Size of Canham lens boards

[Diane Maher]

Does anyone know what the dimensions of the lens boards that Canham is now using on his 8x10 (or larger) cameras? All I see on his website about them is that they are Sinar/Horseman (which doesn't tell me squat about their dimensions).

[Nick_3536]

Sinar boards are 140x140mm. But won't he build anything you ask him?

[Diane Maher]

Thanks for the replies you guys. I just wanted to compare my current 8x10's boards to the Canham as I'm considering a switch in the not too distant future.

[Ted Harris]

Diane, why not standardize on the Technika boards? Keith can supply you with a a new front standard for both your 8x10 and 5x12 that will use the Technika boards directly, that is without an adaptor. IIRC the cost for these replacemetn standards is $150 each. I had this done for my 5x7.

[Rick Moore]

Should you buy an used 8x10 Traditional or larger, it may use 158mm Toyo View boards. Mine is from late 2000 and uses the Toyo boards. I think Keith switched to the Sinar boards about two years ago.

[Diane Maher]

I don't own a Canham 8x10 yet (I have a Wehman 8x10 right now) and am only thinking about switching it for a Canham at this point. I have a lot of the Toyo 4 inch boards around the house (which my 5x12 and Toyo 45AII both use), and I don't know how the Toyo boards compare in size to the Technika boards. I had talked to Keith at the VC conference about the possibility of doing either a whole plate back/bellow (it would switch out with the 5x12 back/bellows) or a complete whole plate camera. Later, I thought of the notion of a reducing adapter for an 8x10. In any case, I am waiting to see what whole plate holders come out of Fotoman before I pursue this any further.

[Nick_3536]

my 5x12

Is this the Shen or a different one? I think all the bigger Shen Hao's take Sinar boards and ship with Sinar to Linhof adapters.

You can always get an adapter for the new camera to take the smaller boards. This way you can use the small boards for most things. The larger 140x140 for big lenses or for recessed lenses.

Right now I've only got a Wollensack Vitax on anything but a Linhof board. That monster is so big it needs it's own camera :D So basically all my lenses can be used for my cameras. Just an adapter in the camera to reduce from the native to the Linhof.

[wfwhitaker]

Diane,

Technika boards are slightly smaller than the Toyo boards at about 96mm wide by 100mm tall (or about 3 3/4" x 3 7/8"). But the Tech boards are a lot more common and fit a lot of cameras. As mentioned above, you can get adapter lensboards to allow the use of Technika boards. That's what I've done for both my Kodak Master and the 7x17.

If you're thinking about venturing into 6 1/2 x 8 1/2, a reducing back for an 8x10 makes a fair amount of sense. But the combination of full plate and 5x12 formats sounds very attractive. If you had one camera which could double on both formats, that would be very efficient. On the other hand, I might have a 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 camera coming available at some point soon.

[Diane Maher]

Thanks Will. I have two whole plate cameras already. My issue with them is the lack of movements, especially the front. I only picked up the second camera hoping to get some holders to use with the first one, but it turned out that the holders were camera specific, i.e. could only be used with that specific camera.

[Diane Maher]

Is this the Shen or a different one? I think all the bigger Shen Hao's take Sinar boards and ship with Sinar to Linhof adapters.

You can always get an adapter for the new camera to take the smaller boards. This way you can use the small boards for most things. The larger 140x140 for big lenses or for recessed lenses.

Right now I've only got a Wollensack Vitax on anything but a Linhof board. That monster is so big it needs it's own camera :D So basically all my lenses can be used for my cameras. Just an adapter in the camera to reduce from the native to the Linhof.

Nick,
This is the Canham 5x12. It takes the Toyo 4 in. boards.

[Barry Wilkinson]

Diane,

Sinar made a Sinar to Toyo Field (110x110) adapter, but they are rare.

Barry