welly
17-Oct-2012, 06:03
Excuse the wall of text but just wanted to share some thoughts on my new Toyo 45AX.
Some of you may have noticed over the last 6 - 12 months I've had something of a whinge about which camera I should be shooting with and you've all given me plenty of great advice. I bought my old Wisner and while I really liked it and thought it was a great camera, I felt like I was fighting against it at times.
So the Wisner has moved on to pastures new and probably for the best. I then narrowed my "final" camera down to a Chamonix until the Toyo appeared on the for sale section, and I was advised by a friend that it would probably be more suitable for me than the Chamonix. So to cut a long story short, I bought the Toyo and it arrived today in record time. It's my fourth 4x5 camera although I have a Cambo 4x5 which kind of doesn't count as it was never going to be my primary camera. First was a Sinar F2 (brilliant but hard to lug about), second was the Wisner (also brilliant but I struggled with it a little, especially with lenses winder than 150mm), next was my Cambo which I still have and will always keep as the parts work well with my Cambo 8x10.
I've spent most of the afternoon opening and closing it, figuring out the movements, reading the PDF manual for it I found, and basically being unproductive at work. I think this is actually the camera I have always wanted but didn't realise. It is a wonderful piece of equipment. It feels precise, it feels solid and incredibly well built. It simply works. It actually feels quite German in build to me, but then I've never seen a Linhof in person, nor a Leica.
The available movements are probably exactly the amount I need. Front shift is minimal (7mm each way) and possibly a little stiff to move but I can just move the damn camera and stop being so lazy! Tilt on front and rear is more than I'll use, same with rise and fall. I don't recall ever really using any swing - the Toyo has some but it'll probably go unused. It does have everything I need in regards to movement.
What I love are the movements can be adjusted and locked independently of each other, with the exception of front swing and shift but those work perfectly well together, so that's fine too.
It fold up great, it has plenty of extension for the kind of lenses I use and I can even use almost full movements with my 90mm which is almost the main reason I got this camera. Even my Cambo needs a bag bellows for that bloody lens.
The Toyo 45AX is metal so it's not especially light. It's definitely not heavy either and I had it in my backpack tonight and didn't consider it a chore to carry around in the slightest. I've even been waving it around handheld - it has a built in handstrap - this evening thinking I'm some 50s press photographer which, as you'll know, I'm not. I think I would consider using this handheld on a bright day, for shits and giggles, but probably would make a habit of it. I don't think it would be too much of an effort to do so though. I may pick up a viewfinder for it.
Focusing is easy peasy. The ground glass/fresnel combo is one of the brightest I've used. Probably the brightest. I had it in my dimly lit room and I could still focus. So that is great news, as focusing on ground glass was something I struggled with a little when I first started shooting large format (2 years ago).
I shoot "things around me", I shoot some architectural photography - photos of buildings, as I call it - but clearly not at the same level as most of you guys, I shoot landscapes and occasionally people. I don't need a lot of movements and I don't need a complicated camera that lets me adjust everything. The Wisner, fine camera that it is, was probably more camera than I needed, although a very, very attractive looking camera.
The Toyo 45AX has everything I realistically need for 95% of what I shoot - anything else, I have my Cambo. The Toyo will fit in my backpack with a 90mm lens, a 150mm lens, some film and my light meter. The built-in focusing hood means my dark cloth can probably stay at home most of the time, so one less thing to carry. It'll shoot wide, my longest lens - a Fuji 300mm f5.6 - will fit on it, I can use my Polaroid back with it and it's portable. What more do I need? I'm very happy with my new camera!
Some of you may have noticed over the last 6 - 12 months I've had something of a whinge about which camera I should be shooting with and you've all given me plenty of great advice. I bought my old Wisner and while I really liked it and thought it was a great camera, I felt like I was fighting against it at times.
So the Wisner has moved on to pastures new and probably for the best. I then narrowed my "final" camera down to a Chamonix until the Toyo appeared on the for sale section, and I was advised by a friend that it would probably be more suitable for me than the Chamonix. So to cut a long story short, I bought the Toyo and it arrived today in record time. It's my fourth 4x5 camera although I have a Cambo 4x5 which kind of doesn't count as it was never going to be my primary camera. First was a Sinar F2 (brilliant but hard to lug about), second was the Wisner (also brilliant but I struggled with it a little, especially with lenses winder than 150mm), next was my Cambo which I still have and will always keep as the parts work well with my Cambo 8x10.
I've spent most of the afternoon opening and closing it, figuring out the movements, reading the PDF manual for it I found, and basically being unproductive at work. I think this is actually the camera I have always wanted but didn't realise. It is a wonderful piece of equipment. It feels precise, it feels solid and incredibly well built. It simply works. It actually feels quite German in build to me, but then I've never seen a Linhof in person, nor a Leica.
The available movements are probably exactly the amount I need. Front shift is minimal (7mm each way) and possibly a little stiff to move but I can just move the damn camera and stop being so lazy! Tilt on front and rear is more than I'll use, same with rise and fall. I don't recall ever really using any swing - the Toyo has some but it'll probably go unused. It does have everything I need in regards to movement.
What I love are the movements can be adjusted and locked independently of each other, with the exception of front swing and shift but those work perfectly well together, so that's fine too.
It fold up great, it has plenty of extension for the kind of lenses I use and I can even use almost full movements with my 90mm which is almost the main reason I got this camera. Even my Cambo needs a bag bellows for that bloody lens.
The Toyo 45AX is metal so it's not especially light. It's definitely not heavy either and I had it in my backpack tonight and didn't consider it a chore to carry around in the slightest. I've even been waving it around handheld - it has a built in handstrap - this evening thinking I'm some 50s press photographer which, as you'll know, I'm not. I think I would consider using this handheld on a bright day, for shits and giggles, but probably would make a habit of it. I don't think it would be too much of an effort to do so though. I may pick up a viewfinder for it.
Focusing is easy peasy. The ground glass/fresnel combo is one of the brightest I've used. Probably the brightest. I had it in my dimly lit room and I could still focus. So that is great news, as focusing on ground glass was something I struggled with a little when I first started shooting large format (2 years ago).
I shoot "things around me", I shoot some architectural photography - photos of buildings, as I call it - but clearly not at the same level as most of you guys, I shoot landscapes and occasionally people. I don't need a lot of movements and I don't need a complicated camera that lets me adjust everything. The Wisner, fine camera that it is, was probably more camera than I needed, although a very, very attractive looking camera.
The Toyo 45AX has everything I realistically need for 95% of what I shoot - anything else, I have my Cambo. The Toyo will fit in my backpack with a 90mm lens, a 150mm lens, some film and my light meter. The built-in focusing hood means my dark cloth can probably stay at home most of the time, so one less thing to carry. It'll shoot wide, my longest lens - a Fuji 300mm f5.6 - will fit on it, I can use my Polaroid back with it and it's portable. What more do I need? I'm very happy with my new camera!