[Leica] IMG: The Biggest Camera I Ever Used

[Mark Rabiner]

I was hired to teach Process Camera use to graphic artist students at Mt.
Hood Community college in Troutdale Oregon in the late 80's I think it was.
So I was one chapter ahead of my students and had to be told what a process
camera was. Or maybe I knew.
Its a camera which takes up two rooms usually. Its "back" is a whole
darkroom.
And it used "Apo" lenes long before any were found on a normal camera.
It was an interesting way to re orient myself to my normal darkroom
techniques.
Paper negative. Paper positive, film negative, film positive.
This was a clear way of thinking about things.
Its back was I think a bit bigger than 20x24 inches.
I loved the thing. Wanted one. Almost got one.
Photoshop replaced them I think.
Its called reprographics instead of photographic.
While Reprography was needed then for plate making and publication layout
copying its now  small industry in the US for large and wide format copying
of architectural, engineering, manufacturing, retail, and advertising
industries. 

A very handy camera to have in your basement I always thought.
You know when you're looking at your Formica kitchen table and it looks like
wood but its really a large photograph of wood? That kind of thing.


On 1/8/15 6:53 PM, "Bill Pearce" <billcpearce at cox.net> wrote:

> I on occasion when at the airplane factory used a very large process camera,
> the film back could hold at least the size of a sheet of newspaper. Don't
> remember how big sheet of Kodalith we had but they were very big. I have a
> friend that owns a lab and does a big business shooting original art. He
> uses an old process camera that he has modified the part where the lith film
> once was mounted to hold a Canon D5. Artists then have inkjet prints made
> for sale.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Magayne-Roshak
> Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 2:34 PM
> To: lug at leica-users.org
> Subject: Re: [Leica] IMG: The Biggest Camera I Ever Used
> 
> On Thu, 08 Jan 2015 Mitch Zeissler <zeissler at mac.com>wrote:
> 
> 
>> The largest camera I ever worked with was a NuArc horizontal process
> camera, with which we used pin-registered 8x10 or 11x14 Kodalith film.
> 
>> Closest thing I found on the interwebs were these photos:
>> http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/docviewer/aucdoc/photo6.JPG?auc=955302&docid
>> =7773693
> <http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/docviewer/aucdoc/photo6.JPG?auc=955302&docid
> =7773693>
> <
> http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/docviewer/aucdoc>>/photo6.JPG?auc=955302&doci
> d=7773693
> <http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/docviewer/aucdoc/photo6.JPG?auc=955302&docid
> =7773693>
>> 
> 
> 
>> It was a beast.  20?x24? rotating film board with vacuum back; 30?x40?
> rotating copy board; four 800 watt lights.  When we were putting together a
>> multi-image presentation, we would shoot Kodalith negs for days on end ?
> 300-400 8x10 sheets was pretty typical for a big show.  You had to use ear
> plugs >because the vacuum system was so loud.
> .
>> Mitch Zeissler
> ==============================================================================
> ===========================================
> Mitch, thanks for the reminder.  I'd forgotten that in 1970, when I was a
> summer photo intern, I used a Robertson process camera that took up to
> 20x24 sheet film in a vacuum back. THAT would have been the biggest camera
> I ever used.  Like this one, the back was in the darkroom, the lens and
> bellows in the copy room.




-- 
Mark William Rabiner
Photographer
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/