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Thread: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

  1. #11

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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    Quote Originally Posted by AdamD View Post
    Hi again,

    I moved both standards to one side of the tripod mount and pulled a measurement standard to standard. I'm going to try to post pictures, but I've never had luck doing that in this forum ��.

    Anyway, the two standards minimum distance is 3.5" or just under 90mm. So, it seems to me a 90mm will just barely work straight through and not allow for movements. Let me try pictures now.....
    You have set the camera up correctly. For set up, see https://static.cambo.com/Files/SC2_Manual.pdf

    If you reverse the rear standard, with no bellows fitted the two function carriers (the parts of the standards that accept lens board/back and bellows) can be made to touch. This will seem to make shooting in landscape impossible, for that you need the stupid Cambo trick. Lay the camera on its side. Remember, the rail is square and the tripod mounting block doesn't care whether the camera is upright or on its side. You may need a bag bellows to get much movement.

    It is a modular camera. Take advantage of the modularity.

  2. #12

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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    Bag bellows and recessed lens board will give you a bit more relief and flexibility.

  3. #13

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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Fromm View Post
    You have set the camera up correctly. For set up, see https://static.cambo.com/Files/SC2_Manual.pdf

    If you reverse the rear standard, with no bellows fitted the two function carriers (the parts of the standards that accept lens board/back and bellows) can be made to touch. This will seem to make shooting in landscape impossible, for that you need the stupid Cambo trick. Lay the camera on its side. Remember, the rail is square and the tripod mounting block doesn't care whether the camera is upright or on its side. You may need a bag bellows to get much movement.

    It is a modular camera. Take advantage of the modularity.
    I have to be totally honest with you, but I'm confused by your post. I think you are saying that the rear standard can be flipped around? If so, I once tried this, but the vertical posts of the standard got in the way of getting the film holders in place.

    I think I need a video or photos of someone else's rig to see a different way.

    I just need to buy a field camera!!! LOL...

  4. #14

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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    Quote Originally Posted by AdamD View Post
    I have to be totally honest with you, but I'm confused by your post. I think you are saying that the rear standard can be flipped around? If so, I once tried this, but the vertical posts of the standard got in the way of getting the film holders in place..
    That's right. If you look at the back, you'll see that it is what is called a reversible back. You can remove it -- same process as removing a lens board or detaching the bellows -- and rotate it by 90 degrees and re-attach it so that the insertion end of the back points up. At this point, you'll be able to insert the film holder. However, the film will be in portrait, i.e., the long edge will be vertical. If you want landscape, with long edge of the film horizontal lay the camera on its side.

    Play with it a bit and you'll understand what I've just told you.

  5. #15

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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    OOOOHHHH! I GOT IT NOW.

    See, that's totally out of the box (pun intended) thinking. My skill and knowledge is barely in a box....but I get it now.

    I'll give that a look.

    Seems like a pain in the ass and yet further justification I need a different camera, but solving problems is always fun!!

    Many thanks Dan.

  6. #16

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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    Quote Originally Posted by AdamD View Post
    OOOOHHHH! I GOT IT NOW.

    See, that's totally out of the box (pun intended) thinking. My skill and knowledge is barely in a box....but I get it now.
    Congratulations. Its what we all do.

  7. #17

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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    You would need the bag bellows for movements. I have one of these (or at least a version of) and use it with an 89mm lens in the configuration you have here with bag bellows. You can get quite a bit of movement - more likely to be restricted by the lens than the camera.
    There is another hack you can try, which (I think) allows you to leave the standards on either side of the tripod mount, but it only works with portrait orientation. If you take the bellows and back off and swing the rear standard 180 degrees, the back gets much closer to the lens. The bellows and back still fit because the mount is the same for both. Only trouble is, you can only get a film holder in in the vertical orientation.

  8. #18
    schafphoto's Avatar
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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    OR you can go wider if... you can get your hands on the OLD Cambo "double lock" standards.

    That's what I have on my 4x5/5x7 Cambo custom HABS camera. Since a large proportion of HABS/HAER photography requires wide angle lenses, (and it's harder to fiddle with the shutters in recessed lens boards) I rebuilt my camera with the rear standard shifted forward (custom) and then utilized a circa 1970 OLD-style double locking standard. 47mm and 55mm lens, no problem. My 55 and my 72mm don't need to be in recessed boards. (I'll post a photo later). The OLD-style double locks were a feature meant to allow the front/rear shift to be controlled by two separate locks. (PHOTO 1 and 2) The drawback of this early design being that the swings became off axis. It didn't take long for Cambo to redesign this flaw.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    (photo 1 OLD-style double lock (wide angle) standards)

    Click image for larger version. 

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    (photo 2 OLD-style double lock (wide angle) standards)

    But the great feature of the OLD-style was that the standards were able to be compressed further because they were offset. With a bag bellows, recessed lensboard, non-rotating 4x5 back and the double-lock (wide angle) standards, the rear element of most lenses would touch the ground glass. And you never need to move the rail clamp.

    Here's the other configurations:

    Normal standards are aligned on axis at the center of the standard and the center lock controls both swing and shift. (Single Lock)

    Click image for larger version. 

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    (Single (simple) locking Cambo/Calumet standards)

    NEW-style double locking Cambo standards came out later in the 1970s, these NEW-style double locks were on axis and the offset standards seem to have been discontinued based on years of looking for more modern versions and never seeing any that looked newer than around 1970s.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    (NEW-style Cambo double locking standards)
    `
    –Stephen Schafer HABS | HAER | HALS & Architectural Photography | Ventura, California | www.HABSPHOTO.com

  9. #19
    schafphoto's Avatar
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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    BTW, one on the (many) cameras Julius Shulman used was a wide angle version of the Calumet 4X5 CC402 (with spacers offsetting the front standard rearward) Like this one at KEH:
    Click image for larger version. 

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  10. #20
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    Re: Cambo 4x5...how to know how wide you can go

    Here's my heavily modified HABS-HAER-HALS camera with a front standard that utilizes the NEW-style double lock knob on the side and the shift lock from an even older 1960s era SuperCambo with the lever with a ball tip. Polished to shiny aluminum for no particular reason. 72mm XL lens on a flat board. Yellow measuring tape on board serves no purpose except that the lenses are color-coded on the edges of the lens-boards and the 72mm is yellow.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    (I have since abandoned the LEE filter holder for the Benro.)

    Custom rear standard is a Cambo 5x7 frame attached directly to a Stabila level with no movements. Which permits the 5x7 and 4x5 reduction backs to interchange. (4x5 Bosscreen version shown.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    `
    –Stephen Schafer HABS | HAER | HALS & Architectural Photography | Ventura, California | www.HABSPHOTO.com

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