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Rm3d factum

usm

Well-known member
Looking for People using a Factum. Searching for the goods and the bads about this camera.
It’s hard to find reviews.
Thinking to get one with a Rodenstock 35mm HR lens and the Hasselblad CFVii50c.
This setup I will use for architecture and mountains, so it has to be light.
I know the Cambo WRC is cheaper but the lenses are expensive.

What is a good price for a used Factum?

Thanks. Mario
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
I own the big brother: Arca Rm3di, gerat camera, very well made, all arca swiss
equipment can be used with all arca cameras, this is absolutly
unique. The Factum is very small, the shift is reduced to 15 mm ( Rm3di has 30 mm), for
horizontal movements you must have Factum L-bracket or the Arca Rota sliding back.
The shift movements are not so fine as by the big brother but all is well made.
simply nice little camera, if you dont need more shift movements: get it!
 

usm

Well-known member
I know about the 15mm vs the 30mm and vs the 20mm of the Cambo WTC.
But I checked files made with the Schneider 35mm XL with 15mm shift and it wasn’t really good in my eyes.
Then I saw the 15mm shifted files from the Rodenstock 35mm HR - very good!

The 40mm Rodenstock needs around 20mm shift to get a 28mm full frame view.
So The Cambo would be needed, 20mm shift and cheap but with expensive lenses. And I think the 35mm with less shift is better than the 40mm with more shift.

I never used technical cameras. I have a Leica M with a 28mm PC lens which allows me 10mm shift.

What I don’t know is the workflow of focusing. Arca has a focus ring or the lens has one?
With the Hasselblad CFVii50c I don’t need the cobal0 version - right?
The Factum has now geared shift - how does this work?
How does the tilt work?

A lot of questions...
Thanks
 

Cambo

Member
The HR-35 (if you are referring to this one ) is one of Rodenstock's S lenses. A good lens, but the image circle is only 70mm. That won't suffice to shift 15mm. In case you own a good copy of Hasselblad's Distagon-40 you may consider to connect that one to the WRC. The adapter enables you to work with the lens' shutter and to synchronize it to the Hasselblad back.
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
I know about the 15mm vs the 30mm and vs the 20mm of the Cambo WTC.
But I checked files made with the Schneider 35mm XL with 15mm shift and it wasn’t really good in my eyes.
Then I saw the 15mm shifted files from the Rodenstock 35mm HR - very good!

The 40mm Rodenstock needs around 20mm shift to get a 28mm full frame view.
So The Cambo would be needed, 20mm shift and cheap but with expensive lenses. And I think the 35mm with less shift is better than the 40mm with more shift.

I never used technical cameras. I have a Leica M with a 28mm PC lens which allows me 10mm shift.

What I don’t know is the workflow of focusing. Arca has a focus ring or the lens has one?
With the Hasselblad CFVii50c I don’t need the cobal0 version - right?
The Factum has now geared shift - how does this work?
How does the tilt work?

A lot of questions...
Thanks
Schneider 35mm XL has indeed big image circle- 90 mm- but it cant be used fully really. As all Schneider lenses the 35 mm has extremly decrease in image quality at the edges, this is the lens design. Also the color cast on schneider 35xl in combination will 50MLPixes as yours back and 100ML Sony Chip will not allow significant movents.
ALL Rodenstock HR lenses are different lens design that delivery best sharpness till the end of the image circle and have not much problems with the color cast. So for your back Rodenstock HR lenses are the first choice.
The 40 mm Digaron W is made specially for the bigger sensors, where you need more image circle.
Also for the little 33x44 mm sensor it could be too long.
the differnace in the angle between 35 and 40 mm is strong. I own 32, 35 and 40 and 43 mm and they all have Advantages.
Afcourse it all depents on your way of work, your preferences...
But 32-35 mm is the wide angle you will need- in my work maybe 70 %.
How the arca work:
- the focusing ring is build in the camera body. This focusing ring is 7 time more
precise than the standart focusing mount. This is very special for Arca R line. therefore you dont need the focusing mount as Cambo-Alpa do, and therefore is the price for arca R mount not so expensive.
- the tilt-swift is easy, you have a knob under the focusing ring, just use it.
Usuelly the the lens should be in Copal shutter- most of them are in Copal shutter, so you can use them with all backs and are the cheapest solution.
Only modern backs can use aperture mount from rodenstock and the new mount are not cheap.

