In the epistle "Re: Light Meter Question" scribed 04-08-98 00:24,
Hap Newsom did thus proclaim to Larry Bolch:
Hap!
HN> LB>I have a few specialized cameras - ultra-wide, view
HN> LB>and panoramic, that have no built-in meters, so a hand-held
HN> LB>is very useful - though I have been known to take a reading
HN> LB>with the Nikon's internal meter and transfer it to the Linhof
HN> LB>or WideLuxe.
HN> When was the last time you used the Widelux?
Quite a while ago. Without my own lab currently, getting prints
made is a major hassle. However, it is paid for - several magazine
shots spread across two pages and at least one gatefold cover and
many, many shots in the newspaper where I worked.!
It may be currently inactive, but it is far from permanently on
the shelf. As I may have mentioned in the past, I scored a couple
of gallery shows of photography rather uniquely altered via image
processing and printed via ink-jet. These were very small prints
done on a HP500C printer and therefore very delicate.
The major art dealer in Western Canada contacted me about being
my rep - providing I can do very large format prints with inks
that are archival. This put the project on hold until computers
gained enough power to handle the huge image files efficiently
and large format printers came down in price to the level that
mere mortals could afford them. 
Encad now supplies two levels of archival inks for their printers
and actually has 24" x X" printers in the $2,000 range now. Epson,
Canon Lexmark and HP have printers that use six or seven inks to
do near continuous tone quite well. I expect to see this tech trickle
up to large format printers along with archival inks - probably in
the next year. Since these printers can handle roll paper or very
long sheets, I expect that I will do a lot of panoramic prints in
the near future. The WideLuxe neg is 24mm x 59mm - perfect for
a 2' x 5' print!!!
Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) has announced a next generation CPU
for their Alpha workstations which will be shipping in systems
this summer some time. I am planning to buy a graphics workstation
shortly thereafter for both 3-D and image processing. This hairy
beast will have no problem handing huge files with stunning speed.
I may consider trading in the WideLuxe on one of the new Noblex
cameras that will allow me to use 120 film. I am getting so close
to re-entering printmaking that I can almost taste it!
HN> I'd love to have a
HN> panoramic camera, but the cost yiyiyi! As it is now I have a 17mm shot
HN> that I enlarge to 8X10 and cut to fit! It's the poorman's panoramic
HN> camera!
Of course, the Noblex and WideLuxe are true panoramic cameras
like the old Cirkut (sp?) cameras, with rotating lenses and
curved film planes. Both Linhof and Fuji make 6 x 17 rectilinear
wide angle cameras that do what you do with the 17mm. They just
do the cropping in advance. Linhof also makes a nice 6 x 12
camera.
I have a superb old Brooks VeriWide with a 47mm SuperAngulon
that shoots seven 6 x 10 images on a roll of 120 that does the
task for me. The 47mm is roughly the equivalent to an 18mm lens
on a 35mm camera. Awesome! A 65mm SuperAngulon would give you
similar coverage on your 4x5, as long as you can drop the front
track sufficiently to get it out of the image! IIRC, the 65mm
will just cover 4x5 if it is stopped down, but allows no movements. 
The Linhof 6 x 12 uses the 65mm as well.
I have one with my Linhof, but of course it only has to cover
6 x 7. There is a 75mm XL SuperAngulon that would be quite
comfortable on a 4x5 - equivalent to a 20mm on a 35mm camera.
Looking at an enlarged negative from the Brooks through a 25x
grain focusing magnifier, one reaches for the eye protectors
because it is so sharp! 
There is considerable fall-off of light in the corners due to
the rules of physics, and one can get a stunningly expensive
filter that has a stop of density in the middle with a gradient
to clear at the edges. You lose a stop of lens speed, but get
even coverage. In fact the fall-off seems to enhance a lot of
landscapes just as if you did a little burning in the corners.
The Brooks has also served me well as a camera for environmental
portraits. Since the lens is about the same focal length as the
normal lens on most SLRs, working AT THE SAME DISTANCE, one gets
the same perspective. However since one has seven times the
negative area, a lot more information is captured in the image.
This information can tell a great deal about the world in which
the subject lives. Since one is working at only three or four
feet from the subject - well within their "personal space" to
talk Californian - the picture has a powerful intimacy. Since
foreshortening is a constant factor in super-wide photography,
it is well to compose so that the subject's face is in the
central area of the frame and the rest of the subject is 
pretty much parallel to the film plane. This you can certainly
experiment with using the 17mm. Furthermore, since it is on a
SLR, you can judge the point when foreshortening goes over
the edge.
On the other hand, I once did a portrait of Joe Louis, the boxer,
using a 50mm lens on an RB67. I had him extend his famous fist
toward the lens until it filled the bottom half of the frame.
His head was still close enough to  the centre that there was no
objectionable foreshortening.
I used a similar technique to do a shot on a karate instructor,
who was just in process of opening an new school. He did a
series of choreographed movements - something like a 'kata' IIRC,
(Karen?) - ending in a power blow aimed just short of the bottom
of the lens shade on the Brooks. All the energy gathered during
the moves that lead up to the blow was released into the shot.
The reporter complimented that I only flinched AFTER the exposure!
;-}
larry!
... Every tradition was once a heresy.
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