Difference in B & J 4x5 view cameras

[Steve Feldman]

I've had a 4x5 Burke & James wood view camera for a few years and have had a great, although humbling, experience with it. Even made a few good negs into a few good prints. Luck I suppose. Research into its origins led me to know that these cameras were actually a 5x7 body with a 4x5 reducing back.

Last year I found a 5x7 back for the old grey beastie. Added a few film holders to my kit and started to make 5x7 contact prints. Also humbling.

Recently I found yet another 4x5 B & J on Ebay. It looked, smelled, felt and tasted exactly like mine, but was in better cosmetic appearance. So, I bought it. The first thing I noticed when it arrived was that the back body frame was smaller than my older one. Although it was still indeed a 4x5 camera body, it would not accept the 5x7 back. I thought, erroneously, that all B & J wood view were 5x7 / 4x5 bodies.

Has anyone here made this discovery? Kinda like saying that all cows have four legs, but not all four legged animals are cows.

[Oren Grad]

My first exposure to B&J view cameras was many years ago, early in my LF experience, when I ordered a 5x7 B&J from a Midwest Photo Exchange ad in Shutterbug. Well, it turned out they had both a 4x5 and a 5x7 in stock, and someone grabbed the wrong one and shipped it to me. It wasn't even a 5x7 with reducing back, it was just a 4x5, smaller all around, so whoever packed it either didn't know anything about view cameras or must have been distracted. They were quite apologetic when I called, and promptly shipped the right one. So I learned right from the start that B&J view cameras come in "S" and "M"; it wasn't until later that I encountered them in "L" and "XL" sizes too... ;)

[Steve Feldman]

Oren,

Thanks for your experience. The mystery is solved. I've attached a digipix of the B&J "S" 4x5.

~Steve