a low budget view camera

[mccartney]

Hello!

I have exactly the same B&J camera! And I am missing the original film holder. Does anybody know if a regular Fidelity 4*5 holder will do the trick?

thanks and kudos for your acquisition!

Cesar Juarez-Vargas
Studio Six Photography

[MIke Sherck]

Fidelity holders will work fine; any standard film holder will work great.

[Jim Jones]

One problem I've been having is with the back attachment system. It uses a spring with a slot in it that receives pins in the back. Trying to get the pins in the new back to line up has been a pain. And to remove the back you have to pull the back away from the spring before you can lift it out of the clips on the bottom of the camera. It's been real hard to get it off. . . .

An original 5x7 back, a B&J dividing back, and three home-made backs all work fine on my B&J with the original spring retainers. Locating the pins in home-made backs does require care. However, the original system works too well to justify a change.

[John Cahill]

Is that a Zorki IV on back of your B and J?

[Jim Jones]

Is that a Zorki IV on back of your B and J?

No, one is the original B&J 5x7 back, one is a somewhat crude 4x5 adaption, I made one from particle board with a Graflok 4x5 back, and I made another from plywood with a T-Mount for 35mm cameras.

[Ernest Purdum]

To me, the B&J Commercial View would be an undesirable copy camera precisely because of its nearly full range of movements. For a copy camera, all the movements you might want would be a little rise, fall and shift to help center the image. All the swings and tilts are just opportunities for misalignment.

By the way, vertical copy cameras make outstanding macro cameras.