RJ-
Whole Plate Photographer
Hi Cal,
They aren't common - a few of us use them for commercial work. Most have moved on to digital capture and lost the aesthetic of film with the dying emulsions like Fuji Tungsten 64T and the smooth tonality of the larger format.
The Silvestri T30, Hermes and S4 series can all accept 5x4 inch backs - they require the No.0, 1, 2, 3, 4 spacing adapters to match for 47mm, 58mm, 75mm. 100mm (and there was a 120mm format one too). I've never seen another 5x4" back on a Silvestri Hermes other than mine. It took a lot of work to figure it out although Mr Silvestri was an amazing trove of knowledge and very amenable to supporting photographers before the queries got passed onto employees. There isn't anything else quite like the Silvestri - it's a machine bulleted chassis and completely plane parallel so the accidental non-zero tilts of front and rear standards are a thing of the past for ultrawide angle lenses. The 5x4 Polaroid conversions come close for portability but nowhere close for the extreme wide-angle field of view nor movements. I love it for its unusual blend of cross-movements across both vertical and horizontals.
They aren't common - a few of us use them for commercial work. Most have moved on to digital capture and lost the aesthetic of film with the dying emulsions like Fuji Tungsten 64T and the smooth tonality of the larger format.
The Silvestri T30, Hermes and S4 series can all accept 5x4 inch backs - they require the No.0, 1, 2, 3, 4 spacing adapters to match for 47mm, 58mm, 75mm. 100mm (and there was a 120mm format one too). I've never seen another 5x4" back on a Silvestri Hermes other than mine. It took a lot of work to figure it out although Mr Silvestri was an amazing trove of knowledge and very amenable to supporting photographers before the queries got passed onto employees. There isn't anything else quite like the Silvestri - it's a machine bulleted chassis and completely plane parallel so the accidental non-zero tilts of front and rear standards are a thing of the past for ultrawide angle lenses. The 5x4 Polaroid conversions come close for portability but nowhere close for the extreme wide-angle field of view nor movements. I love it for its unusual blend of cross-movements across both vertical and horizontals.
Attachments
RJ-
Whole Plate Photographer
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
RJ,
Some OCD tendencies happened beginning in 2007-2008 in me, and I started shooting in NYC with a total disregard to printing. Pretty much film was still inexpensive, so I figure making negatives was a smart thing to do. BTW this disturbed many people…
On weekends me and my shooting partner and others would do “Death-Marches” in the poorer areas of the city. At one point I would average shooting and developing 150 rolls of film a month.
I shot mostly small format and medium format, but I love the tonality and IQ of large format.
A friend of mine said of my medium format 6x9 negatives, “With negatives like these you don’t need a 4x5.” I wonder though if I shot a Silvestri…
So I finally figured out why I had the impulse to record a decade of urban landscape and street shooting in NYC: it was to have a sense of home knowing that I would be forced to leave one day. A lot of the city got redeveloped, but I have an archive that records a history that was destroyed.
Currently I’m retired in the lower Hudson Valley about 40 miles north of NYC. When I lived in NYC we helped gentrify Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Long Island City, and Spanish Harlem.
Anyways a Silvestri would be a game changer… It seems difficult or impossible to acquire one today, so I deem the OP as being very fortunate in securing a kit.
Cal
Some OCD tendencies happened beginning in 2007-2008 in me, and I started shooting in NYC with a total disregard to printing. Pretty much film was still inexpensive, so I figure making negatives was a smart thing to do. BTW this disturbed many people…
On weekends me and my shooting partner and others would do “Death-Marches” in the poorer areas of the city. At one point I would average shooting and developing 150 rolls of film a month.
I shot mostly small format and medium format, but I love the tonality and IQ of large format.
A friend of mine said of my medium format 6x9 negatives, “With negatives like these you don’t need a 4x5.” I wonder though if I shot a Silvestri…
So I finally figured out why I had the impulse to record a decade of urban landscape and street shooting in NYC: it was to have a sense of home knowing that I would be forced to leave one day. A lot of the city got redeveloped, but I have an archive that records a history that was destroyed.
Currently I’m retired in the lower Hudson Valley about 40 miles north of NYC. When I lived in NYC we helped gentrify Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Long Island City, and Spanish Harlem.
