I am thinking of buying the Arca Swiss M-Line 2 for taking on locations where I shoot still life with a digital back. Though I love my Sinar P2, it is a bit heavy to transport. The light weight and robustness of this Arca camera interests me.
A few questions for those who have this camera please:
-Is the Orbix geared? Is the geared mechanism made of metal, and not teflon? Is it self-locking and smooth to operate?
-Can the Orbix knob be moved to the right hand side of the camera? Ditto with the swing knob.
-I assume the swing also happens on the lens axis. Is the swing mechanism precise, geared and self locking, similar to the orbix mechanism on the tilt?
-How do you find the focus mechanism in terms of fine precision adjustments? Does it have quick focus and micro focus on both the front an the back standards, all self locking?
Many thanks.
Edward
I own a M2, my first didital LF camera and been using it for about a month and I'm extreamly impressed with it. So to your questions:
-Yes, the orbix is geared, indented at every 3 degreesand and self locking as are all the movements. The mechanism is indeed made of metal........ Come on, this is Arca Swiss!
- The orbix and swing can't physically be moved to the RHS of the camera but I don't see why you couldn't just reverse the function carrier to achieve this.
- The swing is on the lens axis and indented every 7.5 degrees I think. Very smooth, geared and self locking.
- The focus mechanism is very fine and I can quite easily find focus using it. There is no quick focus like on the Sinar but its not needed IMO. The M2 has a friction adjustment that I set loose to find focus the tighten the friction wheel to fine tune. Again all sef locking.
The M2 is a very well made camera and is a perfect companion to a digital back. I've started to use mine to shoot interiors and its as happy doing that as it is for product shots.