Does anyone have information on the Brand View/Press Camera, its quality, movements, usability as a field camera? It was apparently made in the 1940s in Los Angeles by the Brand Camera Company, but I can find no further information on it. Thanks!

-- Mark Severson (mws@ouchem.chem.oakland.edu), November 13, 2000

Answers

Brand became NuView. They are actually fairly nice. The big regret is that they do now fold flat. They have front tilt, swing, rise, shift, and back tilt. The back rotates...a great feature. The focusing is by a large screw thread which can become a little sloppy with age. The rails are actually double extension. They have little lock knobs at the front which release an entire other length of rails that hide inside the main ones. I bought one of these cameras very cheap because the store thought it was 3x4". The ground glass was a little undersized on the 4x5. Since I have other cameras, I do not use it for normal work. Except for the lack of folding flat, however, it has great features. Mine originally had a rangefinder and sports finder, but these are gone. I have always wondered if the camera is supposed to fold up better, but I have never been able to figure out how. I think many more of them were made under the NuView name than under the original Brand. A friend who attended the Fred Archer School in LA during the late 1940s said they used them there as the main camera for the students. I love the cast aluminum they are made from. It probably came from melted WWII bombers!

-- E.L. (elperdido65@hotmail.com), November 13, 2000.

OK, they don't fold up, but aside from that they are great. Get it. Tons of movement and solid. Not wobble like the Graflex that you could get for the same number of loonies.

Go for it.

Dean

-- Dean Lastoria (dvlastor@sfu.ca), November 14, 2000.

Does anyone remember the asking or selling price for Brands on eBay (there haven't been any for a while)?

-- Robert Greer (rgreer@spamcop.net), January 17, 2003.