There were 80 or so made, and it seems there are about 2 sold every year. Far too many of them have never been used.
There were 80 or so made, and it seems there are about 2 sold every year. Far too many of them have never been used.
I still like the classic gear better, I am always amazed that a beautifully engineered and machined Sinar or Linhof will go for a fraction of the price of some of these crazy Asian woodworker's mastubatory pieces... ;-)
Lotus.......mmmmmmmmmm.........
I love wooden camera's.
The thing with the Infinity is: how long will it last ?
Wood can be treated and preserved, alu is no problem either, but carbon.....
It is not so much the carbon itself but the resin that ages and how to stop that ???
Not that I like the looks of it: too flashy.
Peter
Ditto. I picked up a V-8 with 8x10 and 4x5 backs, 191 WF Ektar, 300 Commercial Ektar, splitter rails. some odds and ends, the box.. for $1525 and thought I was getting a good deal.Originally Posted by walter23
Wait, Idid get a good deal.
But 900 bucks? Damn.
tim in san jose
My five cents;
I owned a Technika V. Superb machinery, probably the best. Too heavy. Not "cosy" enough. Not elegant. The sturdiest field camera i owned, excellent!
Sinar P: heavy heavy, but precise. Too bulky for me.
Chamonix: I never owned one, but I touched one here in France. Excellent craftmanship, very sturdy, probably the best price/value ratio. I would by one new... if I did not have my
Ebony RW 45. Ok, it's the poor man's Ebony, but I LOVE this camera. It's a big piece of emotion. Nothing is perfect (If you want that, go for Sinar or Linhof), but the mix of wood, beautiful bellow, polished Titanium AND, most importantly, EXTREMELY straightforward movements make it my camera. This is the one I keep. I can focus my 55 Apo-Grandagon, up to 300mm Fujinon C. Unfortunately, I miss 50mm of bellow extension to use my 450 Fujinon C at infinity....well, I could buy an extension tube. AND: I opted for the mahogany version, the ebony version was too heavy (500g more).
Torsten
Torsten,
I agree. The Ebony RW 45 is a very good camera.
Sold, for EUR 1997. A good price for the ultimate 4x5" camera, if you ask me.
Steve, I can echo your excellent points. In 20+ years I've gone from Crown-G to Wisner to Canham to Ebony. (It's sort of like changing wives - but not.) The Wisner is a superb camera, but I had to carry and switch between bag and regular bellows too often; if you don't need to use both wide and tele, it's a great choice. I got a Canham for for its bellows, and ended up wishing that the Canham bellows were available for the Wisner. Those weird knobs on the Canham do work loose, no matter how well they were cinched down the last time, and that occasionally ruins shots. I sometimes shoot in marginal conditions with 20+ mph wind and the Canham doesn't begin to remain steady enough for my needs. The Ebony is rock solid (like the Wisner) and accommodates my range of lenses from 75-450 with its universal bellows. The triple-knob focus design of the bed quickly becomes one of those details that one learns and then uses without thinking. I've had the SV45U for a couple of years now and have to admit that the asymmetrical tilt feature is pretty nice, even seductive. Maybe the equivalent for LF photographers of having a TV remote and easy chair ...
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