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Comment by null_object | Hacker News Reader

One other thing not mentioned in the article: new large format cameras are being produced all over the world right now (so no need to hunt down ‘antique’ models if you don’t want to have the hassle of maintaining older equipment).

These include Chroma cameras in the UK, Arca Swiss in France, Chamonix from China and very many more.

The experience of shooting large format is massively immersive: I take way longer over each image than the writer in the article, easily stretching to a half hour until I finally take a single image. It’s rare that I have more than 3 or 4 images at the end of a whole day - but the whole experience is really satisfying and meditative: my partner likens it to a day’s fishing

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From my father, I inherited several large format cameras, a stunningly beautiful cherry wood and brass (maybe rosewood?) Wista 4x5 field camera, a camera on a rail (Linhof?) that looks very technical and a couple others, maybe even an 8x10 in the collection. Also a couple dozen lenses, mostly Rodenstock but there's some Nikkor and a couple Fujinon.

I haven't thought much about them but maybe I should.

if you have no use for them please dont let them fade away in some storage space :)

Alas, that is exactly what has happened. They are in these rubberized, humidity-protective bags within hard cases but they are languishing in my garage storage area.

Given that his name is Wistar (the name of some Wista lenses) I assume he does put them to good use.

Pure coincidence.

Arca Swiss, isn't related to Alpa Swiss is it? - https://www.alpa.swiss/ I think I recall hearing they use extremely fine metal shims that you add to get the image focus spot on.

It definitely sounds a fascinating hobby. I've been looking at some of the cheap plastic belowless large format cameras, I'm not sure how good they'd be though?

Do you develop the film yourself btw? I assume sending off dark slides might be expensive?

Rather than buy some all-in-one 3D-printed camera, if you live in the United States, Graflex press cameras are relatively cheap and abundant. Expect to pay $200 with a 135mm lens, maybe a little more with a few film holders.

These cameras don't do everything that a view camera like the Arca Swiss will do (few movements -- you can't twist them like a pretzel). But it's enough to dip your toes in and see if you even like the process before making a big investment.

(edit: just make sure you don't buy the 3.25" x 4.25" model, you'll have a really hard time finding film)

The focusing mechanisms on the bellowless tend to be dodgy or nonexistent, and the good ones cost as much as a bellows camera.

Ultimately, the lenses for these cameras are still not that cheap, so the overall savings on a low-quality body may not be worth it.

> Arca Swiss, isn't related to Alpa Swiss is it?

* https://www.arca-shop.de/en/

Both Alpa and Arca exist as separate companies :)

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