Toyo 45A Front Swing Movement

[Rene Limjoco]

I had my first LF shot last week with a Toyo Field 45A and it was great.

I had a problem though making front swings because unlike my Linhof Technika IV the Toyo has the same lock for the front standard draw and swing. The Toyo 45A manual says "...the pawls of the infinity stops must be folded down to clear the front standard in this operation." I understand this instruction because if you don't fold down the infinity stop pawls the front standard will effectively draw back when you make swing adjustments - hence losing infinity focus. However, I'll also lose infinity focus when I make front swings with the infinity stop pawls folded down because unlocking the front standard (when making swings) will also shift the unlocked front standard forward or back along the bed.

Is this an inherent problem with the Toyo 45A? Am I doing it wrong? Is there a workaround?

Sharing below my first LF picture. I applied front swing, disabled the infinity stops, and just used the bed reference scale to approximate infinity focus for the lens.


Toyo 45A-II field camera, 4x5 large format, Nikkor-SW 75mm f/4.5
6-Stop ND filter, 2mins-3-secs exposure, f/64
Shanghai GP3, B&W film, ASA100
Developed in Ilford DD-X
Scanned with Epson V800
Post-processed in Lightroom Classic