Episode 105: John Minnicks and the Aero-Liberator

For Episode 105, it finally happened! As eluded to on a great number of previous episodes and on our official Facebook page and Discord server, the Camerosity Podcast finally dedicated an entire show to large format cameras! And not just any large format cameras, as a special guest for this show, we welcomed John Minnicks, creator of the Aero-Liberator, a home built custom version of a Graflex SLR using aerial Kodak lenses!

Joining the gang and John for this episode were a huge number of other guests, several of which own or have shot their own Aero-Liberators. In alphabetical order by first name, we were joined by some guy named Erie, João Gomes, Howard Sandler, Lloyd Greene, Mark Cornelison, Mark Widhalm, Mat Marrash (from FPP), Parker Pfister, Pat Casey, Ron Gee, and Will Pinkham.

In addition to hearing John Minnicks origin story, he shares many stories about people who he has sold cameras to and what has been done with them, including taking portraits of Barack Obama at his inauguration and at impeachment hearings in front of Congress.

Mat Marrash from the Film Photography Project joins us and gives us his insight into large format and how well it does from the retail perspective. We were also graced with the presence of Parker Pfister who shares his tales of developing film using his own urine! This is the first ever mention of "pee" in a Camerosity episode!

We eventually do get into a little bit of GAS, including some pickups by Mark Cornelison from the Chicago Camera show including the Camerosity favorites like the Voigtländer Perkeo and the KMZ Zorki 4.

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

For our next episode, we are going "across the pond" to a European time zone friendly time which will allow for more of our European listeners to join us. We'll keep the topic wide open to encourage as many people as possible to join us. If you are in Europe or other "European time zone friendly" areas of the world, we will record Episode 106 on Monday, March 16th at 2pm Central Daylight Time, 3pm Eastern Daylight Time, 7pm Greenwich Mean Time (London), 8pm Central European Time (Berlin), and 6am Tuesday the 17th Australian Eastern Daylight Time (Sydney). For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us!

In This Episode

• What is Large Format?
• John Minnicks, Creator of the Aero-Liberator 4x5 SLR Cameras with Kodak Aero-Ektar Lenses
• Going from a standard Graflex Super D to a custom camera with swings and tilts for a unique lens
• Three Owners of Aero-Liberators Ron Gee, Mark Cornelison, and Parker Pfister
• Common Problems with Aero-Ektars / Bringing People Together
• Photographing Barack Obama with Only 4 Sheets of Film
• David Burnett and his Aero-Liberator in front of Congress
• Timtypes / Giving João Gomes some tips on adapting Leitz Hektor projector lenses and Tessar barrel lenses to his Graflex
• Getting into 4x5 Press Cameras / Crown Graphic and Speed Graphic / Omega and Sinar Monorails
• Wista, Tachihara, and Linhof Field Cameras
• Lloyd Greene is shooting a Sinar monorail, Howard Sandler recommends the Graphic as a companion to a Crown Graphic, and how he shares his Fujinon lenses between them
• Parker shoots 8x10 paper and develops it with help from pee
• Paul Rybolt misses Cibachrome, Mat Marash from Film Photography Project recommends RA4 reversal
• X-ray film and trying to prevent scratches
• Monobath single-shot processing kit as an introduction to developing and a great way to test a camera
• Sourcing large format films / How to shoot paper instead of negatives and tame the contrast / Light sources for enlargers
• Erie is a large format nerd and commercial photographer
• Many different methods for developing and scanning
• Mark’s trials and tribulations with wet plate collodion
• Exposure, Computers, and the Kodak Master Photoguide
• Will Pinkham asks about large format lenses / Schneider, Rodenstock, Kodak, Wollensak, Ilex, Fujinon, Nikkor, even Turner Reich can suit what you’re shooting
• How do you manage focus when shooting portraits on large format?
• A bit of GAS: Kodak Retina Reflex III / Nikon Nikonos
• Mark Widhalm got a Voigtländer Perkeo, which Anthony and Ron love / Howard got an Adox Golf

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg

John Minnicks - https://johnminnicks.com/

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/