Arca Swiss Reflex--a Phoenix

[Raymond Bleesz]

A few days ago, I begain searching for info regarding an Arca Swiss Reflex camer a, large format, mentioned in a photo periodical and the camera in question was utilised by the Chicago photogapher Marc Hauser. I approached several people for information & help as I found this camera to be very unique as well as confound ing, being that it was a large format "reflex" camera----something I have never heard of. I want to thank all those individuals who provided their time & info.

I contacted Mr. Hauser for clarification and help re: this matter. His response is enclosed for those who may be interested as I certainly was. Again thank you .

yes00000---it is a 4x5 slr made by arca swiss---1970 was the year---one shutter speed==30th of a second----f 5.6----lens------view from the top like a hasselbald=---------hope this aneswers your question--marc hauser

[QT Luong]

Was that a SLR ? Peter Gowland has made TLR cameras in several formats, which are still available for sale on his web site.

[Ellis Vener]

Dear Ellis Yes, ARCA-SWISS did produce 6x9 as well as 4x5" Reflex cameras for quite a while (even with electronic shutters) but stopped in the late 70's to do so. ARCA-SWISS Reflex camera are nowadays collector cameras for which we get offers up to US$10,000.00!!!! if in good condition. We still have some models in our Gallery showing the history of ARCA-SWISS.

Best regards

ARCA-SWISS International Martin Vogt

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

There is a camera on the marked that can be considered to be a copy of the Arca Swiss Reflex; the Fuji GX 680. A great camera and a fast one to use,but with a perspective control and a way to do a"Scheimpflug"

[lummer]

i found an amazing arca swiss 4x5 SLR

1/500th focal plane shutter .

amazing

c

[Dan Fromm]

No more amazing than a Graflex or any of the many other 2x3, 3x4, 4x5, and 5x7 SLRs made in the US, the UK, and Germany.

[ic-racer]

But the Arca does not appear to be made from wood like those others.

[Sevo]

... which made it heavier and less attractive for hand-held work.

[Miguel Coquis]

But the Arca does not appear to be made from wood like those others.
when wooden often it can be repaired by oneself and ormake own wooden lens holders, ...you can even adapt a Linhof front to obtain movements... !
and more....
Have not try the Arca yet.

[Miguel Coquis]

... which made it heavier and less attractive for hand-held work.

true if 2,300 grms. (plus lens...) is to heavy for my two arms, usually I work hand held without much difficulties with a Meyer Goritz 250 and 300 mm
These are very light lenses.
It is hard when the aero ektar is mount on this RB Graflex, but for portrait distances it is amazing !!!

[Miguel Coquis]

i found an amazing arca swiss 4x5 SLR

1/500th focal plane shutter .

amazing

c

It would be really amazing if it works !!!

[lummer]

miguel

it is working. having carbon shutter replaced soon.
will see if 1/1000 is possible.

the carbon fiber shutter will be more reliable.

also having a adapter made to connect a linhof techika as front standard.

the arca SLR is actually very light. lighter than a pacemaker... the body is made from some kind of composite...

[Miguel Coquis]

miguel

it is working. having carbon shutter replaced soon.
will see if 1/1000 is possible.

the carbon fiber shutter will be more reliable.

also having a adapter made to connect a linhof techika as front standard.

the arca SLR is actually very light. lighter than a pacemaker... the body is made from some kind of composite...

looks more and more interesting....!
Which lens is mount and what are the possibility's of working distances ? The the Linhof frame body on the front of the Arka will not help for focusing at infinity...

[Dan Fromm]

Miguel, "Berthas" are, like the SLRs they're built around, inherently long lens cameras.

What I don't understand is why the original poster wants to use a Technika front standard and to make a flat bed camera. These things are much more limited than monorail cameras like, say, the Pecoflex. Yes, I know, he's spending his time and money and probably starting with what he has at hand. IMO, though, he'd do better to think hard about what's possible before settling on a design to try to make.

