Cambo Wide 650 - Impressions and question regarding close focusing...

[Dustyman]

So I'm using the reflex viewing hood to focus. Anyone else think the image is exceedingly dark on the ground glass with this combination?
I'm sure I'm losing light with the addition of the mirror, but still. Really dark.

[Oren Grad]

I removed the reflex hood that came with my Cambo Wide. I found it much easier to see the point of best focus with a dark cloth and either a loupe or just eyeballing the ground glass, the angled view made it impossible to work with the camera mounted at or near eye level, and the reflex hood makes the camera very big and unwieldy to boot. In all, it created problems for me rather than solving them.

[Dustyman]

Yeah, I see. Was hoping to hand-hold and focus though. Maybe the direct in-line focus hood without the mirror would be better.

I removed the reflex hood that came with my Cambo Wide. I found it much easier to see the point of best focus with a dark cloth and either a loupe or just eyeballing the ground glass, the angled view made it impossible to work with the camera mounted at or near eye level, and the reflex hood makes the camera very big and unwieldy to boot. In all, it created problems for me rather than solving them.

[Oren Grad]

Yeah, I see. Was hoping to hand-hold and focus though. Maybe the direct in-line focus hood without the mirror would be better.

For distant subjects, an auxiliary rangefinder plus scale focus can be good enough. Close focus hand-held is a non-starter with a Cambo Wide, at least for me. At my typical working apertures for hand-held use, taking the camera away from my face to insert a film holder changes the camera's distance to the subject enough to mess up focus, no matter how steady I try to be. YMMV.

The Cambo in-line hood seems to be very scarce compared to the reflex version.

[DrTang]

Yeah, I see. Was hoping to hand-hold and focus though. Maybe the direct in-line focus hood without the mirror would be better.

why not bolt on a rangefinder from a Polaroid Big Shot recalibrated to 3' or whatever you want?
I've done that for several cameras and once dialed in..it works perfect... and you can still use the GG for other projects

[EdSawyer]

Good thought re: BigShot rangefinder. I use those on Cambo Maxiportraits, where it's a great match. Hadn't thought about it with the Cambo wide... hmm. May have to try that!

The straight-on viewfinder (I have both types, T-20 and T-21) is still dark. A couple things are at work here: it's a wide-angle lens with a lot of falloff, so the corners are going to be dark, regardless. Also, depending on what fresnel you have (if you have one), it may make the situation better but not ideal. Ultimately you want a fresnel that is mated to the focal length of the lens in question, to really optimize it. Supposedly Maxwell makes one but I haven't ever used one of his. There's probably some other cheaper alternatives, I know Edmund Optics makes many type of plastic fresnels with varying focal lengths and ridge spacing - may be worth a try.

I mostly use mine as a landscape camera, using zone-focus @ f/11 or f/16, so not really trying for close focus wide-open handheld.

A different screen might help too - some can be brighter than others, but there's usually a tradeoff. Brighter usually means the focus point "snaps" into focus a lot less than a dimmer screen, which often can show much more subtle differences in focus point.

If you think the 65 is bad, try the 47XL with the center filter! ;-)

-Ed

[Jac@stafford.net]

For very wide I gg focus the center and frame with an optical finder or wire frame which is surprisingly accurate.

[Dustyman]

Can you elaborate on the Big Shot rangefinder? It it an overlapping image rangefinder that's fixed at a certain distance? Is it at all adjustable to line up at a specified distance?

thx
Bruce

Good thought re: BigShot rangefinder. I use those on Cambo Maxiportraits, where it's a great match. Hadn't thought about it with the Cambo wide... hmm. May have to try that!

The straight-on viewfinder (I have both types, T-20 and T-21) is still dark. A couple things are at work here: it's a wide-angle lens with a lot of falloff, so the corners are going to be dark, regardless. Also, depending on what fresnel you have (if you have one), it may make the situation better but not ideal. Ultimately you want a fresnel that is mated to the focal length of the lens in question, to really optimize it. Supposedly Maxwell makes one but I haven't ever used one of his. There's probably some other cheaper alternatives, I know Edmund Optics makes many type of plastic fresnels with varying focal lengths and ridge spacing - may be worth a try.

I mostly use mine as a landscape camera, using zone-focus @ f/11 or f/16, so not really trying for close focus wide-open handheld.

A different screen might help too - some can be brighter than others, but there's usually a tradeoff. Brighter usually means the focus point "snaps" into focus a lot less than a dimmer screen, which often can show much more subtle differences in focus point.

If you think the 65 is bad, try the 47XL with the center filter! ;-)

-Ed

[EdSawyer]

The polaroid bigshot used a rangefinder. I've cannibalized a couple of them and used it on a Cambo maxiportrait, as it works great and is easily adjusted to match that focal length / focus distance. (240mm @ about 8 foot distance, for head-and-shoulder portraits). It could be matched to probably any other distance/focal length within reason, as well. There is some built-in adjustment and also of course it can be modified/bent/re-aligned. It could probably work great on a cambo-wide as well, for fixed-distance like for close-ups. It's one of the best available for that sort of purpose for a few reasons: cheap, easily available, and huge baselength (about 5.5" from what I can tell) which makes for very accurate focusing once adjusted correctly.

[joelio]

I just came across this thread - I missed out chasing my digital tail for a bit there - and love reading up on this camera.

I’ve had three Cambo wides now. An old 650 with an image circle that didn’t cover 4x5 and went right back to Adorama, a 470 that was too wide for my taste and sold on here and a newer 650 that while easy to use has a surprisingly dark ground glass even without the center filter attached.

I bought a relatively cheap viewfinder on the auction site that can be zoomed in and out for different focal lengths. Meh. I prefer a Cambo reflex viewer.

This is a fun set up with a bag full of grafmatics.