Arca Swiss F-Line 4x5

Contents:

• Review of the F-line by Barry Sherman
• Differences between models
• More info, including Arca Swiss product litterature

by Barry Sherman, Copyright © 1994

I've been using this camera for a little more than 1 year, have used it on several one and two week photo trips and have little inclination to use anything else.

Please note that throughout this there's a noticible prejudice against folding field cameras and that this is not intended to be a pronouncement of a universal law, but merely my own preference showing through.

Summary

The camera just does what it's supposed to do quickly, easily and doesn't get in my way. It's hard to ask for more.

What I was looking for

In addition, the camera needed to be quick to set up, something which most folding field cameras appear to me not to be (IMHO, of course). (Note: John Sparks reports that it takes him no longer to set up his Canham 8x10 than it does me to set up my Arca Swiss 4x5, except that the Arca Swiss can be stored with lens attached.)

The major contenders for my interest were the Wisner Technical and the Linhof Technikardan. The Linhof Technika would have been a contender save for the price of the more recent models. I chose the Arca because it has movements equal to or greater than any of these cameras, weighs in the same ballpark and, while it will not focus lenses as long as will the Wisner or the Technikardan, it has the advantage of being part of a monorail system, allowing expansion of its capacities.

Here's where I'll try to offend as many people as possible :-) :

I didn't consider the Sinar A1 because it's just too bulky for my tastes, didn't consider the Zone VI because of reports from too many people that the fit of the pieces and quality control aren't up to snuff (but boy they sure are purty! :-), didn't consider the Horseman, Toyo or Wista metal field cameras because their movements and bellows draw are more restrictive than I want and didn't consider the Toyo VX125 (sp?) because it hadn't been introduced at the time and besides which it costs far more than I'd be willing to spend.

Specs

NOTE:  the "normal" position of the front and rear standard rise/fall
       is all the way down.  Thus the spec. for rise/fall is actually
       for rise alone for each standard, although one may certainly
       chose to zero each standard at the midpoint of this movement.

NOTE:  When I went to write this I found that I no longer have the
       factory specs on this camera and so everything that I state here
       is from my own manual measurements.  Thus there may be some
       discrepency from published factory specs.


Max. Flange Focal Length:  (bellows draw)     15 5/8 inches  (382mm)

Min. Flange Focal Length:  (bellows draw)     2 inches (50mm) with
optional wide-angle bellows installed

Rise:              + 4 inches (98mm) both front and rear

Shift:             +/- 3.25 inches (75mm) either side of "zero"
		   both front and rear

Swing:             limited by bellows front and rear

Base Tilt:         +/- 30 degrees front and rear

Axis Tilt:         none

Geared Movements:  front and rear focusing only.

Back type:         graflok

Back movements:    switches between horizontal and
		   vertical in seconds but doesn't rotate

"Zero detents":    All movements except for rise, which
		   is normally in the full-down position

Weight:            7.5 lbs.  NOTE:  Specs say that the Linhof Master
                                    Technika weighs 7.0 lbs and the 
                                    Wisner Technical weighs 6.5 lbs.

Cost:              I paid $1,900 for the body, new

How it works

The front and rear standards of the camera slide onto these upper monorail pieces and move along them to provide focusing. Thus, you can move the front standard onto the upper front monorail segment, move the rear standard onto the upper rear monorail segment and then separate these segments by sliding them forward and backward as appropriate to attain the full 15 5/8 inch (flange focal length) extension.

When it's time to put the camera away, you slide the two upper monorail segments together so that they form one continuous rail and then slide both the front and rear standard onto one of the upper segments. After locking the standards in place with the focus lock, you can unlock that upper monorail segment itself and remove it, with front and rear standards attached to it, from the lower monorail arm. This reduces the camera to a size very little larger than most folding field cameras, be they wood or metal. Next the lower monorail segment, with the remaining upper segment attached, is removed from the tripod and put in the backpack.