Cheers,

Dan

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Hello all !
I own an Oschwald Arca Swiss 6x9 reflex.
Actually this is a 9x9 camera, you can rotate the rollfilm back in portrait or landscape as you wish like on any A/S 6x9 camera.
Originally the rollfilm back was a RADA, you need a modified A/S intermediate plate in order to accommodate 6x9 rollfilm backs in baby graflock style like the Horseman(=Arca) or Mamiya-RB.

The camera model I have has full movements and is mounted on a standard combination of Arca-Oschwald rails and function carriers, the silver-finish designs of the seventies.
A cloth focal plane shutter reaches 1/1000th.
The reflex mirror control has a complex mechanism in order to clear for the rear lens element as much as possible.
Operation is simple : after tensioning the shutter with a knob, you push down a big lever which lifts up the mirror slowly and smoothly, and at the very end of the movement, when the mirror actually closes the ground glass window, the focal plane shutter fires. Doing so you have no impact of the big mirror inside the camera, a plague of many big SLR designs when you don not use the pre-release mirror feature.
However the main limitation of the A/S reflex camera is that the shortest focal length that you can accommodate without using a retrofocus lens is about 150-180mm. This, for the 6x9 model which is smaller than the 4x5" of course.
No surprise there, on a square-format SLR, the shortest focal length that you can accommodate is about the diagonal of the square i.e. about 80mm in 6x6 (=56x56) and about 120 mm in 9x9 (82x82mm) format. So even the 100-105mm, the standard focal length of the 6x9 format cannot be used.

The camera is in principle perfect for portrait work with focal lengths longer than 180 mm ; and can accommodate many barrel lenses (without shutter) but then, if you consider the price of a used Hasselblad + 150mm sonnar, or a MAMIYA RB with a long focal length, for those who insist on using a rollfilm SLR for portrait work, the 6x9 A/S reflex is clearly out of the game in termes of price and availabililty ;-)

For those of our readers who will visit the Photo museum at Vevey, Switzerland, there is a nice 4x5" A/S reflex on display; not far from it in the same room, there is a display model of the legendary Wild Aviogon designed by Ludwig Bertele, similar to the Zeiss Biogon, but designed a few years before when Bertele worked for the Swiss company Wild-Heerbrugg.

Since to the best of my knowledge there are no retrofocus large format lenses, this camera is useable only for longer-than-standard focal lengths, at least is we restrict to quasi-symmetrical lens designs or triplet-tessar types.
Although the camera movements are not mechacally limited by the optical bench nor by the function carriers, not even by the bellows itself which is similar to the one in use on the 6x9 monorails, the reflex camera body combined to the bellows severely limit what you can actually achieve.
A well-known problem which severely restricts the interest of mounting a digital SLR on a monorail camera, this is another story, but the same problems are there, all dimensions being scaled down by a factor about 100/45 for a full-frame 24x36mm SLR ;-)

Sure you can do some scheimpflug and some minimal shifts with the A/S reflex camera...
But buyers beware, the Arca Swiss reflex camera is more like a .... big reflex camera, than an Arca Swiss monorail with SLR capabilities, in the sense that you can actually use only a very limited range of movements compared to the classic monorail design.
And for using short focal lengths, the pre-1984 Oschwald design of the format frames is even more limiting for wide-angle lenses that the current F-line design.

Another simplified Arca Swiss Reflex 6x9 model, without rails & function carriers, was manufactured; it ressembles a big Rolleiflex SL-66.

Shame on me, I do not have any photo of my 6x9 A/S-Oschwald reflex camera handy but I would be glad to make some and post them for the group.
Despite of all limitations mentioned ebove, the camera in itself is so fascinating that I do not regret for one millisecond to have bougth it, and I perfectly understand why it can reach such crazy prices. (sorry, mine is not for sale ;-) )

[Dan Fromm]

Emmanuel, thanks very much for describing your 6x9 Arca Swiss Reflex so fully.

You have, though, reinforced my belief that LF reflex cameras built around monorail view cameras are in fact long lens cameras in the same class as Graflex-based Big Berthas, Gandolfi SLR-based cricket cameras,and the like. In other words, the view camera apparatus is a way of getting extension, not a way of getting movements.

