I am a photographer enthusiast. My favorite genres are generic nature, architecture, portrait. Till now I have been using DSLRs (Nikon D300). DSLRs are very good cameras, but I want better image quality for landscape, static macro, outdoor architecture photography. So I decided to purchase a large format camera (4x5”).
After reading the articles in this site, searching through forum archive and internet, checking my budget, I decided I should bye one of the following used monorail cameras available:
- Toyo View 45G;
- Cambo/Calumet 45NX;
- Sinar F.
Here are my considerations (I write them in hope someone will correct me where I am wrong):
- a monorail has more movements which are very important in architecture photography in particular;
- most monorails accept more accessories (longer rails for macro, bag bellows for wide lenses, etc...)
- a monorail is more rigid;
- yes, a monorail is heavier, but I am going to shoot with a tripod exclusively;

Unfortunately I cannot find full specifications on all of these cameras, so those of you who knows them, answer some my questions please:
- Do all of these cameras have all the movements (rise/fall, shift, tilt, swing) for both front and back?
- Do all of these cameras have scales for all their movements?
- Do all of these cameras have micro-fine focusing?
- Do all of these cameras have interchangeable bellows?
- Which of the three is the most rigid one?

Thank you, Mikhail.