Cambo Actus: Turning your digital camera into a digital view camera. Anyone used it before?

Ok this system costs WAY too much money, but wow...this looks interesting.

https://www.cambo.com/en/actus-series/

The thought of using this for super macro or using my camera(s) as a view camera with all the movements a large format camera with LF lenses, has really set my GAS meter off.

I would have to think that using large format lenses would easily resolve the GFX and FF camera bodies I have.

I was thinking this primarily for use with my GFX100, but I think it would be amazing with the Leica M10M, and even my old canon 5D3 (I hope to get into the Canon R system in a year or so).

Here is a quick video that gives a good basic showing of the movements and the photo demo is only simple with what would be a 9 image stitch using shirt and rise/fall for a very high Rez image.:

Cambo Actus and Fuji GFX50s Review

But geez, this thing costs as much as a really nice new digital camera itself....

I've been trying to figure out a better cost effective way of doing this.

I thought perhaps I could get an Intrepid 4x5 camera, about $320 or so US....get some sort of GFX to 4x5 graflex adapter (I think I've seen fotodiox sell these?)....and I could do something like this for about $500-$600....but the movements aren't as precise and easy to control...

But that system would limit me to only using LF lenses, but I'd also like to try my Hassy V-System lenses I have too with the Cambo one.

Ugh, this Cambo Actus thing would be about $4K for me to get fully set up....but I could then shoot it with my 5d3 and my Leica m10m and gfx100....

Anyway..had anyone used anything like this?

I have to think using your digital back like a view camera with all the movements, and extreme macro you could squeeze out of it and using a huge number of lenses out there, not terribly expensive could really give a lot of creative possibilities.

I"m wondering what lens limitations there would be with the CA? Or what would be with the Intrepid DIY set up...I've read some things before saying that with the digital sensor being so far behind the 4x5 cameras focal plane that you couldn't use lenses shorter than 200mm...?

Thoughts? Links? Advice? Experience?

Thank you in advance, thought this an interesting topic...and on the forums here, I've found a lot of really smart photo people that know niche stuff, so, thought I'd give it a try.

cayenne

LF lenses are not really all that sharp. They are meant for LF film, not small digital sensors. An enlarging lens might be better if you are doing close-up work.

Usually this kind of thing is really just for macro and tabletop, because it's hard to use a wide lens that focuses to infinity. The Graflok DSLR adapters require even more room (I have one). A DSLR and TS lenses is often a better solution or at the high end, a view camera with a digital back.

David A. Goldfarb said:

Usually this kind of thing is really just for macro and tabletop, because it's hard to use a wide lens that focuses to infinity. The Graflok DSLR adapters require even more room (I have one). A DSLR and TS lenses is often a better solution or at the high end, a view camera with a digital back.

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Thank you all for the replies!!

Well, with the GFX100, I was trying to basically use it as a digital back in some manner.
I'd like to try to play with it on a view camera type situation for all manners...macro, but also to use the view camera movements, tilt, shift, rise/fall....would be fun with panos and doing stitched photos across the whole image plane of the view camera with whatever lens is on there.

In looking for alternatives, I found that a possibility would be to buy an Intrepid 4x5, and use this Fotodiox graflok adapter to it and I could potentially do some of this type thing.

https://fotodioxpro.com/products/4x5-gfx-pro

And with this...I'd not only have the set up for my stated purpose, but I buy some film holders and basically in in business for shooting analog 4x5 images too.

Seems more bang for the buck......

C

cayenne said:

Thank you all for the replies!!

Well, with the GFX100, I was trying to basically use it as a digital back in some manner.
I'd like to try to play with it on a view camera type situation for all manners...macro, but also to use the view camera movements, tilt, shift, rise/fall....would be fun with panos and doing stitched photos across the whole image plane of the view camera with whatever lens is on there.

In looking for alternatives, I found that a possibility would be to buy an Intrepid 4x5, and use this Fotodiox graflok adapter to it and I could potentially do some of this type thing.

https://fotodioxpro.com/products/4x5-gfx-pro

And with this...I'd not only have the set up for my stated purpose, but I buy some film holders and basically in in business for shooting analog 4x5 images too.

Seems more bang for the buck......

C

Click to expand...

I would caution that you will need a bag bellows and recessed lens board. Even then, you might not be able to focus at infinity. The adapters such the image plane back by an inch or so, making a big difference.

Pieter12 said:

I would caution that you will need a bag bellows and recessed lens board. Even then, you might not be able to focus at infinity. The adapters such the image plane back by an inch or so, making a big difference.

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Thank you!!

Yeah, I was reading about that....and that's a problem with going with the Intrepid 4x5 camera, the bellows are not interchangeable....
Looking possibly at one from a company I found called Chroma Cameras...it is a bit more $ but not too much, and seems much more modular AND apparently wide lens friendly which would lead me to think maybe I could have a bit easier time of it getting infinity focus on the GFX with more lenses....

Still researching.

Thank you for the reply!!!

c

Are you planning to go out in the field? If not, there are suitable cameras available used at a good price, like the Cambo monorail cameras.

Clyde Butcher uses this type of setup https://clydebutcher.com/about-the-artist/technical-information/ "Clyde uses a Cambo Actus with a digital 36 megapixel Sony A7R camera and RZ Mamiya lenses"

Not quite as expensive as the Combo Actus, there is the Hasselblad HTS (you'll need a Hasselblad H digital camera and lenses of course), the Rolleiflex XACT-2 (it uses hard to find Leaf digital backs and dedicated Schneider and Rodenstock lenses) and the Horseman VCC and LD (I think they use Hasselblad digital backs). None of these are cheap. The Actus might end up being the most cost-effective since it can use an existing mirrorless digital camera body instead of a digital back. Several people have made their own, and while they usually have rise and shift, tilt is harder to incorporate.

Pieter12 said:

Not quite as expensive as the Combo Actus, there is the Hasselblad HTS (you'll need a Hasselblad H digital camera and lenses of course), the Rolleiflex XACT-2 (it uses hard to find Leaf digital backs and dedicated Schneider and Rodenstock lenses) and the Horseman VCC and LD (I think they use Hasselblad digital backs). None of these are cheap. The Actus might end up being the most cost-effective since it can use an existing mirrorless digital camera body instead of a digital back. Several people have made their own, and while they usually have rise and shift, tilt is harder to incorporate.

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Well, I've dropped some serious $$ over the past 1.5 years....on the GFX100, etc....and I'm looking to try to do this type thing on a bit smaller budget while my wallet recovers a bit.

The Cambo Actus looked to be PERRECT for what I want to do...but UGH...to get the set up I want would be over $4K and that's just a bit over my budget right now, considering all I've bought recently (GFX, Leica M10M, lenses, etc).

But thank you all...I've got some more ideas....and am still researching.

cayenne

Stephen Prunier said:

Clyde Butcher uses this type of setup https://clydebutcher.com/about-the-artist/technical-information/ "Clyde uses a Cambo Actus with a digital 36 megapixel Sony A7R camera and RZ Mamiya lenses"

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When I visited his Venice, Florida gallery and lab, I saw his large prints up to around six feet both in digital and traditional chemical. The digital shots made with the cambo actus and his Sony digital camera are very great also.

I forgot to mention this one: Phase One XT Field Camera, only about $60,000.