Hello everyone. I'm writing to add to a recent post on 'Ebony's new offerings'.

After a long wait, I've just received my new RW810. Although I'm afraid I'm not yet qualified to offer a complete review, I thought I'd give you my first impressions. In addition, if anyone out there is seriously interested in this camera (Dan?), please feel free to e-mail me with any questions that aren't answered by Ebony's website; I'll do my best to give you my honest opinion.

First, a disclaimer; there will be those who will consider me conpletely out of my head in spending what I did on a double extention (!), shift-less (!) field camera. Well, this post is not really for you. For I don't think there's really anything I could possibly write to sway you from your opinion. (Anyway, you might be right!) But let's just say that the Ebony met my needs (and yes, my desires) more completely than any other camera.

I wanted a field camera that was simple, light, rigid, well put together, and beautiful. I seriously considered the Canham lightweight 8x10, but a few small things swayed me toward the Ebony. First, I thought the t-knobs on the Canham would drive me insane. Secondly, I've read that the Canham is fairly complex and time-consuming (the word 'fiddly' comes up) to set up and tear down. Lastly, right or wrong, I thought that the Canham's added complexity, with its shifts and triple extention might make it a little less rigid than the Ebony. Obviously, different people will have different priorities. For me, I use shift so infrequently, and for what I do never require a triple extention, so these were not drawbacks for me. In any case, I'm sure the Canham is a wonderful camera; in the end it was a 'gut' disision, and my gut told me to go with the Ebony.

So, on to the camera. As you might imagine, the 'fit and finish' is remarkable. Camera aesthetics are highly subjective, but for me the Ebony looks just about right; it's understated (ie; no shiny gold brass or red bellows) yet attractive. As others have said, the combination of rich, dark-stained mahogany and matte-finshed titanium is very pleasing. I find the pairing to be somehow philosophically gratifying as well.

The camera is almost freakishly solid/rigid, even racked all the way out. It is in every way the equivalent in this way to my Toyo 45AX. The controls also have a very slick, solid feel to them. I had heard that the titanium can impart a 'stiff' feel, but I have not found this to be the case. I'll have to wait and see how the camera reacts to extreme weather...

The RW, like all Ebony cameras I imagine, has a few thoughful touches that I'm surprised other manufacturers haven't more comonly adopted. The mirror level is one of these things; an elegant solution to the problem of not being able to easily see the top of the camera. Another nice thing is the included ground glass cover. (the cynics are now shouting; "At that price? They BETTER have included a ground glass protector!") Point taken, but anyway, it is nice not to have to fashion my own.

As far as 'negatives' go, there are a few, though so far, not many that I could say are really Ebony's fault. I do wish they had included some simple instructions with the camera. It's not that I need to know how to operate a view camera, but as you undoutedly know, every camera has it's quirks, and it would have been nice to have some guidance. Specifically, it took me awhile to figure out how to properly open and close the camera. Once I learned how though, it is a very simple and quick procedure. One thing I have yet to figure out though is exactly how the allignment points on the front rise and fall work. Maybe an Ebony owner out there can enlighten me. Looking at the front standard, on the supports I have a green dot and a red dot almost on top of each other, and then on the standard itself a silver dot; what lines up with what? Hmm....

The small latch that holds the camera together when it is folded is not very positive and can slip off. I don't generally carry my camera around like a suitcase (although it does look kind of cool...) so this is not a problem for me, but if I did, I'd have to fix that.

A BTZS style darkcloth will not work on the RW810 without some modification. Basically, there's nowhere for it to grab onto, and the elastic opening is too small to fit around the entire back of the camera. This was a bit frustrating, but with a trip to the fabric store and a few hours of sewing, I customized my btzs so it now fits around the whole back of the camera. Hard to describe, but it now works great.

Finally, I'm having a bit of a problem with the interaction of my tripod head (Ries) and the Ebony. The RW has a large titanium plate on the bottom. This is a nice feature; however, with the slick metal of the camera meeting the slick metal of my tripod head, I'm having trouble with the camera sliding around, even when tightened down as tight as my fingers can tighten. I'm getting around this problem by rotating the entire camera onto the tripod head ( to get more leverage) but it's difficult to line the camera and tripod head up perfectly this way. I'm wondering if there is something I can place on the tripod head to keep the camera from twisting. Anyone?

Well, that's about it for now. I should be able to offer a more cohesive critique in about a month or so, after I've had some time to use the camera more. In the meantime, as I said, if anyone has any specific questions or wants to see some pictures of the camera (Ebony sent me a bunch awhile back) I'll be happy to respond to them by e-mail.

Now, everyone please offer me luck in not dropping my new love as I did my Toyo (see the old "I killed my Toyo today" post if you want to hear the tragic tale). I'm planning for this to be my primary photographic tool for the next decade or so, and hope to do it justice by creating good works!

Take care,