Luxurious Cameras vs. Plain Jane Cameras and your Camera of Choice!

[Ron Bose]

My name is Ron and I'm a cameraholic ...

For LF:
Sinar F2 with a ton of accessories and cases.
This was my first LF and would love to sell it but it isn't worth anywhere near as much as I paid for it.

Wisner 4x5 Traditional.
Lovely, lovely camera, but I knew that maintaining it would be too hard (in the long-run) so I sold it to help pay for something more versatile.

8x10 Agfa-Ansco.
This was one of those gray painted beasts which someone had spent a lot of time cleaning off the paint to reveal the wood below. Unfortunately during shipping the front standard got damaged due to poor packing. It's a lovely old thing, I'm waiting for the right barrel lens to come along for it.

Linhof Technikardan 45s.
This is a great camera, I have no problems folding and unfolding. Strong, and versatile.

Phillips 8x10 Compact-II.
After waitng 2.5 years (Dick thought that I wanted an Explorer so my name went from one list to another) I finally received this black beauty. This is the Porsche 911 of 8x10 cameras.

Gandolfi 4x5 Variant II in Black MDF.
I kinda missed the old style field camera. So when a fellow forumer was selling this Gandolfi I jumped at it. This is surprisingly a nice camera, it's heavy, boy is it heavy, but it's rigid and strong. I have no fears about long term maintenance as I did with the Wisner. It's a bit more fiddly, lots of controls. BTW did I mention that it's heavy ?

8x10 to 5x7 Reduction Back for the Phillips.
I wonder if this is the only such beast in the world. It's a Canham 5x7 back mounted on a Phillips compatible black back.

Chamonix 45N-1.
I originally intended to sell the Gandolfi and replace it with the Chamonix, but I found that I couldn't let the Gandolfi go. I bought the Chamonix initially for myself and then decided to give it to the girlfriend so we could shoot together.

Canham Wood 5x7.
I got this because the 5x7 reduction back on my Phillips Compact-II was not going to cut it. I have officially fallen in love with 5x7, it's not even funny.

With the exception of the Phillips, everything was bought used and with the exception of the Sinar I couldn't let any one of them go.

btw anyone want to buy a beautiful black Leica M5 ?????

[Alan Davenport]

Cameras do NOT take photos. Lenses take photos. All the camera does is allow the photographer to position the lens, relative to the film, prior to releasing the shutter.

You've heard it before, now hear it again: a camera is just a box with a lens at one end and a piece of film at the other end.

Admittedly, my LF camera experience is limited to a non-geared monorail and a Tachihara, but I stand firmly on the tenet that, once a camera has sufficient movement and rigidity to do the job, everything else is bells and whistles. The entry-level field cameras such as the Tachihara and Shen Hao meet that standard.

And no, I don't lust after cameras from the other end of the price spectrum; I'd rather save my money for a lens that can make a better photo.

[Ole Tjugen]

Cameras do NOT take photos. Lenses take photos. All the camera does is allow the photographer to position the lens, relative to the film, prior to releasing the shutter.

It's neither: Photographers take photos. A camera and lens that allows the photographer to get the photo he/she wants with a minimum of interference is a good one.

You've heard it before, now hear it again: a camera is just a box with a lens at one end and a piece of film at the other end.

And a photographer behind it. And just as some lenses are "better" than others, so some cameras are "better" than others. But since the really important bit is the photographer, opinions will always differ on the definition of "better".

[BrianShaw]

It's neither: Photographers take photos. A camera and lens that allows the photographer to get the photo he/she wants with a minimum of interference is a good one.

Photographers create imagery... cameras and lenses just make it easier to share the imagery with others. (You ought to see some of the imagery I carry around in my head!)

[Brian Ellis]

The Deardorff doesn't have "far less features/movements" than the Tachihara/ Nagaoka type cameras, it actually has the same movements - front swing (most Deardorffs), tilt, rise, and fall and back swing and tilt. As to the other cameras you mention, we could quibble over how much less is "far less" but in general the only movement the Deardorff lacks that some of the other cameras you mention have is some form of shift (not important to me, maybe important to others). Also, the Deardorff weighs about 12 lbs, not what I'd consider a "behemoth" for an 8x10 camera.

