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The 135mm Symmar won't cover 5x7" - at least mine doesn't. The 150mm Symmar almost/barely covers, and is quite useable if you're not too fussy about fuzzy corners - or if you stop down to f:22 or so.
Most 135mm lenses were made as normal lenses for 9x12cm, and not as wide-angle lenses for 5x7". So with very few exceptions, they won't cover. Look for 120mm lenses instead - that focal length is dominated by WA lenses for 5x7"!
-- Ole Tjugen, Luddite Elitist
Norway
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5x7
Deardorffs are nice, gandolfi's are prettier and probably better made, canham has the best service anywhere, and the only thing I would say with 5x7 or 8x10, try to get a bail for opening the back-they are really great, keeps one from moving the camera when inserting a holder.
good luck!
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I've been a Deardorff user since the early 70's when I bought a beautiful red bellows 5x7 w/o front swings. It came with a nice 210mm Tessar in a compund shutter. I used that camera for many years and finally sold it to get the 5x7 interchange components for my Sinar Norma. I've always regretted selling the Deardorff. Since then I've owned my vintage 8x10 for over thirty years and had a beauty of a Baby Deardorff for quite a few years until I sold it six years ago. Another sale I am sorry I made. Should have kept both the 5x7 and the Baby 4x5. Roger may feel the Deardorff is an ordinary lack luster camera but for those that have made our living using LF and particularly Deardorf cameras then I think we have a better appreciation of the design and the solid construction and compact size of the Deardorff. I now have a Canham wood 5x7 with both 5x7 and 4x5 backs. Certainly Keith Canham is the current king of customer service but in the days of the Deardorff company they were equal in service. My 8x10 is one of 5 made in a transition period. It came with no front swings and I wanted to update it to the current FS model. I contacted Deardorff and Jack Deardorff answered the phone. He explained that most likely my camera could not be modified but he would give me the dimensions of the bed so I could check. The later FS cameras had a slightly different dimension to the bed apparently. Jack explained that he knew the owners of three of the five cameras so my camera was not likely to be one of the other two. To our surprise it was the #4 camera. I then ordered the new components and sent a check (in 1974). I waited for a while and the parts never came. I called Jack and he explained that the parts had arrived but the plating on the metal didn't meet their standards for quality. A week or so after my conversation the parts arrived. I installed them and they fit perfectly. About a month later I received a call from Jack D. to see if they were to my liking. I said they were and they fit perfectly. Jack then replied that he would deposit my check now having satisfied his customer and the product was to my liking. Now that's customer service. Keith Canham runs this kind of business too. His camera is very strong, light weight and easy to use. The wood camera is much more advanced than the Deardorff having interchangeable bellows and format backs. Lever locks are a dream once you break old habits of screw down locks. Lens boards are large and can take large shutters. Also my camera is a newer one and I have an adapter for my Linhof boards. I also have an Ebony 4x5 that I absolutely love but the cost of the 5x7 is a little over the top. Over all I love the Canham as much as I do the Ebony. They're different cameras and designed different but they're both superb and easy to use.
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 Originally Posted by Roger Hicks
At the risk of being accused of anti-Americanism by the usual suspects, I'd say this is only true in the USA. Elsewhere in the world, those who have actually seen or handled them (as distinct from reading Americans' opinions of them) cannot see what the fuss is about. I had read a lot about them before I ever saw one, so perhaps my expectations were unreasonably high, but I was surprised at how very ordinary they are.
If I could stand 'smileys' or emoticons I'd strew this post with them, but please take it as read that there is no personal attack, anti-US attach or even Deardorff attack intended: I just can't see why they're so well regarded.
Cheers,
R.
Roger,
If you have read any of my posts since I got my V-8 Deardorff, you would understand my view as both an engineer and a photographer. Everything is in the correct place. This camera folds down to almost nothing, it folds out to a beautiful camera and all the controls are exactly where they should be. What more can you ask from a LF camera? OK, weight. But that is the only drawback from a Deardorff. I am surprised that you didn't find it an amazing piece of engineering considering its age.
tim in san jose
Where ever you are, there you be.
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Originally Posted by pandino
Alan,
If you're serious about wanting an Ebony, take a look at the Shen Hao HZX57. It appears to be cloned directly from the SV57 and can be had for under $1500 used.
I'm not sure they're available new anymore. I bought one as a lightweight (compared to my Ansco) 5x7 for hiking, but unfortunately my aging knees have a different idea of what is lightweight.  After hiking with it yesterday, I'm seriously thinking of dropping it for a 4x5.
Last year they were still selling the HZX 5x7 but had dropped the 8x10 version. The FCLs are lighter and go wider at the expense of the long end. I guess that's why they dropped the HZX 8x10. FWIW my FCL 810 is only slightly heavier then my HZX57. I bet the FCL57 is even lighter.
The FCL with both the 5x7 and 4x5 backs is likely a good combinations for most people. Not that heavy. Handles fairly wide lenses. Not for people looking to hang a big very long lens off the front but it's a field camera so that shouldn't be too much to give up.
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Just be grateful for whichever usable 5x7 that you can find & afford,
and go out and make beautiful photographs with it 
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well john,
that's the ultimate goal.
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Originally Posted by pandino
Alan,
If you're serious about wanting an Ebony, take a look at the Shen Hao HZX57. It appears to be cloned directly from the SV57 and can be had for under $1500 used.
It's probably not made to the same precision, but is a very nice camera. I'm not sure they're available new anymore. I bought one as a lightweight (compared to my Ansco) 5x7 for hiking, but unfortunately my aging knees have a different idea of what is lightweight. After hiking with it yesterday, I'm seriously thinking of dropping it for a 4x5.
Here's what they look like:
This is the camera I got into LF with. I love it. It's light for backpacking, has all the movements (including axis *and* base tilts front and back), and sturdy. I chose it over the FCL for the bellows draw and movements. I've had people mistake it for a much more expensive brand.
Tim
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