Anyways a Silvestri would be a game changer… It seems difficult or impossible to acquire one today, so I deem the OP as being very fortunate in securing a kit.
Cal
RJ-
Whole Plate Photographer
Hi Cal!
The 4x5" use of the architectural Silvestri camera is more extreme of a push for life and street photography - with Ilford HP5+ or Tri-X 400 pushed to ISO1600 it works well hand-held though!
It's true that the helicoid focussing of the Silvestri Hermes series makeos focussing as fast and rapid as 35mm - especially with a 47mm XL lens on a 4x5 inch, this is equivalent to a 15mm lens on a 35mm film camera, enabling zone focussing from 2 metres to infinity at f5.6.
The historical legacy of your your shoot must be stlll a sight unseen by the modern generation of New York City. Finishing and exhibiting work is a monumental effort - the format difference isn't particularly huge; if you are shooting ISO25 expired Agfa APX25, RXP25 and developing in fine grain developers, the tonal rendition of 120 medium format vs 4x5" shot on pushed HP5+ or Tri-X isn't a massive difference for the average viewer of silver gelatin photographs.
Nonetheless,I have 2x Silvestri Hermes and I probably don't need both anymore since pulling out of commercial work.
The 4x5" use of the architectural Silvestri camera is more extreme of a push for life and street photography - with Ilford HP5+ or Tri-X 400 pushed to ISO1600 it works well hand-held though!
It's true that the helicoid focussing of the Silvestri Hermes series makeos focussing as fast and rapid as 35mm - especially with a 47mm XL lens on a 4x5 inch, this is equivalent to a 15mm lens on a 35mm film camera, enabling zone focussing from 2 metres to infinity at f5.6.
The historical legacy of your your shoot must be stlll a sight unseen by the modern generation of New York City. Finishing and exhibiting work is a monumental effort - the format difference isn't particularly huge; if you are shooting ISO25 expired Agfa APX25, RXP25 and developing in fine grain developers, the tonal rendition of 120 medium format vs 4x5" shot on pushed HP5+ or Tri-X isn't a massive difference for the average viewer of silver gelatin photographs.
Nonetheless,I have 2x Silvestri Hermes and I probably don't need both anymore since pulling out of commercial work.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
RJ,
Thanks for the insights. Your advice and encouragement is of high value.
The mess I made making negatives with a total disregard to printing/editing was both dumb and smart.
No darkroom is built out yet, my printer is stored loaded with Piezoflush, and I have had no time to reimburse myself back into photography.
On top of that I just got signed with an agent and suddenly now I am a model.
Securing a Hermes (early Silvestri) would be mighty cool since it took like LF is where I want to go.
Know that I own an early Linhof 4x5 that still has the original leather covering, and I have two Baby-Linhofs.
Cal
Thanks for the insights. Your advice and encouragement is of high value.
The mess I made making negatives with a total disregard to printing/editing was both dumb and smart.
No darkroom is built out yet, my printer is stored loaded with Piezoflush, and I have had no time to reimburse myself back into photography.
On top of that I just got signed with an agent and suddenly now I am a model.
Securing a Hermes (early Silvestri) would be mighty cool since it took like LF is where I want to go.
Know that I own an early Linhof 4x5 that still has the original leather covering, and I have two Baby-Linhofs.
Cal
Last edited by a moderator:
Retro-Grouch
Well-known
Cal, I have nothing technical to add here, but let me just say that your energy and enthusiasm are mind-boggling! It seems you never heard of a "full plate". 
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
R,Cal, I have nothing technical to add here, but let me just say that your energy and enthusiasm are mind-boggling! It seems you never heard of a "full plate".
Earlier in life I was misdiagnosed as manaic, but pretty much it was anxiety. In my early 30’s I had to learn how to relax, and it was a matter of life and death.
So now I’m retired. I escaped poverty, and I have a sustainable retirement that is comfortable.