I've never owned a Canham, Ritter, or Wehman. But in 4x5 I've owned two Ebonys, two Linhof Technikas, a Linhof Technikardan, two Tachiharas, and a Chamonix over a period of about 15 years. In each case I discarded one and bought another because of the changing importance over time of different aspects or features of different cameras (except for the Technikardan, which I just plain didn't like) or because my way of "seeing" changed (for example, starting out using predominantly longer lenses to my present use of wider angle lenses). As to what I got with "luxury" cameras (Ebonys, Technikas) vs the economy models (Tachihara and Chamonix), with a Technika I got a huge amount of pleasure of use because everything that was supposed to move did so easily and smoothly, everything that wasn't supposed to move didn't, the build quality was great, and the cameras were very simple to set up, use, and take down. With the Ebonys I got back movements that were easier to use than the Technika backs. With the Tachiharas/Chamonix I got a much lower price, movements that were perfectly adequate for me, lower weight, and cameras that were well-made if not really in the Technika/metal camera class.

Ebay has made it much more feasible to sell equipment at a retail price than it used to be so switching around hasn't involved a major financial loss. I still think that Technikas are the finest 4x5 cameras made in terms of build quality and smoothness and ease of operation but as I've done less 4x5 work those qualities became less important and as I've aged weight became more important. I'm not an Ebony fan, I was disappointed in both of the ones I owned considering all I had read about them and their price. The Tachihara/Shen-Hao/Chamonix cameras are great bargains IMHO and are perfectly adequate for everything I photograph.

Ease of use and simplicity of operation are very important to me. I don't like "fiddly" cameras or cameras that are a pain to set up. With the exception of the Technikardan (for me, maybe not for others) all of the cameras I've owned met those two criteria.

I've also flirted with 5x7 (Agfa-Ansco) but abandoned it because I didn't have a 5x7 enlarger and thought 5x7 contact prints were too small for most of the things I photograph (this was pre-scanning/digital printing). And 8x10 too with two Deardorffs and a Kodak 2D. I have a love/hate relationship with 8x10 and got rid of each of my 8x10s during "hate" phases but I loved the Deardoffs. The 2D was a nice camera as well, especially after Richard Ritter added front tilt for me, but it wasn't as easy to use as the Deardorffs.

[Dan Fromm]

Ah, Emmanuel. Calme, luxe, et volupté.

I had no idea that you were so well-paid. I don't think, though, that the original poster would recognize your cameras from Besançon as what he calls luxuries, even the pretty little reflex.

Thinking of cameras that aren't luxuries, have you noticed the 13x18 Ilko on eBay.fr? It seems a tiny bit crude but appeals. I'm safe, we just paid the vet quite a lot of money to repair our parrot, but it tempts anyway.

Cheers,

Dan

p.s., good to see you back

[Brian Ellis]

"Cameras do NOT take photos."

Right

"Lenses take photos"

Wrong

[timparkin]

Photographers create imagery... cameras and lenses just make it easier to share the imagery with others. (You ought to see some of the imagery I carry around in my head!)

Wrong :-)

Photographers imagine photographs, cameras realise photographs. The imagining is art, the realisation is craft.

The tools that allow realisation should not inhibit the imagination.

My choice in camera ended up as an Ebony 45SU - not because it was the best tool for the job (how could I know?) but because from the information I had at hand made me fairly sure it wouldn't stop me making great pictures if I had it in me to do so. It also satisfied my 'functional design beauty' criterion. I'm sure that if I were budget limited I would definitely choose a Chamonix - mainly because I've now had one in my hands (a friend has bought a 4x5 one) and they're extremely good value for money. If I weren't so fussy about weight and beauty, I probably would have bought an Arca Swiss F line or a Linhof Technikardan.

Tim

[Richard M. Coda]

Started out with a hand-me-down Speed Graphic. Moved "up" to a new Omega 45D after college. Then bought a B&J 8x10, and then a Kodak 2D, and then a Kodak MasterView 8x10. All served their purpose - to make me a better photographer.

Later, after I could afford one I bought an Ebony SV45U. It was like a Rubic's Cube (to me). Got rid of it and am now an Arca Swiss man... 4x5 Field, 8x10 F Metric, and now a Canham-Arca custom 11x14 back on order. I believe they are the best-made cameras out there and I don't envision having to but another camera again, save for a disaster. I still have the MasterView if anyone's interested in it.

[Ron Marshall]

My first LF camera was a Sinar F1. I purchased it mainly because it had a solid reputation and I got an excellent deal. It is easy to use, smooth, has lots of available accesories. However it has one major drawback for the type of photography I like to do: weight. So I bought a Toho 4x5. Small, light, takes lenses from 55mm to 450mm (with extension board), well made, sturdy. Does everything I want.

I probably would have been just as happy with a Phillips; but that is the only other camera I can think of at any price that would suit me. If there was a "better" camera available at twice the price it wouldn't interest me, because the Toho is good enough.