Arca-Swiss View Cameras
Arca-Swiss remains one of the foremost manufactuers of view cameras in the world today. One of the few manufacturers of view cameras who has not only survived the evolutiont toward digital capture, but thrived throughout this period. Innovation, precision, flexibility, and elegance has marked Arca-Swiss products for decades, and continues to this day. Offering excellent view cameras solutions for both film and digital use, there’s nothing better than an Arca-Swiss.
Key Benefits
- Extremely precise gearing, ideal for digital use (but film too!)
- Completely modular view camera systems
- Choice of formats for film or digital use
- 6×9, 4×5, 5×7, 8×10 – most cameras can change formats
- Yaw free is standard and Axis tilt is available as an option
Why It Matters To Us…
There’s no view camera made that is more elegant than an Arca-Swiss view camera. Regardless of the format, from 6×9 – 8×10, the Arca-Swiss view camera takes a minimalist approach. The monorail system is ingenious in its elegance.
These are not bulky view cameras, they are streamlined that shed a lot of the heft and chunkiness of most view cameras. And yet they possess stability and precision that is unmatched. Many view cameras possess modularity, but the seamless manner by which Arca-Swiss implements modularity is what sets them apart.
Arca-Swiss Camera Bodies
The F Metric brings advanced movements and modularity, but with a lightweight approach. With duplicated movements on both standards, the F Metric is a full featured view camera, but it’s lightweight, which makes it an ideal field camera.
The M Monolith is heavier than the F Metric, but still quite lightweight. And there are gains to be had in more expansive movements and stability. As such, it takes a position as the camera for extreme movement and for rigidity required by projects that require precise registration when compiling images.
The M-Two is available as a model that optionally can accept medium format digital backs, as well as medium format and smaller format cameras, via the models M-Two MF and M-Two DSLR. It segments the movements to arrive at less than half the weight of an Arca Monolith 6×9.
The lightest and most compact Arca Swiss view camera, the Universalis offers a variety of models that share some characteristics with the M-Two: Segmented movements, flexibility for medium format digital backs and medium format and smaller format cameras, but does so with an even lighter and smaller camera body.
- Self locking gearing
- Upgradeable formats
- Seamless rail extension
- Flexibility for diverse cameras or digital backs
- View camera lenses mounted in R Bayonet can be mounted
- Assortment of leather and synthetic bellows
- Sliding back adapters with ground glass for digital backs
| Arca-Swiss View Camera Specs | F Metric 6x9 | F-Universalis II | M Monolith 6x9 | M-Two | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizontal shift | Front: 40mm/40mm Rear: 40mm/40mm | Front: N/A Rear: 25mm/25mm | Front: 50mm/50mm Rear: 50mm/50mm | Front: N/A Rear: 35mm/35mm | |
| Vertical shift | Front: 30mm/30mm Rear: 30mm/30mm | Front: Up to 20mm Rear: 25mm/25mm | Front: 35mm/35mm Rear: 35mm/35mm | Front: 3N/A Rear: 35mm/35mm | |
| Swing | 360º | 90º | 90º | 90º | |
| Tilt | Standard: 35º Orbix - axis: 15º | Standard: 35º Orbix - axis: 15º | Standard: 45º Orbix - axis: 15º | Standard: 45º Orbix - axis: 15º | |
| Front standard | H Shift/V Shift/Tilt/Swing | V Shift/Tilt/Swing | H Shift/V Shift/Tilt/Swing | Tilt/Swing | |
| Rear standard | H Shift/V Shift/Tilt/Swing | H Shift/V Shift | H Shift/V Shift/Tilt/Swing | H Shift/V Shift | |
| Dimensions | 250 x 140 x 300mm | 250 x 140 x 300mm | 250 x 140 x 300mm | 250 x 140 x 300mm | |
| Weight | 5.7 pounds | 3.5 pounds | 10.3 pounds | 4.6 pounds |
