Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

While almost everyone is raving and drooling over the 5D Mark IV announcement, I'm excited to have acquired this 4x5 Cambo SC2. It is replacing a older long rail Calumet that I have been using which will now live in the studio on the copy stand for my macro work. This is a heavy but awesome camera that I can't wait to start making work with.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Here is a scene on the ground glass

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Very nice! I've been looking for a 4x5 view camera. Let us see some prints if you have a way to digitize and post them. (I know that will be a compromise in quality compared to an original print, but would still like to see...)

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

I certainly will. It might be some time before I can as I am switching things around in the darkroom.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Congratulations on that. I've been using a Graphic View II for over 45 years. I love it. Looking forward to seeing your work with this.
--Bob

sr71 Loc: In Col. Juan Seguin Land

oooooh!! that must be one big digital camera

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

cambos are really nice cameras, and you will have a lot of fun using it. the sc2 was a greatly improved model over the sc, particularly in the tighter focusing capability and control of the front and rear standards. you chose very well. by the way, great image on your screen. don't forget a good focusing cloth and a tilt pan head for your tripod. it makes everything so much easier.

just to note, you have a wide angle bag bellows on the camera. standard bellows are readily available on ebay, new, for around $75.00. all the best to you.

Kuzano

I see you have the bag bellows so you can use shorter focal lengths and still have movements. These monorail camera's are the least expensive way to get into medium format, because of the bulkier, more cumbersome handling in the field. You can buy monorail camera's for a fraction of the folding field camera's, because of the more attractive option of the smaller camera. There is one monorail that has all the features and movements of monorail, and is back packing size. It is the Gowland Pocket model. There are a couple of others as well that I can't think of at the moment.

It's nice to have all the perspective movements of a monorail, or an expensive folding field camera with back movements, but not necessary. A good range on movements on only the front standard is ample for most, particularly on landscape photography.

Where price is concerned, if you want less expensive, the least expense folding field camera (old press camera) is a graflex Crown Graphic in good shape and they are all over eBay. KEH has them as well. Lenses are the same for monorail, so prices are similar. However, there is a huge inventory of older lenses, and large format lenses are more forgiving on high quality images considering the huge quality improvement on large format over smaller film and ALL digital.

And regarding the one generation loss of digitizing large format, that overlooks the quality retention by having the film enlarge and wet chemistry printed.

That's still and option and more available than most think. YOU DON'T HAVE to go digital.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

It came with both bellows, recessed and regular lens boards and a 17in rail. I bought the 12in so it would be more compact. I previously lugged around a 22in Calumet CC401 without changeable bellows and could not use my 90mm lens.

Funny thing is that the Calumet version of this camera was the first view camera I used when I was in college. I hated lugging it around campus with the big metal case. With the monorail I do the same as RB67, put it on tripod, wrap in the darkcloth, have everything in a bag and off I go.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Yeah. Cambos, older Calumets and Toyos can be found for very little. I had been saving up for a Sinar Norma or a Wisner field camera but this camera came along and the deal was too good to pass up. I already had all the lenses from my other view cameras. I bought this for architecture and will likely continue using my medium format kit for landscape that requires any serious amount of walking. No intention of going digital with it, far too expensive and not nearly the quality or the fun.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

ah, yes. the calumet 401c view cameras - they must have sold millions of them. every studio i was in had about 10 of them and they are probably still going! you couldn't kill the darn things. you are a hero in my eyes for having used it in the field!
i think you will like the cambo much better!!!

jack schade Loc: La Pine Oregon

Congratulations. I hope it will bring you much enjoyment.

Jack

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

Very nice camera - I am sure that you will have a lot of fun with this.

I am making use of two 4X5 cameras and a 8X10 = I am not using film and certainly not a digital back on these Large Format cameras. Since I have over 3000 sheets of various "Photographic Print Paper" I am loading THAT into the film holders and making "Paper Negatives". I just did not wish to toss out any usable material that I knew I could use. The real challenge is = What ISO (ASA) to make use of when capturing images on this "Stuff"?
I experimented with different ISO settings and found that it can vary between ISO 3 and ISO 10 = depending on the type of paper used. The contrast is another worry - however - experiments have shown that a Yellow #-2 Wratten filter works very well on bright sunny days. Where I can not use the Yellow #-2 (as on the 8X10 Ansco) I hold a Contrast filter #-1 in front of the lens. I will "loose" 1 to 3 f-stops when doing this. And depending on the f-stops used, the exposure can be a L O N G one... some times up to 30 seconds.

I am having a lot of fun with this. As anyone that has used these cameras KNOW that it is a S L O W Process of getting the image on the media used - Regular Film and or Paper. You must think about everything that you are doing. The large "PLUS" in all of this IS that it made a better "Digital Photographer" out of me.--- I was starting to feel like I was a "Part" of the camera = You know ... Just running around and Pointing the "Thing" at whatever I wanted and NOT paying attention as to WHAT I was doing. This changed After using the "OLD" cameras - and chemically developing in the darkroom = I would then dry the prints and scan them -- Brought them into CS-5 for a little touch-up and cropping (CS-5 is the enlarger with this process) and INVERT to a Positive and make PRINTS.
These Prints and digital displays are "Orthochromatic" = "Red Colors" do not record at all, or very little. The Up-Side of using photographic paper is that you can cut it to 4X5 from 8X10 or use it out of the box in an 8X10 camera - Doing this With the Safe-Light ON...
It is a really great feeling to see the image in negative form come "up" in the developer (Dektol 1:6) again.... Something that I have really missed out on with digital.

Here are the cameras that I am using:

Crown Graphic 4X5. A Monorail Burke & James "Orbit" 4X5. And the Ansco 8X10.

The Last one is a covered bridge captured with the Ansco ....

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wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

exceptional! i've still a freezer, large, full of film and can get more as i need from the folks at freestyle. your ansco rebuild is lovely!

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Now that I've had this camera several and have been putting it to a lot of work, I'd like to share perhaps my favorite image taken with it so far. This is from the current series I am woking on

(Well, the internet is not liking this file. I'll have to try to upload it later)