Hello from Switzerland

S

Sandokan

Registered User
Joined
Jul 15, 2021
Messages
6
Hi,
I am an amateur photographer, who for the last 3 years has too little time for photography, owing to work commitments. However, when this beaut of a Sinar P2 with lots of extras came up for sale from a professional friend who was retiring; I could not decline his ridiculous offer and took the whole caboodle off his hands. Needless to say, he will receive loaves of bread every time he is in town (he plans to just sail). (I am also an amateur baker after realising shop bought bread usually gave me a stomach ache).

So anyway, I am looking forward to talking to and learning from you ... the last time I used a 4x5 camera was about 40 years ago, so excuse the newbie questions. Currently the toy is in my hobby room (a place of peace and quiet from the nagging of real life) on a tripod. I am sure to be searching the archives for hints, tips and advice on tripods (wood or metal?), heads (pan and tilt or ball?) and what mistake have I now made in loading or developing film.

Ravi
 
Hi and welcome Sandoken ... from what I know of the Sinar P2 you have a great tool to start your large format journey. My best tip is simply shoot more film ... the technical aspects start to sort themselves out as soon as you start to get a throughput. I on tripods I use an old Manfrotto 144 for location... it's stable and was super cheap. In the studio I use a huge video tripod ... massively heavy and with a pan and tilt head ... but again it was cheap and is rock solid - you may notice a theme here: personally I like to enjoy large format while saving a buck or two (after all film is expensive enough).
Anyway welcome and do show us all your results when you get shooting
Ash
 
Welcome.
Yes please, show us some pictures when you make them. (For me, some hints and tips on bread-making would be welcome too, but perhaps this isn’t the place.)
Excellent tripods are available in metal, wood and carbon fibre, in descending order of weight and approximately ascending order of cost. How far are you proposing to carry it?
A Sinar P2 on a ball head? Send us pictures of the wreckage after you try it. I’m not sure why ball heads have become so popular. Digital bloggers, perhaps? Some people mount the camera directly onto the tripod.
 
Welcome to the forum, there are a lot of knowledgeable folk here, eager to help if you need it.

I'm not keen on ball heads, although I know some ball heads take a heavy load. I prefer the greater control of 3 way heads personally. I may have more choice, because at a guess your Sinar weighs a lot more than my heaviest camera.
 
Welcome to the forum.
When I wanted a new tripod head to use with my Arca Swiss monorail I was advised to get the Manfrotto 410 Junior 3 way geared head. Using that you can more accurately and independently for each axis frame the subject on the ground glass. I have found it to be good advice and continue to use it with my Wista field camera.
 
The Manfrotto geared head is excellent. Manfrotto make two heavier versions, if you need them.
From my casual looking at LF blogs, the most popular heads seem to be the now-discontinued Gitzo pan and tilt heads, available in various sizes. Spares are still available. Newer tripods seem to favour QR plates, but these older Gitzos are fixed by the standard screw. Most can take the stronger 3/8 version.
Most of us seem to be using field cameras. The Sinar, and other monorails, will be quite top-heavy.
 
Thanks all for the warm welcome.

Not only is the camera heavy (I estimate about 5Kg) but because of the physical size overwhelming the tripod head, there is a lot of force exerted on the tripod head when it is not directly overhead.

From landscape photography, I learnt my lesson early that it is cheaper to just start by buying the most expensive and best tripod on the market ... I chose ProMediaGear instead of RRS to differentiate mine from my buddy. I have a few heads including the Arca Swiss P0 ballhead, Acra Tech Panorama tilt & swivel (20Kg specs) and a Gitzo 3-way head. I agree with David and Stephen - ballhead is (next to) useless here as I discovered yesterday. The Acratech was also useless if the camera is not exactly on top. I did not try the Gitzo as its specs are only about 5Kg load.

I shall sneak down to my hobby room later and attach the 75mm levelling head on the tripod but I can see the need for a dedicated tripod ... I have an offer in for a Berlebach, so lets see if I win that (@Marley - it is 1/3 of new price with only me bidding).
 
I got some time to play today. I am now really happy I found the screw for focusing as I was dreading having to focus just by pushing/pulling the standards. The PMG tripod with its 42mm diameter legs and half ball head is more than capable to handle this camera and using a RRS clamp to hold a 100mm Gitzo plate to which I have two supports attached is as secure as I can make it.

I didn not win the Berlebach, but it was one of their lighter Reporter series and I doubt it was sturdy enough.

PS @David M - happy to give you bread making tips and recipes ... although with only 4 ingredients, it is the time, love and effort you put into bread that makes the difference. Anyway, even when you make bread at home and it fails, it still tastes better than anything bought from the shops.
 
If you do give bread making hints, I hope it's in a thread here so I can read them. I've never baked bread, I'm more into pastry, pies, tarts and cakes.

Your camera is lighter than I expected. My heaviest camera is probably my 10x8 Canham at about 4kg, but my Kodak half plate Specialist subjectively feels heavier.
 
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