Topic: Cambo 5 x 4

[This-is-damion]

...its arrived and looks mighty fine.   Although rather predictably,    its confusing,     no doubt these might be stupid questions...but ill push ahead regardless.


1) I think ive set it all up ok, with the exception of the GG screen.
The screen is held on by a frame with 2 metal arms which have curved ends which sit under a small bar in the frame that rotates, somehow I have managed to get the GG screen and its frame with the metal arms off the back bit. I now cant seem to get it back on, nothing has snapped, bent or otherwise but it wont go back on? How do i do this?

2) how and where do i insert the darkslides?

hoping you can help!

Thanks

Damion 

[Francois]

Congrats on the new toy. Cambo is a good choice since parts are widely available.

I don't have a Cambo but it sounds like it comes with a Graflock compatible back. On the Graflock, all you have to do is press on the arms and slide the hooked ends under the catch on the back. The back should slide from right to left to lock it in place... (I've been looking at an old catalog trying to figure it out...)

The darkslides go on the film backs, not the camera

Film holders just slide in and are held by the ground glass assembly which is probably spring loaded.

You might find the instructions on http://www.cambo.com/
Their instruction manuals are here

(N.B. edited by Ed to make the hyperlink work)

[This-is-damion]

many thanks francois,   i did expect to get confused by it all....just not so early on in the game.

[Francois]

It can get quite confusing I know...
When I first got my graflex, there was dirt on the ground glass on the camera inside. I tried getting my hand through the lensboard opening but was afraid of busting the bellows.
I ended up unscrewing the glass only to find it was a 2 pane affair (groundglass and fresnel lens) !
I cleaned both up but didn't notice which way they went... so I ended up wasting a bunch of Polaroids (expensive film for my 545 back  ) just to get them in the right order for proper focus... only to find out by accident that the entire frame came off with those 2 spring loaded levers!

I now have the cleanest ground glass in town 

[tijeras]

it's only confusing for a short while, then it becomes natural.

My biggest blooper in the beginning was to remember to remove the dark slide to make the exposure.

I love the almost ritualistic  steps for making a photo happen.

Have fun and can't wait to see your first results.

Becky