Observations on the Wehman 8x10

[cxc]

I went 8x10 shopping recently and ended up with a Wehman, direct from

www.wehmancamera.com. The deciding factors were: low price (<$2k),

low weight (<9#), immediate availability, smoothly packable, and bomb-

proofness. Wehman info is somewhat scarce, so I thought I would post

a few observations, stuff that I would have liked to have known to

help me decide.

 

1. This camera has a real weird Rube Goldberg home-made contraption

look to it. It is constructed with a peculiar mixture of materials:

aluminum sheeting (color #1), aluminum 'L' bars (color #2), wood, and

a brown sort of fiberboard that I have never seen before: heavy, with

a cloth pattern/texture as if it had been fiberglassed. The camera

is held together with some steel bolts, and the control knobs are a

mixture of plastic and steel (both black). It is held folded up by a

buckled black web strap; another web strap is the handle. Now I

personally am perfectly happy with this look, but I imagine that some

may be put off by it.

 

2. The front standard and the bed extension look and feel flimsy;

however, once locked down, they are in fact rigid. All knobs are

absolutely firm with just light finger tighteness.

 

3. When folded up, the camera is encased on 4 of its 6 sides by two

overlapping pieces of U-shaped heavy aluminum sheeting. The aluminum

gives a little, thus absorbing impact rather than transmitting it.

The two open ends, roughly 4"x12", expose the folded internals, set

back a little. When unfolded, the two sheets of aluminum comprise

the bed.

 

4. The camera folds up with my 240mm G-Claron mounted on the

lensboard, with the lensboard reversed in the front standard.

 

5. The plexiglass ground glass performs just like real glass, IMHO,

while being lighter, less fragile, and easier to scratch. A real

glass ground glass is also provided.

 

6. All parts look like they could last a hundred years, except the

web straps, which look like they would wear out with handling,

especially the handle. They look a little cheesy, though I can't

think of anything better to replace them with.

 

7. There is no fine front focus. Push/pull the front standard into

rough focus, then use the geared rear fine focus.

 

8. After you've done it 5 times, setup and tear down are rapid and

trivial, not fussy. Raise the front standard all the way before

folding up, that's the only trick.

 

9. Front swing, shift, and focus are all controlled with one knob.

Since gravity isn't in play, this is no problem (unlike the combined

rise and tilt on my Gowland 4x5, which is a drag).

 

10. There is a circular, thin rubber pad around the tripod hole,

maybe 3-4" in diameter.

 

11. There are no accessories available from Wehman. I'd be

interested in a 4x5 reducing back.

 

12. I like this camera.

 

These are simply observations I made with my eyeballs; reply with

corrections if my eyes saw wrong.

 

CXC

[david_goldfarb]

If there is no 4x5" back, Toho Shimo (manufacturers of the ultralight monorails) make a 4x5" reducing holder for 8x10", which slides in like an 8x10" holder and holds a 4x5" holder. There are a couple of different types, but hunt around and you can find descriptions on their website. Badger Graphic carries the cameras, so I would guess they could order the reducing holders. I priced them out once, but didn't order one, and they were around $300-400.

[dhananjay_n]

I agree - it's a great camera, immune from a klutz like me. I really think it is one of the nicest designs around for actually schlepping an 8x10 around. Talk to Bruce - he'll adapt a 4x5 back for you. You can pick up a generic 4x5 back pretty cheap at places like Lens and Repro. Cheers, DJ

[robert_a._zeichner1]

That brown cloth-like fiber board looks a lot like Micarta. This is made from layers of loose weave linen impregnated with some synthetic, if memory serves. Very strong! They cut gears in motion picture cameras out of this stuff and it lasts for decades. I don't remember it being particularly heavy either. Very strong for its weight.

[thomas_young1]

Greetings! I just received my Wehman 8x10 today and I just want to second Mr. Condit's observations. I think that the Wehman is a great camera and I am very pleased with miine. I previously had been using a very nice black Calumet C-1 but it was getting more and more difficult for me to use because of the weight and some health problems that I have been coping with, so the Wehman is making my life a lot easier and more encouragement for me to get out and shoot some 8x10 film. Thanks, TY