Re: [Largeformat] Re: Polaroid 545

[Douglas Cooper <douglas@metaversalstudios.com>]

At 03:00 AM 9/4/00 +0000, you wrote:

>Good luck in this "rare" world of nothing automatic !
>
>Tigershark


Thanks!  To be honest, I haven't used much that's automatic in years.  My 
cameras that have seen heavy use are from the forties or fifties:  a Speed 
Graphic, a Leica thread-mount, two Rollei TLRs (sold in Japan, and 
missed).  I have only one auto-everything camera, and I bought it because I 
wanted to do street photography in medium format:  it's a Fuji GA645i, and 
for what it is, it's an amazing toy:  loads 120 film in seconds, prints 
data between frames, washes the dishes.

Recently I've added an Olympus OM-1, for those occasions when I need to be 
able to see through a viewfinder -- especially macro shots.  But I sense 
that the 4x5 will render this unnecessary.  Which leads me to a 
question:  is there any point in buying a dedicated macro lens for large 
format?  Flatness of field, perhaps?  I mean, it seems to me that *any* 
lens should operate nicely as a macro, given the necessary bellows 
extension.  My 121 Super Angulon goes 1:1 without difficulty using these 
16" bellows.


Douglas Cooper


(Oh, and my next camera will be pretty mechanical as well: a Super Graphic 
I bought for a song on ebay.  Should be here in a week.  I assume the 
electronic shutter is shot; generally is, I'm told.)