Comparing DLC cameras to others

_T_ · Sunday at 5:06 PM

Milpool said:
Yup, something like that but with extension / ability to use regular lenses would be nice. At one time I thought something like the Walker XL might work decently for me but in the end it had some no-go characteristics and would probably have been more trouble than it was worth.

Cambo makes a camera called the actus repro that does exactly this. I don’t think they are producing them anymore but they are still available new from cambo usa’s website and on b&h. I guess these kinds of things sell pretty slowly. Sometimes I will see a second hand one on eBay for a slightly better price but for a second hand camera the minor savings you get that way makes it pretty easy to justify spending a little more on a new one.

Actus Repro Camera Body

Actus Repro * SPECIAL ORDER Can NOT Be Returned The ACTUS optimized for archival and repro photograph When digitizing flat art, film or documents proper alignment between sensor and front standard is crucial. The front standard of the Actus Repro has no Tilt and Swing. We maintained the rear...

www.cambousa.com

Ardpatrick · 2025-12-15T04:06:25-0500

blee1996 said:
@DREW WILEY Thanks for the gravity angle finder suggestion. I will get one and try it not only for LF camera, but also for aligning my enlarger.

Back to the original topic: I have Wista DX wooden field camera and Arca Swiss F-Line monorail. Both are quite fast to set up in the field. And the Arca Swiss has the most precision feel and refinement. It is even slightly better than Sinar F/P in terms of workmanship. I have bag bellows for the Arca Swiss but never used. My wide angle 4x5 landscape stops somewhere around 90mm.

I don't hike with the Arca Swiss, but it can be packed down smaller than similar Sinar system.

The Arca Swiss F does seem next level. I found an affordable one on eBay but even though it’s listed as an “F” I suspect it’s actually an Arca Swiss Discovery. Not a bad camera but not the same thing.

I’ve been absorbing the advice here and looking at options online. Arca Swiss is very pricy indeed. Objectively I don’t think the prices are excessive (compared to a bag of groceries) but I’m also seeing loads and loads of used Sinar F/ F2 cameras with standard & wide bellows for about the same price as an Arca Swiss bellows! As a longtime owner of a Sinar, I’m well aware of its strengths and limitations but at those prices it might be worth it as a second, horses for courses camera.

Or just sell the DLC, supplement a modest cost differential, buy a TK 45s, and be happy!

DavidHopper · 2025-12-15T05:28:16-0500

Okay, seems like this DLC is a bit of a grind. You might want to level up to a Toyo or Arca to make it easier in those hard spots.

abruzzi · 2025-12-15T10:51:53-0500

Ardpatrick said:
The Arca Swiss F does seem next level. I found an affordable one on eBay but even though it’s listed as an “F” I suspect it’s actually an Arca Swiss Discovery. Not a bad camera but not the same thing.

I’ve been absorbing the advice here and looking at options online. Arca Swiss is very pricy indeed. Objectively I don’t think the prices are excessive (compared to a bag of groceries) but I’m also seeing loads and loads of used Sinar F/ F2 cameras with standard & wide bellows for about the same price as an Arca Swiss bellows! As a longtime owner of a Sinar, I’m well aware of its strengths and limitations but at those prices it might be worth it as a second, horses for courses camera.

Or just sell the DLC, supplement a modest cost differential, buy a TK 45s, and be happy!

Discoverys are easy to tell. Shift on an F-Classic is a pinch clamp--squeeze the clamp and the standard loosens and you can slide it back and forth. Discoverys have a screw knob to loosen/tighten the shift clamp. Discoversy also do not have geared focusing on the front carrier.

F-Classic Shift pinch clamp:

Discovery Shift Clamp:

For focusing on a discovery you can see the front standard only has "lock" whilke the rear standard has lock and focus:

I don't know if it is all of them, but the Discoverys I've seen have some yellow knobs. The F-Classic (and F-Metric) are all black and grey.

Ther than that they are basically the same camera.

EDIT: Something not mentioned: There are also the "Oschwald"era cameras. Arca Swiss was sold somewhere around 1984, then the F and M models started coming out. Sinar Maintained a high degree of interchangabilityfrom the 1947 Norma to the last cameras they made. There is some, but a lot less intechagability between Oschwad and Vogt era Arca Swiss cameras. If the camera has a lot of visible chrome/silver/bare metal then is is almost certainly a Oschwald camera. They are much cheaper but I've never used them so I can't comment on build quality.

blee1996 · 2025-12-15T11:21:40-0500

At least in the US, Arca Swiss is significantly more expensive and significantly less common than Sinar. So eventually I went with Sinar for 8x10 and 4x5 dual-format. But I kept the Arca Swiss F since it is just such a lovely camera.

Ardpatrick · 2025-12-15T17:36:39-0500

blee1996 said:
At least in the US, Arca Swiss is significantly more expensive and significantly less common than Sinar. So eventually I went with Sinar for 8x10 and 4x5 dual-format. But I kept the Arca Swiss F since it is just such a lovely camera.

The relative costs / availability are the same in Europe. But the real acid test is which camera, Sinar or Arca Swiss, do you actually use more regularly and why?

blee1996 · 2025-12-15T18:09:40-0500

Ardpatrick said:
The relative costs / availability are the same in Europe. But the real acid test is which camera, Sinar or Arca Swiss, do you actually use more regularly and why?

My photography needs are different from yours, thus my preference might not matter to you.

I use Sinar more indoors for portraits and still life because: I need 8x10, I use Sinar Copal shutter for barrel lenses. For outdoors, I use wooden field camera instead of monorails.

isaac7 · 2025-12-15T21:01:30-0500

Ardpatrick said:
I’ve been out and about around the city with my Canham DLC 4x5, a recently acquired wide angle bellows, and some likewise new to me very wide lenses (72 / 58mm).

I’m clearly a little rusty with this camera although I’ve been shooting LF for 25+ years and own the Canham since 2009. I posted elsewhere about tripod head issues, but I’m having some camera specific issues too - the Canham is metal, folds / unfolds, and does not have any zero detente’s. I was advised to zero camera movements by ‘touch’ to verify standard alignment and that’s probably sufficient for landscape and / or with longer lenses. However for urban buildings / streetscape and wide lenses, I’ve had shots where even quite marginally non-aligned (to touch) standards have produced surprisingly unsharp results across parts of the shot. Of course very wide lenses are very unforgiving of any inaccuracy of alignment. The older DLC also has lousy bubble levels which is an inconvenience.

The DLC is generally a wonderful camera, but I’m wondering if I could find a better tool for my photographic needs - something that can be compact for portability, assembles accurately and has good movements & controls? I could sell the Canham and for similar money buy f.x. a Toyo View VX125, an Arca Swiss F, or a Linhof Technikarden. I have a sense of these cameras but haven’t used any of them. If it’s not already clear, my preference is a light metal 4x5 with plenty of movements.

Maybe there is little advantage to any of them. There are previous threads comparing these cameras, but maybe someone here has experience of these cameras compared to the DLC?

I should finally acknowledge that as I get older I get less tolerant of tools that ‘kinda’ work. Getting out to shoot LF film is not a convenient thing to do. It’s a commitment and film isn’t cheap anymore. Having to fiddle around just to level and align a 4x5 in Northern European winter weather and diminishing light, is less tolerable than it once was!

I never used the European monorails but I loved my Horseman copy. Pretty sure they are mostly compatible with Sinar stuff. Once you rotated the standards everything could lay flat and allowed me to pack everything in a normal-ish backpack. Set up was quick and it was rock solid.

Comparing DLC cameras to others

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