First impressions

Before purchasing the camera I had read a few comments on photo.net and selected reviews on the internet, so I knew quite exactly what I was going to get. The camera in my box immediately invoked a smile on my face when I took it in my hands for the first time. The black aluminium body is massive, well machined and flawless and as another review out there pointed out a good example that made in china can also mean "well made in china". From what I have read the founders of fotoman are a chinese photographer and an american engineer specialized in machining. In my opinion they have done a good job in making a camera that feels carefully crafted. The back door pops open by moving a firm lock on the side and closes snug. The camera doesn’t have any light-leakage problems. The separate viewfinder slides into one of the three available accessory shoes. In my box there was also a bubble level, which is fixed on one of the shoes and helps to balance the camera in order to avoid wide angle lens distortion where you don’t want it (e.g. in the horizon). The wire trigger included can be either handheld when using the camera on a tripod or can be secured in either the right or the left camera handle to use the camera just like a point and shoot camera. The set also comes with a lens adapter cone, which has a lens specific height. You cannot fix a rodenstock lens to a camera with the schneider lens adapter cone, even if both are for example 90mm lenses.

One great plus of this camera compared to those of the competition is the fact that you can use any large format lens by using the appropriate adapter. This gives the user a truly fantastic range of lenses to use. One could get the lenses cheaply at ebay and purchase an adapter and there you go, you have a new lens set. With Linhof you would have to get the lens and adapter form them, which would set you back a few thousand euros.

I purchased the rodenstock 90mm 6,8 lens and the salesman in the camera shop in Beijing fitted it to the adapter. This took about 5 minutes.

The camera with the lens and accessories weighs about 2 kg. It is quite heavy and is clearly less appropriate for street photography, also because it is extremely eye-catching, which often is counter-productive in this case. For landscape photography where you make use of a tripod, its perfect. It is built massively and capable of withstanding quite some rough treatment. I cannot recommend doing the inca trail with this camera strapped around your neck though. If you are not very fit phisically the camera will literally pull your neck down and make you bite the dust.

First shots

I got the camera and planed to go test it immediatly. What better place to test it than beautiful Tuscany in Italy? Take a look at these shots and judge for yourself.

In the following I will go into the setup and shooting process:

1. Getting the camera ready and critical composition

The camera comes in a well built aluminium box with custom foam inlay. For now I have travelled with the camera in it because it keeps my equipment safe and sound.

The camera has two different screw diameters for mounting it on the tripod. After mounting it I install the level and the viewfinder, check the lens and take out my ground glass for critical compositions. The viewfinder appears to work well, but I am not confident using it since it is not entirely clear to me what at the end is or not in the picture. This is why whenever possible I use the optional ground glass. To fit it you open the film loading back, which swings open about 110° and place the ground glass on the film plane. Since the metal frame of the ground glass (gg) is magnetized it mounts perfectly and stays put while one adjusts the composition. By opening the lens aperture you see the image on the gg (up side down though) and can set your composition and adjust the sharpness and depth of field. I got a very inexpensive chinese made darkcloth, which I find absolutely necessary for this step. Since I use the rodenstock 90 mm lens with the maximum aperture of 6.8 the image is quite dark and composing at broad daylight and especially in low light situations is only possible with the dark cloth. Here is where a 5,6 or even the 4,5 Schreider Super Angulon score, since they will offer a clearer image on the ground glass.

One thing I found quite annoying while using the GG was the back lid of the camera swinging closed while I was under the dark cloth hitting me constantly on the ear. Tip for fotoman: Add a very basic lock or resistance to keep the lid from closing unintentionally.

One you have composed and judged the sharpnes your off to inserting the film.

2. Inserting the film

The camera uses only 120 film. The reason for it is clearly the use of a red tainted glass on the back lid of the camera, which is used to line up the appropriate image while winding the film in place according to the numbers an the back paper of the film. Rather unusual but in no way an issue is the fact that the film is wound up from right to left. The images bellow show the film loading process.

Film flatness appears not to be an issue. The back plate presses the film well against film leads and the tension of the two knobs used for winding is sufficient to keep the film flat.

After loading the film wind it until the number 3 appears on the red window in the back lid of the camera. You can take 4 shots per 120 film. A marking on the back lid displays the number to look for when winding to the next picture.

3. Taking the shot

It helps to develop a routine for taking shots in order not to forget one of the steps. Forgetting for example to close the aperture after having used the ground glass with the aperture wide open might ruin that one time shot.

