Horseman 980 Camera Review
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- In this video Alastair revisits his Horseman 980 and discusses what he likes and doesn't like about the camera after having an opportunity to shoot several rolls of film and to take it out and give it a good once-over. #camera #film #filmphotography #photography #analog #vintagecamera #mediumformat
Does anyone else have any feelings about the 6x9 vs other formats? 6x8 or 6x7? Curious if I'm the only one who has this point of view.
6x7 all the way!
No, I do not like the 6x9. It's 6x4,5 - 6x6 - 6x7 - 6x12 and 4x5", yeah, but I also have some (many) 135 format kameras, both digital and analog, and m43.
I like the 6x9 or 6x4.5 formats very much. I shot square for a long time, and that was OK, but I like the way that these other formats are more dynamic.
I shoot square with Hasselblad and Rolleiflex, and had a Contax 645 in the past that I liked. The other format I shoot is 4x5 for capturing detail. Hence, the 6x9 is a logical choice. To me, the 6x7 is a weird format, neither here, nor there. It's not much bigger than 6x6. I prefer the 6x9 format for its wider aspect ratio for landscapes. We know how dynamic the 35mm format looks in pictures that we are used to seeing. And 6x9 is right in the middle between 6x6 and 6x12 (which is closer to 4x5 format in width). It's a matter of preference for sure.
I purchased a 980 several years ago, I reasoned that it would be a good way to learn how to use a large format camera. In reality it would have been easier just to purchase a 4x5 camera, which I did do after a year or so.
That said, I found it to be a capable camera and I still use it fairly often. I have even tried out the rangefinder for some street photography or just for taking the camera on walks and it worked well for me although tripping the shutter is awkward.
Also, I made my own bushings for the cable release out of 1/4 inch brass.
Hi Alistair, I have a 970 (older than yours) and regarding the SR Bushing, you can make someone make a shorter one for you so It will work with old German Shutter releases (i e Prontors) oder solution that I use is to screw an U-Adapter to my lens and let it fix With the U-Adapter and a 25-30cm Shutter release you could also use it as "Point and shoot" without blocking the rangefinder. Best and thanks for your review. Another tip it would take at max a 75mm Super angulon :)
Thanks for the suggestions! And I'll take a look at that 75mm!
Nice!
Thanks, Sina!
i used his camera professionally in the 80-90s. 65 and 75 lenses not really good as long as i remember .90 and longer - ok
You could try a sinar shutter release cable, they also have an extra long travel. Sinar also made a variable 6x4.5 to 6x12 roll film back which might solve your problems with it? Despite myself I also kind of want one now…
Thanks for the comments. I'll take a look for the Sinar release. I was hoping someone would suggest something that could work. Also, the Sinar Zoom back - the variable one - which is a brilliant piece of equipment, is only available for 4x5 cameras, unfortunately. The smaller cameras will have to go without.
@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird ahh of course, somehow my head had it it took standard 5x4 roll film holders. They’re specific smaller varieties for 6x9?
@@iNerdier They are - for these smaller format cameras. There were a few manufacturers - Linhof, Wista, Horseman...
Wow ur picture are beautiful !
I have now a HV-R with Mamiya RB67 ProSD back's and have replaced all my Horseman lenses by Fujinon lenses . I'am not sorry for this it is a great improvement over the old Horseman back's and lenses . Now I get real professional results witn my Horseman VH-R .
Was it hard to find Fujinon lenses that fit the 80x80mm lens board? There isn’t a ton of room. I’m a big fan of Fuji lenses, for sure.
No , I have a Fujinon WSD 65mm , W 105mm , W 180mm on extended lensboard , T 300mm and T 400mm also on extended lensboard > They all fit with no problems , only I think the T 400mm is to long and heavy . You need for the T 400mm a extra long extended lensboard with extensionrings . The T 400mm becomes topheavy . The T300mm works great on a Horseman HV-R or 985. If you use the extended lensboard you have the full range off the bellows extension . You can make large closeups with the T 300mm . The back lens may not be bigger than 65mm than it will fit on a Horseman . Shutter size 00 , 0 and 1 will fit on a Horseman 8x8 lensboard . The results from these Fujinon lenses on 6x7 are very good on Ilford Delta 100 . With modern T grain rolfilms you get on 6x7 to 6x9 very good results .
