My Quick review of a Fotoman 617

[rosswordhouse.com]

<p>I just finished a quick review of the Fotoman 617 camera with shots of the camera

system for you all to check out. I'm working on having some images taken with it shortly

but for now, you can take a close look at this system. Hope this helps with some questions

you have about the camera. I've been getting about ten questions a month about the

camera so I thought this would help you all out.</p>

<p>I am not paid by fotoman, I just got one for trade for 4 of my images that they used to

show what the 617 format can do. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.rosswordhouse.com/fotoman.html">http://

www.rosswordhouse.com/fotoman.html</a></p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

[andre_noble4]

Nice page, nice toy. Some of us who've read your other posts know how hard you had to work to earn this camera. Enjoy.

[king_fung1]

My friend told me this camera was made in Red China, I wonder can we buy this in the States and does it have any after sales services? What is the finishing quality when compare to Japanese made cameras?

[rosswordhouse.com]

The camera is made in Mainland China. You can get service and buy it through

badgergraphics.com. Regarding the finishing, I don't much care about it. my camera's

aren't show pieces, they are working machines that help me capture my vision. The

Fotoman is finished enough so the film isn't scratched or light damaged. It's very nicely

painted if that's what you're after. For making a body out of one piece of aluminum they

did a good job. If you campaired it to a GX617 then it's a little ruff around the corners but

it's about $1K cheaper for the body and the cone/lens set up can be $1-2K cheaper. Plus

you have a very wide lens choice with the fotoman, something that's not possible with the

GX617. Everything has trade offs, Fotoman has made a camera that is very utilitarian and

gets the job done with a large selection of lenses to chose from. The GX617 is a plush

camera for sure, but if you want to save some money for film and not skimp on

performance and versatility then look at the fotoman.

 

rw

[jonathan_brewer1]

I use the Horseman 612 back on my 4x5, but it involves the hassle of setting up the shot on the groundglass and then slapping on the back, not having/wanting to go through all that would be my rationale for getting a camera like the Fotoman, why can't you set up the viewfinder to give you at least a fair approximation of what you're framing?

 

I ask that question assuming that the very reason you have a camera like this with a viewfinder which saves you some of the steps you have to go through w/shooting 6x12 w/a 4x5.

[rosswordhouse.com]

The viewfinder works just fine for framing and shooting. When I frame the scene I just add

ten percent with the viewfinder to make sure that everything will be captured. You don't

have to use the GG at all, but I like to get it as close as I can to the final crop in camera so I

can go really big with my prints, so I double check with the GG.

 

Also, I shoot a ton of verts. If you have ever tried to compse a vert shot with a rangefinder

you know that the viewfinder will be off because it is off center. It's really nice to be able to

slap on the GG on a vert shot and to make sure nothing is being cut off or is properly

centered in the frame.

 

You'll have no problem shooting with the viewfinder, just add a little extra space to your

composition and you'll be safe.

 

rw

[mark_erickson]

Ross,

 

Can you discribe your approach to focusing? Stop down and go hyperfocal? Or something else?

 

Thanks,

[rosswordhouse.com]

Mark, You will have to go here to calculate all of your DOF's. It will give you your

hyperfocal measurments too.

 

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

 

Select 5x7 film format because they do not have a 6x17 option.

 

rw

[van_camper]

Ross, that calculator you gave is wrong. The near distance is always 1/2 the hyperfocal distance (something that calculator is way off on).