How many wooden cameras use certified wood?

[francisco_5406]

The sawing thread got me wondering... all these wooden cameras... how many use responsibly harvested tropical hardwoods (FSC certified or equal)?

Do any manufacturers mention it? I haven't seen it on their websites before. Seems that with the majority of photographers also being environmentalists, it should be a concern.

Hmm... Shen Hao, Gandolfi, Wista, Horseman, Ikeda, Ebony, Canham, Wisner, Lotus, Philips... who else?

[tim atherton]

I don't think Phillips uses tropical hardwoods?

[Armin Seeholzer]

Hi Francisco

Lotus dosn't take any tropical woods it is so stated on there homepage somewhere! One point more why I'm not a woody!

[Al Seyle]

LOL...Well I'm absolutely CERTAIN all my metal cameras use metals which are mined responsibly! 'Tis why I'm a metal guy.

[Bill_1856]

Well if they claim it's real wood then that's good enough for me.

[Eric Woodbury]

...and don't forget tripod wood.

Many of the cameras are cherry or black walnut (Canham). These woods are raped from North American forests.

...and you don't want to know where the gelatin in film comes from.

[Arne Croell]

Lotus uses cherry wood, and Canham walnut . Those are hardly tropical woods, so these would be the "eco" choice? Phillips uses some composite I think. Wisner uses both cherry and mahogany, so there is a choice. Gandolfi uses composite as well as mahogany. The others mentioned use tropical hardwoods exclusively.
Of course there are Walkers ABS "Titan" cameras but then they are a product of the oil industry? ;-)

[Gem Singer]

No matter what kind of wood is being used, multiply the amount of wood that goes into building a wooden flatbed field camera by the actual number of cameras sold, and you will find that it is a miniscule amount. We have had this discussion on this forum in the past, and I refuse to be baited into another argument as to whether the type of wood that is used to build a wooden field camera is environmentally correct.

Think about all of the furniture that is made from wood, and draw the same analogy. Plastics start out as crude oil. Perhaps we should avoid any articles made of plastic. Trees are a renuable resource. I, for one, am not going back to sitting on a rock and sleeping in a cave.

[Donald Brewster]

Phillips uses composites and wood from 19th century timber salvaged from the bottom of Lake Michigan (really).

[Jim Rhoades]

All my field cameras and my Crown Graphic are made of mahogany. Well ok, and a cherry Korona. You got a PROBLEM with that?