Cheers,

Dan

[GPS]

...
The camera is in principle perfect for portrait work with focal lengths longer than 180 mm ; and can accommodate many barrel lenses (without shutter) but then, if you consider the price of a used Hasselblad + 150mm sonnar, or a MAMIYA RB with a long focal length, for those who insist on using a rollfilm SLR for portrait work, the 6x9 A/S reflex is clearly out of the game in termes of price and availabililty ;-)
...


As you have correctly stated, the camera was intended basically for MF portrait work eventually for niche fashion photography - the movements were just an added value of no real importance (a marketing trick). And indeed, they were not popular in comparison to other MF cameras as they didn't present any substantial advantages.

[Sevo]

As you have correctly stated, the camera was intended basically for MF portrait work eventually for niche fashion photography - the movements were just an added value of no real importance (a marketing trick). And indeed, they were not popular in comparison to other MF cameras as they didn't present any substantial advantages.

At least the Plaubel Makiflex/Pecoflex, which preceded the Arca by a couple of years and had a similar concept and design, but was 6x9 (or rather 9x9) only, was initially advertised for more than just portrait work. It was the practical limitation to long focal lengths that eventually restricted them to portrait - they simply came at the wrong moment, in the decay period of the European camera industry, when no local lens maker could or would invest into a new line of greater than 6x6 retrofocal lenses.

[GPS]

I agree with you Sevo, that the timing for the camera was a little bit like coming with the cross after the funeral but even with some retro focal lenses - what would the camera be better for than just portrait or fashion work? The Fuji GX680 was yet another attempt and ended mostly in fashion studios too (well, some food photography also if I remember well)...

[Dan Fromm]

http://www.photographica-auctionen.de/auctionlist/objectWinInfo.asp?objektnr=13&auktionsnamn=Photographica%2012

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Thank you very much Dan for the image !
http://www.photographica-auctionen.de/auctionlist/objectWinInfo.asp?objektnr=13&auktionsnamn=Photographica%2012

This one is exactly similar to mine, with the RADA rollfilm back.
As you can see, the ground glass is not parallel to the optical axis, the mirror angle is smaller than 45°in viewing conditions, this probably saves space inside the camera body.
The lever is the main control lever, you push it down until the shutter fires. The upper knob is the tensioning knob, the lower one is the speed selector.
Shift controls are exactly the same as for Oschwald monorail cameras.
The viewing hood is a 4-flap design exactly like the traditional Hasselblad design (now Hasselblad and others are using the Rolleiflex-style folding-flap design). The traditional 4-flap design was already in use before World War I on Voitgländer stereo cameras... hence neither Victor Hasselblad nor the Oschwald brothers had to care for a patent, the design being in the public domain for a long time. The Rollei folding-flap design was patented in 1957, hence it took some time to Hasselblad to eventually adopt it ;-)
Otherwise the rails and function carriers are exactly the same as Oschwald A/S monorails. The rail is not foldable, hence the camera is quite bulky.
The lens boards are the old style, flat, 109x109 mm identical to the 6x9 Oschwald monorail, they are not compatible with the current F-line 110 square boards.
Like all Oschwald cameras, the board attachment is made light-tight by some black foam, this foam has to be renewed. Modern F-line cameras no longer rely on any kind of foam to be light-tight.
Deep recessed boards were available at the time.

The RADA rollfilm back as shown on the image is mounted on an intermediate plate which does not allow to take baby graflok backs. So in order to use "modern" rollfilm backs in baby graflok style, a new plate has to be machined.
The RADA back which came with my camera is a 6x6 back, not a 6x9, this seemed unusual to me, except may be for portrait work where the square format is said to be more neutral ???
RADA in Germany used to manufacture a comprehensive range of cut-film and rollfim backs in the past.
The lens shown on the picture is a 210 mm... this is twice as much as the standard focal length for 6x9...

The starting price for the auction is not very high...

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

The Arca Swiss 6x9 reflex, in the compact no-rail version
http://cgi.ebay.fr/Arca-Reflex-Swiss-3-RO_W0QQitemZ160421879826QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFilm_Cameras?hash=item2559e3a012