Intrepid 4x5 Field Camera

The Intrepid 4x5 is one of the newest and least expensive large format field cameras.  It is made of wood, metal and some plastic and weighs in at 2 pounds, 14 ounces without a lens.  This is twice as much as my Nikon D7000 digital camera body, which weighs 1 pound, 7 ounces.  It is less than half as much as my Super Cambo monorail camera (9 pounds, 6 ounces).

Compared to monorail studio cameras, field cameras are lighter but have to give up some of the movements.  They have more movements than press cameras, which were intended to be hand held.  The Intrepid 4x5 has 42mm of rise (up movement from zero) and 30mm of fall (down) on the front standard (the part that holds the lens).  Front shift is 30mm left or right from center.  Front tilt is 45 degrees up or down.  Front swing is 45 degrees left or right.  The rear standard (the part that holds the focusing ground glass and the film holder) has 30 degrees of tilt up or down.  Limits to the flexibility of the bellows can constrain you from using all of the range of a movement.  Additionally, the back can be rotated 90 degrees to put the picture in either portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) orientation.

The Intrepid can use 75mm (3") to 300mm (12") lenses.  A lens on a 4x5 camera has roughly the same field of view as a lens one-third that size on a 35mm or full frame digital camera, so a 75mm is like a wide angle 24mm lens and a 300mm is like a short telephoto 105mm lens.  A 75mm or 90mm lens focused at infinity needs a lens board (the part that attaches the lens to the camera) that has at least a 15mm recess.  Intrepid lens boards are 96mm wide by 99mm high, the same as a Linhof Technika lens board, a common size for 4x5 cameras.  If you buy a lens already on a Linhof lens board you probably won't need to get a new lens board.  Large format lenses are not currently produced; however, second hand lenses and some old stock are readily available.  A typical set of lenses might include a 90mm wide angle, a 150mm normal lens and a 210mm long lens.

The camera folds for storage or transport.  To set it up you loosen the large round knobs on the sides and raise the back standard to 90 degrees.  The front standard is attached to the base board by a threaded knob.  There are four threaded holes about 35mm apart on the base board to take the front standard.  You select one according to the amount of bellows draw needed (minimum extension is 75mm and maximum extension is 300mm).  Initially you want to zero the front standard using the marks on the camera.  The lens board fits on the front.

The 4x5 dimension is the nominal size of the film.  The picture is actually 3-7/8" by 4-7/8" (98mm x 124mm).

Picture taking with a large format camera is slow and methodical.  Film has to be loaded 2 sheets to a film holder in total darkness.  The camera has to be supported by a sturdy tripod.  The camera has to be focused and the picture composed by looking at a ground glass with the shutter open and the aperture wide open.  Perspective and depth of field can be controlled by the camera movements.  The shutter needs to be closed, the shutter speed and aperture set, the dark slide pulled out and the exposure made.  Then the dark slide is replaced, the film holder taken out, and the film taken to the lab to be developed.   

Intrepid cameras are made in Hove, England, UK.  https://intrepidcamera.co.uk/