How Important Is "Front Swing" On A Deardorff?

Jim Moore · Jun 6, 2004

There's a nice Deardorff with a good "Buy It Now" price, but it's an early model without Front Swing.

How important is that feature?

Thanks,
Jim

David R Munson · Jun 6, 2004

I guess it really depends on your working method. I have front swing on mine and I use it all the time. Is it worth the extra price the WFS models sometimes go for? That's debatable. In any case, if you find yourself with a camera without front swings and need to do a little swinging, you can always fudge it with the swing on the rear standard. Not ideal, but it works.

David A. Goldfarb · Jun 6, 2004

I'd want to have it. I have a camera with rear swing only, and I prefer having front swings rather than doing it by the indirect method, when I need that adjustment.

bmac · Jun 6, 2004

JIm, you Sean and I need to form some sort of support group for eBay addicts

Jim Moore · Jun 6, 2004

bmac said:
JIm, you Sean and I need to form some sort of support group for eBay addicts

The first step to recovery is to admin you have a problem. I'm not to that point yet

Actually I need to slow down. Spent WAY to much lately, but it's hard to pass up some of this stuff

Ole · Jun 6, 2004

bmac said:
JIm, you Sean and I need to form some sort of support group for eBay addicts

Count me in.

My 8x10" is not a Deardorff, has very limited swings, and isn't an 8x10" either. It's a 18x24cm camera. I used to think swings were paramount, and that I wouldn't buy an "unstandard" camera. But then I surfed through ebay.de one day...

Tom Hoskinson · Jun 6, 2004

I am not addicted to eBay! I can quit any time ... I haven't bought anything for at least 2 days...

bmac · Jun 6, 2004

Tom Hoskinson said:
I am not addicted to eBay! I can quit any time ... I haven't bought anything for at least 2 days...

I wish I could say the same :rolleyes:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The new Deardorff needed a friend

Deckled Edge · Jun 6, 2004

My Deardorffs have front swings and tilts. My Eastman View 11x14 has rear tilt and rear swing only. I frequently resent the lack of front movements on the latter. I take almost exclusively landscapes, and I favor longer lenses which require movements to aid DOF issues. Also, the Deardorff is not the most rigidly designed of the popular 8x10 cameras. Wear and tear only makes this worse. The older the camera, the greater the chance of wear and tear, so a newer 'dorf WFS might be a less problematic choice. Also, the combination of front and rear swings gives shift, which might occasionally get you out of a jam.

David R Munson · Jun 6, 2004

Note that not all the Dorffs with front swing left the factory that way originally. Mine was made some time before they started making them with front swing, and was later sent back to have front swing added, as well as updated hardware in a few other places. It may still be pretty old if it has front swings.

bmac · Jun 6, 2004

Dave, how do you know you have an older one with an "aftermarket" FS?

steve simmons · Jun 6, 2004

The movemens I consider important in a view camera are front and rear swing and front and rear tilt. With these movements ou can mimic all of the others.

stve simmons

Jim Moore · Jun 6, 2004

Thanks for the info guys.

I think I'll hold out for one with the swings.

Jim

Loose Gravel · Jun 6, 2004

Not very.

David R Munson · Jun 6, 2004

Brian - it's what was told to me by Ken Hough during a phone conversation a while back. Based on the lack of a serial number in certain places and the presence of the big aluminum plate on the bottom, I guess he was able to infer that it was about 60 years old. I guess with the particulars of the hardware, it indicates that it was sent back to the factory at some point for front swing, bed plate, and new bellows.

Steve Hamley · Jun 6, 2004

Dave,

I dropped in to see Ken Hough a few weeks ago, and he has the first front swing Deardorff, number 500. He can also likely add front swings if you wish; the parts he has are amazing. If you're in Chicago, he's only a short drive away and well worth the visit.

Steve

bmac · Jun 6, 2004

Interesting. I'm trying to get a rough date for mine from the info on his site. Still lost. I've got FS, no round tripod bedplate thingy, FS, a label on the side, no serial number, and what I believe to be nickel hardware... phew! :confused:

Alex Hawley · Jun 6, 2004

Sounds pretty much like mine Brian. According to Ken Hough's info, it dates from early 1950. The aluminum tripod plate was something the US Air Force wanted (of course, they made a sizeable order) and it appeared in the early '50s.

Donald Miller · Jun 7, 2004

My earliest model Deardorff V8 has two rotating tabs to lock the lens board. The hardware is gold painted and it did not have a bed plate and had red leather bellows when I bought it a couple of years ago. This has no front swings and is about 70 years old. It is as solid as either of the two more recent V8's that I have. Both of which have bed plates, a locking plate for the lens board, serial numbers, nickle plated hardware and have serial number of 3*** and 5***.

I would much prefer to have front swings over rear swings. The use of these two movements is not interchangeable. Movements at the lens standard do not alter image perspective whereas movements at the film plane alter image perspective.

jimgalli · Jun 8, 2004

"How important is that feature? " $350-$500 for cameras in equal shape with and without. The one with no front swings would fetch 350-500 less. I have one of each. I had the early one with me on memorial day in the Bristlecones and didn't miss the FS up there. Architectural; it's a must.

How Important Is "Front Swing" On A Deardorff?

Jim Moore

David R Munson

David A. Goldfarb

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bmac

Jim Moore

Ole

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Tom Hoskinson

bmac

Deckled Edge

David R Munson

bmac

steve simmons

Jim Moore

Loose Gravel

David R Munson

Steve Hamley

bmac

Alex Hawley

Donald Miller

jimgalli

How Important Is "Front Swing" On A Deardorff?

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