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Stephen.garza
19-Aug-2019, 20:12
194521194522194523194524Hello all, this is my first post! I just picked up a camera that I believe is a Wista Field 45 for a good price, but there are no name plates. So after a few days of research I think it is a field 45 based on a few small differences from a Tachihara or early zone vi. This is my first 4x5 aside from an intrepid so researching the history has been cool! But I want to know more and specifically my camera has only one marking: a D stamped into the top of the base plate and nothing else. It is visible once you move the focusing rail forward.
Any info on this or the camera overall is greatly appreciated!

Stephen.garza
19-Aug-2019, 20:18
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Stephen.garza
19-Aug-2019, 20:21
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The plate attaching the focusing knob on mine has 1 screw on the top like the pictured field 45 and the above zone vi has 2 on top.

Pieter
19-Aug-2019, 20:40
My Wista 45DX has brass hardware, slightly different in shape.
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Mark Sampson
19-Aug-2019, 21:30
Yours looks quite similar, if not identical, to the Tachihara I bought new in 1982. Mine had a sliding back feature; two knobs and slots on the base to move the rear standard forward.
The only ID on that camera was a metal sticker on the spring back calling it a "Hope Tachihara".
A fine featherweight camera- best of luck with yours, what ever brand it may be!

Maris Rusis
20-Aug-2019, 18:08
It's a Tachihara to its bootlaces. The back springs design and the eccentric toggles to lock the front are Tachihara exclusives as far as I know. This camera was probably made after Michio Tachihara succeeded his father Masao and set up Professional Camera Works Ltd. This new business entity made Tachihara cameras but delivered them as unbranded "clean-skins" for anyone who wanted a private label (or no label) 4x5 wooden field camera.

Steven Tribe
21-Aug-2019, 06:53
Yes, the later Tachihara series. I think they all have serial numbers (year/no. that year) on the underside of one the base transverse sections. See earlier thread on Tachihara!
https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?101208-Tachihara-history/page5&highlight=tachihara