Ride Control

I was in the historic downtown of Grapevine, Texas at their train station looking at some old railroad cars they had there.

The surrounding modern buildings and powerlines did not offer much of a scene setting locale for such interesting pieces of history so I decided to make an image of the springs on one of the cars.

Here is where the LX-3 really came in handy. Before I went about trying to set up this image I first switch the LX-3 over into 3:4 aspect ratio and made several images to check the composition. Only when I found the right one did I set up the shot with the 4x5.

You can see the set up at the top and the bottom image is the test composition straight out of the LX-3 (in Dynamic B+W mode).

I may have been using color film but I just envisioned this image as some sort of monochrome. Maybe a sepia.

I liked what the LX-3 got and I now had a pretty good representation of what I wanted from the film.

I framed up the Arca as close as I could get to this and set about focusing and metering the image. When I get the chrome back from the lab, I'll scan it an go for monochrome.

By the way both images here are from the LX-3.

Arca-Swiss Discovery-Going Long

Have I ever mentioned in this blog how much I like the modular aspect of Arca-Swiss cameras?

Well, if I have not, let me tell you about that now. The Arca system is amazingly modular. In fact the entire system is so modular there are no serial numbers on cameras since an Arca-Swiss camera is really just a collection of whatever modular parts you currently have on a rail.

I normally work with wide to normal lenses on my one folding rail with my leather bellows. However since I have been playing around with the old Rapid Rectilinear lens I needed a way to try it in long configuration. The lens is not labeled with a length but my guess is about a 160mm or so which when you take off one element, you double that to about a 320mm.

Making use of that lens is not possible with my camera in it's "normal" configuration-I just do not have enough rail or bellows for anything over about 240mm. That is where Arca-Swiss modularity comes into play. My Discovery came with a non-folding 30cm rail and a standard bellows that Arca-Swiss says does 380mm.

I just simply put both mounting brackets on my ballhead (each only half way in) and butted the rails up end to end. Viola a 60cm rail! I swapped out the leather wide angle bellows for the standard accordion bellows and I now had a camera that had a long rail with a long bellows. Total time-about 15 seconds.

If you look at the top picture you can see that the mounting brackets each are only partially in the ballhead. That may not look like much but they are both in there rock solid. This set up is not going to move. Gotta love that Arca engineering!

The two rails now give me more length than my bellows can do. I am easily able to focus the RR in long set mode. I have plenty of rail and bellows.

The top image is with focus at infinity. there is still enough stretch in the bellows to do some close up work with this lens.

The bottom image gives you the front view on the lens. As an an aside you may notice that this lens is mounted on a Toyo board and that the holder looks odd. It is a 171mm Arca board cut to mount a Toyo board. Homebrew that I got with the camera. When I got the old RR lens I did not have an extra 110 Arca board with a #0 hole to mount it on. however, I still had this old adapter and a Toyo #0 board. So to save having to order a new board I just put it in that. So if I want to take and use this lens in long format I have to take it, the rail, the extra bellows and this adapter board. Not really that much extra weight when you already have a backpack.

And it is all possible with modular nature of Arca-Swiss cameras.

Two Years and a New Toy

Today marks the end of my second year of this blog! Two whole years of posting images of a large format camera. Whodathunkit?

Well in honor of that I dug through the images one of my favorite trips of the last year to bring you two images and also to talk about a new toy.

First the new toy might just be the perfect digital travel companion for a 4x5. It's the Panasonic LX-3. I have looked for sometime for the perfect camera as a travel companion for the Arca-Swiss and I think this is it.

When I started in large format I alternated my Mamiya 645 or Olympus OM-4Ti as my companion camera. The OM was a great companion but what I found was when shooting 4x5 that medium format and 35mm film paled in comparison. So I went without a backup for a while. Then after getting the DSLR it became the backup. Digital is a different way of thinking and working than a 4x5 so it became the backup.

But it meant a second bag.

After carrying two bags-and sometimes two tripods I decided to try to lighten the load.

Well after more thought and a great deal of research I decided the Panasonic LX-3 was a good bet. I waited and watch for several weeks earlier this year for one to be in stock (it is that popular). It was worth the wait.

I got it just in time for my trip to the Lost Mesa and it impressed me from the word go.

Small. Pocketable. Metal body. Fast f/2.0 24mm Leica lens. RAW capture. Great in-camera B+W. 720P movie mode. 1cm macro mode. Hot shoe. A feature set that was outstanding and a camera that was fun and easy to use in hand.

Start with the 24mm-60mm eq lens. This matches up closely with my large format lenses of 75mm, 125mm, ans 210mm-that's just about 24-60 after conversion. Make that 24mm an f/2.0 and a Leica and you got something special. I like wide and most cameras with their 35mm wide end are not wide enough. The only other cameras I seriously considered (Canon s90 and G10) were both 28mm on the wide end. True both were longer, but I gladly gave up reach for wider angle.


Then there were the little things such as the 1cm macro and 720P movie mode. I would probably never buy a video camera or macro lens, but I get both with this camera.

Let's talk in the field.

When you are carrying a large pack with 35 pounds of large format gear plus a tripod, you want a digital to be compact, and light. The LX-3 fits the bill. I can carry it in a jacket pocket, cargo pocket, in a small pouch, in a lens pocket in my pack, or most often- around my neck and tucked in a shirt pocket. Easy to grab. Plus the metal body made it feel like it could handle being out in the elements.

The camera was quick for a p+s. Maybe not quite as fast as a DSLR but fast enough for quick snaps and easy to use.

The results were impressive. The in camera b+w were really nice right out of the camera. Very little tweaking is needed. The image up top has a slight levels on it. That's it.

The bottom image was taken in RAW and processed minimally with Elements 6 (CS-3 Camera RAW does not support the LX-3 RAW format, but oddly Elements 6 does-go figure).

Both look great to me. Even at higher ISO's the noise has a look of film grain and a very "natural" look that I like. And getting an image you like is a must with any camera.

Call me impressed with image quality. But the story does not end there.

This camera is tough. Metal body. Real lens cap. I might be alone in liking that but they feel more solid to me than the self closing. Just a big enough grip that I feel I can hold it with gloves on

I really liked using the easily switchable formats of this camera. 3:4 to 2:3 to 16:9 made it possible to get something similar to a 4x5 (making it a great tool as a composition aid) or to go for the pano. Making that a switch in the body and not in the menus was a huge plus. As was going to macro, auto or manual focus modes on the camera too.

All in all the perfect package!

In a few short months it has become my constant travel companion. I cannot take my Arca-Swiss everywhere with me. I can and do take the LX-3. It is either in my pocket or in my bag where ever I go.

The perfect travel companion for me or when out with the 4x5!

Downtown at Sunrise

Downtown Fort Worth and the Trinity River as seen from the Lancaster Street bridge.

On a day that looked like the making for a nice morning sunrise I grabbed the 4x5 and headed to Trinity Park. Walked up the bridge onto Lancaster. Then proceeded to set up with a view of the river and downtown.

Started with a 210mm but then dug out the old RR and tried it at both 160 and 320 settings. I am amazed that this old lens not only covers the 4x5 but is also not near as bad as I feared it might be. I was wondering if it would only be good for black and white but it surprises with color.

Chasing the Rainbow

At the height of the thunderstorm and before it broke up I could make out a full rainbow. It was nothing I could or would try to capture with the 4x5 as I was set for an image of just Alamo Mountain. I left that image to the digital tools.

Here is the Arca with theend of the rainbow going into Alamo Mountain. A pot of gold indeed!