Littman 4×5’s

[ennuipoet]

So, I’m doing a “I’ve nothing else to do, let’s see what’s on ebay camera” search today and come across a listing for a Littman 4×5 camera

http://cgi.ebay.com/4X5-LITTMAN-Camera-4×5-camera-w-127m-Rodenstock-Lens-/120676358934?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item1c18df1b16 and I was seriously shocked to see the price tag of $2,300 for an old Polaroid body. So I researched and found out that not only was that a good price, they routinely go for 5 grand plus.

(http://www.littman45single.com/ )

The camera is a Polaroid pathfinder, original bellows and lens, with a 4×5 back on it. No obviously I am not going to start parting my way through old cameras to build one because anything like that i did would burn down, fall over and sink into the swamp. I am wondering, realistically, how much is actual value and how much is “Ooooh, this camera cost $5,000 dollars and cool people them” (to wit:http://www.bwphotopro.com/Site/Brad_Pitts_New_Camera.html)?

So I ask, imagine that you had the money, would you really spend it on something you could realistically make in your workshop (orionid)?

[Curious]

So, I’m doing a “I’ve nothing else to do, let’s see what’s on ebay camera” search today and come across a listing for a Littman 4×5 camera

http://cgi.ebay.com/4X5-LITTMAN-Camera-4×5-camera-w-127m-Rodenstock-Lens-/120676358934?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item1c18df1b16 and I was seriously shocked to see the price tag of $2,300 for an old Polaroid body. So I researched and found out that not only was that a good price, they routinely go for 5 grand plus.

(http://www.littman45single.com/ )

The camera is a Polaroid pathfinder, original bellows and lens, with a 4×5 back on it. No obviously I am not going to start parting my way through old cameras to build one because anything like that i did would burn down, fall over and sink into the swamp. I am wondering, realistically, how much is actual value and how much is “Ooooh, this camera cost $5,000 dollars and cool people them” (to wit:http://www.bwphotopro.com/Site/Brad_Pitts_New_Camera.html)?

So I ask, imagine that you had the money, would you really spend it on something you could realistically make in your workshop (orionid)?

how odd. i see no text in your post but when i quote it –presto, text.

[Curious]

testing text

[Curious]

ennuipoet i see no text in your post. but i quoted it, got a field of text with url/links, made a comment and posted that.

nada. hence the testing text post. we will see what this one does.

[Curious]

the fark scratchpad will throw away unfetchable urls but tells you so when it does.

here — no idea.

[ennuipoet]

OK, that is officially weird, it looked fine when I previewed.

I will condense the original into this: why in the world would anyone pay $5k for a hacked Polaroid Land camera? Apparently Brad Pitt would

Link to camera
http://www.littman45single.com/

[Curious]

now that your link works and i can see the camera i’m terribly confused. the 4×5 crown graphic i had would do everything this will. and i don’t remember parallelism really being a big problem. plus my 4×5 has a light source that allowed for focusing in very low light.

re polaroid backs when i worked for galstron boat co in the early 70s we used a 4×5 crown graphic for our catalog shots. we had a polaroid back for it and like many at the time used that to verify if our studio setups were what we wanted. in fact we even saved and printed occasionally from the negatives. they are really thin and easily damaged but you can use them.

also while i’m ranting whats the deal with all the talk you see about hand holding 4x5s? those cameras were hand held to great effect by a wide array of both professional and amateur photographers. hell we used to shot from a moving boat.

glad the link works even if i’m now WTF about most of it. 🙂

[ennuipoet]

I was surfing ebay last night and came across one of these going to $2,300 and was sure it was case of “stupid people will buy anything” and started doing the research on it. It really is an old Land Pathfinder, same lens, same bellows, with a new back and rangefinder on it. There are threads out there that rave on how amazing it is mixed with “WTF, I could build in it my garage” Apparently, the guy has aggressively gone out and patented several conversion techniques and aggressively pursues patent violators trying to sell their own models. (A couple of threads accused Littman of going after people making their own for personal use, but I discount these as rumor.)

Here is a thread on photo.net where Littman defends his camera
http://photo.net/large-format-photography-forum/006RNX

[orionid]

Well, hell. It’s time for me to move my wares to ebay.

[Curious]

Here is a thread on photo.net where Littman defends his camera
http://photo.net/large-format-photography-forum/006RNX

the man needs a better space bar — STAT. his responses are hard to read. and IMO full of shit. i’d like to hold one of his and the crown graphic just to see how much easier it is to tote and use. my guess based on his photos of it, his description of the rangefinder and my experience with the crown graphic is that it may be a bit lighter but no easier to use.

if you are shooting a series of shots with the same exposure values cocking the shutter, framing and focusing the picture really don’t take that much time. add to that for sheet film holder changing but if you are using a bulk film back the add to tear out the paper/advance to the next unexposed film is minor. no you won’t get 5fps and changing light can mess you up but still the crown graphic was used extensively for years by photo journalists.

my guess is this guy thinks he has a racket and is pissed others don’t agree. well they do agree it’s a racket. it’s the exotic car vs chevy debate. both will get you to the kwiki mart but the exotic has more style. and if you are willing to pay for that go ahead. but he tries to defend his gadget on it’s technical merits and they aren’t there. at least not to the extent he claims.

[Author]

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