Photographing a wedding

[Perry Way]

Yes, you're reading the subject right. I'm talking about photographing a wedding using nothing but large format. 4x5. It starts like this:

Twenty-some years ago, my dear sister had her first son, and he is now engaged, the wedding is soon as in this year, and he's asked me if I will photograph his wedding with my own unique perspective.. and of course I'm thinking that has to be 4x5 instead of medium format even though I have a very nice RB67 Pro S system, and most would declare that is the perfect wedding camera, why I'd be a fool to.. <snip>

You see, my nephew is a film photographer himself. And he's also into digital. Both. And he's got the regular wedding photographer all set up doing the typical digital these days so he's left me with art.

So I have thought about this and I'm totally cool with using my Linhof Technika except that I've got the non-rangefinder version and I don't have a viewfinder, so... I'll be moving around with tripod, open the shadebox, focus focus, tighty tighty, close shadebox, reach in bag for readyload holder and insert, reach in bag for new readyload sheet, yadda.. I'll be missing all the action basically.

Well, I do have a decent Crown Graphic but no lens for it. Got a lensboard but no lens. The rangefinder operates, not sure if the cam is the right one for whatever lens I might find. I have a rockin' Nikkor 210 I could use but no lensboard. Assuming that, I'd have a viewfinder making handholding possible whereas I don't have the $2000 viewfinder for the Linhof so that makes a plus for the Crown, the possibility to handhold. Perhaps I should look into finding a proper lens for it, and check the rangefinder to make sure it's working, and if so, that would be the perfect camera for a wedding, don't you think? I could leave the film holder in the camera and just reach into my bag for another readyload sheet, zip zip, focus focus, clickity click, repeat.

I also thought about my other 4x5's and one 9x12. One of them a Korona in that familiar cherry wood finish, nice black bellows, everything wood, it's a show stopper for the peoples, it would really detract from the wedding to haul that baby up on stage and disappear under a dark cloth hahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahah. Let's say that's out of the question.

I could also haul my Cambo SC up on stage but for a different reason it would detract from the wedding like that Korona. And right about now I'm thinking the Linhof is out of the question unless I locate a viewfinder.

I have also an Avus 9x12 and thought about that because I have actually shot it handheld, it is possible. But I only have three film holders for it and they require a darkroom to change because they have this inner hinge mechanism... anyway.. that's out of the question too.

About half of my work is pinhole. I could... uhh.. nevermind. That just won't work. Exposures that long will be too impossible..

Anyone have any sagely advice for me? Stick with the Crown Graphic? That's what I'm thinking....

[archer]

Dear Perry;
As someone who has done almost two hundred weddings with a 4x5 Speed Grahpic, I can tell you that covering a wedding without a working rangefinder will be SLOW!!! If that is what you must do, I would make a shooting script and go over it with the couple and try to limit yourself to a working limit of twenty five shots. I believe that will probably be the absolute maximum volume you will be able to manage without a rangefinder coupled camera and still offer a quality result. Good luck and I hope you will show us some of the results.
Denise Libby

[paul_c5x4]

Perhaps prefocusing and using a bit of string to gauge the focal point might help to speed things up when doing the posed shots. Personally, I'd be inclined to fit a lens to the Graphic and get it cammed right before going out to do any critical work.

Let us know how you get on - Looks like I might be in the same boat doing some shots when lil'sis gets hitched later in the year

[Steve Smith]

I have only done three weddings. Two with an RB67 (which works fine) and one with a Spotmatic F (which was also o.k.). Given the choices you have given, I think I would use the Crown Graphic rather than the Linhof.

Most of all, don't listen to anyone who says it can't be done. My father started his wedding photography career using glass plates. He was usually given ten and told not to waste any!

Have you though about using flash? I usually use a couple of Vivitar 285s.


Steve.

[polyglot]

You sound comfortable with the Linhof, so go with that. Someone else is getting the action and candids, so don't bother with that.

If I were you, I'd focus on still-life scenes (flowers, rings, table settings, etc) and where there are people involved, you can fix latency issues (head under darkcloth time) by pre-focusing and then fetching the people once you're ready.

Say you put a line of tape on the ground at your focus plane (test it with two helpers) and a tape marker at each end for the frame boundaries. You fetch a pre-determined list of small groups once that's setup, tell 'em where to stand and pull the trigger without even looking at the camera. I bet you spend way less time changing film holders than the people spend faffing about.

As for the ceremony... it takes a few minutes. You can easily setup, focus-on-GG and take a shot of them talking. You can probably guess exactly where the kiss will be, even more certainly if you coordinate with the participants beforehand. As long as you're ready near the end of the ceremony, you should be able to get that.

All the better if you can take flashes and radio triggers.

[Steve Smith]

If you use the Linhof, is there any way of fitting the Graflex viewfinder to it? It might not match the focal length you are using but it would give you an idea of the direction you are pointing and where the centre of the frane is.


Steve.

[bdial]

As Steve suggests, cobbling up a workable viewfinder for the Linhof wouldn't be too difficult, though probably not pretty.
There are hand held range finders that you could use if the distance scale on the Linhof is usable.

OTH, except for a lens, there is nothing you could do with the Linhof in that setting that you can't do with the crown, and the crown's rangefinder will make life much easier. I'd be inclined to find a lens for the crown and use it.

[jnanian]

hi perry

i hate to suggest this, but you might consider a graflex series b slr
( rorye has one in the classifieds right now --->>> http://www.apug.org/forums/forum379/...t-4-x-5-a.html! )
the graflex slr is the perfect portrait camera ... much easier to deal with focusing, no rangefinder .. you just look down, focus
stop down ( if you are that kind of person ) and shoot. piece of cake !

the events that i covered with my series d the clients were drawn to the graflex photos right away and made
them the cover of their coffee-table albums ...

if you have a roll back chances are, you can just tape it on the back if you want to shoot wide and use roll film....
and these cameras are steady and solid like a rock, so if you have to do a slow exposure you are fine ( i hand hold 1/15th S all the time )

good luck !!
john

[vpwphoto]

I photographed a Bishop's ordination mass with a Sinar F1. Only shot about a dozen views of the mass. Stunning images.

[Sirius Glass]

Well, I do have a decent Crown Graphic but no lens for it. Got a lensboard but no lens. The rangefinder operates, not sure if the cam is the right one for whatever lens I might find. I have a rockin' Nikkor 210 I could use but no lensboard. Assuming that, I'd have a viewfinder making handholding possible whereas I don't have the $2000 viewfinder for the Linhof so that makes a plus for the Crown, the possibility to handhold. Perhaps I should look into finding a proper lens for it, and check the rangefinder to make sure it's working, and if so, that would be the perfect camera for a wedding, don't you think? I could leave the film holder in the camera and just reach into my bag for another readyload sheet, zip zip, focus focus, clickity click, repeat.

You have one lens board. Graphic lens boards are not hard to find. Select one of your Linhof lenses and remount it on the Graphic lens board. You can find lensboards at APUG's Classifieds and http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/. No buying or selling is allowed at http://www.graflex.org.

If it is necessary to recalibrate the rangefinder look for instructions at http://www.graflex.org/technical-information.html where there are instructions for rangefinder cams and rangefinder recalibrations. http://www.graflex.org/helpboard/ is a good place to go for more information. At http://www.graflex.org/helpboard/ there is a retired Graflex/Graphic repairman who is on the board and posts occasionally. Also there are some others who have a lot of repair experience. If you have a top mounted rangefinder, be very careful about "loosing your marbles" when adjusting or opening the rangefinder.

Steve