koh303
7-Jun-2014, 09:22
Every now and again one is confronted by the fact, that even though Italians invented electricity, in the sense that everything made in Italy must have a bucket of electricity waiting next to it in case you ever need to fill it back when it runs our of electricity, you find something amazing, that is not only amazingly pretty, but also usable, practical and well made.
I just got this Fatif 40 4X5 monorail camera because i was curious about it more then anything, and it ended up being a wondrous thing.
There are geared movements where you would not expect them, and while this camera has had the life beaten out of it by the previous used (a commercial studio) and it shows it, everything is super smooth, and precise. I doubt if this was ever lubricated, but the metal is so nice and the tolerances so close that everything works as good as the best linhof you might have ever seen.
I think the main difference that sets this apart from any other camera i have used, is that nothing is done with force here. All the latches, locking nuts and gears are extremely soft and require only a light touch to move, yet are very dampened so they do not move on their own. It is also surprisingly light for a monorail (under 6KG) when you consider the massive gauge of metal used, and the gears, pretty much everywhere.
Lensboards, are made of some type of thin tin like material, making them super light as well.
Add all this to the fact this thing looks like a Lamborghini Miura and you have a winner at every turn.
I just got this Fatif 40 4X5 monorail camera because i was curious about it more then anything, and it ended up being a wondrous thing.
There are geared movements where you would not expect them, and while this camera has had the life beaten out of it by the previous used (a commercial studio) and it shows it, everything is super smooth, and precise. I doubt if this was ever lubricated, but the metal is so nice and the tolerances so close that everything works as good as the best linhof you might have ever seen.
I think the main difference that sets this apart from any other camera i have used, is that nothing is done with force here. All the latches, locking nuts and gears are extremely soft and require only a light touch to move, yet are very dampened so they do not move on their own. It is also surprisingly light for a monorail (under 6KG) when you consider the massive gauge of metal used, and the gears, pretty much everywhere.
Lensboards, are made of some type of thin tin like material, making them super light as well.
Add all this to the fact this thing looks like a Lamborghini Miura and you have a winner at every turn.