Cambo 4 X 5 / 8 X 10 shared parts ?

[Jim C.]

I haven't been shooting 4X5 very long but I've been thinking of
trying 8 X 10 also, I have a Cambo SC and was wondering if
the 8 X 10 version shared the same front standard as the 4 X 5 SC ?

My reasoning is to just get a rear complete standard and 8 X 10 bellows
and I should be good to go.

And what rail length would be needed ? Would the standard 21" rail be
sufficient ?

[Vick Vickery]

Yes, you can easily make your 4x5 Cambo into an 8x10...you'll need a complete rear standard, body, and ground-glass assembly and an 8x10 bellows. The front standard and lensboard is the same on the 8x10 and the 4x5. Your 21" rail should work OK as long as you stick with a 300mm (12" +/-) normal lens or shorter. Longer lenses will probably cause you to loose close-focusing capabilities pretty quickly. Keep in mind, though, that Cambo 8x10's don't sell used for all that much, so you might be able to pick up a complete one for as little as the parts will cost.

[Jim C.]

Vick, very true, I was watching a Cambo 8 X 10 on the bay and it didn't have any bids, I was going to bid against my better judgement, but I noticed that it had a dovetailed rail rather than a square rail that my SC has, so I resisted temptation.
Thanks for the confirmation that the 4X5 and 8X10 use the same front standard.

[Vick Vickery]

Yeah, Cambo did use different rails on different models...you have to watch that when buying stuff you want to be interchangable. Most of the line used the square rails, but then you had the one...! You also have to watch out for the smaller lensboards...I think it was the "Legend" line that used smaller boards.

[Darryl Baird]

Legend models use the same boards. The Ultima 2x3 (an older 6x9 models, like the SF) uses smaller boards, but you can get a 4x5 kit.

[Rodney Polden]

If you find an 8x10 Cambo complete for a decent price, you will then have the option of being able to accommodate much longer lenses. I use three standards sometimes (two 4x5, plus 8x10 rear), with two bellows, and that gives me enough extension to focus a 600mm Apo-Nikkor.

Since the square rail is a simple profile, I'm thinking of also finding a length of 1" square (from memory now... ) aluminum, or maybe a piece of 1"x1" rock maple, so that I get closer focussing than the 15 or 20 feet allowed by my current longest rail.

With that much extension, having two rail-clamp points on two tripods really helps keep everything vibration-free.

The graphic view given by this set-up is quite stunning - feels like looking through a telescope-microscope, if you know what I mean.

[Darryl Baird]

Rodney, what are you shooting at that level of magnification (or am I mis-reading your post?)... curious, because that's about my setup too. I recently went from the Cambo Legend with two bellows, three standards to the same configuration with a Sinar P. A sample image.