Nice looking rig! Glad you worked out all the issues with the back. Good luck on your adventure!
Best of luck! No doubt that you'll put it to good use. I do miss mine, although it went to a good home.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
Hi Guys,
A very interesting thread - thank you all for posting.
I saw a KMV quite a while ago when I attended a wet-plate course, but have not persued the aquisition of one - they are really rare in the UK.
I do, howver, still own one of a pair of Kodak Commercial View cameras that I bought 15 or 20 years ago. This is the one made between the late 30s and early 40s as a magnesium version of the 2D. From what I gather from various sites, this was discontinued due to the military demand for magnesium for the war effort. At one point I was going to convert the poorer of the two to an 8 x 20 camera, but didn't get round to it and sold it when I was scaling down my kit.
The KCV is a great bit of kit but the KMV does seem much more "field friendly". The KCV has an additional base board to extend the bellows which is something else to carry; does the KMV work like a giant Linhof Technika?
I hope you have a good time in Europe, Cameron.
Best wishes,
Sue
Sue, if this helps, the KMV is more like a metal Deardorff or Gandolfi, although the Technika comparison is not too far off. It is a clamshell type camera; Closed, it sits flat on the tripod, and you raise the rear standard from its base. Then set up the front standard and extend the bellows.
The KMV is more compact than the Commercial, to be sure. It does not have as much bellows extension, but front tilts are built-in.
They are both excellent cameras; I've used both but preferred the KMV for field use- in fact I owned one for some years. I suspect that the Commercial would do better with very long lenses, a colleague used a 28"(?) Turner-Reich convertible lens on his.
So "horses for courses".
I just bought a KMV after waiting decades. It strikes me as just right in so many ways. If it works out, I'll be selling three other 8x10s.
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