I have a whole shelf or two of focus rails and another one with bellows and/or technical cameras. Some of them are tiny like the old Spiratone camera, which has all the view-camera moves and is of the size to fit a mirrorless camera. Sitting right next to it is a Rollei X-Actus 2 and it weighs over 14 lbs. Then there are the tilt/shift lenses, of which I have three and ever a tilt adapter that only has one fixed angle. And of course, my old standby, the Nikon PB-4 Bellows System.
So, when I finally had time to check out the new Cambo Actus for the Nikon mount, I was in for a surprise, and a pleasant one at that. This little gem, while not perfect, is one of those pieces of equipment that fits so well in my hands that I knew right off that I will love using it, and I already do.
It was a little hard to find one that you didn’t have to wait weeks for and the various adapters were another problem. Luckily, I remembered a company I had purchased a Medium Format camera from years ago, and they know all this stuff: Capture Integration out of Atlanta, Ga. They put together a system that had everything from soup to nuts, all assembled and ready to go. I went with that over waiting for who-knows-how-long, and hunting down all the parts for myself.
This little beauty’s body measures 5.9 x 3.9 x 6.7" (15 x 10 x 17 cm) and weighs 2.2 lb (1 kg), not ultra-lite, but have you picked up a technical camera lately that is any lighter? And no, it does not have all the movements, but it has the ones I use most and has camera bayonets for Nikon F, Canon EOS, Canon M, Leica M, Sony E-mount, MFT mount, and Fuji X.
Of course I did not find a bayonet for the Pentax K cameras, and within a couple of days of emailing the manufacturer in Netherlands, they agreed to design the first one for my new Actus camera, which I will have pretty soon. As of now, I have the Nikon and the Sony-E-mount camera adapters on hand.
It is important to understand that the front-standard on the Actus is fixed, while the rear moves, which is just what I want, and what any focus-stacker requires. The front-standard has 360º swing, and front tilt of +10º, -9º, each with their own geared knob. The swing and tilt movements on the front standard rotate around the optical axis, which is handy.
The rear-standard has Rise/Fall of +0.5”, -0.6” (+12mm, -15mm) with its both geared knob and locking knob, and a rear shift of +/-0.8” (20mm) with a locking knob.
As for mounting lenses, the Actus has a sturdy fork adapter that locks in place smoothly (and firmly) in one movement. Voila! Lens adapters come in a variety of formats, including M39, 24mm WA, Leica R, Nikon F, Canon EOS, Hasselblad, Mamiya RZ/RB, Mamiya 645Pro TL, Pentax 645, and with the standard Copal #0 and #1 holes.
The bellows is a dream come true. I am used to wrestling with my other bellows, mounting and unmounting them. With the Cambo Actus, it is all magnetic. The bellows snaps into place, front and rear, in a second and must have some of those rare-earth magnets or something. They fit tight!
As it turns out, the standard bellows turns out to be perfect for me, since with the Nikon D810 (for close-up work) I am not looking at shooting at infinity. The standard rail that comes with the Actus expands from 6” to 8.5”, which is more than enough for the lenses I work with. However, there are Wide Angle Bellows (one fold), Long Bellows (30 cm), and Macro Bellows (45 cm) available as well as special rails to match them.
A brilliant and easy-to-use feature on the rear-standard is a lever that allows you to rotate your camera from horizontal to vertical and back in one movement. How nice is that! The Actus also takes my Nikon D810, but if I want to add on a wired remote (Nikon MC-30), which I am used to, I need to add a tiny extension or force the cord a little. I am already used to the extension with my Nikon PB-4 bellows, so I do that.
And this little beastie feels like the precision machine it is. The whole thing fits in a Pelican Storm case iM2050, and comes packed in a foam piece that fits right into the iM2050 perfectly.
As for what I don’t like about the system or “wishes not granted,” I don’t like the fact that to change camera bayonet mounts on the rear standard requires 4 screws, and about a minute of my time, and worst of all fiddling with those tiny screws. I wish they had offered mountable adapter plates for each camera, so we could just switch them out with no hassle. Although I don’t need it, I would prefer that BOTH front and rear standards move, but that is not a real problem.
I love that the rail is Arca-Swiss compatible, which is all that I use. And again, I LOVE the heft and smooth feel of fine machinery on something I will use just all the time. I use it on the Swiss-Arca Cube C1 (with knob) and can flip it using the C1 so that it is exactly 90º, and still it is sturdy.
As what I do with it, I use it with any number of exotic industrial lenses, like the El Nikkor 105mm APO, the Printing Nikkors, and many others. Since I am not going for infinity focus with this system (but you can with a mirrorless camera), I can do all kinds of close-up and macro stuff with an elegance of movement unknown to me until now. Do I recommend it? I believe you know my answer to that. I love it.
Here is a little video of the system, for those interested:
https://vimeo.com/120736327
