calumet horseman

[Penn Young]

I want to move up in LF photography from my Crown Graphic to a monorail view camera. In looking at used cameras I've been offered something that was described as a Calument Horseman. Is this mechanically the same as a "real" Horseman? It also seems to be a bit cheaper than other Horsemans I've seen on line, which the salesman attibuted to the Calumet connection. Does that make sense and is it something to worry about down the line? Thanks very much.

Penn Young

[Jim Galli]

My 1978-79 Calumet Catalog has a full line of Horseman including all of their unusual lenses. I'd have to check but I think it's all 6X9. I can check later at home. Just because Calumet sells something certainly does not diminish it's attributes or quality as far as I'm concerned. LF might have suffered the final death knell if it hadn't been for Calumet back in the 1965 to 1975 era.

[Ted Harris]

Calumet still sells the full line of Horseman equipment. AFAIK it has never been labeled Calumet/Horseman and their prices are exactly the same as everyone else's for this gear. Does it actually say Calumet on the gear or Horseman?



Best bet, check with Calumet by phone they are very good about identifying older gear that they have sold.

[Jerry Flynn]

This is just from memory, so I can't give specifics, but it seems to me that Calumet was the only source for Horseman at one time. Back in the 70's when Calument was still making the gray 4X5 and the green 8X10 metal view cameras, their technical camera offering was the Horseman. A bit later ('76 or '77), they offered the Horseman view camera at a price lower than other high-quality monorails.

Perhaps the camera is from this period.

[Tracy Storer]

Calumet/Cambo made and sold an "L" frame camera called the "Master" which was very similar to the Horseman "L" frame camera. Maybe this is what's meant.