Is Arca Swiss A Swiss Or A French Company?

[Glenn Kroeger]

At PhotoExpo, Arca indicated business was very strong, and growing for 8x10. Given the recent problems at Sinar, Arca looks relatively strong.

As for their origin, they ship and manufacture in Besancon, France, which is closer to Switzerland than Austin is to San Antonio. They also maintain manufacturing and design facilities in Horgen, Switzerland. The location in France gets them into the EU which is extremely beneficial for commerce in Europe.

Is Honda a Japanese company? Accords are made in Ohio! These distinctions are pretty meaningless today. Nowdays, I am happy to buy anything not made in China.

[giancatarina]

what is IN MY OPINION the best and more versatile 6x9 camera ?
Arca Swiss F line Compact Metric Orbix with a RB Mot 6x8 back and lenses :
55 Apo grandagon N
100 Apo sironar S
150 Apo sironar S
And don't forget the Roll film older adaptator and the binocular viewer !
But becarefull, i'm french !

PS : There is much more arca swiss users in US than here !

[Jim Rice]

From Mark Bittman's *How to cook everything* (Macmillian 1998, and recommended):
2 eggs
1 cup milk
dash salt
1 TBS sugar (optional)
1 TSP vanilla extract or cinnamon (optional)
Butter or canola or other neutral oil as needed
8 slices bread
Preheat a large griddle or skillet over medium low heat while you prepare the liquid mixture. Beat the eggs lightly in a broad bowl and stir in the milk, salt and optional ingredients (if you are using them). Add about one teaspoon of butter or oil to the griddle or skillet and, when it is hot, dip each slice of bread in turn in the batter and place it on the griddle. Cook until nicely browned, turning as necessary (you may find that you can raise the heat a bit). Serve, or hold in a 200 deg F oven for up to thirty minutes.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

As Glenn mentioned, ARCA-SWISS manufacturers and ships products in France purely for economic reasons. Switzerland is not a member of the EU. So, if ARCA-SWISS did not have a manufacuring and shipping center in France, their products would be more difficult to obtain and more expensive for their European customers. Short of Switzerland joining the EU, this was the most cost effective solution for ARCA-SWISS to supply their products to customers in EU countries. Many US companies did the exact same thing - build manufacturing facilities in EU member countries, for the exact same reasons.

WRT to the stability of the company, ARCA-SWISS is one of the few large format manufacturers that seems to continue to introduce new and improved products at each and every Photokina (Misura in 2002, the new 140cm F-Line cameras in 2004, etc.). Their 6x9 cameras are also well suited to use with the "medium format" digital backs. Compared to many other large format manufacturers, they seem to be well positioned to continue to serve, supply and support the traditional large format market as well as the ever growing digital market. I don't expect them to "fold up and disappear at any moment". Even if they did, their products are so well built, my ARCA-SWISS F-Line will still be capable of making images long after I am not.

Kerry

[Ellis Vener]

According to my conversations with them they are selling every 6x8cm and 8x10 camera they can make. C1 head sales have also picked up. I believe the lack of a website is something that will be resolved. When? I don't know. They do have catalogs from last year. I know because I have one somewhere in my office.

[Frank Petronio]

So, if not having a website and taking forever to deliver new parts means a company is prospering, then dang, all those stupid companies with informative, functional websites and on-time deliveries must be really sucking wind ;-)

[Scott Fleming]

Well!

I see I have generated some activity. We aim to please.

I'll just open another window here ... and go down the list. So much easier with Mac and Expose.

Eugene: Already responded and I think you show up further down.

Tim: I never did it. I shot them a bit with the Mamiya 645 and learned somewhat about the difficulties of photographing dark subjects framed by neutral and highlighted surroundings. I really wanted to get them on a frosty morning with their breath showing in the dawn ... alas I hate getting up that early. (Tim, there is no 'es' in the plural of Bufalo)

Here's Eugene again already: I checked out the Fuji 680 way back when. Too big. Too heavy. Too ..... 'one of a kind'. ALTHOUGH ... Danny Burke likes it .... but he also has an Ebony. Appreciate the opinion on AS. Thanks for the suggestion Eugene. I know you are sincere. May I say ... in all humitlity I hope ... You Don't Know Me.

Frank: Thanks. No thanks.

John: See answer to Tim. & ... I wish I had done it. Recently I went back and dug through my 'old' (it's all relative) 4 x 5 trannies and actually came up with some keepers. In fact one of my very fave images turns out to be a 6 x 9 crop from those days. http://www.pbase.com/sfleming/image/36849397 (there is a huge version of this available for some unknown reason its' even too big for 23'' monitors) ... Like photography in general ... any subject, unless you get REAL lucky requires many hours of study and pursuit to get the 'special' shot. The Bison are no longer available to me and I never achieved success there.

Glen: Thank You. Very helpful. You are a prince amoung men. (this isn't helping your sales however)

dg: Thanks. I have nothing against the French people (unless they are Parisian) it's that 'expletive deleted' Chirac I disdain. Perhaps you are the man to tell me why the word 'Orbix' no longer apears in any Arca Swiss literature?

Kerry: Thank you. You are also a prince amoung men. If you are ever in town may I buy you a drink? No. Dinner and all you CAN drink. I have learned so much from you! GREAT human being.

[tim atherton]

" (Tim, there is no 'es' in the plural of Bufalo) "

actually there are three optional and accepted plurals: buffalo, buffalos or buffaloes

up here we don't keep em as pets but they run free and wild, so when you meet a herd on the highway you let them chose whichever plural they want... 'cause that 20 or 30 each the size of a large SUV

[Roberts]

Hi Glen,

I think your life eveyday is very busy and harsh because you need to identify what thing aound you is made by China or not. Maybe you don't know, air in this planet travels a lot. There are some air made in China and somehow travels to your place. You may need a mask on your face to make sure not to breath this 'Air'. HaHa!!!!

[Glenn Kroeger]

I have nothing against items made in China... I buy them all the time, but SOMETHING has to be made elsewhere otherwise, ultimately, trade and currency exchange will collapse. So I am simply relieved to see some things I want aren't made there.