chamonix 5X14 for more than a week but waited
to break the story until after a particular Ebay sale
had ended. Two 1,000 foot rolls of Panatomic X
5 inch aerial recon film. I didn't win it, in fact there
were 2 folks willing to pay more than me.
Dump Truck Island 270 G-Claron
But the 5" rollfilm is what drove
this camera
design. I had bought quite
a lot of Aerial Recon
Panatomic X film before it got
expensive. It
keeps very nicely in the freezer.
Cribs, Tonopah, 450 Nikkor
Cribs, Tonopah, 355 Dagor
Cribs, Tonopah, 270 G-Claron
I'd been using it in the 5X7 but
have dreamed
of a 5X12 camera. The Chamonix
cameras and
all the fuss about them was breaking
at almost
the same time as Igor was getting
the nuttiest
price for an ancient Korona 5X12
that I'd ever
seen. So I asked Hugo what
a new one would cost.
Alkali Hot Springs, 270 G-Claron
I spec'd it with 6 film holders
and the price came
back surprisingly affordable.
I'll let you take that
up with Hugo. Finally I could
use up some of the
marvelous Kodak Pan X!
Alkali Hot Springs, 450 Nikkor
About a month into the project I
got greedy, and
said to myself, why stop at 5X12?
5X14 would
be nice! VERY NICE!
A 2.8 : 1 ratio. So I asked
Hugo to ask the folks at Chamonix
how much extra
cost that would entail. The
answer came back;
No extra $$ but extra time involved.
Cool!
Alkali Hot Sprins Water, 450 Nikkor
So what you're looking at here is
my first little
venture last saturday with the
gorgeous new
5X14 Chamonix. Each neg costs
me about 33¢.
At that price you never don't make
the picture
because of film cost. You
might not make it
if you're approaching your limit
of 12.
Lens kit: 150mm SK XL, 210mm f9 Computar,
270mm
G-Claron, 355mm GD Dagor, 450mm Nikkor.
For now.
The camera in use is pure pleasure.
Part of the
fun is shifting gears. All
of a sudden my minds
eye is looking looking looking
for scenes that
will fall into the magic 2.8 :
1 ratio.
Cribs, Goldfield NV., 270 G-Claron
What I'm showing here is 1 saturday
afternoon
outing with a brand new camera,
so cut me a
little slack.
Cribs, Goldfield NV., 225 G-Claron
The verticals are a particular challenge.
You can
imagine the Schiempflug using a
450mm Nikkor
and getting everything from 15
feet to infinity in
focus. I think the potential
for this camera is
limited only by the user.
'39 Ford Pickup, 210 G-Claron
For now at least, if you see a 5X14
contact print,
it'll be a no-brainer where it
came from :)
To see some photos of the Chamonix
camera that made the pictures, click here.