Jon Armstrong Photography

My first camera was a classic Kodak Brownie in 127 format, gifted to me by a school friend, and it was used to capture the original photo on my home page. I don’t remember what became of it, but it was likely passed on when we moved away from England. In my teenage years, when my interest in photography reignited, I developed a passion for monorail cameras and purchased a Linhof Kardan Color 45s, a 4×5 camera equipped with a 90mm Schneider Angulon lens

The purpose of this page is to expand on my liking for monorail cameras, a device that is all too quickly dismissed with the wave of a hand.

At this point it may be useful to explain what a monorail camera is and what it’s advantages are. Although there is a picture of a Sinar f2 a little further down the page, it does not show it advantages so, lets see exactly how it’s constructed. The basis of the camera was a continuous rail on which a clamp was used to attach a tripod. On the rail at each end was a frame that held the film carrier at the rear and lens carrier at the front. These two were connected by a bellows forming a light tight tube. Whilst this is not a great deal removed from any other camera, the magic occurred with the two carriers. Each one could be raised and lowered independently of each other, they could be tilted forward or backward independently, rotated through an axis that corresponded with the rail or, could be moved to the left or right. The original purpose of this was to allow on the common 8×10 cameras to adjust the plane of focus. For a full appreciation of camera movements I suggest you consult one of the many books dealing with the subject since, with current small sensors the movements are used for other purposes. Vanishing point is a major concern in both architectural and landscape photography, “where are you looking?” This is important, when looking at a tall building you are probably looking at ground level or slightly above, that will be your vanishing point. Establish this by lining up the rail with that point by sighting along the rail and then raising or, lowering either the front or rear standard. It’s all about perspective.

Over the years I have used a number of cameras both for location tourism photography and studio product work, but for the past decade the choice has been reduced. When I first started out to take personal creative work I have used the following. First up was a Sinar f2.

Whilst the Sinar was great camera it had some serious shortcomings not least of which was the delicate construction, heavy weight and the necessary accessories required. After each shot, the camera would need disassembly.

To overcome the shortcomings of the Sinar I moved down a bit to the stunningly sharp Fuji GX680iii

This camera became my go to camera. Whilst nowhere near the flexibility of the Sinar, and incidentally, no lighter it was easier to use and produced very high quality images comparable, if not better than the Sinar.

It was not the camera that failed me but film. As the world moved toward digital, film simply became unreliable. It was sometimes out of date, sometimes a faulty batch or, in the case of colour laboratories whose chemicals were likewise old and out of date. So I went digital, opting for the large format,(by modern standards) Fuji GFX 50s II

To this camera I attached the equally excellent Swebo TC-1

This combination allowed me all the functions of my other large format cameras only digital and a much smaller footprint. In my search for a suitable companion for the GFX I looked at what was available and apart from converting some of the 6×9 monorail cameras, I was presented with 2 choices, either the Cambo Actus or the Swebo TC-1. At the time, the Actus was more expensive and somewhat limited in it’s movements. The Actus had other issues, the gradations were not accurate, the movements limited and the rail length very short. The TC-1 was also not without issues, it was quite large in comparison, lacked spirit levels, had a limited rail length and it was almost impossible to purchase being from Aliexpress and almost impossible to speak to. Despite these I went ahead and purchased. Limitations raised their head early on when I found that the 180mm lens would not reach infinity let alone the longer lenses. After much to and fro I found that they had a longer 300mm rail and bellows so that was added. The lack of spirit levels meant modification to the camera with after market levels and the application of super glue. The levels became important for panoramic shots where the composition was made and the stitching done by shifting the rear standard, had it not been level it would have resulted in unwanted cropping of the image