Folding cameras and portraits

[LOOP]

I really appreciate folding cameras like Iskra, because it is quite portable, not too heavy.
But it does not seem very appropriate to shoot portraits...
What would be the best folding camera if I want to :angel: make portraits ?

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Ebony cameras as sold at Robert White have always seemed good to me.

 

[Nick R.]

It might be easier to help, if you state what you feel there is about folding cameras that make them not very appropriate for portraits.

 

[LOOP]

I am not a specialist in folding but I see two reasons:
- folding are not very sharp under f 8 ( some are good under but not many) and most portrait are to be taken below f 4 if one does not one a big depth of field , then the picture is "smooth" (that can be good to portrait but not always)
- the minimum distance to subject is high so not very made for close picture.
Than I am looking for a folding sharp at below f 4 and with the mimimum distance as minimum as possible.

 

[matti]

Remember that medium format doesn't need that small aperture to get reasonable short DOF. And who needs sharpness at portraits anyway? 😉 If i get them close ups too sharp, I am not allowed to take any more pictures of some people I live with...

Here is an example with a nice impressioinistic look at the out of focus parts of the picture that I like with my Iskra II. BTW it is scanned with a really really cheap flatbed...

Here
is the pic.

/matti

 

[iñaki]

I´m just a beginner and only have one folder, an ISKRA. Of course there are other folders wich I don´t know yet (I would love to have one of WWW.certo6.com 😛 )

You can shot with an ISKRA from 1 mt at 3.5 and I think it´s sharp with good bokeh.
I have shot 3 rolls, and tried portraits at home in only two shots, with ISO 400 and a poor incandescent light, so the speed was slow (1/15) and handheld. You can see wonderful portraits taken with an ISKRA by other members (Todd and Hither for example)

 

[FrankS]

Probably not the vintage type of folding cameras you are thinking of, but my Mamiya 6 is a folding camera with an outstanding but limited range of lenses. I just have the normal 75mm.

 

[Trius]

Frank: Is your tongue in your cheek a bit, or were there Mamiya folders that took interechangeable lenses? 😉

 

[ZeissFan]

I probably would use a Super Ikonta, Isolette III, Super Isolette or a Mess Ikonta at the least. Or if you use a zone focus camera, I'd seek out handheld rangefinder.

The Mess Ikonta is nice because the viewfinder window is centered above the lens, helping to cut down on parallax error. At the least, I wouldn't use extremely tight framing -- which you probably can't do anyway because of the minimum focusing distances of most lenses.

A 6x6 or 6x4.5 could work quite well.

 

[LOOP]

Europa technicians have to be proud

Europa technicians have to be proud

I become a bit provocativ. 2 hours ago i put a simple question: where to buy super ikonta on the net from a european retailer. It seems that all the good stuff vintage are in Ukrain for soviet cameras and the rest in the States. Here in Belgium , nothing exist to promote our own technology Zeiss. I feel a bit ashamed from ourselves europeans ....
I do not want e bay !

 

[FrankS]

Frank: Is your tongue in your cheek a bit, or were there Mamiya folders that took interechangeable lenses? 😉

Earl, the Mamiya 6 is a collapsible lens mount MF camera, similar to a folder. Results from it are brilliant.

 

[Trius]

Frank: Thanks for clearing that up. I was thinking folder only.

 

[raid]

I just got a Moskva5 6x9 folder, and I am planning to run some film through it soon for portraits. I agree with the statement that there is no need to shoot wide open or with larger apertures with a MF camera due to the limited depth of field. Also, I wonder how precise/accurate the focusing actually is on my folding cameras.