I had written a review of the Vist 8x10 when it first appeared a couple of years ago. I purchased the latest version (version 3 I believe) since the new features appealed to me. Plus given that the cost (< $600) was less than a couple of 4x5's I have owned, I wanted to give it a shot. I have no connection to the camera builder, Virginijus who lives in Lithuania. But he has always been friendly, helpful and easy to deal with. He deserves the credit for trying to cater to 8x10 enthusiasts with a reasonably well priced camera with nice features.

The new features are definitely worthwhile.
  1. The rear film holder panel can now be unclipped and rotated to change from horizontal to vertical orientation. No need to turn the whole camera as I had to do in v1
  2. The biggest improvement for me is that the front standard can now do tilt, swing and shift
  3. The rear standard can tilt and tilt back more than the vertical position. However I wish there was a notch in the metal bracket to allow for a detent in the vertical position
  4. The lens board mount has changed to a more common Sinar mount


A couple of things I had issues with:
  • The front standard is difficult to grab and lift up from the close position of the camera
  • The metal brackets may scratch or bruise the bellows if you are not careful during opening or closing the camera.
  • The sliding motion to focus works well, but I really wish there was a control for fine focusing (it may be too much to ask for in a compact design like this)


I did some of my own feature improvements. I replaced the metal washers with nylon ones, stained the wood, added a bubble level on top and added a fresnel that also serves to protect the ground glass. The camera does fold down to something compact, easy to grab and reasonably light (8 lbs, including the Arca style tripod mount but no lens). I am yet to take it out for a spin but I plan to do so soon.