Silvestri Italian cameras.

E

Einstein

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Do any of you use this system. Just purchased an immaculate H with a boat load of lenses and accessories. Intending to use just 6X9 initially as it came with these backs.
Never used rise and fall before and wondering if you have any tips to help me navigate the ability to use this.
Thank you for any help.
 
Google "view camera movements". Lots of good instructional material out there, including videos. Rise is the single most useful movement; it will allow you to put architectural (or similar) elements lower in the frame while keeping parallel vertical lines from converging, very valuable particularly when shooting with a wide angle.
 
One simple way to use rise: instead of tilting the camera to get the top of a building in view, keep the camera parallel to the building, and use rise to bring the top of the building into view on the ground glass.
 
I own a Plaubel 69W. It has only one movement “Rise,” although I can rotate the camera 180 degrees to get a “Fall.”

Very useful to have perspective control for shooting architecture, especially with wides.

The idea is to keep the film plain vertical and avoid tilting to avoid converging verticals. The rise/fall allows control in composing foreground by using the fall, and for not cropping tops while maintaining verticals.

This perspective control is wonderful to have when using wides.

My Plaubel 69W has a Schneider 47mm Super Augulon which compares to a 21mm FOV in 35.

How wide or what focal length are your lenses?

All you need is one lens and you can do lots of photography. If I did not own my Plaubel 69W I would of likely secured a Sylvestri. If I remember correctly they made 4x5 sized cameras also.

BTW Silversti are refined and are well made. You model is discontinued it seems so you were lucky to have secured an entire kit.

The Silvestri that exists today is building cameras that support digital backs, a very high end market that targets shooters that do commercial photography and high end architectural photography.

All the best.

Cal

POSTSCRIPT: know that 6x9 with a wide is a step towards panoramic. You could crop the width to effectively change the aspect ratio into something more panoramic.

Also did you get any center filters with the lenses?
 
My ignorance was openly displayed to myself when I read about the need for a “Center Filter” previously never heard of such a thing. So I will have to purchase one from Schneider. Seemingly I only need one for the 58mm.
The seller in Finland listed the full previous owners package, so I can only presume that he kept the Center Filter for some other system he had, or was going to purchase.
No surprises there when I discovered how much it was going to cost. And the import taxes hit me with another $300, so $700 more in this adventure before even taking my first image !!!
 
Einstein said:
My ignorance was openly displayed to myself when I read about the need for a “Center Filter” previously never heard of such a thing. So I will have to purchase one from Schneider. Seemingly I only need one for the 58mm.
The seller in Finland listed the full previous owners package, so I can only presume that he kept the Center Filter for some other system he had, or was going to purchase.
No surprises there when I discovered how much it was going to cost. And the import taxes hit me with another $300, so $700 more in this adventure before even taking my first image !!!
Click to expand...

E,

I have no center filter for my Plaubel 69W, and this limits me to using it only for B&W.

I would still be proud and pleased with owning a Silvestri anyways.

Center-filters are so costly that sometimes they are sold separately. The idea with using a center-filter is to correct and prevent the darkening of corners and light fall off that happens in the corners when shooting color films/slides. If you intend on shooting only B&W then like me no center-filter is required.

Because each filter is specifically designed for the maker’s focal length there are no third party’s to buy from, and you need to buy the specific filter from the OEM maker.

Perhaps the kit you bought was from a B&W shooter like myself.

Silvestri is based in Florence and the design is just so elegant. I think of you as a lucky guy.

Cal
 
Calzone you have just made my day. I am like you a B&W only shooter. I was under the impression the Center Filter was needed for any photography, this answers my question as I wondered why a lens would need one of these to operate.
Going to sell my Leica M3 and M6 and their lenses, they will give me some more spending money once sold.
What I am looking foreword to is the comparison with my Hasselblad SWC/M images, a beautiful lens on that camera, as are all Hasselblad lenses.
I am a happy man again Calzone, thank you Sir…..
 
Einstein said:
Calzone you have just made my day. I am like you a B&W only shooter. I was under the impression the Center Filter was needed for any photography, this answers my question as I wondered why a lens would need one of these to operate.
Going to sell my Leica M3 and M6 and their lenses, they will give me some more spending money once sold.
What I am looking foreword to is the comparison with my Hasselblad SWC/M images, a beautiful lens on that camera, as are all Hasselblad lenses.
I am a happy man again Calzone, thank you Sir…..
Click to expand...

E,

You are indeed a lucky man to have secured your kit.

This is beautifully designed, specialized, and really-really great at what it does.

