Shenhao PTB45
The PTB45 is a lightweight folding 4x5-inch field camera made by Shanghai Shenhao. It is made from black walnut wood, with aluminium alloy metal parts. It has a simplified design, like that of the Chamonix 45F2, or the later versions of the Intrepid 4x5 camera. The PTB45 is first listed in archived copies of ShenHao's site saved in 2011.[1] ShenHao also makes the PTB617 camera of the same design for the 6x17cm panoramic format on roll film; this smaller camera has been made since at least 2008.
The rear standard is mounted on two horizontal wooden arms, slotted front-to-rear, which fasten to the base board with a single wide knurled knob on each side. The rear standard can be let back to extend the bellows by slackening these knobs; it also allows swing simply by different extension on each side. The standard is fastened to each arm with a bracket which allows base tilt.
The front standard is mounted in a square aluminium yoke, which allows rise/fall and axis tilt. The yoke is mounted on a narrow board set between metal guides in the middle of the base. A single hand-screw fastens the front yoke to the board, and this screw may be put in any of a row holes along the board, to vary the bellows extension. Slackening the hand-screw also allows shift or swing at the front. The board is racked forward and back for focusing with a worm gear attached to a wide focusing knob at the rear, below the ground glass screen.
The camera has a reversing Graflex/international back.
Specifications
The current website (as of 2024) and the 2011 archived copy give identical spec.:[1][2]
- Bellows extension: 45 - 390mm
- Front movements:
- Rise 45mm
- Fall 35mm
- Shift ±38mm
- Swing ±60 deg.
- Tilt ±60 deg. (axis tilt at the front)
- Rear movements:
- Swing ±30 deg.
- Forward tilt 90 deg. (base tilt at the rear)
- Backward tilt 35 deg.
- Width 170mm
- Height 180mm
- Depth front-rear 90mm (folded).
- Weight 1.4 kg
Compared to the more traditionally built HZX45-IIA, the camera is no larger when folded, and very significantly lighter, but offers slightly better range of bellows extension (better at both ends). This is at the cost of a more direct, perhaps clumsy method of erection, with the front standard completely detached from the base to fold the camera. The camera is only slightly heavier than the Intrepid 4x5 camera of the same construction, and gives a better range of extension; but it does cost between three and four times the price of the Intrepid!
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 4x5-inch cameras in the archive copy of ShenHao's site saved at Internet Archive in September 2011.
- ↑ PTB45 at ShenHoa (current)
Links
- Photos at Flickr taken with (or of) the PTB45.