Obviously, setup is the opposite of this operation and goes very quickly. Just attach the lower monorail segment to the tripod, slide the upper segment with both standards attached onto the lower segment, move the two standards the appropriate distance apart and the camera's ready to go.

Very few people can get a folding field camera set up in the 15 seconds that it usually takes me to set up the Arca Swiss. (not counting setting up the tripod, of course) This speed is abetted by the fact that I can leave the lens attached, something that one cannot do with most folding field cameras.

On the down side, the camera doesn't fold up into a box, and doesn't provide protection for the groundglass. But I've only had one problem with damage to the camera and that was caused by improper packing on my part when I checked the camera in its soft backpack as airline baggage. I now load the entire backpack and tripod into a very large hard-sided suitcase and then check *that*. And I find that a Calumet groundglass protector prevents damage to the groundglass quite nicely since I reinforced it with a second thickness of ABS plastic. (No, it wasn't the Arca groundglass that was broken before I reinforced the protector - it was the Bender Kit groundglass.)

What i like

• The camera's really rigid. My previous two cameras were a Bender Kit which was not very rigid at all and a Calumet 400 series which was also not very rigid. By comparison, this thing's a tank. Of course, it's pretty wobbly compared to a 15-20 lb. studio monorail, but few people will carry a studio monorail into the field. Anyway, nothing moves out of alignment when locked and when inserting film holders.

• Movements work very nicely. I don't really notice the lack of gearing on them. Controls are well thought out and logical in placement. Nearly mnemonic. Locks lock without having to use excessive force.

  I've been caught in a sandstorm while photographing with the Arca and 1) Was able to continue working afterward, despite definite grittiness in the movements and 2) was able to clean the sand and dust out of the mechanisms easily later that day back at the motel. The mechanisms are easy to disassemble and reassemble if you have the right tools - just a couple of small hex-wrenches and screwdrivers.

• The wide-angle bellows is a dream. This is not a bag but rather a pleated leather bellows made from incredibly soft leather and with really large pleats. It's so supple that even at the minimum flange focal length of 2 inches I can get 2 inches of rise from the standards. That's incredible! Granted, that's far more rise than any short lens could provide in its image circle. I mention it only as an illustration of how supple the bellows is. In addition, it extends long enough to use it with a 210mm lens provided that only modest movements are being used.

  Similarly, the regular bellows is usable with lenses down to 135mm, provided that only moderate movements are used or with a 90mm lens if very minimal movements are used. What this means is that I don't have to change between the two bellows very often.

  Even better, the wide-angle bellows doesn't protrude into the light path as have some bag bellows that I've used. I've used bag bellows which had to be carefully pulled and adjusted after the camera was set up because they'd deform and protrude into the light path. This Arca Swiss wide-angle bellows, through some magical properties of physics unknown to me, never does this.

  Now for the downside: the price of the wonderful leather wide-angle bellows was $500. Ouch! They also make a synthetic wide-angle bellows for 1/2 that price but I couldn't locate any when I bought the camera and so bit the bullet and got the leather one. Now that I've absorbed the cost I'm glad that I did as it's really a joy to work with, but it really hurt at first.

  An extension bellows, required if lenses longer than 300mm in a normal lens or 500mm in a telephoto design are to be used, costs, you guessed it, about $500. This has kept me from extending the capabilities of the camera to date. That and not having the money for a longer lens anyway.

• The camera comes with a built-in fresnel lens which works better than those which I've used in the past.

• Camera has "zero detents" on all movements. A delightful convenience after the Bender which has zero detents on no movements and the Calumet, whose zero detents were inoperable due to rust. (Apparently the zero detents were the one place that I failed to clean after the Calumet went swimming in the Pacific Ocean. :-)

• I was worried that, after being accustomed to center tilts, I'd find base tilts difficult to use. Not only do I not find this to be the case, I really like the ease of being able to combine both swing and tilt on the same standard without getting weird distortions caused by yaw. Certainly, with my other two cameras with their center tilts I can avoid yaw by using the cameras tilted 90 degrees on their sides, but that's a pain in the neck.