I know I have been lucky, but a recent article I read suggests being lucky involves 4 certain personality tracts: resilience; openness; willing to embrace risk; and a positive mental attitude. In my case this was a winning combination…
My street shooting was a compulsive behavior that helped me cope with a sense of homelessness I experience growing up that got played out in my manic way of doing photography. I needed a sense of home desperately, but at the time I did all this behavior I annoyed and disturbed many people because no one understood, not even me. Being a gentrifier meant being displaced over and over again…
My sense of home was made permanent though photography, yet I knew I would have to leave NYC.
Now I own a home, retirement came as a surprise, and not one of my retirement plans came to be. Actually three good things happened because of the pandemic: first is we bought a house; then I retired early; then I found that I had to recreate myself.
It was almost like being 16-17 years old again in high school and wondering what I will do over the next 40-45 years all over again, except this time I’m not some poor broke angry kid with no resources.
Know that my dad was an illegal immigrant, was poor, and was illiterate. I had a tough beginning, but my dad lived till 94. I took a longevity survey that profiled an expected life expectancy. I am highly educated with two masters degrees, I have a low stress lifestyle, I eat well, I have a great BMI (150 pounds 5’10”) and I have a build of a welter weight boxer.
My life expectancy was 106 years, but since I no longer live in a polluted urban environment my life span has increased to 111 years.
I just turned 65, but even though I am retired recently I signed up with an agent and now am a model. How crazy is that?
My partner who I call “Maggie” here on this forum started a blog about 7 years ago. Pretty much I did the photography for her, and since the only digital camera I owned was a M-Monochrom all the fashion shots were all B&W.
Not easy to do, but because her blog used only B&W it stood out and got traction, then all of the sudden she got famous and had 750K followers.
I got swept up into this, and it took over our lives. Things got really crazy.
Well anyways imagine seeing your girlfriend’s image all over Madhattan on news stands and bus shelters, seeing her on the big network news shows being interviewed, and even being in a Go-Daddy commercial. Imagine your girlfriend competing against Victoria Beckham for best fashion blogger and winning a ”Shorty Award.”
Anyways that work was endless, but it was not sustainable. I wrote a lot about this in the NYC Meet-Up thread: the good; the bad; and the ugly.
So here I am again getting swept back into it again, but at an elite level, in a better position, and on better terms.
Anyways lots of crazy stuff got played out.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
R-G,
Also do a search on this forum about DiaFine which I called my “Slacker’s Brew.”
The expense of one shot developers becomes cost prohibitive when shooting 150 rolls a month on average.
Dia-Fine is a two part compensating developer that gets reused. In fact after 25 rolls or so it actually gets seasoned and the negatives get an enhanced midrange.
I figured out how to make Dia-Fine work for me, and that enabled me to sustain developing 150 rolls of film a month. Often the bottle neck was drying space. Know that I did all this in a 650 square foot luxury apartment using a 2 liter stainless steel tank and a changing bag.
How crazy is that?
Cal
Also do a search on this forum about DiaFine which I called my “Slacker’s Brew.”
The expense of one shot developers becomes cost prohibitive when shooting 150 rolls a month on average.
Dia-Fine is a two part compensating developer that gets reused. In fact after 25 rolls or so it actually gets seasoned and the negatives get an enhanced midrange.
I figured out how to make Dia-Fine work for me, and that enabled me to sustain developing 150 rolls of film a month. Often the bottle neck was drying space. Know that I did all this in a 650 square foot luxury apartment using a 2 liter stainless steel tank and a changing bag.
How crazy is that?
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
R-G,
I forgot to mention I also am known for my “Monster” prints and “Monster“ books.
I also am known for my printing and printing large.
“Crazy is good,” I say.
Cal
I forgot to mention I also am known for my “Monster” prints and “Monster“ books.
I also am known for my printing and printing large.
“Crazy is good,” I say.
Cal
Retro-Grouch
Well-known
Crazy like a fox. You're obviously doing what you love, so you win!
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
R-G,
One short coming is I have many interests.
”Snarky Joe” from the NYC Meet-Up says I can do anything well.
Cal
RJ-
Whole Plate Photographer
Silvestri Hermes 5x4 inch Large Format Architectural Camera
Rollei Infrared Film developed in Fuji Artdol 1:3 dilution
Crowhurst, Kent (England)
Rollei Infrared Film developed in Fuji Artdol 1:3 dilution
Crowhurst, Kent (England)