As there is little to no info about this camera anywhere online, and seeing as how I just got one of these wonders, I decided it would be nice to write up a review about this Wisner convertible classic 8X10 camera.
See the entire album of photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...5824714&type=3
Some background is in order. For those who are not familiar with it, the Wisner classical manufacturing company, was camera maker in Marion MA, set up by Ron Wisner, the son of a church organ maker. The company made various traditional and folding large format cameras, mostly made of mahogany and brass, finished in tons of shellac which gave it a super shiny look. The bellows were often made of kid calf leather, finished in red or burgundy. At some point in the late 90's and early 2000's the company ran into some problems, and stopped making cameras soon after. Wisner then moved on to making boats and sails.
From what info is available, it appears that these cameras were custom made, to order, and not many at all were made (one source claims only a dozen were made), and by dating and styling, it appears this one was made sometime in the early 80's, though, who knows. It appears that this was to be some type of modular camera with alternating backs/standard to make several formats on a common base and front standard. Everything on this camera is modular, and all components are detachable.
This is somewhat of an unusual design, as most flatbed (tail boat) cameras are light and somewhat flimsy, whereas this one is massive, with thick everything, and is far from light. When all locked down it seems to stay quite solid, even at some extreme draw. On the other hand, due to the massive weight of each component and the less then fine gears and tracks, movement is not so smooth as one might expect from such a finely looking device.
When folded, the section of the bed which folds up, does not seem to have any latch to hang on to, and so is left bobbing around. This may or may not have been part of the original design. The camera also comes with a very long single piece extension bed, which makes the max draw an impressive 35 inches (16" without the extension). The bed has some funky bellow draw equations for those with a head for math (and no cheat sheets). The matchup between the extension and the camera is quite perfect, and no where near the micrometer precision once claimed by Wisner about the tolerance of his cameras, making gearing over from one section to the next a bit of a chore when racking out the front standard. The tripod plate is also geared, and has a real hard time sliding on the extension plate, though one can imagine that with the weight of a lens, and the entire set up mounted on a tripod it might behave a bit differently. It is unclear if this is a fitment problem, or a simple question of technique.
The knobs are a combination of brass shafts and wood caps, which is true for all the features on this camera, all completely integrated wood and metal. On the front and rear, there are separate knobs for rise/fall and tilt movements, which is nice, and all are nicely placed to not conflict the use of each other. On the front, the swing and shift movements are controlled by two separate knobs, but at the rear, they are both locked down by one massive lever/knob. All knobs and locks are nice and big in good Wisner tradition, so are the latches and handles.
The bellows has enough flexibility to accommodate almost all the movements the camera has to offer, though it might become a problem with extra short lenses (210mm and shorter).
One mystery I have yet to figure out, is what is the function of the stainless metal swinging bracket on the bottom of the camera... Perhaps someone here can educate the rest of us?
All in all this is a cool yet strange way to go about shooting 8X10, In the studio this would make an amazing tool. In any case, I am pretty sure this will last forever even under some serious heavy use.
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Originally Posted by Mark Sampson
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