Can anyone give me their opinions on the quality/reliability of the Omega 4x5 cameras? Are they rugged enough for short, reasonable field use?

Thanks.

-- Matt O. (mojo@moscow.com), November 29, 2000

Answers

I traded one of thier low budget models off years ago and I still see it drifting from booth to booth...

-- Steve Clark (Poophappens@aol.com), November 29, 2000.

I used an Omega 45E monorail for a long time - they are good pieces. Not very convenient for field use though - they are plenty rugged and pretty accurate but are on the heavy side and do not fold down to any compact size, unless you wanted to remove the monorail each time. cheers, DJ.

-- N Dhananjay (ndhanu@umich.edu), November 29, 2000.

I've seen an Omega 4x5 in Samy's Camera in L.A. I could swear it and and older version of the TOYO 45C (which is a nice camera in it's own right) are one and the same.

-- Andre Noble (andrenoble@usa.net), November 30, 2000.

Oh, Toyo and Omega are one and the same. The story I heard is that Toyo brought out the Omega facilities and the 45C is definitely based on the Omega designs. Toyo still supports the Omega 45 series of cameras - you can call them and order replacement parts. Cheers, DJ.

-- N Dhananjay (ndhanu@umich.edu), November 30, 2000.

Yes, lower-end Omega's such as the Omega D do not have interchangable bellows...but the Omega C is a wonderful camera. You can find 'em used for @$600 or so...it is a tank, though...I wouldn't want to take it hiking.

-- Alan Cecil (puck_ac@yahoo.com), December 02, 2000.

I owned an omega 45d for years. It is a great camera...The only down side was that it was difficult to use movments with my 90 when focused at infinity, because of the short bellow extension...But unless you do really wide angle photography focused at infinity with lots of movments, Don't waste your money buying anything else! The geared focus is smooth and the camera movments are smooth and lock down tight. -Mando

-- mandomorlos (morl0853@students.sou.edu), December 03, 2000.