Can anyone tell me who made my Zone VI?

I was able to purchase an old Zone VI today for pretty cheap. The bellows are light tight and it's extremely light and packable so I thought it might work better as a backpacking/hiking camera than my Ebony 45SU. At any rate, I was told that it was originally made by Tachihara but after doing a bit of net research, I hear that the first iterations of this camera were in fact Wista made instead of Tachihara. Can anyone identify my camera?

The camera itself looks to be made of cherrywood. It's labeled simply with a black on silver sticker on the side of the camera base that reads: Zone VI Studios, Inc. Newfane, VT 05345. The base is cherrywood with an inset of black painted metal with two tripod mounting holes. It has a black bellows and silver hardware. The corners of the rear standard have brass joinery.

At any rate, I'd love to hear any thoughts or reviews on this camera. I wasn't really in the market for one, but it was light and came in a package deal with a Symmar S MC 210, Fujinon 400T and Fujinon 90mm f8 for only $850.

Thanks for your replies!

Sounds like a Tachihara or possibly a Wista, I think Zone VI contracted the Japanese companies Tachihara and Wista to supply them with cameras, these were cherry wood double extension cameras re-badged with the Zone VI label. Later Zone VI, or rather Fred Picker was unhappy with their design and contracted Wisner to design and build him a camera, these were triple extensions cameras with labels stating they were made by Wisner. After a disagreement Zone VI and Wisner parted company, Wisner started his own company and Fred contracted local craftsmen to make a Wisner type camera. Fred sold the Zone VI company to Calumet after suffering ill health. The Wisner, locally made Zone VI, and the Calumat models were basically a 'Wisner classic' type camera. I don't think Zone VI are still in production now, probably fazed out if there was no profit to be made.

The ones made by Wisner were very similar to Ron's Traditional 4x5 and were made out of Mahogany with lacquered brass trim. They also had a brass nameplate on the front edge of the bed that identified Wisner as the manufacturer.

In his article in View Camera on the history of the Zone VI camera, Richard Ritter said that the first Zone VI was built by Tachihara. It had nickel-plated hardware, one focusing rail, 12" of extension and a Zone VI nameplate. In 1980, Picker switched to Wista, but made some modifications to reinforce the baseplate. It was also a single rail model with 12" of extension, and the nameplate said "Zone VI Studios".

The short-lived adventure with Wisner began in 1985. The camera that came out of this "partnership" was labeled "Zone VI Classic" and "made by Wisner Classic Manufacturing Co".

The fact that your camera has "silver" hardware suggests that it is probably the Tachihara.

I just reread your original posting - if the nameplate on your camera says Zone VI Studios, it is probably a Wista.

I agree that your's is probably the Wista. I've been shooting with one for almost 7 years, and I've been quite happy with it. Mine also has "Wista" stamped into the wood of the focus rail. You have to look carefully for it, but this will confirm the origin for sure.

There was an article in VC a couple of years ago which went over this whole history back to the Wistas with serial numbers etc. It was written by somebody from ZVI who was around in those days. Wisner later disputed some of the politics but not the factual sequence of the camera developement. I can't go back and look since I gave all my copies (my complete) to Steve a while back when his original set was stolen. But it is available as a reprint. Look on the VC website.

I can't find any "Wista" stamped into the rails on mine, but it looks a bit different from the Tachiharas that I've seen. Does anyone have the Serial numbers for the Tachihara and Wista versions of the Zone VI? I can't see any serial number on mine either. Not that it matters but I'd like to know.

According to the article by Richard Ritter, Wisner manufactured "slight less than 150 cameras" that were serial numbered starting at 100. The next generation of Zone VIs were manufactuerd by Zone VI and had serial numbers between 1000 and 4500 "with gaps". The walnut and cherry versions had serial numbers in the 9000 series. This tells me that serial numbers were not consecutive and were merely identifiers for individual cameras.

Richard makes no mention of serial numbers on the Tachihara and Wista cameras. However, he makes it pretty clear that the Tachihara was merely rebadged, while minor modifications were made to the Wista. He notes that the Wista was "sold" as "specially built for Zone VI", which is not quite the same thing as being a Zone VI camera that was manufactured by Wista.

Richard joined Zone VI in 1982, well after the end of the Tachihara period(mid-1070's - 1980) and halfway through the Wista era (1980-1985). He doesn't say how many were sold, but he does mention that when the Zone VI Classic (Wisner) came out, it sold almost double the estimated number ("50 in four weeks" - but it is not clear whether this was the sales number or the estimate). I would be very tempted to read between his lines and conclude that Picker had to have sold more than 99 Tachihara's and Wista's in the almost 10 years that he had them in his catalog, and the choice to start the serial number of the Classic at 100 was purely arbitrary. Therefore, I would suspect that the Tachihara and Wista cameras did not have serial numbers.

For what it's worth, my Zone VI Lightweight (purchased in September 2001) does not have a serial number.