4x5 Arca Swiss Basic A

[Ed Richards]

I am trying to get some technical info on this camera. In particular, what is the minimum bellows extension with a flat board, and the maximum extension. Any other info is welcome.

[Joakim Ahnfelt]

Hi Ed
Minimum extesion with standard bellows app. 105 mm from gg to lensboard, no movements possible. More or less the same with the bag bellows due to construction. I can't focus my 90 mm Angulon with out a recessed lens board.
Maximum extension. with standard bellows is app 400 mm with the standard rail.
Maximum extension with bag bellows with room for movements is app. 250mm. So if you are shooting landscape and not aiming for close ups you would be allright with the bag bellows.
I assume you are considering bying one. FWIW I think it's a nice camera, I have used mine for 20 years. For 15 of those I only had a 150 mm lens...
It has a lot of movement. The bellows is a bit stiff. I think that's the only thing I might have a problem with.
You might consider an adapter so you could use linhof/Wista lens boards. The are more plentiful and cheaper than Arcas own. Buy one if you rich or make one yourself, it's not that difficult.
Check out
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52539789@N00/
if you like. It's all taken with my model A and the 150 mm lens.

Cheers
Joakim

[Ed Richards]

Great photos - does the camera have a levitation mode?:-)

Thanks for the info! I am trying to get away from recessed lens boards, and I use a 65 on occasion, which would need a really deep board.

[Frank Petronio]

If you find an old bellows you can have Precision Camera Works or other places make a new bellows with the correct frames. Several people have had custom bellows made for their various home-brewed ULF and oddball combo Arcas. Remember the older series and the F use different frames.

I've had both the old and new series and the 90/4.5 I had was just fine with the regular bellows. But their leather bag bellows is quite lovely and smells great! So I liked to keep it on the camera. But yeah, for a 65 you'd need a bag. The newer lensboards have a shallow recess -- the older ones are about an inch deep -- but large enough (171mm x 171mm) that you can still get at the shutter w/o heroics.