Toyo 45 AII/AX reviews or comments

[Dan Blair]

I presently have a Wisner tech. field, but am worried about its durability while backpacking and am considering an all metal field. Does anyone own or use the Toyo 45 AII/AX? Can a wide angle 90 be used without bag bellows or recessed len s board? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

[Stewart Ethier]

I've used both the Wisner Tech. and the Toyo 45AII. I'm sure you realize you'd be giving up long bellows extensions---no problem if you don't use lenses longer than 300mm. Also, the Toyo does not have an interchangeable bellows, and in pa rticular no bag bellows. As for a 90mm lens on the Toyo with a flat lensboard, it works fine but rise and fall are somewhat limited. In fact, the same can be said for a 65mm lens, but in that case I use a 13mm recessed board (though I bel ieve a flat lensboard would work OK). A big advantage of the Toyo is that it wi ll take up much less space in your backpack.