Kodak Master View 4x5

I am just getting in to LF photography and am looking to buy a camera. A friend has offered to sell me his Kodak Master View 4x5 with a Sumar S 150mm lens for $1200 USD obo. I haven't been able to find much info on this camera (or the lens) but the price seems a bit high.

Anyone have any info on the Kodak Master View or Sumar S lens? All I've been able to find out is that the camera is an older version of the Calumet CC-400.

Thanks,
Kristina

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The camera is an old camera. It has a good reputation (I've never used one
so I have no personal experience) but assuming it's in excellent condition
the price without lens should be more like $300-$400 or so, nothing near
$1,200. I've never heard of the lens so I can't comment on it but you can
easily buy a known, well-regarded 150mm lens such as the Schneider G Claron
used for about $200, a more highly regarded Schneider Symmar S for perhaps
$300, or even Schneider's top-of-the-line (until recently) APO Symmar for
$400 (all very ball park figures but the point being that even if I'm off by
several hundred dollars, $1,200 for the combination of a 4x5 Kodak Master
View and a 150mm lens that certainly isn't a household name for $1,200 seems
way overpriced at least by U.S. standards. Subject to learning that the lens
is something really special, I'd say that if both camera and lens are in
excellent condition a price of $500 for the package would be on the generous
side of fair.

"Kristina via PhotoKB.com" wrote in message
. ..
I am just getting in to LF photography and am looking to buy a camera. A
friend has offered to sell me his Kodak Master View 4x5 with a Sumar S 150mm
lens for $1200 USD obo. I haven't been able to find much info on this camera
(or the lens) but the price seems a bit high.

Anyone have any info on the Kodak Master View or Sumar S lens? All I've
been able to find out is that the camera is an older version of the Calumet
CC-400.

Thanks,
Kristina

--
Message posted via http://www.photokb.com

Kristina via PhotoKB.com wrote:

lens) but the price seems a bit high.

Anyone have any info on the Kodak Master View or Sumar S lens? All I've been able to find out is that the camera is an older version of the Calumet CC-400.

Thanks,
Kristina


Just as a comparison, last June, I bought a Calumet 400 series camera,
in a case, with two lens boards, #0 and #1 for $100.00US. From the same
eBay seller, I bought a Schneider 210/370 Symmar in a #1 Compur shutter
for $200.00US. Shipping on everything was about $30.00US. Everything
works perfectly except the photographer and I would put the cosmetic
condition (of the camera) at about 8/10 to 9/10. This was no special
deal, it was straight off eBay.

cheers

--
regards from ::

John Bartley
43 Norway Spruce Street
Stittsville, Ontario
Canada, K2S1P5

( If you slow down it takes longer
- does that apply to life also?)

Kristina via PhotoKB.com wrote:
I am just getting in to LF photography and am looking to buy a camera.
A friend has offered to sell me his Kodak Master View 4x5 with a Sumar
S 150mm lens for $1200 USD obo. I haven't been able to find much info
on this camera (or the lens) but the price seems a bit high.

A lottle bit too high. IIRC, the Calumet CC-400 was made from the same
tooling as the Kodak Master View 4x5; i.e., it is the same camera. I
bought mine _new_ from Calumet in about 1975 for $150. While I do not
follow prices on these cameras, the highest I remember seeing them is
about $300 and you can sometimes get them for about half that. Likewise, I
would not think a _new_ Symmar-S would go for more than about $700 (if
they still make them). A new Apo-Symmar-L goes for $810 at Calumet. So
let's say a used lens is worth about half that, or $400. So pay _at most_
$700 for the whole outfit.

I assume the lens is a Schneider Symmar-S 150mm. This would not be my
choice for a first lens (too long to be wide angle, too short to be good
for the portraits and landscapes I normally do). But the camera would have
trouble with any lens shorter than about 135mm anyway. I tried a 120mm and
the bellows compress way too much to permit any adjustments except when
doing extreme close-ups.

