From: Robert Hudyma (rhudyma@attcanada.ca)
Date: 06/19/00-12:33:04 PM Z
At 12:50 PM 6/19/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Steve:
> I've got a metal view here and the label reads "Eastman Commercial View
>Camera (all metal)". No Master View sticker in sight. Any idea where that
>name comes from - or did Kodak make more than one metal view camera?
>CHeers, Ed Stander
>
Kodak made more than one metal view camera.
The "Eastman Commercial View Camera (All metal)" is a different beast from
the Kodak Masterview. Both were 8"x10" metal cameras and a 5"x7" reducing
back was available for the Masterview (I've never seen a reducing back for
the Commercial View).
The Eastman Commercial View appears to be an aluminum variation of the turn
of the Century Eastman View 2-D wooden cameras (much the same look and
feel). They are a dull grey since the metal was left in a natural finish.
The rear standard supports tilts and swings. The front standard supports
both vertical and horizontal shifts, to do a tilt or a swing you add small
bellows frame, clamped to the front standard, that provide the required
movement. Except for the groundglass, this is rugged, no nonsense camera
that is pretty much indestructable. Just make sure that your bellows are
still light-proof.
The Masterview, if my memory serves me right, is a Magnesium alloy rather
than aluminum. It has a crinkle-tan paint finish (very 50's) and it looks
a lot more like a traditional field camera with a large square front bed
that forms the base of the camera when it is unfolded. The Masterview
looks and works a lot more like a Deardorff camera except that it is made
of metal. I imagine that Kodak produced this as a response to the
Deardorff since there is more than a passing resemblance between the two
cameras. The Masterview is another excellent camera that has become quite
collectable.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
-- Albert Einstein
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