I'am from Europe and there we are more practical and no believers in bigger is allways better . A 6x7 Ilford Delta 100 negative is sharper than a 4x5 inch Fomapan 100 negative . Yes your techic must be perfect if you use alle the movements from your Horseman . Good luck . Peter .@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird
I'm considering this camera because I'm all set up with medium format (and 35mm) in the darkroom. I think I'll like the 6x9 format, i find my 6x7 set up sometimes not quite right, more than square but not quite wide.
Can the 980 be used in portrait as opposed to landscape ??? I know the VH and VH-R can do portrait by rotating the back.
I don't think so. The back felt pretty horizontal. I'll take a look tomorrow when I'm back at the studio, but I'm pretty sure it's not rotatable.
@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird i think it can’t. Shame. Maybe I should look at the VH and VHR.
Can you run any large format lenses (provided they're installed on the right sized board) on this instead of the "native" lenses? Would you be able to put longer lenses like a 300mm on there?
Good question. The lens boards are 80x80mm and I guess as long as your shutter isn't larger in diameter than that the lenses should fit. The other limiting factor is bellows draw. The camera bellows maxes out at about 25cm, so I fear a 300mm lens wouldn't work. That might be why the longest lens they made for the system was a 180mm.
@@UnderexposedwithAlastairBird Thanks! It's kind of hard to find any info on these Horseman cameras out there!
I can inform you that you actually don't need that little end-knob there on the shutter release, you can actually screw it in without it if you try (if you still have it, that is) Still your reason not to use it is rather my reason to actually use it, - Why go with a 4x5 when I have this, well as I see it the only reason to go 4x5 is that my chamonix 45f1 is very light and this is not, but after that I find no more reasons ;)
Strange - I tried three different cable releases on both lenses and none seemed to grab without the bushing. Interesting your comments on this over a 4x5. It does certainly have its place.
I assume you used an anamorphic adapter to shoot this video? The aspect ratio doesn't work here. It doesn't bring anything extra relating to e.g. wide vistas. The video image clearly shows blue and magenta chromatic aberrations and unsharpness in the frame's edges most notably in the stands on the right side in your wide shot and also in the close up shots of the lenses. But already in the wide shot it shows on the lenses and loupe sitting next to the 980. When comparing this video to the Leica Shootout of three weeks ago the difference is huge. That one had excellent image quality throughout all shots, this one clearly hasn't. Sorry for being so blunt. On a positive note; your review here of the Horseman is great! Thanks. Regards, Paul Jansen, Netherlands
Hi Paul, thanks for your thoughts. We didn't use an anamorphic adapter, but we did use an older 12-120 cine zoom that doesn't fully cover Super16 - we shot this on a Blackmagic Pocket 4k. The crop was to try to minimize the issues you pointed out - next time we'll have to shoot with a lot more light, as I think we were either wide open or nearly wide open. On the 2nd camera (another BMPCC 4k) we had a Cooke Kinetal lens that is always fabulous. It was a challenge to match the colour and the contrast on both lenses - definitely a learning experience. The Leica video was our straight (and tried-and-true) setup of a Nikon z6. Not quite as exciting but also more reliable. I appreciate the feedback!
Говорил, говорил, но толком ничего не рассказал. Ни как пользоваться, дальномер, и пр. Дядя, готовиться надо к обзорам лучше!
Honestly, I didn't think I needed to show how a rangefinder works, and the shots we tried to take through the viewfinder just didn't work out very well so we skipped that part of the review. The camera itself is rather strange. It's part large format; part medium format. I wanted to play up the differences without having to go through all of the controls and the settings. We tried to keep things short and give as much info as we can. And as always, my reviews must be characterized in the immortal words of Macbeth, "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Thanks for your comments. I put them into Google Translate - I hope I did a good job of understanding what you were saying.