What you see here is a Speed Graphic body, without bellows, grafted onto an old and very heavy Calumet view camera that was provided at a very modest cost for the benefit of our cause. The focal plane shutter of the Speed is quick to use, has a lot of available speeds, and is larger than the average Packard shutter. Here is more on the Speed Graphic shutter.
Except it is no longer a "focal plane" shutter, way up front like that. The better terms might be "behind-the-lens", or "in camera". A shutter can be placed anywhere in the light path, even in front of a lens, and some old ones are.
The use of an in-camera shutter allows us to use all kinds of lenses - even simple lenses, pinholes, eyeglass lenses, plastic lenses etc. which are in the spirit of experimentation in analog photography these days, a trend especially noticeable in the Lomography movement.
The Aero Ektar is too short to use on this camera, but was just the first lens that came to hand after grafting the modified back and lensboard adapter onto the Calumet.
Seen supporting all of this is the very luxurious and mechanical Saltzman tripod, one of the heaviest and most robust tripods made. One would think this is a very solid setup, but unfortunately, it is not at all. The top plate of the Saltzman flexes very easily even with just a little camera on it. This particular Calumet Montclair, for all its weight, is a wiggly device on its own. Together they vibrate and oscillate in an almost surreal and agitated manner, taking several seconds for the most obvious motions to stop. It is going to be a challenge to use this out-of-doors, if there is any wind.
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