Bender 810 kit

I'm thinking real.... real.....hard about purchasing a Bender 810 camera kit...has anyone built one....what were you experiences....what advice or recommendations can you give me...?.

I want to RETURN to large format photography...and....do 810 contact prints...any help or suggestions your willing to share is appreciated....I'll be needing a 300 lens and film holders....if have a lens and film holders for sale - pls let me know.....!

Thank

Chuck (CA) said:

I'm thinking real.... real.....hard about purchasing a Bender 810 camera kit...has anyone built one....what were you experiences....what advice or recommendations can you give me...?.

I want to RETURN to large format photography...and....do 810 contact prints...any help or suggestions your willing to share is appreciated....I'll be needing a 300 lens and film holders....if have a lens and film holders for sale - pls let me know.....!

Thank

Click to expand...

Check with Barry Young on this site. He's putting together plans and kits for 8x10 field cameras. I think he has a website at cameramaker.com also,

Steve

I have never built a Bender, but you can get cameras on eBay for the same price range. Building the camera will be a fairly involved process and if you are dying to get back to 8X10 right now, you might be sorry to have to spend a significant amount of time building your camera first.

I have build a Bender 8x10, and it was a time comsuming process. I did however get a VERY light and small 8x10 camera out of it, that was great for backpacking and long hikes. If you dont spend alot of time building it, it will not turn out that nice. Are you good with wood working ect?

You could pick up an 8x10 off Ebay used, for about the same price. The only thing is that it will weight ALOT more and be ALOT bigger. My Bender 8x10 weight about 4lbs, while my Calumet 8x10 weights about 17lbs. Are you going to be doing lots of hikes with the camera, or is it more roadside/studio camera?

Best of luck with whatever you deside.

Oh, and someone is selling a Rodenstock 8x10 lens in the classified. Im not sure if its sold already thought. take a peak.

Ryan McIntosh

Well if your interested, I have an 8x10 with 4 holders that I am getting ready to sell, it is a 2D in pretty good shape, would be a great camera to get you involved in 8x10

And it is going to sell for about the same price as a Bender.

Dave

Chuck (CA) said:

I'm thinking real.... real.....hard about purchasing a Bender 810 camera kit...has anyone built one....what were you experiences....what advice or recommendations can you give me...?.

I want to RETURN to large format photography...and....do 810 contact prints...any help or suggestions your willing to share is appreciated....I'll be needing a 300 lens and film holders....if have a lens and film holders for sale - pls let me know.....!

Thank

Click to expand...

I recently built the bender 4X5... I posted my experience in the technical gallery..... at (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Please read the comments there. The big deal is that you have to be a very skillful model builder and it is imperative that you have the right tools... I could not have accomplished this without the help of a neighbor who is an expert wood carver and model builder. If you want the thing to work right, every piece has to be handled with maximum precision. You need a good work bench where the camera can be left at all times. My neighbor has a full equipped woodshop with tools and clamps that I would not have had. Jay Bender will make it seem really easy; trust me, it's not.

Building the 4X5 is a great value because those cameras tend to be very expensive. The Bender kit that I bought was less then $300. If you buy a used 8X10, you'll probably get lenses, lens boards, film holders with it... If you build the bender, you will have to buy all of that stuff in addition to the kit. The 8X10 format is not cheap...

My first LF camera was an 8x10 Bender. I got a lot of enjoyment out of building and using it, and learned a lot about LF camera construction (particularly about aligning the GG) that I wouldn't have understood as well from just reading about it.

I eventually sold the camera, for two reasons. First, despite its very light weight, full movements and long bellows extension, it is a mono-rail camera, and I found that I liked the design and convenience of field cameras better (and I also found that I never took full advantage of all the movements that a mono-rail offers and didn't need them). Second, I found that I didn't like the friction focussing that the Bender uses. Friction focussing certainly works, but its not as convenient and easy to use as the geared focussing found in most field cameras.

I enjoy woodworking (I've also built folk harps, a hammered dulcimer and a mandolin from kits), so half the fun for me is working with, and finishing, wood projects. If you feel the same way, you'll enjoy the Bender kit. The instructions are (mostly) clear, the wood is of good quality and everything is well packaged. The only area in which I thought that the instructions were insufficient was in describing how to attach the bellows, but I was eventually able to puzzle it out.

Even though I eventually sold it, I'm glad that I bought the kit and built it. Hope this helps.

Don

The Bender company is a pleasure to deal with. I have a 4X5 Bender, and needed some additional parts. Called on a Saturday afternoon thinking I would get a recording; but got Jay Bender as he was driving on LA freeway. He pulled off the road, took my order, and I got the parts that following week.

The Bender cameras are lightweight; so most of the weight for 8X10 camera gear will be in lenses & film holders.

I bought a Bender 8x10 kit and put it together. Unfortunately, I'm not a good enough or careful enough wood worker and I didn't manage to create a very sturdy camera. It works, but I have a hard time locking it down tightly so it doesn't shift around.