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Thread: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

  1. #21

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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    Sorry to be this guy, but this is a worm drive. What you have there is a lead screw.

    Ok, I feel better now. Great looking camera, btw! :-}

  2. #22

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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    Quote Originally Posted by Colin Graham View Post
    Sorry to be this guy, but this is a worm drive. What you have there is a lead screw.

    Ok, I feel better now. Great looking camera, btw! :-}
    Thanks colin! That is one beautiful invention. I didn't realize that worm gears have a slant to the thread that makes the screw easy to turn but the wheel can't turn the screw easily. Also I learned that this is what is used to tune the strings of a double base.

    Asher

  3. #23

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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    How about a few photos with the bellows extended?

  4. #24

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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    the 8x10 is about $2600 last time I asked. Given the exceptional quality of the 4x5, I was very tempted to get a 8x10 too and replace the Tachihara, but $2.6k is about $1k too much. Hopefully they will start making 'batches' like they do for the 4x5, bringing the prices down...

  5. #25

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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    Quote Originally Posted by Gordon Moat View Post
    I guess the surprising thing is why someone would buy a knock-off of what is already a very low priced 4x5.
    a) For the same reason why someone would buy a cheap 4x5 to begin with - because it is cheaper.

    b) For the same reason why someone would buy a used 4x5 camera, especially a wooden one - because it is cheaper.

    c) After so many discussions on this board about finding cheaper cameras, lenses and films, buying a cheap knockoff of a cheap camera would seem to be quite in keeping with the general propensity of this forum's membership, wouldn't it?



    Now seriously, not all of us are professional photographers and we can't capitalize the equipment nor can we expense the materials. Anything we buy is out of pocket cost. So it is only natural that we would be careful about every purchase. When you browse your local photo swap meet and see a brand new knockoff that looks exactly like the original down to (almost) every detail but which costs a quarter of a grand less, wouldn't you get curious too?

    And here is an additional reason: Especially if you never had a wooden field camera and are wondering if such a concept is a good match for you or not in the first place.

    Like Asher said, this camera was beautiful in its own way and it answered a lot of questions for me and raised several completely new ones during those few months I've had it. This includes the materials, quality level AND the format itself. All in all, it played a very successful educational role for very little money which I was able to easily recover in full when I sold it. Thanks to this experience, next time I decide to buy a field camera, it may even be a different format altogether.

    To conclude, my comment was just an aside, so let's not derail this thread any further and let's return the focus to Asher's beautiful acquisition. If anybody's interested in discussing the merits of cheap cameras and even cheaper knockoffs, it's easy to start a new thread.

    Marko

  6. #26

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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    Quote Originally Posted by davidb View Post
    How about a few photos with the bellows extended?
    Of course, David!

    First here's the detail of the front standard and behind on each sides there's the slot in the Black Walnut that allows the bellows to extend. This gives about 15 degrees of rear swing too when used asymmetrically. Notice the front standard is set in the 2cd threaded hole in the machined base. This is a simple procedure and allows the lens to be progressively set back,as you wish. The wing nut is also undone to put the camera away and then the front standard is inverted (without the lens) to lie on the base. The camera is then folded shut.



    Now to your request, the camera fully extended:



    The Specifications for bellows total draw 680mm
    Measured fully extended 673mm
    Specifications for minimum extension 95mm
    Measured minimum mm

    The missing 7mm extension is accounted for perhaps in where one measures. I did my best to measure from the back of the lensboard to the front of the ground glass.

    I have yet to mount a heavy lens, but the Chamonix 8x10, so far, appears close to being true at full extension and pretty sturdy. I used a large spirit level andf tested ther camera base and back for it being orthogonal. (The with the front standard in the second peg hole and the rear focus knob in its default fully retracted position.)



    The tiny ~ 12mm level bubbles are reasonably accurate but not perfect. Using a large spirit level, when the camera is not fully extended, the camera is perfectly true. That is, when the front base is absolutely horizontal, the back is perfectly at 90 degrees.

    At this point, of course, the camera would like the Ries 200 tripod coming from Scott and I'd add a hanging weight. Although for studio work, this Manfrotto might do fine.

    Asher
    Last edited by Asher Kelman; 23-Jan-2008 at 14:49.

  7. #27
    LF/ULF Carbon Printer Jim Fitzgerald's Avatar
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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    Asher, she sure is nice1 Congrats!


    Jim

  8. #28

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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Fitzgerald View Post
    Asher, she sure is nice1 Congrats!

    Jim
    Not hand built by me, but I'm still thrilled!

    Asher

  9. #29

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    Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    Have you tried the 4x5-back with a Polaroid 545 holder yet? I looks like it won`t be usable with it.
    Amund
    _________________________________________
    Digital is nice but film is like having sex with light.

  10. #30

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    Cool Re: A Cardboard Box Arrived from China! Chamonix 8x10!

    Quote Originally Posted by Amund BLix Aaeng View Post
    Have you tried the 4x5-back with a Polaroid 545 holder yet? I looks like it won`t be usable with it.
    Oops! For some reason there may be two threads. So please post here

    Asher

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