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Does anyone own or has used a Camera made by Argentum?
They look nice and I`m considering buying a 5x7, although I`m not sure which model to choose.

http://www.argentumcamera.com/

Keith Tapscott wrote:Does anyone own or has used a Camera made by Argentum?
They look nice and I`m considering buying a 5x7, although I`m not sure which model to choose.

http://www.argentumcamera.com/

Mine is being made right now. I think its 4 more weeks until its finished.

I think the waiting list is pretty long now.

You can customise the feautures and get exactly what you want within the constraints of the models they make. They are specialised though and wont suit all uses.

Istvan is very helpful (email may take a while to be replied to).

Hello from Besançon, France
Last Saturday at our local French LF meeting in Arc-et-Senans (Franche-Comté) there was an exhibition by Raymond Depardon, images taken with an (unknown) 10x8" camera, enlarged about 8.5 times to 1.7x2 metres... well those images are sharp !
(see below some pictures of the event, may be a picture of the Argentum will show up in the next few days when people will have finished to upload their images ! hey those guys do continue to use film !)....

http://www.galerie-photo.info/forum/rea ... eply_11522

.... we've seen a special order 8x8" Argentum field camera ordered by one of the group members, Mr J.C. Mougin, a retired professor of Philosophy, who has been doing palladium and platinum for 20 years.

The camera is superb, the cut film holders in wood + brushed aluminium are such piece of fine craftsmanship that you'd probably purchase the camera only for the pleasure of getting one of those holders

Well so far since the camera had just arrived we are still waiting for some feedback from the happy owner after extensive use, but the quality of the build is outstanding and the object in itself is magnificent.
J.C. Mougin (for those of you who can at least decipher a minimum of French) had posted a report to the French LF forum when he received the camera:
http://www.galerie-photo.info/forum/rea ... eply_43096
The expected delays indicated to us by J.C. Mougin are stretching up to a few months, and although I'm a monorail-guy, I'm really happy that we now have in Europe another manufacturer of nice wooden field cameras.
So far for the uncompromising Euro-Patriot we have, in terms of wooden field Cameras
- the honourable Gandolfi manufacture from Britain, since 1885,
- Lotus-View from Austria
- and now Argentum from Hungary
Do I miss anybody wooden & field within the Twenty-Seven countries ?

Justin wrote:

Keith Tapscott wrote:Does anyone own or has used a Camera made by Argentum?
They look nice and I`m considering buying a 5x7, although I`m not sure which model to choose.

http://www.argentumcamera.com/

Mine is being made right now. I think its 4 more weeks until its finished.

I think the waiting list is pretty long now.

You can customise the feautures and get exactly what you want within the constraints of the models they make. They are specialised though and wont suit all uses.

Istvan is very helpful (email may take a while to be replied to).

Which model/format?

Keith Tapscott wrote:

Justin wrote:

Keith Tapscott wrote:Does anyone own or has used a Camera made by Argentum?
They look nice and I`m considering buying a 5x7, although I`m not sure which model to choose.

http://www.argentumcamera.com/

Mine is being made right now. I think its 4 more weeks until its finished.

I think the waiting list is pretty long now.

You can customise the feautures and get exactly what you want within the constraints of the models they make. They are specialised though and wont suit all uses.

Istvan is very helpful (email may take a while to be replied to).

Which model/format?

Funny mine is much the same as the professor's; 8x8 and 5x7 (two backs). Its the Excursor, the light model, somewhat between the 5x7 and the 8x10 specs on the site.

"Pour quoi le 8x8, parce que j'aime le format carré, et parce que je n'aime pas faire les choses comme tout le monde. Il suffit de couper le 8x10 sur 3 ou 4 centimètres, ce qui n'est pas difficile pour quelqu'un qui est nyctalope. Ce n'est pas un mot grossier, mais un bien joli mot pour finir cet aparté."

***edited by Joanna. Justin, you should not disable BBCode in your posts, that is what is causing the quotes to come out all wrong.

