Here are a number of pictures of my Canham DLC in different views and with different lenses: SA 72 XL, Nikkor 305 in Copal 3 and Turner-Reich Tripple in Betax 4. I tried to show it in different stages of setup including extreme rise: about 2 1/4".

This article and the photographs were kindly contributed by Pete Caluori.

All of the photographs in this article are copyright © Pete Caluori 2002.

For permission to use any of the article on this page, please contact f32 or the author directly.

Comments and additional information welcome.

Canham takes a unique approach with his camera; they way I sum it up: it's a cross between a monorail and a field camera. In incorporates features of both. I have the metal camera: DLC. I'm not 100% sure about the other models, but I think the wood 4x5 is really a 5x7, with a 4x5 back and either back can be fitted and with the cange of bellows and back. It can also be fitted with a 4x10 back. I'm actually considering getting his 5x7 for this very reason.

Lens boards for all of his cameras (at least the 4x5 & 5x7 models) are the same. I think this is also true for his larger cameras as well. The back does indeed rotate. The knobs do protrude, but it's one of the features that attracted me to the camera. This is one of the few cameras that I can operate in very cold weather while wearing large gloves!

Stability while fully extended is not a problem, but I must elaborate a bit... This camera as any, contains a series of compromises. In trying to make the smallest package, with the largest amount of movement, a compromise was made.

While most wooden field cameras fix the front and rear standards at two points for stability, the DLC is only fixed at one point - the bottom. Even when fully locked, if you manhandle the camera the back "could" move. Now with that said, using care I've exposed a sheet, removed it from the camera, reinserted it and exposed a second time. The resulting negative was in perfect register.

This "problem" is most noticable when using the 72XL with movement. I don't have a bag bellows, instead use Keith Canham's recommendation of forcing the standard bellows into position. I have to use quite a bit of force, but the bellows will deform then pop right back into position. With all that bellows compressed and deformed and a huge lens like the 72XL only a short distance from the ground glass, the force it exerts on the rear standard significant.

To align the standards, I use the bubble levels bult in and overcompensate before locking them down. It sounds like a pain, but it's really easy and quick to do. BTW, his bellows is IR proof. The camera does fold for an easy package to carry, but not into a "box" like most field cameras. The front standard folds onto the bed, then the rear standard folds onto the front. I've set this camera up, exposed and packed it away in just under two minutes. No, I wasn't trying to set a record , just trying not to get zap'd by lightning.

Pete Caluori 2002