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  #21  
Old 18th June 2020, 01:12 PM
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Toyo is another brand if you're keeping your options open. It wasn't really on my radar until recently. They may not have the aesthetic appeal of the European labels like Linhof, Arca and Sinar, but they are a good, solid workhorse. And you get a lot of camera for your money and with plenty of accessories.

By the way, there are some models which are best avoided from all manufacturers for example the Sinar f1. The brittle plastic bracket that holds the front standard breaks too easily making the f2 a safer bet. And some of the older Linhof's had non-removeable bellows. Not ideal for short lenses, more difficult to replace when broken and a challenge to fold small.

More food for thought.
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  #22  
Old 18th June 2020, 02:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyNL View Post
Toyo is another brand if you're keeping your options open. It wasn't really on my radar until recently. They may not have the aesthetic appeal of the European labels like Linhof, Arca and Sinar, but they are a good, solid workhorse. And you get a lot of camera for your money and with plenty of accessories.

By the way, there are some models which are best avoided from all manufacturers for example the Sinar f1. The brittle plastic bracket that holds the front standard breaks too easily making the f2 a safer bet. And some of the older Linhof's had non-removeable bellows. Not ideal for short lenses, more difficult to replace when broken and a challenge to fold small.

More food for thought.
Cheers Marty, much appreciated!
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  #23  
Old 18th June 2020, 03:05 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Dave, you need to know what you want from an LF camera. In my case I bought my De Vere monorail for work it came ith a 150mm Xenar, at the time 1976/7 Half plate and Whole plate film had not long been discontinued so I only ever used it's 5x4 back and had bag bellows makde by CAmera (now Custom) Bellows in Birmingham. It was a workhorse used daily on a tripod or copystand.

I needed something more practical so bought a second hand Wista 45DX a jst over a decade later which I still use but it's had heavy use, great for back-packing with a tripod and some extra lenses.

After 20 years I wanted an LF camera I could use hand-held as I shoot in areas where tripods are banned (getting permission is long winded) so bought a Graflex Crown Graphic but after a year was frustrated by it's poor almost non existent movements, by chance I found a Graflex Super Graphic which has better movemnent in fact nough for all my landscape work. I still use the Crown Graphic but leave it in Turkey.

In terms of costs the Crown and Super Graphics were cheap, £120 for the Super but it needed some work/parts but it's a very practical camera unfortunately rare here in teh UK, Toyo took over the tooling moving production of the Super Graphic to Japan. Their 45A is a newer relatively design, there's been later versions but the 45A can be found at reasonable prices but allow shipping and Import duties/VAT which add over 30% if buying from outside the UK/EU.

There's a nice Half Plate Rittreck that often comes with a 5x4 back it's remarkable small and light for a Half plate came (7x5 DDS should fit) the LF side of the company became Wista. The camera's seem to sell for £150-£170 lpus shipping from Japan then taxes.

Here in the UK often the cheapest 5x4 LF cameras are MPP MicroTechnicals I bought 2 MkIII's for £70 2 or 3 years ago, OK one was in bits and missing a back another £20. The only work I did was reassemle the 2nd camera recover the bodies

The main thing to watch is quite a lot equipment on Ebay is over-priced, particularly MPP & De Vere, but also CAmbo Cadets etc.

Ian
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  #24  
Old 18th June 2020, 03:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lostlabours View Post
Dave, you need to know what you want from an LF camera. In my case I bought my De Vere monorail for work it came ith a 150mm Xenar, at the time 1976/7 Half plate and Whole plate film had not long been discontinued so I only ever used it's 5x4 back and had bag bellows makde by CAmera (now Custom) Bellows in Birmingham. It was a workhorse used daily on a tripod or copystand.

I needed something more practical so bought a second hand Wista 45DX a jst over a decade later which I still use but it's had heavy use, great for back-packing with a tripod and some extra lenses.

After 20 years I wanted an LF camera I could use hand-held as I shoot in areas where tripods are banned (getting permission is long winded) so bought a Graflex Crown Graphic but after a year was frustrated by it's poor almost non existent movements, by chance I found a Graflex Super Graphic which has better movemnent in fact nough for all my landscape work. I still use the Crown Graphic but leave it in Turkey.

In terms of costs the Crown and Super Graphics were cheap, £120 for the Super but it needed some work/parts but it's a very practical camera unfortunately rare here in teh UK, Toyo took over the tooling moving production of the Super Graphic to Japan. Their 45A is a newer relatively design, there's been later versions but the 45A can be found at reasonable prices but allow shipping and Import duties/VAT which add over 30% if buying from outside the UK/EU.

There's a nice Half Plate Rittreck that often comes with a 5x4 back it's remarkable small and light for a Half plate came (7x5 DDS should fit) the LF side of the company became Wista. The camera's seem to sell for £150-£170 lpus shipping from Japan then taxes.

Here in the UK often the cheapest 5x4 LF cameras are MPP MicroTechnicals I bought 2 MkIII's for £70 2 or 3 years ago, OK one was in bits and missing a back another £20. The only work I did was reassemle the 2nd camera recover the bodies

The main thing to watch is quite a lot equipment on Ebay is over-priced, particularly MPP & De Vere, but also CAmbo Cadets etc.

Ian
Ian, that’s a very detailed and useful response. Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble as it’s been very useful. I’ve already noticed that eBay is like the Wild West and your final comment has confirmed what I’d thought.

All the best and thank you
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  #25  
Old 18th June 2020, 04:27 PM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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I looked at Ffordes prices for the De Vere and the Cambo SC the cheaper of the two and factoring in a 150mm f4.5 Xenar is worth a £100 or less that makes the De Vere expensive, the bellows don't compress well so you'd need new bellows/bag bellows for a WA lens that would be a much as the camera

Like the cameras when it comes to LF lenses I found Ffordes pricing rather variable some around the norm others a bit too high, I'm comparing to other reputable dealers. The one I noticed first was £349 at Ffordes, usual price is more like £150-£200, I paid slightly less than £150.

In general pices for smaller formats tend to be more consistent, LF there's sellers constantly listing at very high prices here in the UK Happens less abroad) there's a few names to avoid. Anything that makes you think of Rock, Cliff and towns begining with C in Surrey

Ian



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  #26  
Old 18th June 2020, 04:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lostlabours View Post
I looked at Ffordes prices for the De Vere and the Cambo SC the cheaper of the two and factoring in a 150mm f4.5 Xenar is worth a £100 or less that makes the De Vere expensive, the bellows don't compress well so you'd need new bellows/bag bellows for a WA lens that would be a much as the camera

Like the cameras when it comes to LF lenses I found Ffordes pricing rather variable some around the norm others a bit too high, I'm comparing to other reputable dealers. The one I noticed first was £349 at Ffordes, usual price is more like £150-£200, I paid slightly less than £150.

In general pices for smaller formats tend to be more consistent, LF there's sellers constantly listing at very high prices here in the UK Happens less abroad) there's a few names to avoid. Anything that makes you think of Rock, Cliff and towns begining with C in Surrey

Ian



Ian
The last sentence made me think ... but I got there!

Cheers Ian
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