4x5 or medium format.

[480sparky]

.......LF is NOT portable (I shoot a monorail), and it HAS to be shot on a tripod, bulky film holders, etc........

A LF press or field camera (which I want to get) is portable and can be shot handheld,......

So which is it?

Yes, railed LF is best on a tripod, but press/field LF is hand-holdable. A blanket statement can't be made then.

 

[ac12]

.......LF is NOT portable (I shoot a monorail), and it HAS to be shot on a tripod, bulky film holders, etc........

A LF press or field camera (which I want to get) is portable and can be shot handheld,......

So which is it?

Yes, railed LF is best on a tripod, but press/field LF is hand-holdable. A blanket statement can't be made then.

For ME, my monorail is NOT portable.
When/if I get a press or field camera THEN it will be portable, but only for the press/field camera.
So lets say, a monorail is NOT portable, and a press/field camera is portable.

Going up a step.
I was out on a LF shoot, and someone had an 8x10 view camera.
That would be portable only if I had a grunt to carry it for me, a second grunt to carry the huge tripod it needs, and a third grunt to carry the film holders and other stuff. Or a golf cart/ATV, to haul it around in.

 

[IanG]

Your idea of portable seems rather feeble.

I've shot landscapes with my 10x8 Agfa Ansco Commercial View numerous times and walked at least 5 miles with it and it's tripod. Sure it's a lot heavier than my 5x4 kits but has been worth while, should add I carry the camera/tripod by hand and the DDS (film holders) etc in a back-pack.

Ian

 

[ac12]

Your idea of portable seems rather feeble.

I've shot landscapes with my 10x8 Agfa Ansco Commercial View numerous times and walked at least 5 miles with it and it's tripod. Sure it's a lot heavier than my 5x4 kits but has been worth while, should add I carry the camera/tripod by hand and the DDS (film holders) etc in a back-pack.

Ian

I guess I'm feeble then.
It comes with age and injury.

 

[IanG]

I guess I'm feeble then.
It comes with age and injury.

Yes age and arthritis catches up with all of us, I've toyed with an old golf cart for the 10x8 camera.

Ian

 

[Derrel]

I would love to meet the man or woman who can take a 10x8 monorail while rock- climbing or steelhead fishing. There is a _huge_ difference between portable and luggable/ haulable.

 

[Derrel]

My large format camera is a 1950s linhof Color, a lightweight tan colored monorail not the Kardan Color, just the Colorolor. It is actually quite carry-able, especially when fitted with a short rail. When I was in my twenties I used to carry around in the back of my Mazda RX7 in its trunk case. This was in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, I bought a 120 roll film system camera, the Bronica SQ-AM, which allowed me to shoot 6 x 6 centimeter Square as well as 6 x 4.5. In 2007 I added an SQ-ai, and 3 lenses which I bought as a lot for $300! The 50 mm / 4 Pro Series lens was $1,900 in 1991, and the outfit came with the 50/4 PS, and an 80,and a 150, two backs, and two viewfinders, for the amazingly low price of $300!

There is no comparison in the handling speed and flexibility of a medium format camera compared to any sheet film camera using sheet film holders. My other larger format camera is a 1938 baby Speed Graphic, and the speed in operation is much slower than a crank-wind MF slr or TLR.

 

[ac12]

Oh how I wish I had bought an RX7 back then.
When I finally decided that I could afford one, the body style had changed, and I did not like the new style.