I am a portrait photographer interested in doing some work on print out paper which requires large negatives (5x7, 8x10). I have considered a graflex but 4x5 is a little too small. What's available that doesnt cost in the thousands. Thanks for your advice.

There's always the old ebay search...and it turns up things like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2957418499&category=15248

Fred

The Eastman Model 2(D) shows up on ebay regularly. The 8 x 10 versions are more common than the 5 x 7 versions. The 8 x 10's go for $400~$600. <a href=http://www.fiberq.com/cam/ekc/2d.htm>Made from 1921-1950 by Folmer & Schwing</a>. A complete one will have the bed extension and a tripod adaptor that will allow the camera to be centered/balanced on a tripod at any extension of the bed/bellows. A tripod socket us on the bottom of the rear standard plate for normal extension mounting.
Charles
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While a picture may be worth a thousand words, a quality photograph is worth a million.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2003-10-19 18:51 ]</font>

Particularly in the 5x7 and 8x10 size, there were Kodaks, Agfas, Centurys, Karonas and Burke and James. All were more or less the same camera design. Many were built for each war and were the "Chevrolet" of cameras...well built and servicable.

I use a 5x7 2d that I paid $239 for a couple years back. Agfas are a little different in that the extension is built in, but it doesn't go quite as long as the 2D.

There is also a No1 camera which is a lot lighter in weight. Since you want to do portraits, I suggest you stay away from the No 1 as you'll want fast (and heavy) lenses.

They also made a "portrait view" camera. I think B&J called theirs a Watson and Kodak called it a 33a They were made in 5x7 only and had a substanstial, non moving front standard that used a larger than normal lensboard to accomodate the faster portrait lenses. The strange thing about this camera is that it didn't have an extention and you were limited to about a 10" lens. Portrait lenses less than 12" are dang hard to find.

Okay here's a poor example of a 33a. It combines the rigid front of a studio portrait with the portability of a view camera. Oh and the lensboards really aren't that much wider. 4.5 vs 4.0

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2958323217&category=4701

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Les on 2003-10-19 20:11 ]</font>