Another Chamonix Question

[Brian Ellis]

Obviously I was over-confident that I could figure this camera out without an instruction sheet since I've owned about 8 LF cameras in the past. My confidence clearly was misplaced and I should have paid more attention to what I was doing when I opened it and set it up for the first time.

Having learned how to operate it just fine, I now can't seem to close it properly. I can get it to a position from which it should close but the back remains at about a 5 degree angle to the base because the bellows isn't fully compressed. By pushing down on the back down fairly hard with my hand I can get it parallel with the base (i.e. forcing the bellows to fully compress) but it doesn't stay in that position once I stop pushing down on the back (i.e. it pops back up to the same 5 degree angle or so) since there's no latch on the front or other obvious way (to me at least) of keeping the camera closed. So, if anyone could help with this I'd appreciate it.

Also, what do the two little wheels on top of the back, above the ground glass, do?

Thanks.

[roteague]

Brian,

You need to drop the front standard to its lowest point in order to close the camera. You should not have to force it.

I had the same question about the wheels, and was told it was so you can remove the bellows. I never thought of doing that. :p

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks. I figured it shouldn't need to be forced to go down the last inch or so but I can't see what I'm doing or not doing that is preventing it from dropping without pushing it the rest of the way down with my hand. The front and back are both flush with the base, all knobs are loosened, etc.

Ah, the wheels are to remove the bellows. Thanks. I assume that's because a bag bellows is planned for the future.

[Daniel_Buck]

I have just been leaving the front standard knobs loose when I fold the camera, that way it just moves into whatever position it needs to be when it's closed. Yes, it does look like the bellows remove easily, a bag would be nice!

[Brian Ellis]

I figured it out. When closing the camera you loosen the two large knobs on either side of the back that hold it in position. I had been leaving them loose after closing the camera. I now see that if instead of leaving those knobs loose you tighten them the camera stays closed.

[J_Tardiff]

You definitely weren't alone, Brian!

Almost went nuts trying to close mine the other day -- thought I had lost my mind because I had no problems the first time I used it, sigh.

Of course, I seem to be a bit "closing" impaired as the Deardorff I just lucked into gave me a hard time at first...

JT

[Brian Ellis]

You definitely weren't alone, Brian!

Almost went nuts trying to close mine the other day -- thought I had lost my mind because I had no problems the first time I used it, sigh.

Of course, I seem to be a bit "closing" impaired as the Deardorff I just lucked into gave me a hard time at first...

JT


Thanks, that makes me feel a little better. I didn't think I was a total klutz but I was beginning to wonder. After 13 years of LF photography and owning LF cameras ranging from 4x5s to 5x7s to 8x10s including Linhof Technika, Tachihara, Agfa Ansco, Deardorff with short side trips to Ebony and Shen Hao, I didn't think there was a LF field camera in the world that I couldn't set up, use, and close with ease. But this one was a real puzzle in a couple ways. Not the cameras fault, it's a very nice camera and quite easy to use once I figured everything out with help from this Forum, but if ever a camera could use an instruction sheet it's this one.

[buze]

I know what you mean, we spent 1/2h looking over the camera with a friend, and were still finding bits and pieces that could be tweaked.

Heck, just figuring how the back works and how to remove the groundglass so it can be setup for a grafmatic or rollfilm was a bit of a challenge here :D

[davidb]

what do you mean by tweaked?

[Daniel_Buck]

hm... it only took me about 3 minutes to figure out how it all worked. Maybe that's because I don't have much experience with alot of different cameras, so I wasn't expecting things to work the standard way.

[Tim Shawcross]

I also had trouble folding the camera - it took me a while to realise that the front standard had to be lowered to minimum rise for everything to fold up neatly.


Heck, just figuring how the back works and how to remove the groundglass so it can be setup for a grafmatic or rollfilm was a bit of a challenge here

I still havent figured that out yet! How do you do that?

Tim