Burke & James 5x7

[NebrGuy]

The camera is very easy to frefinish. Make sure that you use the correct sized screwdriver(s) to take it apart. I actually labeled each screw and the corresponding place/hole where it came out of. ... In the 1970s hiked many a gorge south of Rochester, New York with an 8x10 B&J Commercial View, holders, and more in a surplus backpack. The camera never failed me, and that's after taking a fair amount of falls on iced over streams. Lately I have been toying with the idea of acquiring a B&J Commercial View, restoring it, and then displaying it in our living room. Yes I would also take it outside and use it....

Thanks for sharing. I would like to refinish it at some point. I've heard that they can be quite beautiful when stripped of the gray paint.

I love hearing the history you have with the camera. That's incredible.

[MIke Sherck]

Mine looks just like yours but says "Grover" on top of the rear standard. I'm told these sorts of differences are common between otherwise similar/almost identical examples. I have read that B&J farmed out production to several small shops in the Chicago area and minor variations are not unheard of. Mine will just focus a 90mm Super Angulon at infinity on a flat lensboard and without a rear extension rail will focus a 360mm a bit closer than infinity. A rear extension rail just about doubles the length of the camera but the bellows stops 2 or 3 inches short of that.

[paulbarden]

I've got one of those. Bought it for $150 a couple years ago, and I've made some of my best work with it. A camera doesn't have to be "special" - it just has to be able to do good work.

[Dugan]

Here's mine "on the job" from last summer.

[Tin Can]

I expect a Grover catalog soon

I have a 5X7 rail Grover I had to buy from the same idiot one piece at a time, tears ago

Not Johnny Cash here and that is 2 puns

soon as...

[mdarnton]

To answer one question: when I had mine I made a recessed board for it and could fit a 65mm/5.6 Super Angulon, but the lens didn't cover. No possibility of movements with that combo. I believe the 75/5.6 Super Angulon just about does cover.

The camera:


BJ 5x7 w/65mm Super Angulon!
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr


The results:


Adams St
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr


Another:


Federal Plaza
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr

[NebrGuy]

To answer one question: when I had mine I made a recessed board for it and could fit a 65mm/5.6 Super Angulon, but the lens didn't cover. No possibility of movements with that combo. I believe the 75/5.6 Super Angulon just about does cover.

The camera:


BJ 5x7 w/65mm Super Angulon!
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr


The results:


Adams St
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr


Another:


Federal Plaza
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr

Thanks for sharing your experience and answering a question. This post makes me want to get out and shoot. Now if the weather would just warm up and spring would set in.

[Drew Bedo]

One last thing from me on this:

when I had my B&J and took it out of the house and into the field, I REVERSED the camera body on the bed so that the track folded up over the front standard. I felt that that protected the lens when packing, unpacking and generally moving around.

There was a 4x5 reducing back on it with a Grafloc GG and hood, so that end was protected too.

[Michael Roberts]

You can find a description of your camera on page 12 of the 1951 Burke and James catalog on cameraeccentric.com

https://www.cameraeccentric.com/stat.../pdfs/bj_2.pdf

[NebrGuy]

You can find a description of your camera on page 12 of the 1951 Burke and James catalog on cameraeccentric.com

https://www.cameraeccentric.com/stat.../pdfs/bj_2.pdf

Thanks for sharing the link to this and pointing out the page. Greatly appreciate it. I wonder if there was ever an instruction sheet or booklet for this camera. Not interested in the how to of using it as much as just what was printed for it.

If only we could buy lenses for the prices listed in the catalog.