Chamonix 810V Back Orientation Mistake?

I just finished a portrait session where I shot 4 sheets of precious E100 in fading light so I was working fast. I realized when I got back I may have had the back oriented upside down (vertical position), so the lip wasn’t locking perhaps??? I noticed I can lock the back into place in either direction but the holders only seem to lock going in one way. However I was working fast so I didn’t notice at the time. I’m sure this would have caused a light leak but of course I can’t run E6 until about a week from now. Ugh I’m just kicking myself because this poor couple posed in incredible light so patiently. Kind of seems like a design flaw that I was able to mount the back this way. I guess some users may want to load the film from the bottom up but still…. Has anyone else done this?

You might well have a light leak on those holders. However, it's good to have a back that can be oriented to load from below in situations where the sun is directly overhead and light can get in through the light trap when pulling or inserting the dark slide. This is also a good practice if the right sun is off to the right or left.

Maybe so, but I think I'll now mark one end as the insert orientation. Problem pretty much solved. Still totally mourning for those shots though. Wah!

I'm not familiar with this particular camera, but I've never encountered any view camera where the side to insert the film holder wasn't readily apparent. Could you show a pic of the back of the Chamonix? I'm very curious what about it has confused you.

If you didn’t notice the difference between the operational end and the static end of the camera back, I’d argue that it’s an organic flaw, rather than a design flaw…

Is it missing the metal bail handle, which helps open the back?

Look at these pics

https://www.chamonixviewcamera.com/cameras/810v

The bail is fixed to the part of the back that you take off and rotate-- so if you had it set to load from the bottom, the bail should have been operating from the bottom as well. Having no actual familiarity with the camera, is it even possible to reverse the bail?

I would think not finding the handle where you thought it was would have been hugely noticeable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sperdynamite

Maybe so, but I think I'll now mark one end as the insert orientation. Problem pretty much solved. Still totally mourning for those shots though. Wah!

---

It may well be chalked up to operator error, but I've had the same issue with my Arca Swiss 4x5 and 8x10. It's easy to insert the holder from the wrong side in the heat of the moment when the light is fleeting. All my backs now have a label that says "Insert Film Holder This Side". Now I have only 999 ways to mess up a shot instead of 1000.

Bob

Great news! All shots look perfect. Some real keepers. Not sure if I botched it or convinced myself I had, in either case, I'm still marking the back with a 'this way' indicator.

Great! I was going to suggest loading the holder in incorrectly and doing a flashlight test.

Well on closer inspection, the shots are all a bit out of focus. Not really enough to ruin them IMHO. I still think I loaded them the wrong way and they were just not flush with the focal point. I just got lucky with the light not being enough to fog the film.