4x5 inch cameras in art history and archaeological photography

 

Why 4x5 format for digital photography and not just medium format or 35mm? Why Sinar for 4x5 and not Linhof?

The Linhof Technikardan was a great field camera. It folds up to a small, practical and portable size. But unfortunately we have the first version of this Linhof;

the movements are a bit loose, the back of the camera sags considerably with the weight of a heavy Dicomed back and the drag of the double SCSI cables.

The Linhof and Wisner field cameras are both great for shooting landscapes, where everything is in focus and you don't need much precision in the camera movements (presuming you are focusing on infinity).

But when you are trying to record an ancient artifact up close, imprecise movements can ruin the picture.

More than that, you waste a lot of time trying to get the different parts of the 4x5 camera into position. With a Sinar X, most of the movements are nicely marked. The movements are frozen automatically. You do not have to tighten some nut or bolt or toggle (the only Sinar movement that is free-form is the main bar, the central axis; you can control the position to some degree by the bubble levels).

After over 30 years of using all kinds of cameras up to an including 8x10, my two favorite 4x5 cameras are the Sinar and the Arca Swiss. The advantage of the Sinar is their accessories. Sinar Bron makes almost every accessory a professional photographer would ever need.

Overall I would especially recommend the Sinar X camera for museum photographers or anyone recording objects of value or rarity.

Pros: built in Switzerland, precision movements, the most famous brand name in the professional camera world, everything nicely worked out except for the clamp around the central support pole. The camera is fully portable, indeed you can fit the entire camera into your hand when you have loosened all the locks and moved the standards together.

Cons: you pay for the name Sinar Bron, especially for accessories but if you are good enough to use a Sinar camera you should be earning enough to afford the price.

Summary and Conclusions: if you use a Sinar Bron camera you will almost certainly have enough income from your photography to pay for the Sinar camera many times over. If you own any lesser 4x5 you will always be jealous and long to have and hold a Sinar Bron camera. So you might as well mortgage things and get one now.

General Comments: few 4x5 cameras have been redesigned to hold the heavy weight of the earlier models of digital scan backs. Not only is the scanning back itself heavy, but the twin-SCSI cables exert even more stress and strain on the camera system. So far the Wisner 4x5 camera actually holds up to the weight the best. The back support system of this Wisner is rather solid. Probably the newer generation of scan backs with their FireWire cables will not be as heavy.

Getting the thickness of the early generation of digital scan backs into the grove originally designed for 4x5 sheet film is not exactly easy either. Surely the camera designers can work out an easier manner to slide these awkward backs into the cameras. But more than that, the manufacturers of scan backs need to coordinate their size, shape, and design with camera designers. There is nothing worse than buying a $20,000+ scan back only to find that its size is not really designed for a 4x5 camera. The resulting play of the scan back within the slot can ruin tight shots on objects where you can easily see the mis-alignment in the resulting photos.

Of course the Sinar camera is designed to work together with the Leaf digital system which attaches to the back, rather than sliding in awkwardly from the side. Thus the Sinar system avoids several of the problems inherent with 4x5 scan backs. The fact that Sinar does not itself make or partner with a 4x5 scan back company may explain why the Sinar cameras have not yet come up with a better design to accomodate the heavy large format scan backs. Nonetheless, the Sinar X is absolutely worth the extra price over any Linhof camera (I should know, I have a Linhof Kardan GTL 8x10 studio camera in addition to the Linhof Technikardan). Any camera with an L-shaped support is bound to bend out of shape from the weight and pull of a scan back.

 

Related links
Initial impressions and review of the Cambo Ultima 4x5 studio camera available exclusively from Calumet Photo	Comprehensive index of all pages covering Maya archaeology as well as digital imaging
Even more links to Maya art and archaeology from another web site, www.maya-art-books.org