Questions questions questions.....Toyo 45a

BenZucker · Oct 1, 2009

I have a few questions about this camera:

With a 135mm lens will i need to use the drop bed?

How bright is the ground glass(say compared to a tachihara)?

Will there be any issues using a polaroid 405 back with this camera?

Do you find this camera to be rigid?

What is the max and min bellows extension?

colrehogan · Oct 1, 2009

I have a Toyo 45 AII and have used a 90 mm lens without any issues of the bed showing up in my negs.

With regards to the ground glass vs. a Tachihara, I have never seen a Tachihara, so I don't really know.

Re: the polaroid back, I found this on the B&H website: "Essentially a Polaroid 405 4x5 Pack Film Holder. Holds your choice of Polaroid 400 Series pack film. Fits any view camera's Graflok style back."

I don't know whether you will have issues using this back with the Toyo 45 A.

Max bellows extension is 360 mm.
Minimum bellows extension is ??? I'm not sure anymore. I know you would need a recessed lens board to use anything less than 90 mm on this camera.

It is a rigid camera.

Hope this helps.

BenZucker · Oct 1, 2009

That was very helpfull, but I'm not quite sure what your saying in regards to the Polaroid back, can you or any one else compare the groundglass to a sinar/arcaswiss/tachihara. Or just give me your general thoughts on it?

Huub · Oct 1, 2009

BenZucker said:
I have a few questions about this camera:

With a 135mm lens will i need to use the drop bed??

Probably not. With the 90 mm I drop the bed only in rare occasions when using both tilt and the lowest position of the lens.

BenZucker said:
How bright is the ground glass(say compared to a tachihara)??

Never had an other view camera, so i can't compare, but wide angle lenses can be a bit of a problem to focus. With a 135 mm this shouldn't be to much of an issue.

BenZucker said:
Will there be any issues using a polaroid 405 back with this camera??

Never used such a polaroid back.

BenZucker said:
Do you find this camera to be rigid??

When you lock al the controls the camera is rigid.

BenZucker said:
What is the max and min bellows extension?

Maximum exentension of my camera is 305 mm (and not 360mm), which is enough for a 360 telelens. I also use a 58 mm in a recessed lensboard without to much problems. According to Toyo even a 47 mm should be possible

BenZucker · Oct 1, 2009

I ended up going with the 45aII, should be here in a week.....very excited........any one want to buy a tachihara 4x5?

bwakel · Oct 2, 2009

I hope you enjoy your 45A - I have one and find it a very good compromise in terms of durability, weight and flexibility. My shortest lens is a 65mm which I use with a recessed lens board and this lens does require drop but the 90 doesn't. My longest lens is a 240mm and on my camera that's about as far as I reckon you could go without using a telephoto.

I find the screen pretty dim and that's my only real complaint but it's still better than my old Linhof 6x9 but nowhere near as clear as my ancient wooden half-plate Gandolfi. It's definitely worth buying f/5.6 lenses over f/8 lenses to maximise the light for compositions.

BenZucker · Oct 2, 2009

yeah I went with the AII because it is suposed to have a brighter ground glass/fresnel situation....hopefully it was worth it....so any one use this camera with the 405 polaroid holder???

raucousimages · Oct 2, 2009

I use a 65 with no problem.

dropframe · Nov 16, 2010

Polaroid back on Toyo

Just acquired Toyo 45AII over weekend and was not happy to learn that 405 is way too thick to fit camera.

Anyone know if PA-45 or Polaroid 550 will fit? Both the Fujifilm Quickload and Polaroid 545i fit and work perfectly.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

BenZucker · Nov 21, 2010

to use the 405/Pa-45/550 back I pop off the ground glass and use the graflock tabs to hold it in place, the fit is too tight otherwise and i would worry about moving/ damaging the camera trying to cram the back in there. Hope this helps, Im using a 45aII by the way.

Questions questions questions.....Toyo 45a

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