

I'll make a new camera possibly this Spring for 5x4 and 617 use, possibly 7x5 as well, or I may just make the 5x4 & 617 backs for a basket case 7x5Seneca City View I'm restoring.

Sometimes the camera you ideally like isn't made commercially, the Chinese make 617 field cameras but you're limited to that format, there's also their Linhof style panoramic cameras and then their 617 extension backs.

I'd rather not carry an extra camera to shoot 617, you're right the 90mm lenses don't work with the Chinese 617 extension backs. I built a 6x7 field camera in 2016 and it was a prototype for what I'd really like.

Ian
 
upload_2019-1-8_22-19-54.jpeg

Yup this a crummy shot but i can't find the original negative, i just want to agree with everything said previously but sometimes i will crop in my mind when i see the image i want and make it appear on the easel. This was from a 6X7 negative using about 4 -5 cm of the image. Wish there was Pan F in sheets and yes this wall is finished in 6X6" parquet flooring.
 
I own the DaYi 6x17 (with inserts also 6x14 and 6x12)

And i love it.

I use it with 90mm and 135mm. The 90mm is hard to focus on the wista 45sp because the rail is just a few mm to short.




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Hiya James, i have had one of those backs for a while but don't shoot much panoramic stuff so it is up for grabs if you are after one. It has a few masks that you can attach to it so you can do other formats too. PM me if you are interested. Thanks, John
 
After much searching and studying on the inter web, I plumped for the Sinar Zoom 2, which I bought second-hand from West Yorkshire Cameras in Leeds. Like the DaYi it can do 645, 6x6, 6x9 and 6x12 and can adjust the format mid-roll. It also keeps the 120 film flat until after it has been exposed due to its film transport path. Rather than having to remove the back of my Chamonix to take photos, it slides underneath just like a giant dark slide and locks into place. It can also come with an adjustable framing device, but I didn't get one; I believe that this only works with a Sinar back.
Oh, and it's beautifully engineered, too.
I also have a Horseman 6x9 back which proved to be more difficult to use as it requires the camera back to be unclipped every time you want to use it.

Nick
 
Many of the 120 roll film backs are the Graflok type and need the Focus screen holder to be removed each time they are used. This particularly true of the newer roll film backs like the DaY1 6x12.

The Linhof back you're talking about is designed to slip under the focus screen holder, a few other companies made this style of holder but the film path has some very tight turns and in some circumstances can lead to the film not sitting flat

My Wista 45DX doesn't have a Graflok back but the springs are designed toopen quite wide and Wista made a back with a plate which the edge of the focus screen frame sits on protecting the focus screen.

Some cameras had a sliding back available for roll film use with a focus screen on one side the back on the other so you could work more qickly.

Ian
 
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