Originally Posted by
EdSawyer
I have a lot of similar needs and such, as far as shooting and results go. I have a lot of 4x5 cameras, and have tried others as well. Here's what I think will work the best.
(aside: 105mm is going to feel somewhat wide I think. 120mm feels wide-ish normal, not as wide as 35mm on 35mm film, more like 40mm as I had mentioned. I haven't shot 105mm on 4x5 but I have shot 90mm a lot, and it feels wide, with some corner-pulling type distortion, feels like a 28mm or wider on 35mm film. I think you might find 105mm a bit wide for your taste if you don't want any of that sort of geometric distortion in the corners. )
1st: Saber. It's a great piece. There's a reason they are expensive. Buy once, cry once. It's worth it, I'd get one again in a heartbeat, it's the lightest/smallest 4x5 I have ever seen (when folded up, with a grafmatic). The rangefinder is the key to the speed here, no real need for ground glass if you are at least shooting at f/11 or smaller.
2nd: Crown Graphic with Kalart. It can be calibrated to the 105mm and can be spot-on, so you can trust the rangefinder. Again, this will help the speed a lot. (And you can definitely get sharp hand-held photos on 4x5.). It folds up quite compact, very versatile, rather light weight too. Get the version with the Graflok back.
3rd: Polaroid Byron: I haven't used one of these, but it is by far the best of the Polaroid 900-style conversions. Not cheap but can be made to suit your needs very well I'd think. It's the only 900-type polaroid conversion I'd consider worth pursuing. The rest are too compromised in many ways, and that includes DIY versions.
4th: Some sort of custom Cambo Wide type, fixed cone helical or bellows-based camera. There's many varieties of these, from the DIY Fletcher type stuff, to an actual Cambo Wide, to the Fotoman and other chinese versions. The downside is no coupled rangefinder on any of them, so you are either guesstimating focus (which can work ok on say a 65mm lens, at f/16-f/32, but not so easy with a 105mm at wider apertures). This cuts down on speed-of-use a lot, since you mostly need to use GG to focus. If going the DIY route, expect to spend a fair bit of time building something to a high-level of precision, even stuff like calibrating focus and curing light leaks can be a huge pain in the ass and take a lot of time.
If money is not a big problem, spend the $1500-ish and get a Chamonix Saber with the 120mm and see how you like it. They are in enough demand you could easily resell it and not lose any $. Chamonix might even be able to fit it with a 105mm for you, it's worth asking them if it's possible.
Good luck.
-Ed
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