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Thread: Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Sep 1998
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    Loganville , GA
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    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    Rather then the Bi you might look at the current GT. Like the Bi it hase base and center movements but they make the GT yaw free. The Bi is not. The GT takes lenses down to 65mm on flat noards and, unlike the Bi, you can use film horizontally with a rear center tilt or a Polaroid back and still operate the holder or the back. On the Bi you would need the Polaroid Spacer to do that. The rails for the B are no longer available. The GT has a telescoping monorail, longer ones are available, and the GT does not require a rail clamp so it has a continuous focus track 19" long.

    All accessories that fit to the front or rear standard on a GT are the same as the ones for the B so boards and accessories are plentiful. Lastly the GT is current and a new one has a 5 year warranty. There are no parts left at the factory for the B rail or the items that attach to the rail.

    The only function the B had that the GT does not have is geared shift. On the GT you slide the standard for shift. The current GTL has geared rise and shift.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Nov 1999
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    740

    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    Don't neglect to look at field cameras! An Ebony SW/RSW/S will suit most architecture shots!

  3. #13

    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Posts
    51

    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    Thanks for all your help... I did mean light weight for those Toyo users..

    I think the F2 is the answer. A workhorse light weight and cheap on the used market. Eventhough there is a Bi Kardan on eBay for about $280....

    wish me luck.... jay

  4. #14

    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    Frank....I LOVE MY SINAR F2!!!

    It is far from being a "cold souless beast"....it has done a variety of jobs, been on two continents, all over the USA, fallen several times, been yelled at countless times yet still does its job with gusto. It has worked in pouring rain, falling snow, and sub-freezing

    weather.

    I own several LF cameras...a Linhof 5x7 Technika, Sinar Norma, Sinar P2, and a Plaubel. All of them are great...but the F2 is like an American Express card...never leave home without it. I also have the 8x10 standard for my Sinar F2 (as well as the P2 and the Plaubel). I actually only bought a P2 system because it was 1. Dirt Cheap (for a Sinar) 2. I couldn't afford or find a 5x7 F2 (which are quite rare).

    Also...the F2 only recently became cheap...it used to cost $2800...far from a cheap beater. Used ones before EBAY used to cost $1600-$2000.

    Oh and Jay...if you buy a Sinar F2- do yourself a favor and find one with a non-metering back...the metering back is a large bulky pain in the ass that is almost useless....at least I never knew anyone who uses the meter probe. Also buy a Sinar Fresnel...it makes life a lot easier.

    And Frank....have you tried to find either lensboards, rail, or a bag bellows for a Linhof Bi??? They are not the easiest things to locate. A freind of mine had a Bi...and got rid of it after spending months combing EBAY for rails with no luck.

  5. #15

    Join Date
    Sep 1998
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    Loganville , GA
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    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    "d got rid of it after spending months combing EBAY for rails with no luck"

    That's part of the beauty of the Gt. A telescoping rail. No accessory rail needed unless very, very long extension is needed. Then, unlike the Sinar, no double rail block is needed for long extensions as the rails don't "butt" together like the older monorail systems do.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Jun 2002
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    9,487

    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    James - com'on, the Norma is just so much smoother than the F2, not that the F2 is a bad camera at all. If I could afford the latest Linhof though, that would be the ultimate...

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Sep 1998
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    Loganville , GA
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    14,409

    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    "Archi=A... Arca

    Daily use=D... Deardorff

    Smooth=S...Sinar

    Luxury=L... Linhof"

    Ridiculous. A Linhof or a Sinar are just as able to be used for architecture as an Arca and 1000s of users of each do so.

    A Sinar can be much more then a Linhof as for luxury, and so can an Arca.

    Nothing is smoother then a Linhof and it is extremely doubtful that a modern Arca is any less smooth.

    And all are excellent for daily use. And the Deardorff is the least likely to be used today if extreme wide angle is a requirement.

  8. #18
    Beverly Hills, California
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
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    Beverly Hills, CA
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    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    Jay, the Toyo 45C monorail is lightweight, all metal, and even back packable with careful stowage. Mint ones sell for $300 or less ebay. Accesories inexpensive on eaby. High bang for the buck.

  9. #19

    Join Date
    Mar 1998
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    1,972

    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    There is no "best" in this category. Any decent monorail view camera will do the job, but some will make your life easier than others --and there is the matter of personal preference: Atthe most basic level some people like base tilt designs and some people prefer axis tilt design.

    The most popular among professional architectural photographers are the Sinar F2 (I prefer a Sinar C because it has the rear end of a Sinar P or P2) 7 P2 cameras ; the Linhof TK45s or the Arca-Swiss F-line series of cameras. My preference for the past ten years has been the Arca-Swiss F-line cameras and before that i used Sinar cameras. If I had not chosenthe Arca-Swiss I'd have gone with the TK45s. I chosethe Arca-Swiss becasue it is yaw free (this is more importnt in the studio but if you are using tilts and swings in the field can make your life simpler); because it is a base tilt design which I was familiar with from the Sinar; and becasuewhen you employ rise or fall combined with a tilt movement of the film plane , you don't have to refocus as is the case with many of the axis tilt cameras.

    If you are leaning toward the Sinar avoid the F1 or the A1 and go with the F2 -- or as I said above, a Sinar C or C2 camera. The advantage of the F2 over the F1 is that it is more robust and isolates the tilt and swing controls. You should also very seriously consider the Sinar Norma camera.

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Farmington, MI
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    206

    Best 4x5 camera for Architecture

    Whatever you do, do not get a camera that does not have a depth of field calculator built-in (like the Sinar). In all of the professional architectural photography that I have done, I have never been suprised by an out of focus error when using the Sinar F-2. When traveling I use a Wista SP that does not have a DOF calculator. With this camera I have to guess on the correct focus point and aperture, leading to occasional missed judgements that mean foreground or background objects being less than sharp. This is not acceptable for professional architectural work.

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