canham 8x10 or phillips compact II

[jesus_blazquez]

Comparasion betwen canham metal 8x10 and phillips compact II?

[tedharris]

The two cameras are vastly different. The Phillips is best with shorter lenses and has a

relatively short bellows draw and no interchangable bellows. Having said that it is also near

impossible to find. Dick Phillips has stopped making them and used ones are few and far

between. It is a great lightweight, solid camera if you have no intention of using long lenses.

OTOH, the Canham is also reasonably lightweight and is more versitile. Why not also

consider the Canham T810?

[j_woo]

I would consider the Wehman 8x10 as well.

[brucecahn]

You should also be aware of the Ebony RW810, their simplified economy model which costs around $3900. It is a traditional wooden 8x10 made of mahogany and titanium,and is exquisite. Weighs 10 lbs. Photo.net requires me to inform you that I am an Ebony dealer.

[donald_hutton]

The Phillips is way more rigid than the Canham. That being said, I'm sure that you could make fabulous photographs with either.... As Ted mentions, Dick is no longer making any Compact IIs, so finding one might be close to impossible, as most who own them, love them. If you really need long extension, Dick also sells a little bed extension device for the Compact II which adds about 4.5 inches of extension.

 

I tried a Wehman for a few weeks. The camera is crude in comparison and I think has a few big problems - while it has 30 inches of extension, I would think that the 30 inches of extension would be just about useless in the field because of a single tripod mounting point which means that the full extension would be cantilevered out to one side. Combine that with the fact that the folding bed is about midway out and I thought that it was going to be impossible to make the camera work at long extensions in anything other than 100% perfect conditions. I sold mine 4 weeks after I received it. I read comments from happy users all the times, but I can't believe that having 30 inches of extension is of any benefit on that camera. The finish is also decidedly "industrial", but probably perfectly functional.

 

As Ted mentions, the metal Canham should be considered too. Keith Canham's customer service is also legendary.

[big toys are better]

I know that some cameras lack rigidity when extended near their limits (make that most if not all cameras, especially field cameras), but there are ways to minimize those issues, including bracing the outbound end with a monopod or a second tripod, or using an articulated arm such as those Bogen sells to brace off of the one tripod's legs. The latter is what I generally use, and it has the gripper fingers on both ends so I don't necessarily need to have a second tripod mount to use it (but adding a second tripod mount to a field camera isn't difficult and makes using a monopod with ballhead combination very plausible and sometimes the best option). Regardless of the camera you own, bracing is a good idea in the outdoors when the bellows are extended near their limits as it minimizes wind issues by dampening the camera's inherent harmonics which greatly worsen with extension.