A Friend’s 8×10 Camera

I’m selling a friend’s Explorer 8×10 view camera, by R H Phillips.  It is designed to be lightweight, and fold into a compact package.  But still, compared to the 4×5 inch camera I’m used to, everything is big.  The film holders are heavy, more than a pound each, and the ground glass has 4 times the area of my camera.  With my camera, when I get under the dark cloth, I get in close to the ground glass to see what is going on.  With this camera, I have stand back to see the whole field.  Back in the day, this was the standard format for serious photography, even routine commercial work. Ansel Adams was not a fanatic for using a 8×10 camera, it was just the equipment of the day. (Of course, he used it very well, which was exceptional.)  Now in this digital age, even my little 4×5 negatives are remarkable.  But they are high quality, and you don’t need software to use them.