Focusing Ebony SV45Ti Camera

I recently was fortunate to stumble across a used Ebony SV45Ti camera

in like new condition so I'm now the happy owner of this lovely

camera. It came without any instruction booklet which is generally

o.k., I can figure everything out except that I'm puzzled by the

front focusing system. I thought perhaps someone could clarify it for

me.

 

There are two knobs that control front focusing, one in the middle of

three focusing knobs and the other at the front (the third knob

controls focusing with the back). If you want to move the front

standard backwards past the front edge of the bed you apparently use

the middle knob and if you want to move the front standard forward

beyond the front edge of the bed you apparently use the forward knob.

 

Neither knob by itself appears to move the front all the way forward

and all the way back. Instead, it looks like if you have to switch

from using one knob to using the other whenever the front standard

pases the edge of the bed. If you don't switch knobs at the

appropriate time then the front standard jumps off the little

focusing wheel.

 

I don't remember seeing a system quite like this on any other camera

and it seems a little annoying because when you're under the dark

cloth you can't easily see when the front standard is even with the

front edge of the bed so you don't know when to switch knobs except

by waiting until the front standard falls off the focusing wheel. Is

this in fact how it works or am I missing something? Thanks.

Yep, that's the way it works and you're not missing anything. I have an SV45U and it focuses in the identical fashion. You will get used to it. I have only one lens (180mm, I think) that "spans" the range where you are likely to have to jump from the middle knob to the forward knob when focusing from infinity to 10-ft or so. Once you feel one of these knobs go "loose", you will learn to automatically reach for the next one without thinking about it. The large knobs are no problem to find once you use the camera a few times, and have a great "feel". This particular design keeps the "track rails" (or whatever the heck they're called) from having to be quite long, but still giving you a *very* large amount of total extension. It's a good compromise to keep the camera lighter and physically smaller. Enjoy the camera, it's a gem.

The Ebony websiteat: http://www.ebonycamera.com/ has a user's guide.

I think Steve's response answers it. John, thanks for pointing out the user guide. It's been very helpful for some things but it doesn't deal with focusing (I guess they thought that was so basic only an idiot would need a guide). The "problem" was greatly minimized when the realization struck me that, as Steve points out, this is a "problem" only when a particular lens focal length spans the edge of the bed when focusing. Otherwise the same knob can be used throughout the focusing procedure.

I have only used an Ebony (SV45U), so I never thought the "three knob" arrangement was unusual. Do you mean to say that no other field cameras are designed this way? It seems like the only sensible solution that allows a large focussing range on a camera that folds up compactly.