Posted by Mike Hobson on May 04, 2001 at 23:39:40:
Howdy, folks. Newbie on the loose. I'm getting ready
to get a complete (I hope) Crown Graphic setup in a
couple of weeks, and I was wondering if there's any
good books to help get me started. Basic operation of
the camera, I can probably figure out on my own, but
stuff about precise settings, etc, depending on the
shots I'm taking. I have a friend who's a
photographer, but he's mostly using more modern
equipment, and doesn't know much about Large Format.
I also had a question about flashes.. I know that's a
touchy subject around here. From what I've seen of
the Graflex flash and it's innards, it seems that the
shutter sync doesn't always work very well. I'm
figuring this is why I see them rewired occasionally.
Is the Graflite a better flash overall? Better sync,
more reliable? To be honest, I'm not sure if it will
make much difference for me, more a matter of
curiosity. Most of the shots I have in mind are all
outdoor.. nature photography, and probably won't use
any sort of flash. The camera I'm getting has
the "movie" flash, and I'm wondering if it would
be better to replace it with a Graflite for
indoor/portrait shots.. they're a dime a dozen on eBay.
Oh, one more thing (I'm full of questions today).
What sort of tripods do these cameras use? Do I need
to hunt down a Graphic-specific tripod, or will
today's tripods work for it? If I decide to go the
Ansel Adams route (i.e. "the perfect shot"), I hope I
don't have to stand there holding the thing... :-)
Thanks in advance for all the help. Hopefully the
more I get into LF, the more I'll start hanging around
here... seems like a pretty good place!