Close up portraits (really close) with 4x5 or MF ... options?

I shoot portraits with Bronica SQ with a 150. For really close up, I add an extension ring. Here's my man Slim:

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Sunny sixteen open shade on a clear day so about 1/60 or 1/125 at f4.7 with the Crown and ISO 100 film!

I suppose a tripod and dark cloth etc wouldn't be so much drama ... I'm already getting enough puzzled looks from passers by now so it coud only add a little to their curiosity I guess! :D

The extension tube for the Hassy is something I hadn't thought of!

Don't forget a loop too, it helps. It's the only type of film camera you can see like you have an LCD in her!

You might check out a Mamiya RB67 or old Bronica. They both focus via bellows and allow you to get really close.

B2 (;->
 
Thank you, DN. Bronica SQ-A, 150mm with an S-36 extension ring, Kodak TXP 320 shot at box speed, developed in Xtol 1:1. The lighting is a single flourescent softbox. f5.6/30th.

Slim works at a homeless center downtown. He can recite whole scenes of "The Shawshank Redemption" on request.
 
Here's an idea for the 4x5: Pre-focus with the ground glass at home and attach a piece of string to the bottom of the camera that's the correct length to get the framing you want. Ask the subject to hold the end of the string to their cheek bone or bridge of their nose, extend until it's taut, ask them to drop it and, assuming you can stay reasonably "put" you should be in focus and be able to make a shot. You could even have a couple options for how close you want to get. At those distances, it would be more accurate than a rangefinder anyway. Framing the image accurately might be a challenge.

According to http://www.largeformatphotography.info/cameras/pacemaker/ you have 12.5" (call it 315mm) of extension with that camera. You need 270mm (give or take the difference between the flange focal distance and the focal length) of extension with your 135 to get to 1:1, which should be plenty close enough, possibly too close. You can get to 1:1 with a 150mm or nearly 1:1 with a 165mm lens on that camera too and have a greater working distance to the subject.
 
Not sure if this is what your after but these were shot with a 500cm and 50/4 at minimum focusing distance, I'm with Frank on the use of wide angle for portraits, love the look and character it adds.

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Todd
 
Todd and vdonovan, thanks for posting those examples and vdonovan's pic in particular is a pretty accurate example of where I want to go regarding image proportions.

Also thanks for your input Frank ... much appreciated.

This West End thing now looks like it may possibly be heading in the direction of a small exhibition. I was approached at a private gallery opening I was photographing for a friend the other night by a guy who lectures in event management at a Brisbane Tafe College. He's interested in using my output from West End to create an exhibition scenario for his students for a semester's project for them. I'd supply the material and they'd do everything else apparently which includes organising the venue and actually getting people through the door ... my only costs would be printing! I thought he was making a fairly casual expression of interest but he appears to be pretty serious about it and has asked me to get in contact with him when I'm ready with some images I'm satisfied with. So I'd better get my sh!t together and start taking a lot more photos!

At this stage I think I'll stick with the Graphic and crop a little as need be!
 
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Keith, get a 210mm lens! Or bring a tripod and go ground glass. I fully support your West End works. I was there the other day with an Olympus XA and found so many interesting places in the surrounding streets. Lovely lovely lovely camera by the way!

For those talking about the 80mm with close up filters...This is minimum focus with an 80mm and +2 diopter,

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Hi Chris,

I thought you were convinced Brisbane was boring! :D

The more time I spend in West End and the more time I spend around these homeless street people the more I'm learning about the supposedly thriving metropolis we live in. As Brisbane becomes one of Oz's fastest growing cities it's also creating an ever increasing population of these disadvantaged sub cultures ... indigenous and white. I was told by a friend today who works in a government department that this population is currently growing rapidly ... and she has the statistics to prove it.

I also found out another interesting little detail the other day Chris ...

There are two roads in the city named Boundary Street ... they form the ends of a rough square and originally were part of an Aboriginal exclusion zone that operated in the mid nineteenth century!
 
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