4x5 large format underwater photography?

Hey Crew

Has anyone ever housed a 4x5 linhof or something similar?

I know medium format cameras have been housed commonly but I'm talking about a 4x5 system with bellows and ground glass.

I'm thinking its impossible due to camera lens tilt etc required to make the photographs?

Cheers

Cal

Hey Crew

 

Has anyone ever housed a 4x5 linhof or something similar?

 

I know medium format cameras have been housed commonly but I'm talking about a 4x5 system with bellows and ground glass.

 

I'm thinking its impossible due to camera lens tilt etc required to make the photographs?

 

Cheers

 

Cal

If Howard Hall can do IMAX (size of a VW beetle), I suppose you could do 4x5. I have never head of one. What a PITA! Just a bigger box and a boat anchor for ballast. You could DIY a DX box with PC lens.

Bob

How many images would you like to take during a dive? Is one enough? Attaching the hood would be difficult.

I think it has been done back in time if I recall correctly.

I have a 4x5 if you would like to buy in order to build a housing for it.

It wouldn't actually be for diving but rather for pool work (www.calmero.com.au)

What sort of 4x5 is it?

I'd be happy with just one photo and then changing it all out above water.

I'm trying to get either a medium format hasselblad or a 4x5 large format housed for a random project i'm working on.

All good fun!

Cheers

Cal

You don't have to tilt the lens panel, unless you're after a non parallel focus plane.

Thanks Andrew! I'm meeting up with a pro large format landscape photographer this week to learn the basics of LF photography

Waiting to see this....

It will be interesting to see the lens and port setup.

Medium format like Hasselblad of course do have current housings. Having shot with the Phase 645 in the pool, I think the potential is mainly for portrait and closer type images where the detail is spectacular. With wide angle on the other hand, the larger formats are more problematic underwater.

Couple of questions:

How many riggers would you need for the cabling of the power supply to the Balcar strobe?

How are you going to change darkslides?

Won't your dark cloth become difficult to handle?

How will you apply the lupe to the groundglass?

Couple of questions:

 

How many riggers would you need for the cabling of the power supply to the Balcar strobe?

How are you going to change darkslides?

Won't your dark cloth become difficult to handle?

How will you apply the lupe to the groundglass?

Take some of Clyde Butcher's courses to start, then progress to underwater

Hey Crew

 

Has anyone ever housed a 4x5 linhof or something similar?

 

I know medium format cameras have been housed commonly but I'm talking about a 4x5 system with bellows and ground glass.

 

I'm thinking its impossible due to camera lens tilt etc required to make the photographs?

 

Cheers

 

Cal

I think that loading and using the dark slide might be a real pain - some things are simply not meant to be.

at least in the weightless environment you could hang head down in the water to view the image "right way up"

We did work on a large format project that unfortunately never came too, that was back in the early 90's and it involved using using a 58mm Scheider and a Linfhof roll film back of 6cmx12cm.

Hurdles I remember that we faced:

Film sheet was not considered due to the necessity to remove and reinsert the dark slide for every exposure, instead a roll film back of the Graflock type was used that at least gave the shooter a few exposures for bracketing (six if I remember well)

Focusing, it was considered to use the Nikonos approach but sticking to preset distances would most likely have been the more pratical approach. this was projected to be done by using spacers to move the lens to a specific distance to match the virtual image projected by the dome.

Advancing the film was fairly straight forward since the roll film back had a lever similar to the 35mm film camera. more complex was linking the aperture and shutter speed on these view camera lenses and the arming of the shutter mechanism, triggering on the other was child play by using a plunger type of cable release.

This was to be a one lens, one size of film camera destined to do large billboard for a French resort consortium. Coming from a large format background myself, I can tell you that you should shut down any dreams of using sheet film underwater, if any thing I would probably consider working around a Linhoff or Fuji Panoramic camera with something like a 6x17cm format, keep the roll fim back and the lens and have an aluminum body machined that can accept off the shelf dome port of 8" or wider with a latched rear door that will give access to the roll film back.

shutter speed can be accessed via a pinion gear mechanism (the ring has notches that closely resemble gear teeth, the itch is the aperture IMO, the pesky lever is normaly very small and oddly located under the lens, the arming of the shutter should be no major hurdle.

