Shen-Hao TFC45-I = Ebony SW45 Clone?

[Christopher Condit]

I had never heard of this guy till I ran across it today on eBay. Its looks and specs are identical to the Ebony. Any user info would be appreciated; in parti cular, I wonder about build quality and squareness. And can the mondo 95mm-acro ss lenses be used conveniently.

A search of the web turned up nothing but www.shen-hao.com/11.htm, which appears to be no more than the specs (unfortunately I cannot read Chinese).

It so happens I will be in Shanghai this summer and am considering stopping by t he factory to maybe buy one. Like many others, I have lusted after an Ebony, bu t can't bring myself to pay the big bucks. If I can get a close copy on the che ap, I would make do without the cachet.

TIA, CXC

[Adam Gibbs]

Christopher I know absolutely nothing about either of these cameras other than what I have read in the review section of this site. I would be a little suspicious. I once bought a Leatherman tool look- alike tool from Home Depot for $8.00. The tool looked exactly the same as the real thing except for the much cheaper price. The first time I went to use the can opener the tool broke $8.00 down the drain. I then picked up a real Leatherman for about $60.00 and if you put the two tools together you would be hard pressed to see the difference. I can honestly say that after a few years of use the real Leatherman was well worth the money, hasn't failed me yet. My only beef is that I spent $68.00 instead of the $60.00 that I should have forked out in the beginning. I guess you get what you pay for and I would personally save my pennies and go for the real thing. Just my long winded opinion.

[Ed Candland]

hmmmm. I saw one of these on sell on e-bay about 4 weeks ago. It was sold as new and came with a case just like the one now (I wonder). IT went for about $300 Anyway I posted about it at the time and got no responses. There was a link included that had a shop in the US (I think) that sold them. But I no longer have the link. I know Badger sells the other models and most people seem to say Shen-Haos are a good deal for the money. But that's all I know.

[David Willis]

I think I've seen a picture of this one somewhere. I don't really know anything about it. But I sure like my HZX45IIA. Someone brought it back from Shanghai for me, and I got the camera, a lensboard, bag bellows, and case for $575. If you're going to be there, definately go by and check it out. You may want to try emailing in advance to find out more and make sure they will have a model around.

I agree that an $8 leatherman is probably false ecomony. But if the Shen Hao could be 75-85% of the Ebony at a fraction of the cost, it might be worth it.

DW

[paul owen]

It may be a copy of the SW45, but it ain't an Ebony!! I'm not being a camera snob - you only get what you pay for!!

[Lars Åke Vinberg]

Photos here:

http://www.shen-hao.com/11.htm

/?ke

[Ed Candland]

Paul Owen is a camera snob!

J/K Paul ;-)

[tedkaufman]

Here's a review of a Shen-Hao camera: (http://www.ai.sri.com/~luong/photography/lf/cameras/shenhao/shenhao.h tml).

The review is quite positive, as is nearly everything I've heard about the camera. I believe Kerry Thalmann also wrote a review, or at least an extensive post on this site, and his comments are always insightful and informative. Also, based on his review of the Toho, you might what to check that one out too.

[RICHARD ILOMAKI]

Hello all:

2 Years ago I bought a Seagull TLR- the 4 element 3 group model and it is GREAT. There was a small light leak but that was fixed in 5 min with some metal epoxy.

I made some 15x enlagements on T Max 400 and took them back to the store in Shanghai from which I bought the camera and they wouldn't beleive they were from their camera. They insisted I used a Hasselblad.

Same as with many Russian cameras: the lens is great and if you find one that works mechanically, you got a real bargain.

I too am heading for Shanghai in June and will ask a friend to scout out the factorey for me, as they seem to do everything they can to avoid customers.

The Chinese can make thngs that are as good as anyone else if they set their minds to it. The wines they make in a joint venture with some French companies are very very good. I have a Chinese 50 watt Class A Amplifier I am listening to at the moment with some Chinese speakers (The new Star Wars sound track out just today) and the sound is better than from my British Musical Fidelity amp and Rogers LS3/5a speakers back home.

They are probably copies but damn good ones and at 1/4 the price.

Chey Chin

Cheers

[Tony Galt]

I have a Shen Hao. It is my first LF camera. Out of curiosity I had a look at th e Ebony website and downloaded both their catalog and instruction sheets in the form of high resolution pdf files. I'd say that their SV cameras are closest to the Shen Hao HZX 4X5-IIA that I have. (In fact the Ebony instruction sheet looks like it would pretty much do for the Shen Hao, for which there appear to be no English language instruction sheets.) Obviously, the Ebony is made of better and more exotic materials--ebony and titanium. The Shen Hao is made of teak, steel and brass, with teflon bushings on the knobs. The Shen Hao has a fabric bellows as opposed to calfskin on the Ebony. It also has a sturdy plastic hand strap. In terms of movements, the design is similar, but the Shen Hao lacks the front shi ft of the Ebony. The Shen Hao does have front center tilt, but I would not use i t except in an emergency as it does not lock down as securely as one might want especially at extreme extensions with heavy lenses (my 210 Nikkor for instance). The Ebony's locking knobs look, from the catalog, much more secure. Front tilt is best achieved with base tilt on the Shen Hao. The Ebony has double focusing r ails--the Shen Hao has only the front rail. This means, of course, that the Shen Hao has limited bellows draw--enough for a 240-270 perhaps (I haven't graduated to lenses longer than 210 yet). The Shen Hao back is quite similar to the Ebony with both base and center tilt, ample shift and swing. One can tilt back on the center axis and then with the base tilt to gain about an inch of bellows draw w ith sufficient rigidity.

In terms of general construction I'd say the Shen Hao is sturdy and workmanlike, but not beautiful. The precision of the zero detants leaves something to be des ired and I find myself checking front and rear standard level frequently and mak ing sure that front and back are well-aligned horizontally as well. I carry a li ghtweight plastic torpedo level in my bag for this purpose. The Shen Hao has no built-in levels. I have this down to a system, and I've been having lots of fun shooting film and feel that this is a great learning camera, especially since it has more movements than the average wooden field camera anywhere near its price . I think that if I were moving up to a better field camera I would look very se riously at the Ebony SV because the movements would be quite similar.