Guys,
Does anyone know "from personal experience" which inexpensive roll film backs will work on a Chamonix 4x5?
Ron
Guys,
Does anyone know "from personal experience" which inexpensive roll film backs will work on a Chamonix 4x5?
Ron
I use the DaYi back and it works fine. I think I paid ~$250 shipped for it.
It has masks for 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x9 & 6x12. Note that you will have to remove the ground glass between shots in order to attach the roll back.
Sometimes, around here, it feels as though the Chamonix cameras are a totally new type of equipment that has nothing to do with the last 100 years of photography. It's got a graflock type back and It'll accept anything like any other camera with that kind of back. Sorry there's just so many "what kind of quick release, what kind of tripod, what kind of lens board, what kind of lens for my chamonix" threads since these cameras surfaced.
Thanks Vinny. But I did NOT ask because Chamonix is so new, I asked because I am very new to LF (maybe 6 months) and have no local people to ask questions of. I thought to myself, "hey, why not post a question on the forum". So, Vinny, you let me know if this is not the place for someone new to ask questions, okay?Originally Posted by vinny
As Vinny said, all Graflock compatible backs work fine with the Chamonix 4x5. I only had a Chamonix for about 4-5 weeks, but in that time, I have used a Horseman 6x9 RFH on it without any problem.
I think Vinny was trying to say that the specs for the camera are readily available and that a quick search would disclose what accessories work with it.
I am absolutely delighted to help the newby's. In this day of potentially disappearing film we need to invite and help new people to the format.
Apparently many cannot remember what it was like to flounder around, searching for answers to a thousand questions we had when we started. And, of course many of us started before the information was so quickly available via the internet and these forums. Making allowances for the fact that I had to dig and dig for the information, I am not willing to take the stance that the new people must do the same digging I did years ago.
Your questions are invited, otherwise the information on these forums becomes stale and just "more of the same" within the tenured few.
There, I said it.
Now, on to the question. Yes, there are a multitude of backs that fit, as long as they specifically say they are Graflok capable. The reason you more than deserve an answer is because, as I recall, there was another back adaptor system that looked much like Graflok, called the International Back. Now I don't know if they are interchangable, but I think not. If not, it would be easy to look at a back for the International system and buy it, thinking it will fit on the Graflok system. I welcome any correction here, but this is more on the order of helping a new large formatter, than telling him/her to go do the research somewhere else.
It has been my experience in teaching classes in computers and photography, that for every one person willing to ask the questions, at least a half dozen other people get information they did not previously have. This should be all the more reason to assist people when they inquire on what to many of us is a "too simple question"
Welcome again, and hang in there... keep asking and I, for one, will keep answering.
BTW, it's not in the inexpensive range, but I have a friend who has an almost unused Horseman 6X12 roll film back that fits Graflok. It comes in the ballistic cloth case also like new... for $450. So, there is a wide range of price and quality out there. I recently sold a 4X5 Graflok based Graflex 6X9 with the extra pin rollers for film flatness for $95. Somebody snapped it up for the BIN price after it had been posted on eBay for two hours. eBay is a good source, if you are careful about feedback. No purchasing from sellers without a couple of hundred feedbacks and a positive rating of 99% or better. No exceptions. There is no reasonable excuse for positive feedback below 98% on 200 or more transations. Not when your sending your money via the internet.
I must also add here that the information on Chamonix is one of the most closely held secrets in LF photography. Until the web site went up very recently, I was truly disappointed in the amount of specific information available on the camera. Since the demand seems great and the manufacturing capacity is limited, finding information on Chamonix has been paltry not more than a few months ago, when I became interested.
Do you have any idea how confusing the whole graflock back thing is to people new to LF? It is quite frustrating, and there are not good, clear, diagrammed references on the internet explaining it clearly, or at least none that I ever came across while looking a couple of years back. Even when I bought my recent Crown Graphic, I didn't understand until I read the manual for the camera, and suddenly realized I could pop the glass and use graflock accessories on the calumut monorail I had owned for a few years (yes, I am embarrassed, but how would I have known? it isn't at all obvious until you have done it)
Oh, and don't forget..."What kind of darkcloth?"
Yeah, I'm a little tired of the hype too....this too shall pass. I remember when the Shen-Hao came out...it was the same way. Everybody had to get a Shen...and everybody had a million questions about the things because there was no manual....(or website). Now, the shen is passe and the Sham is the shit....funny. (yawn)
Ah yes, but not so quick to dismiss the Shen Hoa, since they just came out with a pretty close carbon copy of the Chamonix, which appears to be as light and less expensive. So gird yourshelf for a new run of Shen Hao questions.
But, we will all learn more from the answers to the questions posed by the neophytes.
I also submit that if one has the time and motivation to "diss" the new people for their questions, wouldn't it be more productive to spend that time with helpful answers. If you don't want to help, simply skip to the next thread. Much simpler and less stressful.
It's up to the moderators to tell us when we are wasting bandwidth uselessly.
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