Fotoman 612 v. Horseman SW612P

[JDW22]

I love the 6x6 aspect ratio in medium format and my Hasselblad 500CM is a wonderful tool for making square images. A natural extension in aspect ratio for my vision is 6x12. There is something about 6x12 that just looks right to me when I compare to 6x7, 6x9, or 6x17.

I'm seriously looking at acquiring either a Fotoman 612 or Horseman SW612P. Before I make a purchase, I would appreciate any comments on these two cameras and the lenses you would recommend? What little I could find on the Fotoman 612 indicates it holds the film very flat (a good thing). Other than that, I'm not sure what to look for pro or con?

Any comments, suggestions or recommendations are sincerely appreciated.

Thank you;

Jeff

 

[Dan Fromm]

Jeff, its a question of budget, goals, and tolerance for weight and bother. Your money will go farther and you'll gain flexibility if you accept additional weight and bother and get a 4x5 camera and a 6x12 roll holder to fit it.

This is what I did. No need to get a cone for each lens and I can use, when I want, longer focal lengths than any of the dedicated 6x12 cameras wants.

When I was contemplating 6x12 I thought hard about a 4x5 Crown Graphic with a 6x12 roll holder. More compact and more easily transported than my Cambo monorail but couldn't focus a 35 Apo Grandy. There are other press/field/technical cameras but at the time I had a silly Graphic fixation. I didn't even think about any of the dedicated 6x12ers because of cones' prices.

 

[xya]

selling my plaubel veriwide (6x10) I bought a well used cambo wide, a 47mm xl lens and a 6x12 back for just under 1000$ on the big auction site about 18 months ago. the back was a cheap chinese one, there were (manageable) leaks and I have difficulties with red windows for film numbers, so I got a sinar vario on top of it. that's a nice couple, not too big, not too heavy and easy to carry around via the integrated handle. I had a cheap custom viewer made for guesstimation of framing and I use a polaroid pack 100 back in case of doubt. I also got a ground glass, but I'm not too much into ground glass framing.