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November 16, 2010
This is the 8x10 Cambo view camera with the new bellows that I've mentioned on earlier posts that I've started using in the field shooting black and white film.
The camera sits on a Linhof heavy duty pro tripod, with its large geared post and Prof3 pan/tilt tripod head. This is the only tripod that I have that has the load capacity to carry the weight of the camera.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, Cambo 8x10 view camera, Adelaide 2010
This camera is one reason (my health + fitness are the others) why I have been going to the gym 4-5 times a week to do weights and cardio. I need to build up the strength in my arms, shoulders and legs so that I can carry the gear---- the camera is in one hand, the tripod in the other-- from the car to a location. The cardio is for stamina.
The 8x10 is a beast of burden as carrying the camera and tripod to a location more than half a kilometre away from the car is a two person task. Sometimes Suzanne is not willing to be a beast of burden and I struggle along on my own. Sometimes it is just too difficult.
Gary Sauer-Thompson, Cambo 8x10 view camera, Adelaide 2010
If I shoot with black and white film --as I am currently doing because it is available in Australia ---then the film has to go to Sydney to be processed and scanned. Though 8x10 colour film has to be imported from the US, it can however be processed in Adelaide. That eases the burden.
You can understand from this experience why people will switch to medium format digital--especially when Pentax have been able to come up with a digital medium format for the masses.
Update
I played around with the Pentax 645D today in my local camera shot. At around $14,000 with a new lens and 40 Megapixels, it does with the top end end digital DSLR's (a NIkon D3x or a Canon 1Ds MKIV) and price wise it undercuts the lower end of Phase One cameras (eg.,Phase One P40+), Hasselblads (H4D-40 or H4D-31) or the Leica S2. The Pentax is definitely a game changer and it deepens the industry shift from film to digital.
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