• The person who sold the camera to me commented that I'd be surprised at how quickly the camera would just kind of fade into the background and do what I wanted it to, compared to some of the hassles that I'd had with the Bender and the Calumet.

  He was right.

What I dislike about it

• The lens boards are ludicrously large - nearly 7 inches square! Way to large to store several lenses in a backpack.

  All is not lost, however, as Keith Canham, maker of the Canham view cameras, has produced an adaptor which allows one to use Linhof Technika style lens boards on the Arca Swiss. So my lenses are mounted in Technika style (actually they're labeled Wista) lens boards. This adaptor is on the one Arca lens board that I have which stays mounted on the camera at all times.

  Naturally, the cost of the adaptor was $250 (rather a lot, I think). And I'm not completely satisfied with the quality of the adaptor as a couple of anodized studs and a leaf spring both show signs of rust after spending a couple of weeks in Hawaii. This doesn't seem to reflect the level of quality that I expected, given the name of the manufacturor and the price. But the adaptor *works* just fine and I'm pleased with it overall. I'd never have considered using this camera in the field without being able to use smaller lens boards and this makes it possible.

• I cannot remove the fresnel lens if I want to as focus shifts minutely when I do. The fresnel lens and groundglass are mounted such that the fresnel lens is *not* acting as a spacer for the groundglass, but for some reason focus definitely shifts when I try to remove it. Fortunately, it's one of the better groundglass brightening systems that I've used so I don't mind it too much, but I'd prefer to have options here.

• Support sucks. This may have improved, however. But at the time that I bought it, there was no official Arca distributor in the U.S. The person from whom I bought it, a salesman in a camera store near Phoenix AZ, assured me that his connections with people at the manufacturor in Switzerland would allow him to obtain parts easily. And he was most prompt about shipping the camera and other accessories to me.

  But when the camera was broken by airline baggage handlers (actually by my own poor packing), it took 6 months and several phone calls to get the repair parts. As it happened, I was able to mend it immediately on my own but I felt more comfortable having officially unbroken parts and was not at all pleased with the slow response. It appeared strongly to me that my broken camera was not a high priority with this person and my view of hims is somewhat jaundiced as a result. (I.e. he did not appear to me to pursue matters with the people in Switzerland with any great zeal.)

  However, I've seen ads in magazines which indicate that there is now an official Arca Swiss distributor for the U.S. so accessories and parts may now be easier to come by. Plus, the person from whom I bought it has told me that he's a distributor for the SW U.S. so I have some hope.

• It's a little heavier than I'd like. Like about 3-4 lbs heavier. But most every other camera which has the features that I want weighs in the same ballpark so I'm not really complaining. And if I want to walk more than a few miles then I can always trade the Arca for the Bender Kit which only weighs 3 lbs.

                        OLD     (low profile)   NEW (high profile)

Clamping mechanism    Compression via         Compression by pulling down
                      adjustable clamp        on slot on bottom side of
                      on side of bridge       new rail
                      (Bridge clamp is a      Bridge clamping mechanism is in
                     screw across the inside  the bottom of the inside of the
                        of the bridge)          bridge.
                        
RAIL                    Short height            tall height
                        solid rail              rail has a T-slot in bottom
                                                (this slot is where the bridge
                                                attachment mechanis goes)
And the compression on the older profile bridges occurs when the sides
are pulled together by a lever on the rail. 

• As of Jan 2001, Arca-Swiss doesn't maintain a web site
• Arca Swiss product litterature: zipped file (2 megs), PDF file (4 megs).
• Review of the Arca Swiss F-Line 6x9 which can also be used as a 4x5 camera.
• A comparison of the Sinar F1/F2 and the Arca-Swiss F cameras

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