Where did you get your LF camera from?

[Rick Moore]

I'm not sure any dealer would want to sell me another camera, since both the dealers from which I've bought LF cameras are now gone.

I bought my Tachihara 4x5 from a dealer named "Lee Beeder Cameras" in 1978. He was in the LA area and imported Tachihara and Ikeda cameras directly from Japan. He used to have an ad in the back of Modern Photography. The camera came with one page of information printed entirely in Japanese.

I bought my Canham 8x10 Traditional from "The F Stops Here" in 2000. This California store was run by Jon Simich. He moved to Illinois in 2001 or 2002, went out of business, and now (as of 2009) runs the St. Aubin Trains store in Woodstock, IL.



--
Rick

[rdenney]

If you know what you are buying, then you can buy from ebay or other private sale. If you don't know about the camera being offered, then you can't evaluate whether it will fulfill your requirements, and you'll need help or guidance from a seller.

Thus, I would suggest answering a few questions for yourself:

1. Will you photograph primarily people or things?

2. If things are your subject, do you have to approach them on foot any significant distance?

3. What size prints will you make?

4. Do you own (or have access to) and enjoy using a darkroom?

5. Do you prefer to make photographs in black and white, or color?

6. Back to the things. Are the things you will photograph buildings or interiors of buildings?

7. Are the things you will photograph much larger than the image projected on the film, or not?

8. What lenses do you typically use on your current camera? (Mostly wide or very wide, normal, or long?)

9. Do you enjoy meticulous technique, or do you care more about agility and timing?

10. How much space do you have in your transport?

11. Will you make pictures on Fujiroid? Will you want the ability to make pictures on roll film?

12. Did you fall in love with the big camera, the idea of using a big camera, or purely the image quality? (This one requires honest self-awareness.)

Answering these questions will make it much easier to know whether you need a press camera (such as a Speed or Crown Graphic), a light-weight and compact (when folded) field camera, a more flexible but heavier and bulkier view camera, a camera supported by interchangeable system parts, a unique antique, a camera with an International/Graflok back, and so on.

My first large-format camera was a Newton Nue-View. I had not answered those questions adequately, and was mesmerized by the price ($200, with lens, in about 1980--very cheap for a view camera in those days). I still have the lens, and it's worth about that same $200. But the camera is long gone, and good riddance. It did not provide any of the things I needed. To answer your question specifically, I bought it at a used camera store.

My second camera was a Calumet CC-400, which was heavy and suited only for normal and longer lenses. It did not have a Graflok back, so it would not accommodate other film types easily. I bought it at a used camera store, and used it quite a lot.

My third camera was a Calumet/Cambo 45NX, which gave me the Graflok back, bag bellows, and the ability to handle a 90mm lens pretty easily. It is also a system camera with considerably configuration flexibility. But it is big, bulky, and difficult to carry very far from a (good sized) car. I bought it at a camera store. All of these purchases were made before the Internet was known and long before such things as ebay. But I bought most of my needed accessories in those days from Midwest Photo, Del's (defunct), and a local used camera store. Nearly all the local camera stores are now defunct, but even 20 or 25 years ago a lot of stuff was sold by mailorder because large-format stuff was often not fully stocked locally.

My current camera is a Sinar F, which has all the flexibility and interchangeability of the Cambo (and more besides), and also has the ability to easily accommodate very short lenses (down to 47mm). I bought it at KEH in the last couple of years. I now buy most of my stuff from KEH, this forum, eBay, Badger Graphic Sales, and Midwest Photo, in order of dollars spent.

All of my main large-format cameras are view cameras, because even with plain landscape subjects, that's the style of camera I prefer.

Of the places that have been suggested, Midwest, Badger, and this forum can provide the most guidance, and ebay the least. Guidance is valuable, however, and worth paying for. Ebay sometimes gets a "guidance" price for "no guidance". Caveat emptor.

Rick "thinking 'where' to buy comes after decisions on 'why', 'what', and 'how much'" Denney

[IanMazursky]

Ive received most of my LF cameras from my grandfather. He owned a studio (Honey Photographers) on long island NY for 50+ years.
He retired about 10 years ago and ive been slowly restoring and using them.
From his collection he gave me, Korona 12x20, Korona 5x7, Kodak Panoram 4c (not working) and Crown Graphic 4x5.
He has a bunch more for me when i have time, 8x10 kodak, lots of MF and 35mm’s.
I bought a few MF cameras from ebay and a bunch of lenses from KEH. I highly recommend KEH for LF and MF lenses.
Their BGN rating is fantastic and if there is a problem, they will fix it.
I did get royally screwed on ebay when i bought a korona 8x10. It was supposed to be in great condition but it so far from it.
Dry rot, rack and pinion gears striped, missing or bent hardware, bellows full of holes….moral of the story, ask questions and make sure of a return policy.
Im thinking of using it for wet plate since it will never be good for film.

[Vaughn]

I bought my first LF (4x5) camera in San Diego, 1979 or 80 -- I think the shop was called Camera World. I saw an ad for a $525 new Raja, with a 210/6.3 Computar lens (Copol 1). It had a major light leak where the film back married to the back of the camera -- they fixed it for free (after I had used it for 3 months in New Zealand). Feeling guilty for ruining all those NZ shots, the owner sold me a floor model Gitzo Studex (300 series) for $100.

Bought a new ($220) Gowland PocketView, marketed by Calumet, in 1985 to replace the Raja (the Gowland was used for a repeat trip to NZ), along with a new Caltar IIN 150/5.6 for $235. Eventually the Raja (an exact copy of a Deardorf Special) was given a Deardorf 5x7 back and with the 210mm was my main camera until 1995.

That camera left me and in 1995 I bought my present Zone VI 8x10 and a FujiW 300/5.6 from Mid-West Photo. I also bought a Kodak View 5x7 recently from someone on this forum, as I like that format and want to play with it again.

I have few odds and ends (a wood Speed Graphic, for example) that have found their way to me one way or another.

[John T]

I bought my Tachihara 4x5 from a dealer named "Lee Beeder Cameras" in 1978

Rick, was it Lee Bender, not Beeder?

My first LF was also 1978. At the time I worked at Tarzana Camera. The owner Lois Lacy was the widow of Madison Lacy, a Hollywood studio photographer. I bought his Pacemaker Speed Graphic from her to start me on my way. Still have it.

[Brian Ellis]

"Camera" singular? Who's only bought one? I've owned about 14 in three different formats. I bought three from MidWest Photo Exchange (a better source IMHO than KEH if they have what you're looking for), one from a friend, another from an outfit called "Pacific Rim," another from a now thankfully defunct outfit called "The F Stops Here," one from Adorama, one from the Chamonix factory through Hugo Zhang, one from Igor's Used Cameras (or Igor's something, I forget the exact name he uses but I know Igor is in it), and three or four on ebay. I'm probably forgetting some. All of mine were bought used except for a Tachihara from Adorama, the Chamonix, and an Ebony from MidWest.

[Rick Moore]

I bought my Tachihara 4x5 from a dealer named "Lee Beeder Cameras" in 1978

Rick, was it Lee Bender, not Beeder?

I found the original reference:

Lee Beeder Cameras
1728 N. Vermont Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90027

There is an article about handmade wooden cameras, including Tachihara, Ikeda, and Nagaoka, in the May 1979 issue of Popular Mechanics:

http://books.google.com/books?id=d88...ameras&f=false

OP, please forgive me for hijacking your thread.


--
Rick