Hi,
I just saw a review in a french magazine of the Fotoman 45 PS.
There are issues according to them, but it seems that it is a serious tool for the price that you can even use handholded.
Did not know anything about Fotoman.
It costs less than 1000 euros.
For the french readers, here is the link: http://www.revoirfoto.com/pr/index.php?lg=...;pg=71&c=13
Cheers,
Fred
Pigeon English translation (blame Google translate):
Fotoman 45PS
With this camera the joint venture (China, American, Canada) has managed a nice feat: making a device 10.5 x12cm all metal, comes with viewfinder and helical focusing for under a thousand Euros. After several weeks of use here is the practical overview of this device in mind 4x5 system
Getting Started
Construction of housing-camera is very sturdy and all metal, focusing development is smooth and ergonomic. Simple and complete, this case is very convenient to use, especially with large angles.
Getting started is very fast, but there are two points that need to be careful, the calibration system of the development and introduction of the chassis or 4x5 Polaroid back. Fotoman chose to sell the rangefinder as an accessory, and yet without this tool calibration focusing development is very laborious, especially if you want to check and adjust the point at various distances. The first thing to do on the range finder is to verify the correspondence of the distance scale. To achieve this Operations the rotary drive centre distances can calibrate the triangulation of mirrors distance indicated on the outskirts of the disk. To begin, turn the disk to indicate distances to infinity, and match the images of a remote object over 100m, turning the central knob. After the point at infinity do the same with a remote, two meters, for example, and check the distance indicated, this gesture can confirm ¿the accuracy of the? rangefinder and the repetition of movement to match the images at rotating disc distances. We had no surprises, the linearity is good, and being infinitely just stalling. The only limitation of this small instrument is its rangefinder base is too low (35mm), which does not allow very precise nor a good reproduction of the development. CAUTION Once the rangefinder calibrated care must be taken not to turn the central knob.
Rangefinder and Focusing
The next step is to match the distances displayed by the rangefinder with those on the ring development of the lens and the point gained on the ground glass. To do this, we must detach the ring engraved in meters of the spiral focusing in talking three small screws placed around it. The following operations must be done on foot, full aperture, and with the frosted glass that came with the camera. Having placed the board 5m (for example) a good contrasting target, do the development on the ground glass and then adjust the ring to indicate that distance, tighten screws and check, repeating at 2.5 m . Failure to calibrate the couple rangefinder-focusing at short distances can better see the correlation of development in these areas of focus very critical, especially at full aperture. The burning of distances on the ring is very clean and made in the metal, unfortunately there are too few subdivisions for short distance (2m to 5m). On the other hand, we regret that the distances shown on the rangefinder are not the same as the ring of development. For example the rangefinder indicates the distance 4m, distance not found on the rings of 75mm and 120mm. Fotoman should correct these small gaps.
The indication of 4m on the rangefinder is not found on the vague distance.
The two focusings ¿helical focusing mounts? are proposed by Fotoman S and LT with racing 8mm and 18mm respectively, in our opinion the standard focusing is very good to 90mm, beyond, the race of 8mm is a bit tight. We would like the manufacturer suggested focusing LT (18mm) from the focal length of 120mm, to allow focusing below 150cm. The current minimum is between 2m and 2.20m with 120mm. Range of objectives and shutters Fotoman says on its website the compatibility of its case with the proposed objectives in different brands. The list is comprehensive, be it valves or focal lengths up to 300mm, this case supports most existing optical.
The viewfinder
The viewfinder is clear and optically corrected, low distortion is not severe, and the level bubble was visible inside, is very practical. A show of hands, the level of the camera can be obtained without leaving the viewfinder to the eye, at least for horizontal shots. Unfortunately in the case of vertical shots, Fotoman has no plans to bubble level in the viewfinder, and we must work at trial. The correspondence of the field in the viewfinder and that the shooting is correct and If too close eye on the viewfinder slightly enlarges the field. Practice
To illustrate these pages we have made images with colour films and black and white, with two goals, 75mm f/5.6 and 120mm f / 5.6. The views were scanned with the Epson V750 Pro. These images, taken handheld with speeds ranging from 30th to 250th, show that even in times of relatively long shutter shake is nonexistent. The central shutter and the shutter flexible minimize the shock very well due to the shutter, f/22, ISO 100 hand held in 4x5 you can!
