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

[Dustyman]

Anyone have one and care to share your experiences, good or bad?

Also, what is the minimum focusing distance with the 65mm lens?
I am planning on shooting people rather close, and would like to know how close I can get.

Thanks

[EdSawyer]

I have one, it's a nice compact camera. Close-focus: depending on aperture, probably as close as about 3 feet or less. I believe the helical goes down to about 1m. be aware there will be a fair bit of wide-angle distortion at that point. Are you planning on ground-glass focusing on tripod or handheld with zone focus? the 65 has pretty nice deep DOF when @ f/16 or whatever, or even f/8, but close-focus is harder to get perfect than hyperfocal or longer distances in my experience.

For a viewfinder I find the Mamiya 7 43mm viewfinder to be a good approximation (and a great viewfinder in general.)

[Dustyman]

Thanks, Ed.
I don't mind some distortion, as the shots are more documentary than flattering portraits.
Do you think I can get a head and torso at a meter?
Combination of tripod and hand held. I actually have a Combo right angle focusing hood for my TWR54 which I think will fit. I'll have to rig some diopter for my eyes.
I need to find an appropriate cable release for the grip and hand held shooting.
The camera is being offered with Cambo viewfinder pictured. Do you know if it is any good?

I have one, it's a nice compact camera. Close-focus: depending on aperture, probably as close as about 3 feet or less. I believe the helical goes down to about 1m. be aware there will be a fair bit of wide-angle distortion at that point. Are you planning on ground-glass focusing on tripod or handheld with zone focus? the 65 has pretty nice deep DOF when @ f/16 or whatever, or even f/8, but close-focus is harder to get perfect than hyperfocal or longer distances in my experience.

For a viewfinder I find the Mamiya 7 43mm viewfinder to be a good approximation (and a great viewfinder in general.)

[Phil Hudson]

The camera is being offered with Cambo viewfinder pictured. Do you know if it is any good?

Resembles the Polaroid 600SE finder for the 75mm Mamiya-Sekor lens.....I remember my Cambo finder looking different and without the parallax dial.

[EdSawyer]

That finder was shipped with the Cambo Wide, in the past. It's one of their older ones (and made by Mamiya I think), it should work ok. I think it was marketed as a Mamiya 50mm (on 6x7 or 6x9?) finder, but not 100% sure.

The viewing hood (T-20 or T-21) will work fine. I use one on mine sometimes. (I have a TWR also, I think we have corresponded in the past about that.) I will test my 65 tonight and see what kind of head/shoulders image size I get at min focus distance.

That one you posted looks like a camera offered by a seller that also tried to sell it a few times on ebay. Here's a pic from their listing (thumbnail only).

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/14179...0/s-l140/p.jpg

I won the auction (this was in 2015) but they refused to honor the deal, and I left them negative feedback about it. Not sure if it's the same person but the camera and item(s) look suspiciously similar.

-Ed

[Pfsor]

That finder was shipped with the Cambo Wide, in the past. It's one of their older ones (and made by Mamiya I think), it should work ok. I think it was marketed as a Mamiya 50mm (on 6x7 or 6x9?) finder, but not 100% sure.
-Ed

50 mm Mamiya lens viewfinder, indeed, for 6x9!

[Dustyman]

Wow that's weird (about the 2015 auction). Where was the seller? Also, was was the winning bid (out of curiosity).

It's definitely the same camera, because the picture you sent was another shot from the Craigslist ad. I just got back from picking it up, in fact. Came with all the stuff in the picture you posted just now (Polaroid 545, 4x5 holders). The owner was in Australia, but he gave it to his daughter here in New York to sell. The asking price was $1200, but they accepted my $800 offer, which I thought was very fair. It was a smooth quick transaction. Camera looks good. The first thing I noticed was that the lens and shutter moved as I tried to cock the shutter. I had to screw the lens and shutter assembly into the helical mount to tighten it up. Had to spin it about 50 times before it got tight enough not to move when you changed speeds etc. Seems fine now now.

Wow. Small world!

(the Craigslist ad: https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/pho/6137346127.html )

That finder was shipped with the Cambo Wide, in the past. It's one of their older ones (and made by Mamiya I think), it should work ok. I think it was marketed as a Mamiya 50mm (on 6x7 or 6x9?) finder, but not 100% sure.

The viewing hood (T-20 or T-21) will work fine. I use one on mine sometimes. (I have a TWR also, I think we have corresponded in the past about that.) I will test my 65 tonight and see what kind of head/shoulders image size I get at min focus distance.

That one you posted looks like a camera offered by a seller that also tried to sell it a few times on ebay. Here's a pic from their listing (thumbnail only).

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/14179...0/s-l140/p.jpg

I won the auction (this was in 2015) but they refused to honor the deal, and I left them negative feedback about it. Not sure if it's the same person but the camera and item(s) look suspiciously similar.

-Ed

[Dustyman]

The frame inside pretty much matches (more or less) whats on the ground glass, so it seems ok for the 65mm lens.

thx

50 mm Mamiya lens viewfinder, indeed, for 6x9!

[EdSawyer]

Dustyman - the seller was in Australia. The selling price (which they didn't honor, scumbags...) was $518 + shipping. Pic attached:



I figured it was the same one - they had tried to sell it again on ebay several times since, and never found a buyer. I complained of course, but nothing happened really, and they discontinued their account on ebay anyway, so even the negative feedback didn't really matter ultimately.

Pricewise, that was a decent deal, not a world-beater ($518 would have been!), but fair overall. I'd put the value of the holders and finder at $75 - 100-ish which puts the camera and lens at about $700-725. Which is about in line for average price. I had gotten one for $647 but didn't include finder or holders (which is fine, I didn't need them), though it did include a cable release:



Overall these are great wide-angle handheld 4x5s, better than any of the other options I think. (travelwide, intrepid, etc.). Good to know the finder coverage is about right. I use the 43mm Mamiya 7 finder, mainly since I had a spare one, it's a nice finder, and it has a built-in bubble level which is pretty handy.

I have a 2nd Cambo wide body as well, and lenses & panels for the 90mm and 47mm XL. The 90 panel I modified slightly to fit the Nikkor 90mm f/8 (instead of the intended Super Angulon) since I think it's a better lens, and I had a spare one anyway. I looked into modifying the 65mm panel to fit the Nikkor 65/4, but it wasn't as easily done, so I stayed with the 65 S/A, which is a fine lens too of course.

Enjoy!

-Ed

[Jac@stafford.net]

50 mm Mamiya lens viewfinder, indeed, for 6x9!

Close enough