Anyone have any info on the Kodak Master View or Sumar S lens? All I've
been able to find out is that the camera is an older version of the
Calumet CC-400.

Thanks, Kristina



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"Kristina via PhotoKB.com" wrote in message
. ..
I am just getting in to LF photography and am looking to buy a camera.
A friend has offered to sell me his Kodak Master View 4x5 with a
Sumar S 150mm lens for $1200 USD obo. I haven't been able to find
much info on this camera (or the lens) but the price seems a bit high.

Anyone have any info on the Kodak Master View or Sumar S lens? All
I've been able to find out is that the camera is an older version of the
Calumet CC-400.

Thanks,
Kristina

--
Message posted via http://www.photokb.com


Arte you sure your 'Sumar S' isn't a Schneider Symmar S? If so, then it's a
good lens (I use one, and like it a lot). However, even if that is so, the
price sounds very high to me: that money would probably get you a 'serious'
camera like an Arca Swiss, Linhof, or Horseman - not a new one, nor even a
used but current one, but still probably one that is no older than the
Kodak.

I'd suggest having a good look at completed auctions on *Bay - whether you
want to buy there or not, that will give you a good guide to the prices
people are getting for stuff.



Peter

"Kristina via PhotoKB.com" wrote in message
. ..
I am just getting in to LF photography and am looking to buy a camera.
A friend has offered to sell me his Kodak Master View 4x5 with a
Sumar S 150mm lens for $1200 USD obo. I haven't been able to find
much info on this camera (or the lens) but the price seems a bit high.

Anyone have any info on the Kodak Master View or Sumar S lens? All
I've been able to find out is that the camera is an older version of the
Calumet CC-400.

Thanks,
Kristina

--
Message posted via http://www.photokb.com


Arte you sure your 'Sumar S' isn't a Schneider Symmar S? If so, then it's a
good lens (I use one, and like it a lot). However, even if that is so, the
price sounds very high to me: that money would probably get you a 'serious'
camera like an Arca Swiss, Linhof, or Horseman - not a new one, nor even a
used but current one, but still probably one that is no older than the
Kodak.

I'd suggest having a good look at completed auctions on *Bay - whether you
want to buy there or not, that will give you a good guide to the prices
people are getting for stuff.



Peter

The price is more like a speculator's rather than a friendly (informed)
sale. Pass on it. Let him put it on eBay, then drop him like a stone by
bidding no more than $450. Max.

On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 06:13:04 GMT, "Kristina via PhotoKB.com"
wrote:

I am just getting in to LF photography and
am looking to buy a camera. A friend has
offered to sell me his Kodak Master View
4x5 with a Sumar S 150mm lens for $1200
USD obo. I haven't been able to find
much info on this camera (or the lens)
but the price seems a bit high.

Anyone have any info on the Kodak Master
View or Sumar S lens? All I've been able
to find out is that the camera is an older
version of the Calumet CC-400.


Don't know anything about the camera but
overall the price seems high to me for
an old LF camera and one lens.

For $1200 you can get a brand new ShenHao
field camera and an excellent, new, brand
name lens (eg., Nikon, Schneider, Rodenstock,
et. al.)

"Symmar S" lenses appear frequently
on eBay. Mint, multicoated 150mm/5.6
lenses can be had for $150 and up.



rafe b.
http://www.terrapinphoto.com

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful replies. Sounds like $1200 is definitely a "speculator's price" as one of you suggested. Also, the lens was indeed a Symmar S - I made a typo. I'm a little concerned by the fact that the camera might have trouble with anything shorter than a 135mm (Jean-David Beyer's message), I was hoping to use it with a 90mm down the road. I think I'll keep looking around, and rent LF equipment in the meantime.

Kristina

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Message posted via http://www.photokb.com

If you want to spend a lot of money, I may be putting my pristine Century 1
on eBay. I hate to do it, but ... .