Zone VI 8x10 - Pro? Con? Opinions?

[R Mann]

Anyone care to share their opinions on the Zone VI 8x10 field camera - the Picker version with brass hardware, not the newer Calumet model. I am interested in any pro or con things to consider from a users view point especially when comparing it to a Deardorff.

[Joe Forks]

Good camera. I have one, I use it, and I don't usually lust after better/Newer/More expensive models, unless I am hiking a ways and then I wish for a lighter package.

[Dennis]

I also have one and it works. It is annoying in ways but I think most 8x10 view cameras are annoying in ways. I never feel quite sure that the back is where I want it when I have put a film holder in it. I am often aggravated by either the front or rear standard running off the gear. The bellows sags and the little clip came right off when the camera was new, I have to carry something to stick under the bellows to hold it up out of the view. All in all it feels cheaply made with the mechanisms being not quite perfectly aligned. But the good news is that I have shot thousands of negs with it over the last 20 years and it still works, though it is glued back together after a tripod collapsed and broke it to splinters.
Dennis

[William McEwen]

I also have one and it works. It is annoying in ways but I think most 8x10 view cameras are annoying in ways. I never feel quite sure that the back is where I want it when I have put a film holder in it. I am often aggravated by either the front or rear standard running off the gear. The bellows sags and the little clip came right off when the camera was new, I have to carry something to stick under the bellows to hold it up out of the view. All in all it feels cheaply made with the mechanisms being not quite perfectly aligned. But the good news is that I have shot thousands of negs with it over the last 20 years and it still works, though it is glued back together after a tripod collapsed and broke it to splinters.
Dennis

Poor Alfred Stieglitz used a battered 8x10 Kodak 2D modified with twine to hold up the bellows. Too bad Richard Ritter was too young to come to the rescue then. :)

[Kevin Crisp]

I had one of the very earliest ones (stolen) and a later replacement. It is a decent 8X10 camera. I agree that the things about it that are annoying are pretty much the things about shooting 8X10 that can be annoying. The fit and finish of both of mine were outstanding, and I liked the bail back.

[Drew Bedo]

I use a 4x5 Zone VI made in the late eighties...I Like it.