New Cambo Ultima 23

[Martin K]

Well now I feel more like I belong here. Received my Cambo today. Lots of goodies. Lens shade, three lenses, bag bellows, extension rail and sliding back for the Leaf.

I feel a bit at sea with it all and am not at all sure where to start. Tomorrow I will do a still life. Need to figure out how to be able to stick this lot into a bag to carry up hills and so on.

Wish me luck, I am going to need it

Martin

[John Schneider]

Martin, you have the right idea. Go out and shoot as much as you can, see what works for you and what doesn't. If you come across a question you can't figure out, there are lots of good references (books like Steve Simmon's and Leslie Stroebel's; and this forum of course). You'll learn much faster if you use your gear and then ask questions when they arise, rather than the other way around.

Best of luck and good light.

[GaryT]

Good luck Martin. I've had the 23 for a few years now and also use it with a Leaf back. Great camera, rock solid, and I really like the sliding back. Don't know if you're aware, but Cambo has a fresnel for the back...makes focusing a bit easier with my old eyes. And IIRC, I had to cut it down slightly as it didn't want to fit exactly...I also use an interchangable frame which coincides with the Leaf dimensions and snaps in and out of the focusing hood. Don't recall if I got that with the back or if it was a seperate item.

Anyway...enjoy!

[Martin K]

Thanks Gary and John. This morning I was set up to shoot a sweet potato with a sprout growing out of it when a client turned up early to shoot some roofing tile samples. I was going to shoot the tiles on a Canon 1D MKIII but decided to just go ahead and do it on the Cambo with the Aptus75 since it was set up. Client got the deal of the decade since I charged her what I was going to charge for the 1D MKIII. Impressed the hell out of her. Now she wants me to do some figure studies of herself.

Shot the sweet potato afterwards. It was great fun. Using movements again is awesome, like coming home.

[GaryT]

Good deal Martin. I've worked in LF for so long that when I have any other kind of camera in front of me, it simply doesn't feel *right*...and I end up wishing that I had camera movements.

All depends on what you're used to I guess. I teach a college level course in photography one day a week and the students by and large use DSLR's. When I talk about LF, they look at me kind of funny:)