Newsgroups: rec.photo
Subject: Re: Bender 4x5 View Camera Kit report
From: mandayrv@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Prince of Wales)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 17:39:14 GMT
Followup-To: ramanand@pumpkin.ece.uc.edu
Organization: University of Cincinnati

In article <1992Nov9.224618.3756@odin.corp.sgi.com> donl@glass.esd.sgi.com (donl mathis) writes:
>
[ deleted but  interesting stuff about steve's bender kit experiences]


Here are my opinions about the bender kit. I did mail these to people who
requested it. But since this thread appeared I felt it would be appropriate
here too. Most of the details about the kit have been mentioned by steve
(through donl's posting), so I am ignoring those aspects of the kit
building. I would however like to mention here that till about a week back I
was not fully aware of the use of the spring loaded back, not having  used
any other large format camera. My procedure for loading a film holder on the
back was to remove the ground glass holder from the spring, lay it down on
the ground or the camera bag, mount the film holder, take the shot, remove
the film holder and reinsert the ground glass holder.  It was very recently
that as I was going   through the zone VI catalog that I saw a photograph of
their view camera with the caption "Easy swing out bailing arm for the
ground glass". That was when the THING struck me. I have, all this time,
been expending unnecessary effort on inserting the film holder. I  have 
now started loading the film holder the way it should have been done in the
first place.

This has ofcourse led to an improvement in the time to shoot (see comments
below) by about 5 to 10 percent. 

######################################################################

Experiences about the large format per se:

1) I love the image resolution and tonal/color gradation available.

2) I hate (to some extent) the time it takes to  take a shot and the
weight of the equipment that I have to lug around if I am planning on
shooting anywhere a bit farther from my car. (In my case, I do not own a
car so all the travelling is by bus and walk. I wish I could save enough
money to buy a used car -:). Other things that irk me (they are what one 
terms occupational hazards) are the fact that since I do not have a changing
bag with me at present, I have to do all the film loading/unloading at
night. In other words, I have to plan every shoot at least one day
in advance. In the next few months I plan on buying a changing room from
Calumet.




**************************************************************************

Accessories that I feel one should have for doing large format
photography:


1) A magnifying glass/slide viewer. I use my 8x agfa slide viewer to
focus the image on the ground glass. I can somehow manage because I have
20/20 vision, but if your eyesight is not so good, I would recommend one
of the slightly more expensive ones such as the CALUMET viewer that sells
for about $40.

2) A spot meter. You lose the fun in working with large format if you are
not able to analyze an image before taking a photograph of it. This is
not a big problem with roll film since one can afford to bracket.

3) I have been using a jacket as a focussing cloth. But I would still
prefer to have a regular cloth. 

4) A spirit level of some sort if you intend doing a lot of architectural
shots. The bender kit comes with two spirit levels that you glue to the
rear standards. Besides, my tripod head also has two spirit levels.

5) Other odds and ends such as lens cleaner/dust remover/brush (these are 
a must for large format). The brush can also be used for cleaning the backs
before inserting them.


**************************************************************************


The tools/consumables which IMHO one MUST have to build the Bender 4x5 kit:

1) A Drill - electrical or hand powered. The drill bits needed are 3/32",
1/8" (or 7/64).
*** I purchased an electric drill for two dollars at a local yard sale. **

2) A couple of screw drivers with 3mm and 5mm blades.

3) Two grades of sandpaper: 90 and 200.

4) Clamps:	
	a) Greater than 8 inches - at least one.
	b) Greater than 6 inches - at least two.
		( One of the above can double up for both categories)
	c) 2 inch clamps -- at least 6. (very time consuming, but could be
		done with only 2)
	d) A corner clamp.

5) Scrap wood to place between the clamps and the wood surface.

6) The smallest possible container of wood glue.

7) Contact cement that hardens to the touch in a few minutes and sets in 
about an hour or two.

8) A reasonably flat piece of material (wood or any other metal).

9) A reasonably accurate 90 degree T-square. 

9) A hammer to fix in the T-screws for the various adjustable movements.


**************************************************************************

Tools/accessories which IMO one could use to ease the working conditions
but are not critical:

1) A drum/belt sander or a sanding drum for the drill.

2) A set of good wood working chisels or wood carving knives. (these, I
felt were the single most useful junk tools that I had collected over the
last few years.)

3) Wood working stain and brushes for finishing/polishing the wood.





BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE FOLLOWING WHILE ASSEMBLING THE KIT.

a) The single most important thing IMHO is the ground glass placement. Be
extremely careful about the dimensions that the kit mentions. (The kit is
very very accurate as far as the positioning of the glass goes. How close
you get to it is very much dependent on how patient you are in measuring
distances of about 1/32 of an inch)

b) Read the assembly for the back holder at least 3 or 4 times, do a mock
set up without actually gluing the pieces together. Keep in mind the
following :

	1) The hinge (or pivot )for the back should be towards the lens board
	and not the other way (the instruction manual is a bit fuzzy about
	this). Also, the UNEVEN ledges on the inside of the back holder
	should be away from the lens, i.e. should be facing back.

c) Be careful with the cutting instructions for the bag bellows. Take a
couple of minutes extra in cutting. I would recommend cutting a little
less than is mentioned in the manual and then adjusting as and when
necessary. 

THERE ARE SOME MORE HINTS WHICH I WOULD RATHER TELL YOU ONCE YOU BUY THE
KIT. YOU CAN SEND ME EMAIL OR CALL ME AT (513)-281-9870.


**************************************************************************


My experiences with the Bender kit:

HITS :

1) Extremely light weight to carry. AM very pleased with this feature.

2) Is very generous in terms of movements.

3) Has interchangeable bellows (though I have never used the bag
bellows).


MISSES:

1) No geared focussing (But I do not miss them so much).

2) Am not very sure about being able to use lenses shorter than 90mm.

3) The standards have some play, but since it is wood I have realized
that they spring back to normal once external pressure  is removed. You
may have to get used to this. 

** Initially you may find that once you focus the image and then tighten all 
the knobs, the image has gone out of focus. You will then have to readjust 
every thing again. After a few attempts you will get used to allowing for
such "plays" in the focussing mechanisms.	**


4) May not be possible to rent lenses for this camera since the lensboard
is not a commonly used size. I will have to look into this sometime.

4) Some of the joints that are glued do not look/feel strong mechanically. 
I had to reinforce some of them. I use plastic window screen retainers for
holding the lens board in place  -- (an excellent piece of advice from GEOFF, 
geoff@pmafire.inel.gov  . You may want to contact him about some more 
insights about the kit) -- I have two on the top  and two on the bottom 
of the lensboard holder, besides the two L screws that Mr. Bender has 
supplied. This has given me a lot of confidence in not worrying  about 
my $500 lens falling down when the front is tilted forward.

5) Though I have not had it, light leak could be a problem if the
workmanship is not good. This is not meant to discourage anyone from
trying out the kit, just that you should take that tiny little extra care
when working on the light trapping edges such as the inside of the ground
glass/film-holder holder.


*************************************************************************

It took me about a week of intensive working (with the limited amount of
time that a PhD candidate has) to assemble the kit and test out the
focus. Plan on spending additional time if you do not do your own
darkroom processing since you may take three or four days extra if your
ground glass is not at the correct distance from the lens board. The kit
has more information about this aspect.

-- 
ramanand@pumpkin.ece.uc.edu
Newsgroups: rec.photo