I know this question has been asked periodically, BUT please bear with me.
I'm looking to upgrade from my somewhat clunky Wista 8x10 to a Wisner or Canham, Ebony, Lotus, Phillips, AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!
It would be a great help if you all could enumerate the best AND worst aspects o f your respective cameras.
I shoot outdoors, with lenses ranging from 121 Super Angulon to 450 Nikkor M. Stability (rigidity), smoothness of use of metal parts paramount.
Many thanks,
Bill
Bill, I don't have a personal experience with 8x10 (yet) but I've been shooting for years with a Wista SP 4x5, which is a metal field camera. Having had several wood 4x5's before that, I can say for sure that i'll NEVER go back to wood. My experience with wood field cameras is that there's not a 90-degree angle anywhere on them, especially with the rails racked out. My Wista, apart from being bombproof, is totally rigid and square. I'm considering getting an 8x10, and have been looking at the Toyo. It's expensive, and not as pretty as all the wood ones, but if you're after a solid rigid camera you might want to consider that.
~chris jordan (Seattle)
www.chrisjordanphoto.com
Bill, I use a Toyo 810MII field. I have not experienced all of the other field cameras, but my guess is, the Toyo is the ultimate tank. Very solid, very precise. Drawbacks are, very clumsy, no easy way to hold it, only geared focus, very heavy at 15 lbs with nothing on it, not backback friendly at all. If backpacking this camera great distances is your goal, I would strongly not reccomend the Toyo, but if you are shooting close to the car, or use a cart to haul the camera to the scene, then its a solid camera. I am quite surprised at the low weight of some of the new 810's, but I suspect you pay in rigidity. There is no free lunch at this format size, unless someone makes a titanium one. From what I have read on this list, Ebony users claim excellent stability with moderate weight.....
Ditto with Chris. Go metal all the way. I purchased a Kodak Master 8x10 when I first got into 8x10 and love it. Its advantages - precise focus on brass geared tracks, it is compact and as light as the wooden cameras and it is very rigid when racked out. The disadvantages are the cameras are always in short supply as are the lensboards. Midwest overcame the lensboard issue with re-manufactured milled boards that quite honestly are better than the original pressed metal ones. The original bellows can easily leak a bit along the edge folds, but what can you expect for a camera that is around 40-45 years old. They can be easily replaced. The Toyo is a modern version of this camera. If you can find one, jump on it. I recently acquired another that was much more heavily used on the outside than my first one and I am in the process of re-furbishing it to original. Last night I completely disassembled the camera in about 40 minutes for a brass polish and cleaning before I re-paint it the original color and install a new bellows and ground glass. The simplicity of its design and the ease of operation is a pleasure. Locks down tight as well. The center rail in cross section looks like a similar interlocking design to my Linhof Technikardan rail. I shoot a 120mm SW to the Fuji 450 C. I think that the other names you mentioned - Canham, Lotus, Ebony and Phillips are great cameras as well, but I have no experience with them. When I looked at these names for my first 8x10 I about fell over at the price new. I got my first Master used for a price far less than these other names entry level 4x5. Maybe someone else will chime in with their thoughts.
I can't claim a lot of experience with my 810MII, I just got it, but I knew when I took it out of the box, it was going to be with me for life, and unless I go crazy like Micheal Kadillak says, I'm keeping it.
A beautiful, elegant, well crafted tank, there's no give, no 'slop' anywhere, machining with bevels and curves and attention to detail. Dave Anton 'hipped' me to this camera, and I'm glad he did.
I have one humungous lens that takes a 95mm filter, and the first time I put it on the Toyo, no give, nothing, it's like the Toyo said, 'so it's a big fatass lens, so what?'.
Heavy, but I don't care.
And don't forget the Gandolfi Variant 8x10, recenlty discussed on here...
tim
You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn
www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog
Jonathan - The sanity comment was in jest and not personal. I am sure that you will have a long standing relationship with your new 8x10 camera and lenses. My problem with this format is a good thing. I started near the road shooting in a nearly experimental mode to the point where I have found 8x10 so damn appealing that I think that I am still a strapping 20 year old college student with stamina to burn. Concurrently I have visions of being able to utilize it in the middle of a remote Colorado or Montana Wilderness only to be brought back to the reality of where a few less pounds of pack weight can mean a big difference to the person (me) doing the packing. Seriously, the balance between stability, weight and functionality is a difficult subject to come to grips with. And then I read about W.H. Jackson in the late 1860's packing a 12x20 and glass plates on his back into the Tetons and the difficulties he overcame for the results that started the process of creating the National Park system as we know if today. Kinda makes you appreciate the dedication of the early Western photographers to the mission at hand.
Loosen up Michael, I know you were joking, of course now my wife was reading your post while I was reading it and she said 'see, see, I told you, even they know'.
I to am looking, and the Ebony SW810 looks very nice although out of my price range. Check www.robertwhite.co.uk or www.badgergraphic.com
Isn't the bellows on the Gandolfi a bit short (if I read the specs right)?
Thanks to all,
Bill
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