Phew! I just got attacked by
the badtrans but Nortons fought it off!
1)Fungus is not the end of
the world. Try taking a pic with it and if the
image is generally OK, it can be
polished but don't go to that far until you
are sure it shows
promise.
2)Yes the grass is great,
I keep an eye on it during the day because I am
sure the guys from the local putt
putt golf place will try to steal it.
3) Those back plates are
not hard to find. I know that most second hand /
pro shops have a few large format
cameras gathering dust and you can get a
whole camera for not too much. Most
of them have a completely removable back
(that's what you need). As long as
the back can be held flat to the plate
that is at the end of the tube you
are in business. BTW - if you get a tube
cut, have it cut in a lathe so the
ends are parallel, a saw just won't do.
Don't use aluminium for the tube as
its thermal expansion will make your
focus change by the
hour!
4) My camera is an Arca
Swiss monorail but the flatbed Linhoffs are just as
good, perhaps even
better. IMO - they made the best German cameras but they
didn't excel at making a
profit and went bust last year. If you get a whole
camera and an old lens
you will have a wonderful camera for all sorts of
uses too. I think people
are frightened by 4x5 when in reality it is no
where near as hard to use as any of
the AP stuff we all play with every new
moon.
Regards
Monte
----- Original Message
-----
From:
Frank Di Marzio <frank@trinity.unimelb.edu.au>
To: <montezinho@bigpond.com>
Sent: Friday, November
30, 2001 11:56 AM
Subject: 4x5 back??
> Hi
Monte,
>
> I just checked out your images of the new mounting. Very
nice indeed! I
> liked the fake grass too.
>
> It's a bit sad that your 600mm
didn't live up to expectations, but I can
> proudly say that I have a
900mm lemon ... with fungus! Now when's the date
> for the next hard waste
collection :-)
>
> Anyway, of particular interest to me was your 4x5 back. It
is *precisely*
> what I'm looking for in another (hopefully not vain)
attempt at building a
> 450mm astrocamera. Could you
please tell me which large format camera that
> back was taken from? Any ideas
where I could purchase a good second hand
one
> without having to purchase the
whole camera as well?
>
> Good luck with the
355mm!!
> Cheers,
>
Frank