Older-style Nagaoka. Bellows draw, movements and rigidity adequate for my purposes. Very compact when folded. Weighs ~3.75 pounds. Sets up and takes down in seconds, with an action so simple I can do it blindfolded.
Ikeda is very similar in all respects.
Anyone who is shopping, be careful: many of the Japanese wooden cameras that show up on eBay these days are older models that use proprietary book-form film or plate holders rather than standard block-form holders.
3.75 punds is lighter or the same weight as a lot of 4x5s that's great! Wich lenses are you using on it?
Originally Posted by Oren Grad
"Best" 5x7 camera does not exist. There is no such camera as the "Best" camera for an extremely long list of truths, reality and facts.
What is realistic is what camera meets your image goal needs best with specific trade offs.
Bernice
I've always thought of the Canham 5X7 as the sweet point in his wooden camera lineup. But if price were no object, and I could juggle yet another format, I would bag an Ebony. More realistically, I could simply acquire a 5X7 rear and bellows for my Sinar Norma, or else make a 5x7 back for my Phillips 8x10 in my own reasonably well-equipped shop. There are all kinds of camera options. But clean 5x7 holders are getting harder to find.
Thats why I wrote "best" and not best. I don't look for a camera to buy myself in this thread, I am just interested in what people choose as their personal "best" 5x7 camera.
I don't want to know wich is the perfect camera but the best for the person answering, wich is exactly what you said: The Camera that meets your image goal needs best with specific trade offs. Or just the camera the fits you personally the best or you like the most even if it has flaws or x does not fit all your needs 100%. The "best" 5x7 for someone can objectively be the "worst" camera available.
Usually go out with two lenses - 210 Sironar-N and 150 Apo-Sironar (W). If only one lens, 180 Apo-Sironar-S. Have also used my 90/6.8 Caltar II-N (Grandagon) on occasion when I've been in the mood to experiment with ultrawide.
If someone really wants to get into 5x7 / is serious about shooting the format Chamonix makes great 5x7 holders. Obviously expensive but better than bad holders.
Film holder are a different topic. Toyo 5x7 film holders would have been good, except that never happened.
Primary importance with film holders is film flatness (adhesive or some method of assuring the film is... flat), accuracy from film holder seating face to film plate and durable.
Bernice
That said, Sinar remains the view camera of choice.. But, y'all knew that already.
Bernice
No -- I am not always in the woods! I do have a 4x5 that is either one or the other -- but because it is difficult to change (undoing screws and stuff that can get lost in the field), it is easier just to turn the camera 90 degrees with the head for the other orientation. I usually have it set up for vertical as the default. The camera only weighs a couple pounds, so no strain on the pod/head.
Edit
As you mentioned, it is a personal thing. I have a Sinar 5x7 I have not used and have no intention of using it. Too 'fiddly' for my personality. Too many bits and pieces. Bellows have holes in the corners, too, but so it goes. I believe the 5x7 back is a home-made job.
The Eastman View No.2 is a sweet, light, beastie that is also quite a beautifully made tool. It takes a different mind-set than mine to consider a Sinar to be beautiful.
Zion National Park
5x7, using the the 210mm, I think...forgot to write that down. Platinum print
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
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