[stevebrot]

As a Chamonix 45n-2 owner. I think its an excellent camera and provides tremendous value for the price. I took a workshop with a LF photographer that uses Ebony cameras exclusively and he was quite impressed with my Cham.

Michael Gordon: http://www.michael-gordon.com uses the Chamonix as well.

I may be biased since I own the camera but I don't see the advantage of paying $3K for a camera that doesn't give you that much more.

I would upload some pics from my workshop but they are HUGE! over 28MB.

I will chime in with my $0.02 worth here. I have been really impressed with my "first run" Chamonix 045N-2 (in teak), bought April of this year. It has its faults, but quality of construction of my copy is not one of them. I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I had a "tripod accident" with my Chammy that sent the camera crashing into a metal railing and from there to a concrete sidewalk. I expected bent metal and splinters, but damage was limited to a few "dents" in the wood on the corner of the ground-glass holder. The impact knocked everything (and I do mean everything) a bit akimbo, but the important thing was that the lens board stayed in place, none of the hardware was bent, and none of the joinery failed. I re-zero'ed the camera and continued shooting.

That being said, I would remind any purchaser of a Chamonix, Shen Hao, or similar camera that standards and sources for materials may change between production runs and that a careful inspection of the camera on delivery is important.


Steve