Cambo Wide DS1985

History

Cambo was established in the Netherlands and built a reputation in the professional large-format market primarily through its modular monorail systems - the SC, SCX, and later Legend series - which were popular in European commercial studios. The monorail systems offered extensive camera movements but were inherently limited by bellows compression for very wide lenses.

By the mid-1980s there was an established market for dedicated super-wide large-format cameras. The Linhof Technorama had defined the wide-format panoramic niche, and several manufacturers had produced dedicated wide-angle body solutions. Cambo's Wide DS addressed the needs of architectural and interior photographers who needed ultra-wide coverage with some front movement capability - particularly rise/fall for converging vertical correction - but did not require the full movement range of a conventional view camera.

The DS designation likely refers to a specific configuration or revision of the Cambo Wide line; Cambo offered variants with different panel configurations and lens pairings. The camera was primarily marketed to professional studios doing architectural documentation and interior photography where extreme wide-angle perspective with minimal distortion was essential.

Why It Matters

The Wide DS represents the engineering answer to a specific technical problem in large-format photography: how to use a lens with a very short back focus on a camera that uses sheet film. Lenses like the Schneider Super-Angulon 65mm f/8 or Rodenstock Grandagon 65mm f/6.8 have rear elements that project far behind the shutter, requiring the film plane to be extremely close to the lens. No standard bellows can collapse short enough, and any attempt to use such a lens on a conventional camera forces the photographer into a bag bellows that provides almost no movement.

The rigid no-bellows design solves this cleanly. The Wide DS gave architectural photographers a way to use 65mm or 75mm lenses on 4x5 film with genuine front movements - critical for keeping vertical lines parallel in building photography - in a compact, rigid body that could be level-mounted on a tripod with repeatability.

Lenses & Accessories

The Wide DS uses a fixed lens panel rather than a universal interchangeable mount, meaning it is configured around a specific lens at purchase:

• Schneider Super-Angulon 65mm f/8 - the canonical super-wide 4x5 lens; enormous image circle for movements
• Schneider Super-Angulon 75mm f/8 - slightly longer, more common for interior work
• Rodenstock Grandagon-N 65mm f/6.8 - German alternative with excellent image circle
• Rodenstock Grandagon-N 75mm f/6.8 - faster alternative to the Schneider 75mm
• Nikkor SW 65mm f/4 - fast Japanese option, popular where available light is limited
• Spirit level accessories - essential for architecture; the camera should be leveled precisely before every exposure
• Standard 4x5 film holders - Fidelity, Lisco, or Toyo; Grafmatic holders also compatible
• Roll-film backs - 6x9 on 120 film; reduces effective angle of view but allows roll-film economy

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Used by European architectural photographers in the late 1980s and 1990s for building documentation and interior photography requiring ultra-wide coverage on 4x5 film.
• Adopted in commercial studio contexts where the 65mm-on-4x5 field of view was needed with reliable front movement capability.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Cambo - overview of Cambo's product lines and history