4x5 Tachihara
A light 4x5 made in Japan, that folds up into a small package.
4x5 Tachihara on a Ries J250 tripod head (Color photos of the camera were made with a Nikon F, 55mm f/3.5 Micro-Nikkor-P.C, and Portra 400.)
I actually bought this one new
… at a camera store in New York in the late 1990s. Tachiharas are ‘wood field’ cameras made in Tokyo and they came in three formats: 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10.
Good for long-distance travel and hiking
The Tachihara is light and compact. The camera, one lens, a half-dozen film holders, a wooden Ries backpacker tripod, and the rest of a 4x5 view camera kit is portable enough for a trip involving air travel, hiking, etc.
Using the 4x5 Tachihara in the field. Cambodia, 2001. The camera bag is visible under the tripod. Photo data not recorded.
The Bayon (Angkor region, Cambodia). 4x5 Tachihara, 150mm f/5.6 Caltar II-N, Plus-X. Negative: 2001. Print: Platinum-palladium, 2025.
4x5 Tachihara.
Other Japanese 4x5 wood field cameras
There were other Japanese makers of wood field cameras: Anba Ikeda, Nagaoka, Hasemi, Wista, and more. They are similar but with detail design differences. None are in production today.
Roppongi, Tokyo. Negative: 4x5 Tachihara, 150mm f/5.6 Caltar II-N, FP4+, early 2000s. Print: Cyanotype on Strathmore 300 watercolor paper. 2023. A different interpretation of this negative is in the portfolio, ‘More platinum-palladium prints’.
4x5 Tachihara.
4x5 Tachihara at full extension. On an older model Bogen/Manfrotto 3047 tripod head.
References / further reading
Adams, Ansel. The Camera. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980. A Japanese 4x5 wood field camera is on p. 32.
Stroebel, L. 1993. View Camera Technique, 6th ed. Boston: Focal Press.