Arca cameras are really first class but not cheap.
If you want cheap solution so maybe Cambo Actus would be graet also ( little classic technical camera)
or Silvestri ( similar like Cambo WRS-Alpa, but cheaper).
 

usm

Well-known member
The HR-35 (if you are referring to this one ) is one of Rodenstock's S lenses. A good lens, but the image circle is only 70mm. That won't suffice to shift 15mm. In case you own a good copy of Hasselblad's Distagon-40 you may consider to connect that one to the WRC. The adapter enables you to work with the lens' shutter and to synchronize it to the Hasselblad back.
I referring to this discussion: https://www.getdpi.com/forum/index....aron-s-35-mm-apo-sironar-hr.69396/post-827866
The 15mm shift as a max. looks OK for me.

How much of shift will I get with the Hasselblad's Distagon-40?
 

Geoff

Well-known member
I know about the 15mm vs the 30mm and vs the 20mm of the Cambo WTC.
But I checked files made with the Schneider 35mm XL with 15mm shift and it wasn’t really good in my eyes.
Then I saw the 15mm shifted files from the Rodenstock 35mm HR - very good!

The 40mm Rodenstock needs around 20mm shift to get a 28mm full frame view.
So The Cambo would be needed, 20mm shift and cheap but with expensive lenses. And I think the 35mm with less shift is better than the 40mm with more shift.

I never used technical cameras. I have a Leica M with a 28mm PC lens which allows me 10mm shift.

What I don’t know is the workflow of focusing. Arca has a focus ring or the lens has one?
With the Hasselblad CFVii50c I don’t need the cobal0 version - right?
The Factum has now geared shift - how does this work?
How does the tilt work?

A lot of questions...
Thanks
Keep in mind that 10mm shift on FF Leica M is not the same as 10mm shift on medium format. The 15mm on the Factum might be close to what you already have, depending on which MF format back you get.

Also, the Arca Swiss has a lovely precise focusing arrangement, but it takes many turns.... so it's a bit slower than some of the others. I would check out the Cambo cameras - maybe rent one and try? Medium format digital is a tricky world to get right without having the system in your hands and using it.
 

rdeloe

Well-known member
I referring to this discussion: https://www.getdpi.com/forum/index....aron-s-35-mm-apo-sironar-hr.69396/post-827866
The 15mm shift as a max. looks OK for me.

How much of shift will I get with the Hasselblad's Distagon-40?
If you think in terms of "crop factor" when you're navigating among different sized sensors, the crop factor that you use for lenses applies to shift as well. For example, if your shift lens for a full frame camera allows 12mm of shift, and you put that lens on a 44mm x 33mm sensor, you're going to get the "equivalent" shift of 12mm x 0.79 or 9.5mm. Going the other way, if you needed to shift 12mm on a full frame sensor to complete your composition, you need 15mm on 44mm x 33mm. (I would say you need more because 0.79 is based on the diagonal, which doesn't make sense when you're comparing rectangles with different aspect ratios -- but that's another story).

Personally I find it easier to understand by drawing a picture. Here, for example, is how a 73mm image circle interacts with a 44mm x 33mm sensor. If you put the 24mm x 36mm full frame sensor in the middle of that image circle, you will obviously get more shift.

Shift example.jpg
 

lance_schad

Workshop Member
If you think in terms of "crop factor" when you're navigating among different sized sensors, the crop factor that you use for lenses applies to shift as well. For example, if your shift lens for a full frame camera allows 12mm of shift, and you put that lens on a 44mm x 33mm sensor, you're going to get the "equivalent" shift of 12mm x 0.79 or 9.5mm. Going the other way, if you needed to shift 12mm on a full frame sensor to complete your composition, you need 15mm on 44mm x 33mm. (I would say you need more because 0.79 is based on the diagonal, which doesn't make sense when you're comparing rectangles with different aspect ratios -- but that's another story).

Personally I find it easier to understand by drawing a picture. Here, for example, is how a 73mm image circle interacts with a 44mm x 33mm sensor. If you put the 24mm x 36mm full frame sensor in the middle of that image circle, you will obviously get more shift.

