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Tewks Web Site |
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| The Meridian 4x5 Press camera was made in the United States in the 1940's. The first version was the Meridian 45A, shown in the pictures here. A later version, the Meridian 45B changed from the circular (and quite non-standard) lens board to the standard 4 inch square lens board used on several view/press cameras.
The Meridian Press cameras provided substantially more perspective control than conventional press cameras like the Graphic press cameras seen in old-time movies. In addition to the basic moverments of the Graphic press cameras, the Meridians also included frot swing as well as both upward and downward tilt. Most distinctive is the rear of the camera, which allows swing and tilt movements for increases perspective and depth of field control, as well as a rotating back. This full set of movements is similar to the expensive Linhoff series of press cameras, leading to the Meridian being called the "American Linhoff." The images in this part of the page are off a regular unit in good condition. The images in the section below discussing the rebuilt unit are off the actual unit. |
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The image to the left shows the front with a swing to the right, a shift upward, and a tilt down. The image to the right shows the back extended.
This full set of movements along with the long bellows extension shown below to the left makes the Meridian 4x5 press a highly effective "field view camera." A field view camera is used to carefully set up and expose pictures, using the ground glass viewing screen to carefully compose the picture. |
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As a Field View Camera
When used as a 4x5 field view camera, the rangefinder see on the side of the camera in the pictures above has little value - the image is carefully composed and focused using the ground glass screen of the film holder back. Also, the pop-up viewer and front square viewing screen is of little direct use. Removal of these extraneous (for view camera) parts and the cam associated with the rangefinder produces a very compact unit. The main limitation is in the unconventional round lens mount. The Meridian 45B, similar to the 45A shosn here, with its standard 4 inch lens board, would eliminate this limitation. Both are rather expensive (few hundred dollars in reasonable condition) on the used camera market. |
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| General Information: General information can be found at this site. | ||
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Rebuilt Meridian 45A, Set Up as Field Camera
A Meridian 45A in quite bad shape (mildew everywhere, leather on body and film back cracking off badly) but with a bellows in good condition. The camera was stripped down, fully cleaned, repainted where necessary, new leather applied to the entire body, and a new "pop-up" leather viewing unit built for the film back. The figures below show the resulting camera.
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