90mm on Shen Hao TFC45-IIB?

[Noah B]

Hello everyone, I'm considering this camera and was wondering if any of you who own/have owned this camera ever used a 90mm on it? I've read where the older model needed the bag bellows to get full front rise/fall on this lens, but not sure about the current model. I think the max front rise on the camera is 45mm, and max lower is 25mm.

[dave_whatever]

I used a 90mm on mine all the time. Mine had normal pleated bellows, but the first few folds around the lens were unstiffened so you could get plenty of movement out of them. I never felt the need for bag bellows with it.

[Kuzano]

Not sure if the Shen Hao you are considering uses square lens board, or a Wista style (tapered corners and two notches on the bottom. But I used to use a Toyo 45AII that had a square lens board and could be mounted in any of four positions. I had one lens board drilled off center, so that I could manage additional rise, fall, and shift by how I mounted the lens off center to the front of the camera in the direction I needed the additional movement. I also had a fairly recessed lens board, but with the lens mounted in the center of a recessed board, arming the shutter and actuation of the shutter was fidgety. I did find a shutter release elbow that took care of that problem. It occurred to me that if I have mounted the lens off center in the recessed board, I could have had additional space for cocking the shutter on one side of the shutter/lens. I did have a Shen Hao for a while, but it was much too nice to take out shooting in the wild, so sold it. I'm much more comfortable with CRAPPO cameras that are functional and light tight.

I guess I got that from dating a beautiful lady who aspired to be a runway model. She would never let me get close to her, because of an inordinate fear that I would fondle certain parts of her body and cause them to grow or enlarge, thereby ruining the Svelte figure she felt necessary for runway fashion. It's an eery feeling when you are afraid to touch your camera because it's just too pretty. Bad memories. She supervised quite closely the few times we did get intimate. So... no Chamonix or Shen Hao in my gear bag.