For all you Chamonix 045n-1 owners out there:

[lilmsmaggie]

Lens Boards & Film holders:

Newbie question here about the two items above. Chamonix makes their own.

Anyone choose differently? Switch, swap, interchange?

Sinar-type? Linhof-type?

I suppose if this wasn't a first-time LF camera purchase, I imagine that I would have already acquired a few lens and film holders and that these would determine my choices. But since I'm starting out with neither, camera or lens, you might say I'm a bit confused. I guess I need to know which is preferred when choosing lens boards and film holders performs best with 045n-1?

[venchka]

First of all, let me state, for the record, that I know just enough about 4x5 hardware to get in trouble.

It is my understanding that every 4x5 film holder made in the last 50+ (minimum) years works with all 4x5 film and all 4x5 cameras. Buy used.

Lens boards: I only know about the cameras I own which don't include Chamonix.

[BarryS]

Generic center-drilled Technika-type lens boards work fine--check Badger Graphic or MPEX. I think the Cham boards are carbon fiber--cool, but expensive. All standard double darkslide film holders will fit the 45N-1. Fidelity and Lisco holders are cheap and work great.

[Daniel_Buck]

every one of the linhoff-tech/wista sized board I've tried on the 4x5 cham works just fine. It's quite a popular size. Even generic brands of the same size seem to fit just fine.

[Archphoto]

And the biggest advantages of having your lenses on Linhof/Wista boards:
- they are smaller than regular monorail boards (less space needed to transport)
- if you get a monorail, you will just need an adapter board and you can use all the lenses you already have.

Peter

[Ulrich Drolshagen]

Recently there was talk about "China"-boards which are too thick to fit. There is a thread about this somewhere.

Ulrich

[cgthom]

I am pretty new to LF myself, so take my advice with a grain of salt! I have been shooting with a monorail camera the past year, and recently acquired a 45N1.

You can find boards that fit a Chamonix used and new from Eelbay. A word of warning about the cheap new boards you can get from China on Ebay: they can be too thick, as discussed in this thread below.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=41614

I personally went the cheap new lensboard from ebay route, since I am a student. I did have to do some thinning in areas of the lens board with a metal file to allow it to lock into the camera securely. I didn't mind the elbow grease since it meant I could have some cheeseburger money left over. The seller I dealt with (jinfinance) was extremely friendly, and allowed me to switch a set of 3 boards with copal #0, 1 and 3 sized boards to 2X Copal #0 and 1X Copal 1 hole. Also, they center drilled them instead of the offset drilling which is frequently seen with these boards, and at no extra charge. That said, if you are looking for a lens board that fits without modification, these (sometimes) too thick boards are probably not the "best" solution.

As film holders go, used Liscos and riteways should be fine, though I personally have picked up a few real stinkers online as well (darkslide is too tight, paint inside peeling). I'm not sure what the best way to avoid the bad ones would be, but generally I have had very good success with buying used film holders online. For me, the ones with plastic tabs on the dark slides have always worked out better as far as quality... but I just like them more than the metal tabs in general so that could be some personal bias.

- Chris

[gevalia]

Wista boards from MPEX or badgergraphic.

Fidelity holders from Calumet.

Ended up buying a bunch of new holders instead of going the used route because I had the $$ and also to know there were no issues at all with them.

It boggles my mind why people spend so much extra cash just to have a logo. It's a board with a hole. I ask anyone to prove that a Linhoff board is functionally better then a wista knock-off board. Use the cash you saved on film or developer and be happy.

I'm sure I'm gonna get flack from the deep-pocket folks on this.

[redrockcoulee]

Wista boards from MPEX or badgergraphic.

Fidelity holders from Calumet.

Ended up buying a bunch of new holders instead of going the used route because I had the $$ and also to know there were no issues at all with them.

It boggles my mind why people spend so much extra cash just to have a logo. It's a board with a hole. I ask anyone to prove that a Linhoff board is functionally better then a wista knock-off board. Use the cash you saved on film or developer and be happy.

I'm sure I'm gonna get flack from the deep-pocket folks on this.

Actually on my Shen Hao the Linhof boards fits the worse, a struggle to get them in whereas the generic board I do have is a bit thinner so fits better. My Wista board goes in easier than the Shen Hao board. There are slight differences in tolerances and most likely is camera dependent on wooden field cameras. They are work or can be made to work. Of course the board that fits the smoothest into the camera takes a No 3 shutter and I don't have a lens for that :)

Some of my boards came with the lenses I bought so if you are buying used lenses the brand of board may be chosen for you as long as its a Linhof style it should be good to go.

I have had great luck in the buying of film holders as the only problems with the ones I bought have been cracked dark slides so it was a matter of matching up with good ones and having some spare holders. unfortunately dark slides are not universal so I have a couple of single side holders. If you can get the same style or brand of holders that would be better than an assortment like I have for that reason but the ones I have probably cover 50 years of production.