A De Golden Busch 11x14 Monster!

[Vaughn]

I was recently in Philadelphia and gave a carbon printing workshop. I had dinner a couple times with the professor of the the class who I was giving the workshop for and her partner had a camera I had only heard the name of, but never have seen.

A nice looking camera. Definitely not a field camera -- lifting it up it seemed to be around 40 pounds. I asked him to send me a photo pf the camera and I have attached it below. The bellows go out about 48 inches -- a heck of a lot longer than my arms! It does not seem to fold up. I think I will stick with my Empire View #1 11x14 -- at least I can carry that out into the field! It would be nice to have the movements it has, though.

Has anyone used such a beast? I looked online and found some photos of some ULF De Golden Busch cameras, but since they were hand made, the design seems to have be changable.

Vaughn

[C. D. Keth]

Those extensions look really flimsy. Look how they sag without a lens on the camera!

[Vaughn]

I noticed that, too. I should have asked him to put a beer can or something in the photo for scale! It is not a flimsy as it appears.

The front standard is pretty heavy (as is the rest of the camera), so adding a lens may not deflect the extensions much more than without the lens! I was not there when the photo was taken, so I never saw it extended to the max like it is in the photo. My longest lens is 24", so it would only use half of the possible extension!

With the location of the tripod screws in the middle of the main body, using a 700mm to 1000mm lens would probably require a second tripod for the end of the extension. I did not look under the block that is the base for the front standard -- I'll ask him if there is a tripod socket there. That would make sense for a camera with 4 feet of extension.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I borrowed a 8x10 de Golden Busch many years back, and was not particularly taken with it. It was nearly twice the weight of my Deardorff, and wasn't as rigid. As I recall it was made out of plywood and aluminum. I also played with a 20x24 or perhaps 16x20 de Golden Busch at Photogizmo in NYC many years back.

[Kerik Kouklis]

I've seen one but not used it. Designed (and built, I think) by Doug Busch. Poor design and silly heavy. He also made holders that were also an odd (ie crummy) design. He also had some ULF lenses manufactured my Melles Griot, I believe. Here's an add from RF forum for a 20x24.

[Vaughn]

Thanks Kerik, Jason.

Jason, was the 8x10 a folding camera, or non-folding like the 11x14 I have pictured? The back seemed rigid -- I guess I should have taken the opportunity to set the camera up and play with it a little. The weight would be beyond the capability of my Ries A100 -- looks like an A100-2 could handle it (60 pound capacity, compared to the 25lb of the A100).

Vaughn

[John Schneider]

http://web.archive.org/web/201201061...sch/index.html

[Alan Gales]

Anything with weight beyond the capability of my Ries A100 is beyond the capability of my back!

[Vaughn]

Thanks Kerik, Jason.

Jason, was the 8x10 a folding camera, or non-folding like the 11x14 I have pictured? The back seemed rigid -- I guess I should have taken the opportunity to set the camera up and play with it a little. The weight would be beyond the capability of my Ries A100 -- looks like an A100-2 could handle it (60 pound capacity, compared to the 25lb of the A100).

Vaughn

[Louis Pacilla]

And who does Doug look like in this photo? Any guesses Elane, George or Cosmos?