I own an Ebony 45S and love it
Non Folders are easier to handle as a beginner.
They are also faster to set up than a Folding Camera (15mins)
Non Folders tend to make great Landscape Cameras as they handle Wide Angle Lenses better than Folders.
However, Non Folders don’t do longer lenses as well as Folders.
My 45S max extension is 270mm – which means a 240mm lens is as long as you can realistically manage without extension pieces.
Ebony does a 45SU Non Folder that will take longer lenses – up to 365mm Extension – but that is the maximum
The standard lens for a 5x4 is 150mm – equivalent to a 50mm lens on 35mm.
Therefore you need to consider what sort of lenses you currently use - both frequently and occasionally.
It may be that you need two or more LF Cameras to cover all of your needs.
A friend of mine uses a Linhof for his professional architecture work - http://www.linhof.de/index-e.html
Have you looked also at Walker Cameras - http://www.walkercameras.com/
In the UK the major LF Dealer is Robert White - http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/default.asp
I don’t know who would deal with LF Cameras in Germany
While the advice given on by the other posters on this Thread is good, living in Europe the LF choice of second hand equipment is very limited.
I found it was very good to find other people who had LF Cameras and to play with them together with asking questions of the owners.
Does the German APUG group have an annual or bi-annual get together like the UK Group, if so try to get people to bring the LF Cameras with then and try them out – they make much more sense when handled in real life than on the pages of a book
The most important thing on deciding what LF Camera you buy first – is what lenses you will want to use most?
After that the selection makes itself
Good luck
Martin
Non Folders are easier to handle as a beginner.
They are also faster to set up than a Folding Camera (15mins)
Non Folders tend to make great Landscape Cameras as they handle Wide Angle Lenses better than Folders.
However, Non Folders don’t do longer lenses as well as Folders.
My 45S max extension is 270mm – which means a 240mm lens is as long as you can realistically manage without extension pieces.
Ebony does a 45SU Non Folder that will take longer lenses – up to 365mm Extension – but that is the maximum
The standard lens for a 5x4 is 150mm – equivalent to a 50mm lens on 35mm.
Therefore you need to consider what sort of lenses you currently use - both frequently and occasionally.
It may be that you need two or more LF Cameras to cover all of your needs.
A friend of mine uses a Linhof for his professional architecture work - http://www.linhof.de/index-e.html
Have you looked also at Walker Cameras - http://www.walkercameras.com/
In the UK the major LF Dealer is Robert White - http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/default.asp
I don’t know who would deal with LF Cameras in Germany
While the advice given on by the other posters on this Thread is good, living in Europe the LF choice of second hand equipment is very limited.
I found it was very good to find other people who had LF Cameras and to play with them together with asking questions of the owners.
Does the German APUG group have an annual or bi-annual get together like the UK Group, if so try to get people to bring the LF Cameras with then and try them out – they make much more sense when handled in real life than on the pages of a book
The most important thing on deciding what LF Camera you buy first – is what lenses you will want to use most?
After that the selection makes itself
Good luck
Martin