Hope you have some good ressource if you want to tackle this baby, it sure is not a weekend project

If Louis Boutan could do large format underwater photograph all the way back in 1893, I'm sure it can be done today, but is it worth it?

I think Juergen Freund has a housed Linhof 612

Hey Crew

 

Has anyone ever housed a 4x5 linhof or something similar?

 

I know medium format cameras have been housed commonly but I'm talking about a 4x5 system with bellows and ground glass.

 

I'm thinking its impossible due to camera lens tilt etc required to make the photographs?

 

Cheers

 

Cal

Tom Easop (?) made a custom UW 4x5 system to shoot some black and white wreck shots and I heard that Cathy Church was going to do it. If it were me, I wouldn't go the view camera route but rather build a housing for a speed graflex type system. Much smaller and less painful. Put a digital back on it and you would be good to go (if a bit poorer than when you started).

Bill

So many good posts - not sure where to start

Loftus - "With wide angle on the other hand, the larger formats are more problematic underwater" - why? I figured a P45 (LF digital) with a wide angle lens would be the penultimate underwater system? Large format with all the benefits of digital. Does shooting wide with LF underwater cause some optical problems etc?

Jean - Thanks as always for your expertise.

Paul - "I think that loading and using the dark slide might be a real pain - some things are simply not meant to be." - I agree. Theres usually a reason things havent been done before haha

So as not to start a new thread - heres a rambling of thoughts.

If its possible to shoot LF - I want to do it for fine art purposes. Silver gelatin + selenium toned images printed at a huge size. - also this of models not reefs.

I want to print big for exhibition purposes. Medium format could be a viable option for this but I imagine that the difference in quality between a medium format (120/220) camera and my nikon d90 will not be so different as to justify the additional expenses / efforts. thoughts? Whereas the quality difference between 4x5 vs my d90 is huge.

( I want 2mx2m prints - drum scanned 9000 dpi of the 120 and/or 4x5 film. )

But more than that I'm really curious as to the marketability of 4x5 film prints this day in age. I have my first solo exhibition coming up in a few months and I've been working on the marketing for it. I wonder if I shot a few 4x5 pieces (and marketed it correctly) whether the pieces would fetch a much heftier price tag?

Cheers

Cal

I took some of my best (earning) pictures on a 10x8 Sinar but to take one underwater...I'm not stupid! The trick would be to build a glass tank around what you wanted to photograph as at Pinewood Studios underwater stage.

"..I'm not stupid!' -

"The trick would be to build a glass tank around what you wanted to photograph as at Pinewood Studios underwater stage." - except I dont have a million dollars

I'm thinking I'll probably try and house a graflex crown graphic. Its cheap and has very few movements. It was originally made as a press camera so I figure its probably the easiest 4x5 on the market. Ill be shooting a predetermined focal distance so everything can be setup above water including the correct exposure.

So I figure all I really need to be able to do is trip the shutter?

"..I'm not stupid!' -

 

"The trick would be to build a glass tank around what you wanted to photograph as at Pinewood Studios underwater stage." - except I dont have a million dollars

Find someone with a big fish tank; really! If you used the 4x5 to it's best advantage you would be shooting midrange / close-up anyway. I think very wide angle would be pointless with edge quality behind a dome etc

Cal, one way out is to get access to a pool with port windows, we have a few pool like this in Montreal, not sure if its a localized trend, but if you do find one, just give the port a good scrub and polish (they usually are in acrylic), It should turn out to be cheaper (and more convenient) than housing a LF camera. at least worth considering for testing purpose.

another more far fetch idea, make a fiberglass dive bell with a compass dome in the front as a dome port, that would give you access to the camera controls and even let you change film holder for that matter.

one more thing, Graphlex use to manufacture a Graphmatic holder which held six sheet of 4x5" film, I was using them extensively with my fiel camera since they are both compact and quick to set up, I see them pop up on e-bay once in a while (god knows why I keep checking for stuff like this after having sold it by the kilo... nostalgia perhaps, I kinda miss the slow pace it forced upon us)

Thanks for the great answers guys!