Omega View 45D

As much as I love the digital world of creation. And there are a lot of new digital cameras coming out that I've see of late. I still love the traditional and more importantly, the MF and LF film camera's and photography techniques that go with them.

It takes patience and to be honest, it's relaxing. To me anyway.

Anyway, I was looking through some of my storage drives for something unrelated and stumbled onto a couple of old snaps I took of my Omega View 45D 4x5 monorail camera.


It's what most deem an entry level 4x5 View camera... but, I like it. Seen above on a Titan Tripod (which I paid way too much for - it's a surveyors tripod actually)

You can see mounted  on the rear is a Toyo Binocular Reflex Viewer which turns the image upright for viewing. If you're not familiar with view cameras the image projected onto the focusing plate is upside down. Which can be a little weird at times when composing the shot or trying to focus.

Here's a better look at it from the side:


Yup the Reflex Viewer is somewhat bulky, and I don't always use it. However, I've modified it as it's made of hard plastic and doesn't form to the face. So I added foam around the edging ( not shown) that makes for a tight fit when I use it. And it blocks out all light so adding the foam really made a difference. Plus it's a lot more comfortable when looking through it any length of time.

I was thinking it might even be possible to attach the rubber from a black diving mask...? Might work even better. But I haven't run into a diving mask I wanted to tear apart yet. I'd rather go diving with it than ruin it.

You can pick up a Toyo /Omega View 45 pretty inexpensively since everyone went digital.
I'm scouting for a case for it as I really want to take it up into the mountains and other areas. Even though it's not a field camera it's really light weight.

Here are some specs on it from CameraWiki.org if you're curious:

Specifications
  • 2 tripod mounting sockets
  • Dual spirit level on rear standard.

Movements:
  • Front Tilt: ± 45°
  • Rear Tilt: ± 45° vertical; ± 35° horizontal
  • Swing: ± 30°
  • Rise: 90mm
  • Lateral Shift: 45mm
  • Revolving back: 360° revolving, w/detents and lock

Dimensions:
  • length: 474mm
  • height: 325mm
  • width: 238mm
  • max extension: 440mm
  • min extension: 84mm; 45mm w/ recessed lens board
  • monorail diameter: 39mm
  • weight: 3.5kg
  • Lens board size: 158 x 158mm

Sorry to say I haven't scanned in any of my photos yet. From any of my film cameras really. I'll have to put that on the to-do list.
So much to do and so little time... heh heh.

Hmmm since I couldn't make it to Siggraph 2014... maybe I'll go shoot some 4x5 over the next few days.
In between watching the live streams that is...

till next time,
Stay creative

- chase -

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