Sold Tomiyama Art Panorama 170 6x17 camera.

This is an oddball.

The best video I know of so far is on youtube by Alastair Bird. It contains all of the pertinent information regarding this camera.

Camera is a heavy all metal body, the true lens board (lens cone) from the factory is a top-hat style technika board that doesn't have a light trap ring on the interior face. This is the key. The board/cone needs to be perfectly flat to mount properly.

One is supposed to get the camera set up at the scene, pop the back off, rest the ground glass on the interior of the film plane, focus with a loupe, insert the film, re-install the back and then expose your image.
If you're not lost, you have likely realized that you cannot focus again mid-roll. There are ways and methods to circumvent this anomaly, but they all take some time using the camera. It is likely that the system I was working towards would not work for anyone else.

these have been offered with I think 2 or 3 different focal lengths. The focus knob on this one has 90mm engraved on it, so I have it here with a Fujinon 90mm SW f8. The glass is clean and clear and I think the shutter speeds are fine.

The camera is capable of 6x12 as well. I have never seen the masks but I think they are simply 2 pieces of metal that shrink the width of the film plane.

The super weird thing to me is that the film take-up is on the left. When you scan your negatives, the film info will be upside down.

I was trying to get the kinks ironed out to have this be a 2-lens "system." The other option I was working with was the little Linhof/Schneider 120mm Angulon.

Sale option A: Camera body with Fujinon 90mm and a cable release that fits well but is a bit long. $1200 shipped, insured and fee'd (paypal) within the US

Sale option B: All of the above plus the Schneider 120mm lens and some extra lens cone extension rings. $1350 shipped, insured and fee'd (paypal) within the US

It's an interesting camera capable of really cool images. I am selling because I can do nothing with the negatives unless I fully embrace the hybrid workflow or source a 5x7 enlarger. Neither of those are happening any time soon.

Last image is a sample image taken with the 90mm Fujinon.

What an awesome little oddball camera. I can’t buy it wanted to tip my hat to you: your post is what makes this community so great.

For any future owner... I made my own 6x12 masks with some laminated paper with flocking material stuck on either side and they work great. Once I verified my knob markings were reasonably accurate, I found focusing easiest using my phone to approximate a distance and making sure I have enough, or the desired, DOF coverage with my aperture selection using a DOF calculator.

If someone takes you up on option A, please reach out to me. I would be very interested in the cone extension rings. I love my Art Panorama!

eurekaiv said:

phone to approximate a distance

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How do you use your phone as a rangefinder?

It's been a long time since I had my Tomiyama 617 but doesn't it have a distance scale on the focus knob for the bellows? My recollection is that you need to set the bellows to infinity and then use the threaded collar to get the lens working at infinity properly and then lock it down. After that, you don't need to be checking the GG unless there is a critical focus and/or composition aspect to the shot because the range focus is precise enough and the depth of field you need to be using with the lens will cover most range-distance errors just fine.

That won't work with a 120mm lens, but it should work perfectly fine with the 90mm since that is what it was built around. It would be possible to recalibrate the range scale and make a translation for teh 120 as well...

peoplemerge said:

How do you use your phone as a rangefinder?

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I use an app that measures distance and walk it to the subject. I happen to use this one but there are probably loads of others... https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tape-measure/id1271546805

They're not perfect but for what is ostensibly, a landscape camera, I really just need to know if the subject I want to focus on is 3 or 5 meters away and the phone is more than capable of that resolution.

@eurekaiv Those "top hat" sets are all over ebay. There are 1 or 2 sellers that will let you customize a set if you want a specific combo of pieces.

@Michael Mutmansky Yes. I was working on a mini "story stick" that was labeled either 120 or 90 and had marks that corresponded to bellows extension for a specific range. It may be a bit clunky, which is why I will let someone figure out their own method.

Also, my prices are not set in stone, be sure to ask any questions, or make an offer.

$1100 with 90mm
$1200 with both lenses

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I just bought one here in the UK. It has a Schneider 90mm on. I have to scan the negs but I was toying with the idea of building an enlarger out of it.

There is a 120mm version on eBay at the moment and it looks like the cone is the same size but they have put a spacer on the focus rack to mark the new infinity point. The bellows go out quite a way so this might be a good strategy. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145695037060

90mm is so wide I'd like to use a 150mm on mine but have the feeling it would vignette on internal components. I could 3D print a cone and give it a go I suppose.

This was my first shot with it.

Fun camera. Would recommend if you are crazy enough.

I really enjoy the format, but like I said in my ad, I can't do anything I like with the negatives. I haven't seen a local 5x7 enlarger for sale ad in years. I need to post pictures, but for the cones, I sourced on of the ebay kits that have about 4" total of extension spread between 4 "rings." I have to machine a slot in the light trap to get the mount side flat. For 120, it is my 90mm ring, plus a 14mm extension ring (smallest in the kit). I got mine as just a camera body, without a lens board/cone.

Wow. That ebay one is the 240 model.

Here is the kit. They will let you customize (all Copal 0, duplicate extension rings, etc)

Very, very cool!

I bought a 6x17 camera about 17 years ago, you have to remember the vertical aspect as well as the width. The normal focal length for a 120 camera is between 75mm & 105mm. I decided on 75mm & 90mm lens cones, and mounted up Super Angulons, however I found I never used the 90mm, I just love using the 75mm, so much so I bought a second for my Wista 45DX. I should add my preference is normal to wide anyway in any format which suits the locations I shoot in..

It's possible a 150mm will not work on a Tomiyama Art Panoramic for 5x17, probably fine for 6x12which is another nice format.

RogerHyam said:

90mm is so wide I'd like to use a 150mm on mine but have the feeling it would vignette on internal components. I could 3D print a cone and give it a go I suppose.

Click to expand...

The image here works well with a 90mm, it wouldn't with a longer FL.

This combination of a 90mm & 120mm is a bargain at the prices offered.

Ian

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This is cool as heck! I have a fixed lens Fujica G617, focusing with ground glass is the best way to get critical focus. My camera has a helical with scale focusing.

Looks like a nice outfit, GLWS!

Last bump before I shift this over to the auction site.