View attachment 176893
We have on our website a Lens Visualizer interactive tool that you may find useful HERE.
You can compare a variety of lenses and sensor sizes.
Lance
 

Attachments

usm

Well-known member
Also, the Arca Swiss has a lovely precise focusing arrangement, but it takes many turns.... so it's a bit slower than some of the others. I would check out the Cambo cameras - maybe rent one and try? Medium format digital is a tricky world to get right without having the system in your hands and using it.
Hard to find a Cambo or Arca for rent.
Just to understand: Why is there no focus ring on the lens? Do the lenses for Cambo and Alpa have normal focus rings?
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
Hard to find a Cambo or Arca for rent.
Just to understand: Why is there no focus ring on the lens? Do the lenses for Cambo and Alpa have normal focus rings?
Arca swiss R-line goes a different way than others: one focusing ring build in the camera body, in best precision, nothing can be compare with it and you save the focusing ring on every lens. In the time before live view it was very helpfull for exact working, nowerdays the live view make the focusing work very easy. I the classic large format camera world you have the similar system: focusing and tilt/swift are made with the camera also.
But both systems are working fine, all these systems are great, all depends on your preferences.
 

lance_schad

Workshop Member
Hard to find a Cambo or Arca for rent.
Just to understand: Why is there no focus ring on the lens? Do the lenses for Cambo and Alpa have normal focus rings?
If you are located in the US please reach out we have a variety of Cambo and Arca systems available for rental.
Lance
 

usm

Well-known member
Austria based.
Trying to get a demo at the arca-shop.de

Coming from Leica M I am used to manual focus, never had problems. So why is this 7-times more precisely focus ring?
The Cambo is using the focus build into the lens?

Are there videos out there?
 
Austria based.
Trying to get a demo at the arca-shop.de

Coming from Leica M I am used to manual focus, never had problems. So why is this 7-times more precisely focus ring?
The Cambo is using the focus build into the lens?

Are there videos out there?
A Cambo lens and focus mount comes as a complete assembly. If you'd like to try, I'm sure it's possible to set up a demo. Digital Store in Vienna and Calumet in Munich (yes, that's another country, but it might be nearer) both have demo gear and know the WRS system.
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
Austria based.
Trying to get a demo at the arca-shop.de

Coming from Leica M I am used to manual focus, never had problems. So why is this 7-times more precisely focus ring?
The Cambo is using the focus build into the lens?

Are there videos out there?
There are some videos on you tube from Arca swiss about the function, here one of them:
Yes, cambo as other camera maker like Sinar, Alpa, Silvestri use the standart focusing mount from schneider/ rodenstock.
The Arca mount is very special, nice to have but with modern digital back with Live view this precision is less important.
 

usm

Well-known member
Thanks Alkibiades.
Maybe a strange question but for my work it is an issue: How long does it take to turn the focus from infinitive to the closest focus on the Rodenstock HR 35mm? Maybe you can send me a smartphone movie?
Thanks.
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
Thanks Alkibiades.
Maybe a strange question but for my work it is an issue: How long does it take to turn the focus from infinitive to the closest focus on the Rodenstock HR 35mm? Maybe you can send me a smartphone movie?
Thanks.
its funny question, I tryed now to move the whole distans, from infinity to closest distance of the camera (the same for all lenses) and it takes 8 sek. to move standart schneider focusing mount 3 sek.
but mostly your work is so that your put the lens to infinity and than make changes with the focusing if needed- you dont move the whole diszans, it is not AF high speed camera.
 

rdeloe

Well-known member
Thanks Alkibiades.
Maybe a strange question but for my work it is an issue: How long does it take to turn the focus from infinitive to the closest focus on the Rodenstock HR 35mm? Maybe you can send me a smartphone movie?
Thanks.
I don't have one of these but when you posted your question I did a little digging because I'm curious! On a Luminous Landscape review I read that it's 1,800 degrees of rotation (which amounts to 5 turns).

I understand why this would be a concern. Sometimes I'm shooting at infinity, and some times I'm shooting at minimum focus distance for my setup. If you're switching between these distances frequently, it becomes tiresome (but perhaps worth it relative to the other benefits?)
 

usm

Well-known member
It’s a conceptual thing, but It’s about what’s in between me and the subject.
Thanks for testing.
On a Lecia M lens it takes a second. But maybe I can get a Factum for 700€ which is a good price.
 
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