View Cameras in the Wind

[wm blunt]

I find I can stop the wind from blowing simply by packing up my camera, never fails!
Wm Blunt

[Alex Hawley]

I find I can stop the wind from blowing simply by packing up my camera, never fails!
Wm Blunt

I forgot. That usually works for me too!

[mark]

The wind starts as soon as the darkslide is pulled. To stop it I usually put the darkslide back in.

Then again if I actually want to take photo I go out early in the morning, or look for pictures in areas where there is a natural wind break.

[raucousimages]

I use a heavy tripod when practical. My main tripod is a Bogen 3236 but for wind I use a 3058 if I dont need to cary it to far it is a real beast and tie it down to what ever i can or I cary a small canvas bag in my car to fill with rocks, sand or even water (not nice to dig up a public park) if i line it with a garbage bag first.

[livemoa]

Wind seems to act like waves which come in patterns of seven. After each seventh gust it gets calm.

Down here in New Zealand it gets a tad windy. I carry a water container with me and hang it from the tripod. This seems to work in keeping the setup steady. I then wait for a calm moment.

David

[photomc]

Interesting info here so far Sandy...I was wondering if you might have also questioned the wind blowing from the other end of the camera..i.e. what you are photographing. Since LF/ULF tend to give long exposure times, what - other than waiting for a lull, can you do to get a really sharp image? Leaves, trees, grass all will be moving with the slightest breeze.

[John McCallum]

Wind seems to act like waves which come in patterns of seven. After each seventh gust it gets calm.

Down here in New Zealand it gets a tad windy. I carry a water container with me and hang it from the tripod. This seems to work in keeping the setup steady. I then wait for a calm moment.

David

Tend to use the same method. The camera bag hanging off tri-pod works well. I definately prefer to wait for a lull in the wind. Then I can be more confident that there won't be camera shake from the bellows. Of course shutter speed all has some bearing as well.

[George Losse]

1. If you photograph often in windy conditions with view cameras what solutions do you have for minimizing the impact of these conditions.

Sandy

Sandy,

If I'm going to shot local subjects, I have found the best thing for ME to do on windy days is to stay home with the cameras and file negatives.

When I'm on location and I might not ever see the subject in front of me again, I do a number of things. First I use a heavy wooden tripod. People have laughed at me using it on normal days, but I use it all the time. I also use a solid tripod head, I use the Majestic gear head.

I don't use umbrellas to try to block the wind. For me, they have just been one more thing to bring that gets blown into the cameras. What has worked for me on really windy days is to position my Jeep as a wind block and have a shooting position right next to the Jeep.

This past Spring I was in North Dakota and the wind had to be blowing about 20-30 mph. I was driving along enjoying the afternoon with my wife, the roads were empty, it was a bright sunny day. I saw a nice scene off to one side of the road, I stopped to get a better look. I stepped out of the car and almost got blown past the back of the car. I quickly got back in the car, my wife was laughing about the fact that I almost was blown over, she thought I fell down or something. Again, if this had been a local subject, I would have gotten back in the car and gone home, but it wasn't. So went back out into the wind and selected my shooting location. Then I positioned the Jeep right next to it. I set up the 8x20 camera as close as I could to the Jeep and still get behind it to focus and made an exposure.

I ended up making about a dozen 8x10 and 8x20 exposures that way that afternoon at various locations. Was it fun? No. Are those negatives among my best ever? No. Did they capture what was in front of me and what I was feeling that day? Yes, I think so.

[georgeg]

Gitzo tripod and patience.