Arca 4x5 F-Classic

[SAShruby]

Hey folks,

New Arca member is here. 4x5 Arca F-Classic

I'm not sure if it was a good deal, I'm not very familiar with pricing. Was this a good deal?

[Sheldon N]

Congrats! Looks like the camera is in great shape.

The pricing is just a touch on the high side, but that appears to be supported by the condition of the camera. Badger Graphic has had the same model of used Arca F-Line for sale for a couple months now for $2595, so in comparison you got a steal! Traditionally the 171-171 F-Line cameras will sell between $1200-1500 depending on the generation and condition.

The lensboard adapter is probably worth $150, so your price is pretty much right where it should be. Plus it will be nice to be able to keep your lenses on smaller Arca 110x110mm (6x9 size) lensboards. Not sure if the adapter will take Linhof Tech boards, but I'd guess not.

Now you just need to find one of the leather bag bellows to use for wide angle lenses. The leather ones are nice and allow a LOT of movements, yet still stretch out long enough to possibly use a 210mm lens. The synthetic bag bellows are supposed to be good too, but I haven't used them. The normal bellows will handle up to a 360mm lens on the long end, so you can cover quite a range with 2 bellows.

KEH has the leather bellows right now for $144, listed in "Bargain" condition. They are pretty conservative, so I'd guess that it would be useable with a little cleaning. Its not too hard to patch any pinholes either, just use a little bit of some black fabric paint that craft stores sell to draw on T-Shirts.

The nice thing about the 171mm frame size is that it allows for a lot more rise than the smaller 110 or 141mm format frames. The only downside is the size/weight.

Welcome to the club! Now you just need to learn the secret handshake.

[SAShruby]

Secret handshake? Well, how much does it costs?

Shelon, thanks for the advice and tip, my next step was to buy a bag bellows. I will contact KEH if they can send me a picture of the item.

[Darren H]

Congratz on the camera. Ditto to everything Sheldon said about Arca.

If your adapter is the Arca 110 adapter then it wil take the Arca 110 boards but not the Linhof Tech boards (although there is an adapter that will goto the Linhof boards).

I have a Discovery and use the 110 adapter and the leather wide angle bellows. That with a folding rail make your camera very compact and easy to haul around. That also makes the package about as small as the F- Field (at a lower price point).

The WA leather bellows is very nice and is fully usable with a 210mm lens as well as any wide angle (I use it with a 75mm). In fact it is my standard bellows to use, I rarely use the regular anymore.

Again, a great camera. Enjoy it!

[Peter Lewitt]

You will love this camera. The leather WA bellows works from 47 out to 210mm, then switch to the standard bellows if you need close focus with the 210.

One caution: The interior of the leather bellows is the rough side, dyed black. One that I bought used had a lot of leather or dye particles flaking off. It was in otherwise excellent condition and not cheap. It may have been a bad one or dried out. I sent it back and ordered a new one. This was a replacement for the synthetic bellows because the leather version makes a more compact package.

[SAShruby]

Secret handshake? Well, how much does it costs?

Shelon, thanks for the advice and tip, my next step was to buy a bag bellows. I will contact KEH if they can send me a picture of the item.

Sorry Sheldon

[SAShruby]

Thanks boys...you made me happy this morning, still, secret handshake? Can I find it on YouTube? LOL

[Sheldon N]

Here are your choices for the secret handshake. It takes a bit of practice.

There's the formal version...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsA1eO6t88o

And the more casual modernized version...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqOmosm-h1k

[LargeFormatShooter]

Mr. Shuby,

Why everytime you buy from ebay you come here und ask if goot deal or not? Are you just come here to brag about vot you chust buy? I think you be a troll for pat on back.

Ist not a goot deal. Ist a vaste of verry goot camera.

I say before you should use insta-point and shoot camera only. You vill get sharper picture.

I alvays get goot laugh about you.

[SAShruby]

Here are your choices for the secret handshake. It takes a bit of practice.

There's the formal version...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsA1eO6t88o

And the more casual modernized version...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqOmosm-h1k

Cool.