I proceed as follows:

a. Define your aperture/exposure combination with a light meeter. I prefer to use a Spot meter, as it enables me to measure precisely and use the zone system for black and white shots.

b. Set the values on your lens.

c. Set focus accordingly using the depth of field scale on the lens adapter, on a table or calculator.

d. Cock the shutter.

e. Take the shot using the trigger. 

f. Forward the film to the next frame. You can either do this before taking the next shot or just after shooting the picture. I prefer to wind right after taking the shot. Hereby I ensure that I don’t unintentionally re-expose the film if I forget to wind the next time.

You can't use the groundglass mid film, since the film is not loaded on a separate and detachable magazine. What can be done is to remember the number of the next shot, rewind the film completely, open the lid and place the gg to compose and then re-feed the film and forward it to the desired frame.

4. What to do with the negative

With such a large image on the film, be it negative or slide the question arises what to actually do with it. There is the possibility to enlarge negatives using a 13 x 18 enlarger. These are seldom and very big, but I believe they can be found here and there on ebay for an affordable price now days.

The other option is to scan the film or have it scanned. I use a epson V 700 scanner which is capable of scanning up to 13x18 film and has a tray for scanning two 6x17 films. Scanning with the provided trays works but I must clarify that in my point of view given the film tension it is impossible to get the film flat for scanning this way. For this reason I have gotten a wet scanning mount for the V700. Using scanning fluid and a special foil it is possible to get the film flat on glass, which results in higher overall sharpness. Scanning at 6400 pdi will generate a black and white image file of around 600 MB per shot or color of around 2 Gb. Yes these files are huge, but I believe that if you are going to scan you might as well do it right. File space is not really an issue these days. Hard drives are no longer very expensive and CDs also work well for storage. In addition I have noticed that it it best to scan the neg right after developing it. The longer you wait the more likely it is there will be dust on it, costing you additional time and effort to remove it either blowing it off or digitally removing it. You can also have the negs scanned at the lab with drum scanners which will give you the highest possible image quality. File size is probably a bit larger, which is why you will need a powerful computer to work them.

What I liked

-Build quality is outstanding. Even surfaces, clean edges, and snug fitting of the adapter and the back lid are proof of the high level of machining quality.

-Almost unlimited choice of lenses

-Sturdy construction

-Smooth focusing (Although between 20m and infinite I feel some scratching going on in the focusing ring, perhaps this will cede with time)

-Price

What could be improved

-A simple locking system to keep the back lid open for work with the ground glass under the dark cloth

-The viewfinder could show clearer what is in the image and what not. As a comparison I would like to mention the flawless viewer of the Horseman, which includes small frame markings etched in the optics.

Conclusion

The 6x17 camera is not for everyone. It is big, heavy, cumbersome and probably only best suited for landscape and architecture photography. The photographer will need time to go through the necessary steps of taking a shot and will most likely be challenged heavily while composing. It is not easy to keep an image clean and simple when the film area is so wide.

None the less those few photographers using a 6x17 camera will be compensated with a fantastic slab of film carrying a vast amount of information at the moment still unachieved by digital cameras.

The fotoman 6x17 is a wonderful camera, which combined with a high quality lens is well capable of matching the image quality of say a horseman or a linhof technorama. The big advantage lies in the large lens choice it offers and its overall price. In these ages of change toward digital technology I believe many photographers will think twice before investing double the price for a linhof or a horseman. The fotoman is by no means cheap, but it is far more reasonable, given that the cameras technology has existed for a houndred years. Its got no technical gimmicks, not AF help, no exposure metering, no digital sensor, so why is it so pricy? I guess the market is just so small, that the development and manufacturing base costs of the factory are only distributed on a few products sold. Probably the price of a linhof may remain high even for a used set and people will likely pay more for a used German made camera, but in my opinion the fotoman being a Chinese/American company has shown that they are well capable of producing a camera which is flawless and functional and delivers crisp images. I see a similar development in China as we witnessed in Japan 30 years ago, when Japanese camera manufacturers started taking the lead concerning affordable but perfectly produced cameras, with companies such as Nikon and Canon taking away a large portion of the market share of the German Producers such as Agfa, Vogtländer, Contaxt and others, which just couldn't compete with the Japanese producers. What will be the next steps of fotoman? I know they are close to bringing out the shift adapter for architecture photography and are thinking about making a platform with separate film magazines and improved film winding. We will have to wait and see.