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Poppers

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Apologies if this is on the wrong forum.

I've borrowed one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyo-View-P...797586862?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item43b4e309ae

Does anyone know where i can get a manual?

I'd like a simple list of what each movement is for if there is such a thing. So far everything looks ever so complicated and i keep coming across algebra which is worrying.

Secondly it has a Schneider Kreuznach Symmar-S 135mm f/5.6 but no lens cap. Im trying to find out what size lens cap it would need but cant locate the information. I'm thinnking it might be 49mm not not certain.

Thirdly i'll be trying it out tomorrow. I have a gossen luna pro f analogue meter. Would one use reflected or Incident readings?

Thanks

Michael
 
Poppers said:
Apologies if this is on the wrong forum.

I've borrowed one of these http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyo-View-P...797586862?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item43b4e309ae

Does anyone know where i can get a manual?

I'd like a simple list of what each movement is for if there is such a thing. So far everything looks ever so complicated and i keep coming across algebra which is worrying.

Secondly it has a Schneider Kreuznach Symmar-S 135mm f/5.6 but no lens cap. Im trying to find out what size lens cap it would need but cant locate the information. I'm thinnking it might be 49mm not not certain.

Thirdly i'll be trying it out tomorrow. I have a gossen luna pro f analogue meter. Would one use reflected or Incident readings?

Thanks

Michael
Click to expand...

I have a couple of 4x5 cameras, but seldom use them as my life tends to be too busy. So, I am not the definitive expert on 4x5. We do have some experienced people here though.

1. Try a library or used book store for a book on 4x5 photography. That will explain things you haven't even thought to ask yet. Again, google is your friend for a manual. You might try the Butkus site.

2. I have no clue what size lens cap you need. You may well be able to find out by googling that lens. You can certainly measure it, and the actual lens cap size will usually be two more than the inside diameter (where the filter screws are it it has those). Quite often, you can convert a medicine bottle cap to use on a LF lens. I have done that for a couple of mine.

3. Choice of incident or reflected light depends on your subject and your preference. I tend towards incident for MF and LF, with a Sekonic Studio Deluxe meter. For me, I find it more accurate than my Gossen Luna Pro SBC (in incident mode), which I tend to use more for reflected light. However, the Zone System requires reflected light.

You need to read up on them and experiment to decide which suites your photography best.

EDIT: I guess you just used that ebay seller to illustrate your camera. My personal opinion is that seller tends to be very high in his pricing. Also, that camera has terrible bellows, which would be difficult to get to work properly and would surely need to be replaced. I am not even sure that is a Toyo View. Anybody know for sure? I realize the lens board is, but how about the camera itself?
 
Looks like a Toyoview D45M. Never found an online PDF for that specific camera. Any decent book on LF photography should explain all the movements, though. It's a good, solid camera.
 
View cameras tend to not have much of a user's manual. That's a tendency, not an absolute.

There are a few good sources of information on how to operate a large format camera and use its movements. "The Camera" by Ansel Adams might not be the best, but it's pretty good, and common. It might be in your local library.

Metering is another area that many people recommend many techniques. I have a definite personal bias toward incident metering. Given a little thought rather than blindly following the meter, any metering technique can give you great results. Mostly be aware that a reflected meter will give you the exposure to get 18% gray average of the area the meter reads. If you're measuring a mostly snowy scene, you'll want more exposure to get the snow brighter than 18% gray. Move the other way for a dark scene that you want to record as dark. An incident meter will give you the exposure to make an 18% gray *object in that light* record as 18% gray on the film.

That's the very short version of metering. Entire books have been written. AA's "The Negative" is common and has a chapter or two on exposure -- quite a bit more on developing. If you download the user's manual for that meter, Gossen manuals tend to have a decent intro on metering technique.

There are certainly LF users here, but largeformatphotography.info/forum has a larger group of LF photographers.
 
I will be photographing the sky especially shards of light coming through the clouds. If i follow my meters instructions and point it up towards the sky i imagine that i'll under expose the foreground etc.. I thought that if i used and incident reading and pointed back towards the camera this may be more accurate.
 
Poppers said:
I will be photographing the sky especially shards of light coming through the clouds.(...) I thought that if i used and incident reading and pointed back towards the camera this may be more accurate.
Click to expand...


No, clouds and sky being rear essentially illuminated, incident metering won't help at all - you have to do a reflected (in this case, transmitted) light metering, and apply some bias for whatever brightness the clouds are to have. As much as I dislike the Zone system, this might be the one case where it is more simple and intuitive than any other way to determine the appropriate exposure.
 
If you are photographing clouds, you can set the focus to infinity, and point and shoot. No need for movements.
To learn how to use the movements of a large format camera, in addition to the links and literature mentioned above, the best thing is to set the camera on a tripod, and play with each adjustment while looking at the ground glass. It is always a pleasure to see the gorgeous image projected in a 4x5, and many find it somewhat addictive. If you see the changes in action, you will quickly get a sense of what is the possibilities are.
 
The Toyo is a standard monorail design, so look for manuals on the Sinar Norma (etc.) that will have all the same basic information you need for movements. As for reflected vs. incident light readings, you are jumping in at the deep end if you don't already know. However as you won't be using the Zone System any time soon use an incident reading with the invercone on the meter and hold it facing the camera to take a light reading.
 
CNNY said:
If you are photographing clouds, you can set the focus to infinity, and point and shoot.
Click to expand...

not without a meter reading can he?

You'll need either a spot meter, or a camera with a meter you can use to get an exposure. A spot meter will turn whatever is in the spot to middle grey, so adjust as needed from what you can get in the metering area. I generally go +2 stops for white and -1 stop for black (easier to print darker). If you have a metered SLR or RF body, meter with and expose the LF as you would for that camera. Focussed at a distance like that there is nothing to compensate for, assuming you have the same filter on the metered camera and the LF lens.
 
sevo said:
That won't do when photographing clouds (unless from above).
Click to expand...

Damn, forty years taking photographs and now you tell me clouds won't come out in a photograph using an incident meter. What are those white fluffy things? Where does the light come from? 🙄

Actually he said he wanted to take photographs of the sky and shards of light coming through the clouds but is worried about underexposing the foreground if he simply points a meter at the sky. That should give you a clue.....foreground....rings any bells....the thing you can stand on.....no?
 
Actually he can use an incident light meter.

I find it funny that people who do not know how to use them, think they will not work. If he wants to photograph the clouds all he has to do is hold the meter between the camera and the clouds with it pointed at the camera. If he wants to meter the light behind the clouds all he has to to is replace the dome with the disk and point it at the part of the sky he wants to photograph. Of course it helps to have some experience that well tell him when and how much to compensate for special conditions.

I have been preaching incident metering for decades now, and it amazes me how many folks have come to see it my way.
 
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