Nagaoka Wooden Field Camera
Getting back into large format after a 15+ year hiatus I went camera shopping.
I settled on a Nagaoka 4x5 due mostly to its compactness and light weight. I found the Zone VI to be an excellent camera but it weighed almost 7 pounds.
The camera was in beautiful condition with the exception of a crack in the base that was not structural and easily repaired. While it lacks front and rear swing, the work around would be to turn the camera on its side and use the tilts. It you need both tilt & swing, yer screwed...
What I gained was the light weight and compactness. The camera is 1 inch thinner than the Zone VI and considerably lighter. (That's 1.189Kg for those of you elsewhere in the world!)
The range of the bellows is good for a small camera of this type. At full extension it can focus a 300mm lens.
Folding the camera is not a slap and go like the Zone VI, the front face has to be positioned carefully to get it to fit into the body. Also you have to remember to slide the lens board retainer into the "locked" position for it to clear teh body. I would describe the process as almost origami-like in nature.
I decided to put the 3D printer to work and designed some lens boards in Fusion 360. I discovered a PETG filament that is very close to the color of the camera's wood. I have made one or two using a black filament.
The back side of the lens boards are painted flat black. The 300mm lens was mounted on a 1" extension lens board to reduce the bellows extension. Without this lens board the camera was fully extended, to the limits.