Here is a picture taken by Raph (© Raph !) at our last meeting in Arc-et-Senans featuring the 8x8" Argentum field camera.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1201/903 ... 56_o_d.jpg
From left to right :
- J.C. Mougin, the owner of the freshly made Argentum 8x8"
- The Camera Itself
- Marc Nocart who came from Paris
- Jörg "Germinar" Krusche who came from Germany and Marcel Couturier (back)
- Caro's baby pram (yes in France LF is not only an affair exclusive to old gentlemen), Caro herself, Philippe Ossette the local organiser of the meeting (behind) and Daniel Bouzard.

I had a reply from Istvan, it would take around 18 months before he could start building me a Camera which would take another two-months or so to complete. I replied to tell him that I wouldn`t want to wait that long.
He is obviously very busy.

Argentum cameras are just one of the fine example of the European craftsmanship!

Just for the historical record, here in Sweden there was a LF manufacturer too, and he was also a Hungarian Mr Laszlo Szabad. He was the one and only manufacturer of the wooden field cameras in this country.



Should be Szilard Szabad and I'm a shamed not to know better!

Nice one Uranium! Any examples of the Swedish whole-plate?

This is something I've never seen, mostly having only witnessed the British camera industry side of things.

Keith - 1 1/2 years is a reasonable time scale. Are you going for an Ebony instead then? If not, maybe as many as 2 of us are thinking about forming a pack (pact?) to ask Istvan about a whole plate design. The waiting list is marginally shorter than yours (just over a year).

Rob 5419 wrote:Nice one Uranium! Any examples of the Swedish whole-plate?

This is something I've never seen, mostly having only witnessed the British camera industry side of things.

Rob!
Here it is and I'm a shame as I didn't know my history well. I sad earlier that his name is Laszlo but it's not! His name is Szilard!. I'm very sorry for that mistake. And sorry Szilard that I renamed you.

Frankie.

http://prittsel.googlepages.com/szilardszabad

http://prittsel.googlepages.com/szilardszabad

I want one!!

Sigh. That is just so gorgeous and elegant.

Rob 5419 wrote:

http://prittsel.googlepages.com/szilardszabad

I want one!!

Sigh. That is just so gorgeous and elegant.

I might be able to help you on this one if you are dead serious they do coming up sometimes on auctions here. Not to often but now and then and mostly during the wintertime.

In the meantime I will try to get picks because he changed the design many times so it's a large variety of the cameras around. In that case I will know what type you are after.

Hi Uranium,

I don't know enough about it, but for an impulse thing, if it was around, why ...yes!

It's surprisingly cute looking for a whole plate camera. I take it, this camera uses whole plate DDS, since bookform plate holders are not in keeping with the age nor the technology of the era.

Just look at the stability of the swing and tilt design: without the rise, the camera takes on a different foundation than other British plate cameras. It uses what looks like a foldable base rack which is good news.

Any idea how much something like this costs? Surprised to see such a well-kept secret like this. I quite like the idea of the 'Hasselblads of whole plate cameras'. It makes a change from hearing all about unaffordable 'Ebonys'

I`ve just bought a Russian FKD 13x18cm format Camera fairly cheap. I am going to see if I can get the lens-board modified to accept a modern lens of around 210-240mm as I will probably use it only indoors for portraits. I am hoping that the cassettes will allow me to use FP4 Plus film sheets. I don`t know much about this Camera and was wondering if anyone has some more information than that which I have found so far.

http://squirl.info/asset/show/298?c=Vin ... 1964&i=131

Rob 5419 wrote:Hi Uranium,

I don't know enough about it, but for an impulse thing, if it was around, why ...yes!

It's surprisingly cute looking for a whole plate camera. I take it, this camera uses whole plate DDS, since bookform plate holders are not in keeping with the age nor the technology of the era.

Just look at the stability of the swing and tilt design: without the rise, the camera takes on a different foundation than other British plate cameras. It uses what looks like a foldable base rack which is good news.

Any idea how much something like this costs? Surprised to see such a well-kept secret like this. I quite like the idea of the 'Hasselblads of whole plate cameras'. It makes a change from hearing all about unaffordable 'Ebonys'

Rob.
The prices are different so as the cameras are. They are reaching between a £100 up to a £400. The most expensive I ever seen as that was together with the original case and newer used. That was years ago and prices probably would be higher for the equipment like this nowadays.

The more versatile field types are the one which you should choose the one would accept modern 9x12/4x5 film holder. I get you a pick of that type lather and send it to you.