New arrival: Chroma Carbon Adventurer

[LocalHero1953]

I've been patient and waited the minimum 14 weeks for it to be made - and it arrived this morning, together with a fresnel screen and extra bag bellows.
Everything as I expected - very sleek, well designed and made. In black 007 livery ready for the new Bond film, though I don't see him using a large format camera except as a disguised missile launcher.

[ericantonio]

So stealthy!! Congrats.

[Drew Wiley]

We need a new Dick Tracy movie with him reincarnated into the 21st Century. Old police Graflex replaced with something carbon fiber, maybe a new carbon fiber Dick Tracy hat too. Brave new world. That's an attractive camera! Let us know how rigid it is in real-world usage.

[LocalHero1953]

Just taken it out to take a first shot, of a rusty burnt out car on wasteland, so I took the Nikkor SE 90 5.6, with the bag bellows.
I'm an experienced photographer but very inexperienced in large format, and my only camera for comparison is a Gandolfi - read my comments accordingly.

Changing bellows is easy-peasy once you work out how it fits on the rear standard. It is possible to fold the camera with the bag bellows in place, but it's not easy - simpler to remove it.

Setting up is very quick with the magnetic detents. The front standard does not tilt forward itself (tilt is done with the pivoted lens panel), so is just rotated upright till it stops. The rear standard can tilt forward and back and has no detents, so you have to watch the bubble level. Front and rear rise and fall are centred by magnets. Rear swing is set just by aligning the rear standard with the edge of the baseboard. Front shift has a couple of markers to line up; front swing does not have an obvious centring method other than by eye - I may have missed something here.

The camera back arrives in portrait orientation, and is easy to change to landscape, but it only folds down for travel in portrait mode - something to remember.

It felt at least as rigid as the Gandolfi at such short focus and, with the bag bellows (not available on the Gandolfi), there was far less stress on the front standard when I tried fall and tilt.

The focusing rack does not lock - I'd be happier if it did, although it is nowhere near as loose as the Gandolfi (which does lock). I didn't have any problem with it though.

With front fall and tilt I had to move the rear standard forward to avoid getting the baseboard in the shot - easily managed. I could have pushed both standards close to the front.

In other respects it was perfectly straightforward to use. I hope to try it with a 240mm lens for a portrait in the next week so I shall find out how focusing works when racked out. There are essentially two overlapping panels that slide in guides above the baseboard to give longer extensions - the lower one is moved by the focusing rod, the upper one is just a friction slide and is normally pushed right in. Neither can be locked at maximum extension, although the upper one locks when the front standard is brought in a bit, It will be interesting to see how much sideways play there is at maximum extension. It will not 'rattle', but you may have to take care.

I have a couple of Linhof lens boards that came with lenses. Although they are notionally the same size as Chroma boards, the Linhof ones have a couple of very shallow protrusions top and bottom, which I assume help lock them in place, but they do not comfortably fit on the Chroma: one of mine does not fit, the other is awkward. I've ordered some extra Chroma ones, which are absolutely flat front and rear.
Edit: I should have added: the hole is set lower in the Linhof boards than in Chroma's, so even if they did fit, the lens would not be vertically centred when using the magnetic rise/fall detents.

[Vaughn]

Interesting camera. I like how they managed to be able to allow for the horizontal format...looks like a tight fit .

My travel 4x5 is half the weight -- but about a third of the capabilities (bellows, movements, etc). Mine (Gowland PocketView) will not handle portraits with a 240mm easily! Bought new for about US$200 in the early 80s. I might take mine backpacking this week (if I do not go with the 5x7). It was on a bicycle for 5 months in NZ, in my pack for a month bussing around Costa Rica, numerous backpacks trips down into the Grand Canyon and such places. I hope yours does as well over the years! Happy trails!