Cameras & equipment

In my desire to render images up to 16x20 inches and beyond, I have run into several annoyances with my existing cameras. My statement here is not to detract from my other cameras, but any camera that you use will have some limitations and the only way to address these limitations is to purchase other equipment, or to settle. I am not a professional by any means but I do have a desire to enlarge images beyond wallet sizes. Following the encouragement of two good friends, I decided to step up and purchase a large format 4x5 camera.

I love the aspect ratio of the 35 mm, but whenever you do anything with it in the realm of printing you are forced to crop or render smaller than I would like. The Hassellblad, is very cool. I have drawn crowds with that camera, but I am not a huge fan of square images. They have their place but just not my preference.

Since I am still learning, I didn't want to purchase one that was too pricey or weighed too much. So, I decide to purchase an Crown Graphic 4X5 press camera. It fit the order and will be a toy for me to play around with until I come to my senses on way or the other. I will be writing my experiences with all my cameras. The good and the bad the learning and the triumphs, and from all indicators with this new piece of equipment. The expense.

This is my primary camera until I can convince myself that I need a large format. I purchased it in Dec of 2000, and have taken many photographs with it already and several sets of batteries. So far the battery life seems to be very good on this full auto camera, but I always that a spare set since the batteries will die on you when you need them most. The focus on it seems to be pretty fast, but I rarely find myself in a situation that I have to open the shutter quickly. The build in flash has never failed me and cycles very fast.

I have an 20 - 35 mm wide angle lenses and a 28 - 300 mm Tamron lens. Both of these lenses seem to be tack sharp and I am quite happy with both of them so far. The 28 - 300 lens is rather heavy and tends to take a bit longer to focus, and has trouble in very low light. So far, I have not had any problems with the 20 - 35 mm lens and it is quickly becoming my favorite lens. Both of the lenses are 3.5 lens which causes dark images sometimes, but I have adapted easily to it.

This is actually my fathers camera, but I have used it several times in the field. He purchased it with perhaps a little bit of prodding from me. I will fill in some more stats on this classic camera in time.

This Hasselblad 1000F was manufactured in the 1940's and after a good cleaning still takes wonderful photographs. It is actually a lot of fun to take photos with this camera, and sometimes at tracks crowds while being used. In this digital age, hoe people can claim to have taken photos literally counting off the seconds of the exposure? And yes, the photos turned out great. It is the antithesis of my Canon, in that it is fully manual, and the operator even needs to manually stop down the aperture. This has caused my come grief when switching between a fully automated camera, to a the Hasselblad.

This camera is now being used by my brother as he sets his sites towards larger images.