8x10 field work

[Bartolomeo]

Hi

I'd love some practical suggestions on what field camera to purchase for 8x10 field work. I've been using a SINAR P2, (Mostly for portraits) Being geared it's just too heavy to lug around. How can I keep using the same lens in their boards though. Any ideas? (I think Phllipps is a horseman/sinar mount. Is Deardorff too?) I'd love to get something light and compact. Thanks is advance.

[Dave Langendonk]

The Tachihara uses the Sinar/Horseman lens boards. I have a Sinar F1 8x10 that I sometimes take on trips. It's a beast to carry very far from the car so I've been considering the Tachihara.

[Robert Skeoch]

The Canham 8x10 uses the sinar boards, while the 5x7/4x5 uses the smaller board. They're a great looking camera with a lot of movements.

-Rob Skeoch
www.bigcameraworkshops.com

[Steve Hamley]

Ebony also use a Sinar board.

You could probably have an adapter made if the camera uses larger boards.

Steve

[Oren Grad]

The Canham 8x10 uses the sinar boards

Keith Canham is now building his big cameras to accept Sinar/Horseman boards. Until recently, though, he built to the Toyo standard, which is important to know if you're looking to buy a used camera.

There is an adapter board offered by Toyo to allow fitting lenses on Sinar/Horseman boards to cameras that take the large Toyo boards. But it would be a good idea to check with Keith before making a purchase, to make sure this adapter will fit his cameras properly.

[Ralph Barker]

I also use a Tachihara 8x10 in the field. I picked the double-extension model to save weight and expense. I'm not sure of the match between it and the Sinar P2 board-wise, however. The Tachi uses conventionally-shaped boards of about 138mm square. It has ample tilts, but limited swings - typically fine for field work other than architecture. It has good build quality, particularly for the price. There are certainly more capable cameras, and ones that weigh less, but the price goes up rapidly from there. So, a lot depends on your budget. MPEX and Badger Graphics carry them.

[Eric Woodbury]

Ebony makes a beauty. I've ordered one in 4x5, but not received it yet. I did notice last week that there is a used Ebony 8x10 at Camera West in Monterey.

[Oren Grad]

I *think* that the Tachihara/Wista 8x10 accepts Sinar/Horseman boards, but the proprietary wooden and synthetic boards sold for these cameras by Tachihara and by Wista - including the Technika adapter boards from both vendors - are not backward compatible with all Sinar-type cameras. At least they won't fit on my Phillips - I've tried them both. The problem is the extra layer, typical of wooden boards, that makes the central section of the board too thick.

Best to check with the vendor to make sure any particular combination you have in mind will be OK, and, if possible, buy with a money-back guarantee.

[darter]

Buy a Calumet C-1 and save thousand's of dollars that you can put into lenses and consumables. If you get an earlier magnesium version the weight is only 14 lbs. Calumet C-1's are robust and capable field cameras.

[Brian Ellis]

The lightest, inexpensive (by large format standards), excellent 8x10 camera that I know of is the Wehman. It isn't a thing of beauty but it only weighs about 8 lbs and cost a little under $2,000 the last time I checked. I've never owned one but I spent a lot of time contemplating a purchase, including some phone conversations with Bruce Wehman who was very nice and very helpful which made me think that if service was needed it wouldn't be a problem. I ultimately decided against a purchase of it only because it's not a well known brand and I was concerned about being able to sell it if I abandonded 8x10. However, it looked to me like an excellent camera and the few reports I've read from owners were glowing.

[Juergen Sattler]

I own a Wehman 8x10 and Brian is absolutely right - it is not the prettiest camera out there, but it is absolutely perfect for field work. It weighs in at 8 pounds, has a clamshell design and is indestructable. You never have to worry about breaking this camera. It has ample movements and Bruce is one of the nicest guys around. Take a look at his website and see for yourself - I highly recommend this camera.
The other option is the Canham 8x10. The big advantage of the Canham is that it is expandable. If one of these days you decide to jump up to an even bigger format, the Canham will accomodate it. Keith Canham offers some of the finest backs. His service is excellent (I own his 4x5 field camera version) and he is always available to discuss your needs. It is more expensive than the Wehman and is not as well protected when folded up, but it certainly is the prettier camera.

[John Kasaian]

Deardorff V8 uses a 6"x6" board. Most used boards with radiused corners, some older ones used square corners. I don't know if there is a "converter" for putting sinar boards on a 'dorff---the sinar board would probably have to be less than 6"x6" to work in one (if there is one!)

[lee\c]

that sinar/horseman board is 140mx 140mm which is a little less than 6 inches square.

leec

[Bartolomeo]

Hi

Thanks for such a great response everyone. I didn't realise there were so many options and choices. I'm gravitiating towards the Canham (It reminds me alot of the only 8x10 field camera I've ever actually seen, an older Phillips 8x10), I'd like to explore the option on expandability within the system. Has anyone shot portraiture with the Canham 8x10. (Does the back rotate into a portrait format easily?) I typically shoot on a 360mm, and with a 914mm of bellows extension it seems to have enough to shoot a 3/4 portrait easily. (Does it fold down and open easily?)

[Walt Calahan]

Bart

I own the Canham Lightweight 8x10 field camera. I too have a 360 mm which the camera's bellows handles very well. You've got plenty of bellows with the Canham.

The camera folds together and opens very easily.

The only problem I have with the camera, and it is because I have big hands, is dealing with some of the levers and such under the rear standard when the camera is first opened. Keith has designed all these levers to fit nicely and tightly out of the way for packing, so when I first set the camera up, my fingers find it a little hard to pull everything out into their locked position. Once out into the working position, there is no difficulty using them. A person with smaller finger probably doesn't have my problem.

Now to the rotating back. The camera does not have a mechanical rotating back that lets one set the back at any angle. There are only two positions, landscape or portrait. Changing from one to the other is very easy. One lever on top of the rear standard lock and unlocks the ground glass/film holder to switch positions. Works cleanly and securely, with no effort.

Hope that's helpful.

[CXC]

Many of us who use more than one camera have standardized on the ubiquitous and relatively small Technika-sized lensboards. I have a Sinar-to Technika converter board, readily available at various stores, that I leave on the Sinar, and a Wehman-to-Sinar converter board that I had custom made out of one of the Wehman boards that comes with the camera. Bromwellmarketing.com, and I'm sure others, specialize in making such boards. And my (4x5) Walker and Gowland are both built to take Technika boards. Any future camera I might buy, the restriction that it accept boards at least as large as a Technika is really almost no restriction at all. The only reasonably modern camera I have handled that took smaller boards (and thus which can't use a converter-to-Technika board) was my old Gowland superduperlight, and I ended up trading up to a Technika-size model specifically to achieve board standardization.

Not all, but a few people, including me, find that Technika boards become awkward with lenses in big, Copal#3 shutters. Nothing is rendered impossible, but it can make for a crowded setup that is a pain to use. Mind you this is only with cameras designed small, taking the board directly; a Sinar is fine. But I struggle with my G-Claron 355 on the Walker, for instance.

[CXC]

Oh, and if you search for "Wehman" on this site you will find various positive comments by yours truly, and others. The only shortcoming that I have found is that the bellows is insufficiently flexible for full rise on shorter lenses, such as a 159mm. Not a problem for general landscape use, only a shortcoming in the city. And it is made up for by the fact that it extends to focus a 600mm in to 15 feet.