britt_leckman5

I have on occasion played with the carbon fiber Gitzo we have in our studio. It is unbelievably light and very stiff. I would have thought that the legs would bow a bit, it feels so spindly. I put a big studio video camera on the thing and it was quite stiff. I use carbon fiber masts when windsurfing so I can attest to the durability of the material. We have a small video head on the tripod. By replacing the video head with a medium sized ball head would make a tremendous location tripod. I think that it would support an 8x10 field camera quite well, however, I don't think that my wallet could support the tripod!

I belive that the SC went into production in the late 80's. The

SC is not a light camera by any means. It has a large rail that

does not collapse,(it does release) which makes it a very bulky

camera to carry into the field. The SC would be a good choice

if you are photographing sites visited by car, and is excellent

for architecture with the bag bellows. I would not recommend

this camera for shooting on the trail. You might be more

interested in a "Field" camera, or one of the lighter mono-rail

cameras that have a collapsable/foldable/removable rail.

These cameras are made for trail use. After all. it's not just

the camera, it's the tripod (You will need a sturdy one for the

SC) film holders, dark cloth, meter, filters, ect.....

I know that this may sound a little strange, but have you considered refinishing an old view camera before jumping in to building one from scratch? A view camera is a very simple camera, but I have found that refinishing an old 8x10 gave me great insight into the little things. I never would have attempted to fabricate my own bellows had my 8x10 not needed new ones. Now I make bellows for all my large format projects. You may also consider augmenting an existing view camera for specific purposes. The old Calumet (Orbit)400 series cameras are a snap to convert to alternate formats. I am in the middle of a conversion from 4x5 to 4"x10" and have a 7"x17" in the works.

You should definitely look at Jon Grepstadt's Page he is the master.

 

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Good Luck!