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Thread: Question: About R H Phillips

  1. #1

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    Question: About R H Phillips

    Question: Did R H Phillips make a 4x5 or a 5x7 field camera?

    This is the Phillips 8x10 Compact - What a beauty!

    Click image for larger version. 

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  2. #2
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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    4x5 yes, 5x7 no. I wrote a review of the 4x5 for Photo Techniques magazine way back when. The design is different from that of his 8x10 and ULF cameras - same floating front standard, but the rear standard works a bit differently.

  3. #3

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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    Thanks....if you find a copy of your review, I would love to read it. And/or any photos of the 4x5.
    J

  4. #4
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    That's the first version 8X10, the one I have, in fact, serial number 9. I made a few hardware modifications myself and discussed them with Dick Phillips; but by then he was already thinking of a revised model. I personally prefer this earlier one for its sheer simplicity. In addition to 8X10 and later a 4x5 model, he also made a few 11X14's, but no 5x7.

  5. #5

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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    Quote Originally Posted by Oren Grad View Post
    ...5x7 no...
    Maybe. I can't find the email right now, but recall Dick once wrote (after having earlier refused my request for a 5x7 "Compact II"), that he had previously made a single 5x7 for a female photographer in Europe. He didn't want to do it, so quoted an outrageous price. When the photographer agreed, he felt bound to honor his quote, but it was a one-off (no CNC files made), so no additional copies.

    Quote Originally Posted by Oren Grad View Post
    ...I wrote a review of the 4x5 for Photo Techniques magazine way back when. The design is different from that of his 8x10 and ULF cameras - same floating front standard, but the rear standard works a bit differently.
    Quote Originally Posted by jdurr View Post
    Thanks....if you find a copy of your review, I would love to read it. And/or any photos of the 4x5.
    J
    Here you go:


    Click "next" at the end of the text to read the following pages. There are three pages total.

  6. #6
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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    Thanks, Sal.

    Re 5x7, long ago the now-defunct dealer "The F Stops Here" listed for sale second-hand a one-off "5x7 Compact II clone", described as follows: "This is a custom built 5x7 Field using the Phillips Compact II design and much hardware from Phillips." Although I remember the camera and the listing from back then, no, I didn't actually remember the wording - amazingly, I was able to dig up the listing in the Wayback Machine:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20000531...llipsused.html

    I vaguely remember asking Jon Simich about it at the time - pretty sure it wasn't Chuck Farmer that I talked to - and being told that Dick had supplied some parts but did not build the camera himself. Although the picture is gone, I remember it as having a natural wood finish rather than the black of the 8x10 Compact II's that Dick made.

    I wonder what if any is the relationship between this camera and the 5x7 that you mention.

    And a PS, since we've opened this "can": one-off 5x7 aside, to my knowledge Dick built and offered for general sale at least the following models:

    4x5
    8x10 Advantage
    8x10 Compact
    8x10 Compact II
    8x10 Explorer (last production run was a version accepting Technika boards rather than the usual Sinar)
    11x14 Compact
    11x14 Explorer
    7x17 Explorer
    8x16
    12x20

    All of these were built and sold in batches - he did not maintain an ongoing inventory of completed cameras. For those models like the Compact II that had multiple production runs, there were often minor differences between the batches in hardware components such as knobs.

  7. #7

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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    Quote Originally Posted by Oren Grad View Post
    ...he did not maintain an ongoing inventory of completed cameras...
    He couldn't. Once his (and his cameras') reputation was established, they sold out almost immediately after a production run was announced.

  8. #8

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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    Quote Originally Posted by Sal Santamaura View Post
    Maybe. I can't find the email right now, but recall Dick once wrote (after having earlier refused my request for a 5x7 "Compact II"), that he had previously made a single 5x7 for a female photographer in Europe. He didn't want to do it, so quoted an outrageous price. When the photographer agreed, he felt bound to honor his quote, but it was a one-off (no CNC files made), so no additional copies.





    Here you go:


    Click "next" at the end of the text to read the following pages. There are three pages total.
    Thanks Sal and Oren!

  9. #9

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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    Quote Originally Posted by Oren Grad View Post
    Thanks, Sal.

    Re 5x7, long ago the now-defunct dealer "The F Stops Here" listed for sale second-hand a one-off "5x7 Compact II clone", described as follows: "This is a custom built 5x7 Field using the Phillips Compact II design and much hardware from Phillips." Although I remember the camera and the listing from back then, no, I didn't actually remember the wording - amazingly, I was able to dig up the listing in the Wayback Machine:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20000531...llipsused.html

    I vaguely remember asking Jon Simich about it at the time - pretty sure it wasn't Chuck Farmer that I talked to - and being told that Dick had supplied some parts but did not build the camera himself. Although the picture is gone, I remember it as having a natural wood finish rather than the black of the 8x10 Compact II's that Dick made.

    I wonder what if any is the relationship between this camera and the 5x7 that you mention.

    And a PS, since we've opened this "can": one-off 5x7 aside, to my knowledge Dick built and offered for general sale at least the following models:

    4x5
    8x10 Advantage
    8x10 Compact
    8x10 Compact II
    8x10 Explorer (last production run was a version accepting Technika boards rather than the usual Sinar)
    11x14 Compact
    11x14 Explorer
    7x17 Explorer
    8x16
    12x20

    All of these were built and sold in batches - he did not maintain an ongoing inventory of completed cameras. For those models like the Compact II that had multiple production runs, there were often minor differences between the batches in hardware components such as knobs.
    Thanks Oren!

  10. #10

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    Re: Question: About R H Phillips

    Great information! Thank you all!

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