best affordable lenses for CFV 100c for tech cam use?

[Tashat]

Cambo can mount a 150mm lens or others you provide onto the WRS mount. Cambo calls that service a retrofit.

On Cambo's website the SK 150mm is listed under the discontinued Schneider lenses here: Legacy Schneider Copal Lens Panels - Cambo

Note that additional focal lengths to those shown on that page, such as the Apo-Digitar 5.6/100mm that I supplied, can also be mounted onto the WRS.

Note also that the SK 100mm, 120mm, 150mm and 180mm lenses can all be mounted using a single 48mm rear spacer. Cambo will discount the mounting fee accordingly, as it did for me when I had a second long lens mounted.

Having the spacer as a separate item ensures maximum use of the image circles and also makes the lenses themselves smaller to carry in a backpack. To save space further, the single 48mm rear spacer can be carried in an outside pocket, leaving more room inside.

I want to correct a previous statement in which I said the 150mm and 180mm lenses require two 48mm spacers, either on the front or rear. As you can see from the pictures on that Cambo page linked above, Cambo mounts them using just one 48mm rear spacer plus different lengths of a cylindrical barrel section on the WRS mount base portion. (When I made that statement, I was fresh from calculating that I can adapt an Apo-Symmar 5.6/150mm and normal SK helical focuser I already own from an 1990s Cambo Wide 150 using some spare mount parts plus my existing 48mm rear spacer and 48mm front spacer.)

Yes, having Cambo mount each lens onto the WRS mount is more costly than you sourcing flat lens boards for a bellows camera and doing the job yourself. However, for me there is no question which camera I'd prefer to use for years and years in the sort of situations in which I photograph architecture. Obviously, the questions to consider include: How many and which lenses can I purchase already mounted on the used market or from dealer shelves? And how many focal lengths do I really need?

I suspect that in many instances it is the thought of the higher cost of mounting a lens that drives a newcomer to a bellows type camera, yet they often end up using only three lenses on it anyway and, in return, must forevermore forego the many advantages of the WRS pancake style. It seems a false economy.

Thanks so much very handy info, do you know how much it would approximately cost for cambo to do a retrofit on a lens without the WRS lenspanel? can't seem to find any info on it.

 

[Tashat]

Rod has convinced me that people who are exclusively or primarily shooting architecture and want a technical camera with a medium format back should get a 'pancake' style camera.

I think digital view cameras like the F-Universalis make more sense for people (like me) who want tilt and swing with every lens they can mount. If you put a medium format back of some kind on an F-Universalis, you have access to all kinds of wide angle lenses. If you use it with a GFX body or an X2D body, you're limited at the wide end.

We all thought the CFV 100C back would be the answer to our medium format back prayers, and it might still be, but if you're looking at that option, take note of the issues being discussed in other threads regarding lines that appear in the image when shifting. This is most unfortunate; hopefully there's a firmware or software solution soon.

Regarding Arca-Swiss lens boards, they're simple aluminum boards, but the F-Universalis and the M-Two are fussy about what boards you can use. The genuine Arca-Swiss boards are 1.54mm thick. Board for the older F-Metric do not work properly. The genuine modern Arca-Swiss boards are extremely expensive for what they are, so people often look to the Chinese boards on eBay. Those are a bit thinner (usually 1.49mm). Some of deeper recessed boards simply don't fit because the people who made them didn't have a format frame for an F-Universalis or M-Two on hand to test.

If you're also convinced then I am too! thanks for bringing those issues to my attention, a bit concerning, seen as the SK lenses seemed like the best way into it without distortion and price wise. Hopefully Hasselblad can solve this issue, otherwise I'm not sure my options. I wonder if anyone has tested this issue on the x2d to see if its an issue too. Universalis and x2d with limited shift could be my best option if the CFV 100c keeps having issues. Phase One only have one back with a BSI sensor, the IQ4???? which is quite expensive!

 

[4x5Australian]

The contact person at Cambo is Richard Lotte. His email is: [email protected]

The sensor in the CFV 100C is the same as the one in the X2D 100C. Indeed, the issue being discussed on the concurrent thread is likely the result of the autofocus circuitry installed on the sensor for the X2D. Hopefully a easy software fix will be found soon.

Rod