Taking photos of displays...

[Tony Duell]

> 
> Tony Duell wrote:
> 
> >Well, until some custom component fails and you can't get a replacement, 
> >anyway. One good thing about the old, mechanical, film cameras is that 
> >most parts could be made in a good home workshop (and they don't tend to 
> >fail anyway).
> >  
> >
> I'm just reading the "Lindsay's technical books" catalog and the book
> "Simple Large Format Camera Construction" by E A Hover looks like nice book
> to have around. See www.lindsaybks.com for more details.

I will take a look. I'd like to make a camera one day, even though I've 
got plenty of commercial ones around (much as I like making computers, 
even though I've got plenty of those too). 

You can get a second-hand large-format camera for a few hundred pounds, 
and about the same for a lens/shutter. In other words less than a good 
digital camera. Sheet film is not cheap, but then again nor is the 
equipment and supplies to print from a digital camera. And the quality is 
nothing short of spectacular.

Large format cameras are really suitable for taking snapshots (although 
they were used for newspaper work in the 1950s and before). If you want 
to take snapshots, well, I'd use a 35mm camera, you'd probably get some 
digital thing. But if you want to take top-quality pictures of static 
subjects (architecture, landsapes, classic computers, etc), then large 
format is, IMHO, the only way to go.

-tony