view camera magazine?

[GJA]

I just bought a sinar view camera and im looking or an interesting magazine (pop photo sucks). Im wondering if View Camera is something I should consider? Is it a good balance of actual photos and techniques and equipment reviews. I was thinking about lens work before I decided to get the camera, now im wondering if something slightly more technique oriented wouldnt be better.

[Nicholas Lindan]

It's a good magazine and worth supporting. OTOH: there isn't much else to choose from.

Popular Photography is the wrong rag if you are into Sinars (nice camera, BTW, which model & lens did you get?).

Other 'techy' magazines for silver-based photography are Photo Techniques and the UK publication Black and White, though both have increasing amounts of digital photography content.

[keithwms]

Oh dear. I have a feeling about where this thread will go.

I guess I'll just say this: if you see something on the stand and it looks helpful then by all means buy it. Also consider the classic texts (Adams, White, etc.) and visit http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum and of course apug

[GJA]

I got an F+ and a Symmar-s.

Ive never seen a decent photo magazine in a bookstore on the mag racks. Maybe ill call them and see if i can get a trial issue.

I already have the Adams series (except artificial lighting which is no doubt outdated), but im not familiar with white. What is his first name? And title of his book?

[Mick Fagan]

Minor White is possibly who was being referred to.

I subscribe to View Camera, I wouldn't say it was brilliant, but it is pretty much it for LF magazines. Some editions are brilliant, some are reasonable and the mediocre ones are here and there, in short it is not too bad.

The advertisements are a treat, darkroom stuff, film lenses, and all sorts of LF film cameras. Most of the articles are written by people who have been fiddling with LF cameras for some time, in the main the articles are reasonably informative.

That said, you will probably get more up to date information about most things on the web, including a surprising array of really well written articles.

If you are wishing for some informative, accurate and simply presented information regarding how to use a view camera, then there are quite a few books. The very best book I have seen, and eventually purchased is, View Camera Technique 7th edition by Leslie Stroebel. There are others, but this one is a definitive book.

This book is written in a style that imparts knowledge almost seamlessly in a step by step manner. It is brilliantly technical, yet at the same time is very readable. The range of subjects is not just the camera itself, but also film, filters etcetera.

Mick.

[Ian Grant]

For the cost of a subscription View Camera is worth it, as others asy there's no other choice.

Unfortunately the LFP website is getting rather out of date, apart from the Forum it looks like a very early basic Internet site with virtually no graphics. Many articles are let down badly by this lack of graphics. (I have said this on the site in the Feedback section).

Ian

[jnanian]

subscriptions tend to be sent out late
(depending on where you live, VERY late )
and the magazine used to be riddled with
spelling, grammatical and printing flaws ..
if you aren't too critical, the magazine isn't too bad ...

have fun with your new camera!
john

[jovo]

Probably the best thing to do would be to see if you could acquire a stack of back issues from someone who wants to let them go. Place a WTB ad here, or on ask on http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/, and see what might turn up.

As Mick Fagan indicated, the magazine can be very uneven, but as a collection, it can be a very valuable resource, and much of the content (analog, that is) doesn't go out of date for the most part.

[TimVermont]

If you have specific interests or skill sets that you wish to develop, both Sinar and Linhof have published series of excellent books on everything from camera movement basics to architecture and advertising setups. These books are often available at good prices from abebooks and other internet sellers and may prove to be a more satisfying investment.

[Chazzy]

One of the best resources for a large format photographer is the large format forum.

For some basic information:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/

For the forum:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/

View Camera magazine is badly edited and the proofreading errors drive me nuts, but it's the only magazine of its kind. So I subscribe.