My Plaubel 69W is a fixed lens, and there are no other options. You have choices, and your system is more modular and flexible. For instance you can acquire more backs and load different films.

My Plaubel is a great camera, but your camera offers a lot more flexibility and has many advantages.

Cal
 
rfaspen said:
"boat load of lenses" sounds awesome! Any good ones in the boat?
Click to expand...

E,

I’m curious also. I suspect that the Schneider 58mm you own could be an “XL” version in bayonet mount. If so did you know that this is a very highly regarded wide angle lens for 4x5 that has a monster sized image circle?

Silvestri’s are/were costly cameras.

The non “XL” version though is smaller and considerably lighter. My 47/5.6 Schneider Super Agulon is a non “XL” and has an image circle for 6x9.

Silvestri made a camera called a S4 that effectively is a 4x5 model H, but in one review I read the model H with 6x12 capabilities is the hot camera because the S4 was deemed bloated, big and too heavy by one reviewer.

Besides the 6x12 back for the film a back adapter and masks are needed. Not so easy to secure now that the Model H is discontinued.

What you might own pretty much could be the ultimate Model “H” kit.

The lens cage accessory is just so evil looking. I love it.

Living vicariously through your Silvestri. Pretty much a Model H with 6x9 and 6x12 capabilities that is not bloated would be a very useful camera for me.

Also consider 6x7 backs…

This why you Silvestri could crush my Plaubel 69W Proshift.

Cal
 
I did a search on the old forums and for articles but couldn't find the reference. I believe Roger Hicks was into either Silvestri's or Gandolphi's. Can't remember which one. Or both?

gandolfishopw01a1.jpg - Click image for larger version Name: gandolfishopw01a1.jpg Views: 0 Size: 78.2 KB ID: 4814915
 
Calzone said:
Bump.
Click to expand...
You mean this link here?
themachineplanet.wordpress.com

Silvestri H: the 6×12 ultracamera

Imagine what would happen if a HAL9000 mated with a Graflex XLSW. The Silvestri H (and as earlier models are designated, the “Hermes”) is designed to be a hand-holdable architectur…
themachineplanet.wordpress.com themachineplanet.wordpress.com

Thank you for the hint: Very interesting article, even for one who never went over 6x6 :)
 
dct said:
You mean this link here?
themachineplanet.wordpress.com

Silvestri H: the 6×12 ultracamera

Imagine what would happen if a HAL9000 mated with a Graflex XLSW. The Silvestri H (and as earlier models are designated, the “Hermes”) is designed to be a hand-holdable architectur…
themachineplanet.wordpress.com themachineplanet.wordpress.com

Thank you for the hint: Very interesting article, even for one who never went over 6x6 :)
Click to expand...
DCT,

Thanks for making the link.

Here at RFF I promote myself as a lazy-slacker. LOL.

A 6x9 is really big, but I imagine 6x12 as mucho great.

Cal
 
Einstein said:
Do any of you use this system. Just purchased an immaculate H with a boat load of lenses and accessories. Intending to use just 6X9 initially as it came with these backs.
Never used rise and fall before and wondering if you have any tips to help me navigate the ability to use this.
Thank you for any help.
Click to expand...

Over the past 20 years, it's been my favourite architectural viewcamera. I use the twin Hermes system (not the T30) with the 6x12cm back and the 5x4inch back with the wider 47mm XL Super Angulon. Your 58m is an XL lens in Silvestri mount helicoid too and will cover 4x5 inch if you can work an adapter back and viewing screen for it.

The Silvestri is a technical viewcamera - where it differs from standard view cameras is the rapidity of its cross-movements. Whereas the image circles of the XL series of lenses are limited to a few mm, one way to work around it is to shoot Hasselblad square format and lose the image circle. The IIIa,bc series of Neutral Density filters are quite important even with black and white work: the light fall off by the periphery is approximately 2.0 stops for the 47mm XL and about 1.5 stops for your 58mm XL. Not every image works with mechanical light fall off.
The 6x9cm back system is the easiest to get used to using this system - you can also acquire a Linhof 5x4 plate back and mount a 6x6cm and literally shoot square format with rise + 25mm and fall to about - 15mm before cross movements. Here's an example of cross-movements - you can achieve this within a 3 second set up time. In city spaces, there's nothing quite as fast as the Silvestri Hermes - named after the god of speed (not the god of substance misuse).

Kind regards
RJ
 

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RJ,

Thanks for posting this. I have never seen a Silvestri “in the wild.”

One of my friends at B&H has a 4x5 version and thought I would love it.

Cal
 
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