Arca swiss 69 vs. Linhof 69 vs. Fuji 680

[chin-fan so]

Hi guys,

I am looking for a tilt & shift capable medium format for Landscape as a hobby ( may accumulate stock) and to replace my Mamiya 7 and 4x5 Toyo with Schneiders. T he reason being Mamiya 7 have no tilt and I do quite some a bit of those from t he 1 foot to infinity in focus kind of photos. And setting up 4x5 is too slow, a lways end up the interesting light being gone.

My questions is anyone know the web site of Arca Swiss and Linhof so that I can find more information about them? Will these 2 camera end up as slow as my 4x5 T oyo?

And any other medium format suggestions? I don't like Flexbody and SL66 though.

Thank you in advance. Chin.

[Daniel Taylor]

for tilt movements, very limited shift, fast setup, and integration into an entire system, the Hasselblad Flexbody is perfect. what slows me down with 4x5, is setup time, loupe focusing, dark cloth, film holders, metering, weight, bulk, dust ....

of course, these are all the things we love about Large Format, but you are clearly looking for convenience. Landscape requirements are few, and your '1 foot to infinity in focus kind of photos' are a walk down Flexbody avenue.

[Bob Salomon]

We can mail you the brochures on Linhof if you are in the US.

[Daniel Taylor]

or is that a walk through Flexbody park? HP marketing has been real responsive about sending Linhof literature, and a call to Arca Swiss in Chicago (I think) yielded a nice package of information. other than that, reap the rewards of a google.com search.

[giancatarina]

http://www.thefstop.com/menu.html the best link for arca stuff !

[Micah Marty]

I looked for a long time for a MF system with movements that would be faster to use than LF. I eventually figured out that it was the movements themselves that take time (tilt/swing does, anyway; shift is quick, even handholdable with some MF systems). Using tilts with a 6x9 or 6x6 system will be no faster than with a 4x5 or 8x10 system; if anything, the tilt effect can be harder to see during focusing with smaller formats (particularly with SLRs like the GX680, in my experience). The main advantages of MF cameras with movements don't involve speed of use but rather lower film costs per shot and (sometimes) compactness (you didn't say cost was a factor but MF systems with movements generally cost more than comparable LF outfits).

Yes, some camera systems with movements have brighter ground glasses, fresnels, faster lenses, better viewers (e.g. binocular viewers), and more convenient controls than other cameras do, but the biggest single determinant of how long it takes to set up a shot is probably whether you want to use movements (especially tilt and swing), not what format you're shooting.

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[Ellis Vener]

The Fuji 680 III might be a bit faster as it is an SLR camera. Mamiya makes two lenses designed for use with their tilt / shift adapter for the RZ67 camera.

With the Arca and Linhof cameras be as slow as your 4x5 Toyo? possibly slower I think; you'll have a full set of back movement possibitielies to contend with.

[robert lyons]

ok well all viewcameras are definitely slower than a MF rangefinder however with the Tk23 or Arca you can use a binocular or monocular reflex viewer which greatly enhances speed. i recently swithed to a Tk23 with a finder and can get the image set and focused and shot from 20-30 seconds,if the camera is already on the tripod. i think the advantage to the mf viewcamera is rollfilm and the myriad of choices as opposed to 4x5 sheet

[chin-fan so]

Can u tell me how can a binocular enhance the speed of focus? Does it help speeding up tilt and focus as well?

[Ellis Vener]

you need to work on your technique. Practice practice, practice, even if you are just in your house, practice. Maybe what you really want is a Sinar X with the built-in tilt swing calculator.