In late 2020 I bought myself a large format 8"x 10" view camera. This is a lightweight Chamonix folding wood camera, with limited movements. I already have an 8x10 camera, and I've owned it for over a dozen years. But it is a large and bulky Sinar P monorail camera. It is quite heavy, and difficult to carry in the field. I have a large storage case for the camera itself. The case actually has wheels, which works OK on a floor or a sidewalk, but are pretty much useless out in the field. The camera is quite heavy, and requires a large tripod of considerable weight. I have a couple more cases that contain the rest of the gear required to operate the camera. This includes one case with a selection of about six or seven lenses. A second case with all the odds and ends; meter, filters, cable release, extension rails, notepad, etc. And then a third case, and sometimes a fourth, with film holders. Whenever I've been out shooting with this camera it would take three or four trips from wherever I parked the truck, out to where I was shooting. Once all the gear was unpacked and set up, there was the challenge of composing the image. The Sinar does not have a very bright ground glass and it is difficult to view the entire screen, even with a good dark cloth. I often found that I had stuff intruding into the edges, or sometimes I accidentally cropped stuff off. Then, when the shooting was done, it required three or four trips to the truck to haul everything back. After the excitement of the first couple of shooting seasons, beginning in 2007, the novelty quickly wore off. Now this camera sits mostly in storage and I do most of my field shooting with the smaller 4" x 5" format. The big camera only was brought out occasionally, mostly for studio work.
With the recent purchase of the Chamonix, I hope to be a lot more active in 8x10. These large negatives are so crisp and sharp when they are focused and exposed properly. I have considered my previous struggles and my advancing age, and put together a much lighter field package. The Chamonix does not require nearly as heavy a tripod. I have a backpack set up that contains the camera, four lenses, darkcloth, meter, cable release, a few filters, and two film holders. It is actually very light and weighs a little less than the extensive 4x5 outfit that I usually carry. The only drawback is that I can only fit two film holders in the backpack. These are double sided so that means four shots. If I intend to shoot more I either have to return to my truck to exchange film holders, or pack a separate case with some extra ones. Either way I think it should be manageable.
After returning home from my trip to East Coulee I set about organizing my archive of 8" x 10" negatives. I have almost three hundred black and white ones, plus a handful of color negatives and transparencies. I got these all properly filed away into binders, with the appropriate notes filed with them. Then I set about scanning all of the good ones, so that I have a quick reference for all of these large images. I have been quite behind in this process and still have some undeveloped film to process. In going through all this I came across the image I've included below.
This is probably the first "good" landscape image that I took with the big Sinar P. This is a grouping of Aspen Trunks out at Elk Island National Park. It was taken in May of 2007, shortly after I got the camera. I used a 360mm Rodenstock lens with an enormous Copal 3 shutter. I think that lens alone weighs more than the new Chamonix camera...! Its about the size of a grapefruit and the front glass element is about 4 inches across. This focal length is approximately equivalent to a 60mm lens in 35mm film format, or full frame digital. I shot the image on Ilford FP4+ film, and gave it plus development to increase contrast. This is the same approach that I have recently outlined in some blog posts. Once again, I used Kodak HC-110 developer to achieve this expanded contrast.
I look forward to a new sense of freedom with the new field camera and hope to create some great images with it this year. I have already done some shooting up around Nordegg and down at East Coulee and already have about a dozen sheets of film exposed.
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