Toyo D45M -- Can anyone tell me about it?

[schtickl]

New to the forum and to large format.

Can anyone tell me about the Toyo D45M? I havent been able to find much info on it on the net and would LOVE more info!

Thanks!

[johnnywalker]

I bought what was purported to be a D45M some years ago, but I don't know if that is really the model. I have no idea how one would tell the various D45's apart. Certainly there's nothing on mine that says what model it is.
In any case, mine is very well built and has all the movements one could wish for. It's a bit on the heavy side, but I'm sure that's true with most rail cameras.
I suggest getting a book on large format cameras. There are a couple of popular ones, but the one I purchased was, "Using the View Camera" by Steve Simmons. The Large Format Photography Forum has some good primers on using view cameras (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/index.php).

[schtickl]

Great, thanks!

[wally]

I've got two of them and I love them. They're built like tanks, with cast aluminum standards and a stainless steel rail. Geared focus, rise and fall in front and rear, geared shift front and rear, free-moving swing and tilt front and rear. All tilts are axis tilts.

The Toyo line are very compatible with one another with the exception of their rails: It seems like every model uses a different rail. But you can use any Toyo lensboard or bellows (although my Toyo bag bellows, made for a different model Toyo 4x5, is a bit tight getting on and off).

There are sliding rollfilm adapters that work really well. There are two types, though. One mounts the familiar graflok-based rollfilm holders. The other uses Mamiya press camera rollfilm holders, which are more rare, but are built like fine watches, support 120 or 220, and are available in 6x7 and 6x9.