Worst View Camera Ever?

[Chuck P.]

Am glad to notice that no one metioned any Horsemans as their worst camera, I have the 4x5 LE monorial and it's quite solid and functions very well in the field.

[al olson]

OMG, here's the penultimate LF camera fabricator!

Smiff

I don't follow the relevance of this being the next to last (penultimate) LF camera fabricator?

[EuGene Smith]

Golly, al, I figured that would be self explanitory. None of us can identify the very worst view camera of all, so by saying one is the penultimate, or next to last, camera maker when we are trying to identify the worst gave me the chance to identify what I consider the lousiest without my being so unreasonably bold as to attempt to preclude others from finding one even worse.

Yeah, it's a cop-out, as I basically identified the next to last, rendering my waffling position safe while the rest of the folks battled it out over which is the ultimate piece of junk that's even worse than those of the manufacturer that I identified.

When one has 2 pieces of garbage at the bottom of the landfill, their positions relative to each other aren't too important . . . are they?

Smiff

[tim o'brien]

I am also amazed the Michael would name the Kadillak of view cameras, but a lot of Deardorffs were beat to hell in catalog shops. A good 'dorf is a joy to use.

Personally, the worse I have ever used was/is my flatbed 5x7 B&J Watson. And it's not that bad, you can set it up and take photos with it, it's just not a Deardorff, a camera I fell in love with the first time I got under the dark cloth.

tim in san jose

[Nathan Smith]

>I am also amazed the Michael would name the Kadillak of view cameras, but a lot of Deardorffs were beat to hell in catalog shops. A good 'dorf is a joy to use.

Yep, from reading through this thread it does sound like a lot of the complaints are due to just plain worn-out cameras: loose, don't hold adjustment, etc. I guess some of these old beasts are just worn past the point of simple repair.

[Kuzano]

But I find it interesting that I have two Graphic Supers, A Badger M1, and a Calumet Cadet in the case, in my possession. I find them all workable.

In the meantime, my very nice Toyo Field 45 AII is currently listed on eBay for sale, closing Monday. I love the Toyo, but I am hankering for another piece of equipment and the Toyo hasn't been out of the original box as much as I would like.

[Michael Kadillak]

As we can tell by the wide diversity of comments, all view cameras can make photographs. The questions comes into play because of personal preferences liking or disliking certain features along the way. Images never convey their camera origination and that is a good thing. If everyone liked the same things in a LF camera there would likely only be very limited number of camera makers. Fortunately, we have realized a highly diverse offering of these products over the years and things are still vibrant.

Part of the issue I have with certain camera makers cameras in the used market (Deardorff in particular) is the fact that re-sellers try to use the brand name to sell heavily used cameras at inflated prices. I ran across this situation at least two times and eventually just gave up and purchased a Kodak Master 8x10 that was in near mint condition for 60% of what the beat up Deardorff was offered to me for. In the end it all worked out for the better.

[al olson]

Gosh, Smiff, I am a little thick. I was under the impression that this fabricator was one of a kind. Didn't understand your intent to have him standing in line second from the end.

Back to the flow of the thread I would nominate my 8x10 Arkay Orbit, step brother to the Calumet C-1 and the B&J Orbit. Mine is a black, late model built in 1978. It has all the aggravations mentioned above, but with the Wollensak 15" tele it makes great negatives and I still love it.

Never far from the SUV it gets a lot of attention when I am setting up. Most folks in these parts have never gone up in one.

[Glenn Thoreson]

You guys got it all wrong. The absolute all time worst was some of my home made contraptions I built years ago. Nothing could come close. They took pictures, though, and that's all that counts. Over the years, I have graduated to making genuinely mediocre cameras. A quantum leap forward. They look better, they're easier to use, but they still take the same kind of pictures. Go figure. I think I'll just stick to my Speed Graphics, though.

[EuGene Smith]

Al, had I not provided some space in the queue blow the maker of vacuum cleaner cameras, we might never have had the joy of seeing the Boy of Blue cameras (?) that Evan brought to our attention. Glad I left some wiggle room for Evan to squeeze in, as I could never hope to defend my candidate against his.

Now, along comes Glenn with his choice for the worst . . . when the MAKER nominates his product as the worst, I have been skunked, and need to slink back into my hole and keep a low profile.

Smiff