Horseman Roll Film Holders on Ebony 45 Cameras

Hello All,

I guess this question is for the Ebony camera users out there. I am strongly leaning toward the Ebony 45STe Camera and will need the option of using a roll film back. Looking at the Ebony catalog, they state that the 4x5 to 6x9 reducing back adapter is required to use roll film backs. Now, looking at the Horseman product line, they have 6x7 Roll Film Backs for the 4x5" International Standard and 6x7 Roll Film Backs for the 6x9 International Standard.

My question is this. Can the Horseman 6x7 Roll Film Back for the 4x5 Interntional Standard be used on an Ebony Camera? If so how does it attach? Does it slide in under the ground glass or is the ground glass removed and the back attcahed? Using this particular back will obvious negate the need to purchase the Ebony 4x5 to 6x9 reducing back. I am most interested in saving weight and space than about the cost factor.

Thank you for any insights or experince you may have.

For your 4X5 Ebony or any camera that uses the 4X5 Standard back you can use a 4X5 Standard roll film back. You remove the ground glass assembly and clip on the roll film back. For their 6X9 cameras Ebony makes a hinged back that keeps all the parts attached and lets you not have spare parts to drop. I think that might be what you are reading about in the catalog - a hinged back adaptor for the larger camera. Jim at Midwest Photo can set you straight on this. Give him a call.

Hi there,

I have purchased a second hand 6*9 Horseman 220 roll film back for my Ebony 45SU, and, providing you remove the GG first, it can indeed be mounted directly on the standard back of the camera.

You should be careful though, I think that Horseman manufactures 2 series of roll backs, one for their own 4*5 cameras, and the standard ones mentioned above.

I am not sure if Ebony makes a hinged mounted GG for their 4*5 cameras, I will contact them to ask when I have the time.

Best regards,
Bernard

Joseph, I regularly use Horseman roll-film holders with my Ebony 45S. As Henry has said, it's just a matter of clipping off the gg back and replacing it with the RFH, which is held in place by 2 sliders that are fitted as standard to all Ebony 4x5 cameras. The fit is excellent and a joy to use. Note that Horseman RFHs come in 2 types, 1 for dedicated roll-film cameras, which use the "baby" Graflok fittings. The other is fitted onto a rectangular plate that fits on a 4x5 back. Both 6x7 and 6x9 formats are available for both types of RFH. The 6x12 holder fits only on a 4x5 back.

Yes, it's possible to get a reducing back for 4x5 Ebony cameras which has 6x9 gg and the hinged "door". Those who have this type of back (which is standard on the Ebony 23 cameras) say that it's extremely convenient. However, when fitted to a 4x5 camera it increases the minimum focus distance by ~6 mm, which could reduce your options on very short lenses. And with this back you would need the different RFH fitting from 4x5.

If your requirements are mainly roll-film then I would advise you to take a close look at the non-folding Ebonies. The folding SV range is of course superb, but for the focal lengths commonly used for roll-film you have to be prepared to deal with the inconvenience of putting the camera in "wide-angle" mode and using bag bellows.

I have an Ebony SV45TE and I am sure you would be pleased with it should you buy one. I was also thinking of getting a used (Wista) 6x9 rollfilm adaptor. There are sliding locks provided to attach one and and a quick release to take groundglass away after focusing,

cheers Richard

Thank you for everyone's input. I'll mostly being shooting 4x5 b&w negative and printing traditionally but once in a great while I shoot a little color slide. I was interested in the roll film adaters so I could still use my Microtek 120tf scanner as opposed to picking up another flatbed just to scan 4x5 slides. So, thank you again and the Horseman 4x5 roll adapter seems the way to go for me.