Horseman has designed a complete 6x12 system in their SW-612, pairing six exceptional Rodenstock lenses (ranging from 35mm to 135mm) with their own fine roll film backs (available in three formats) and an accurate, bright viewfinder. The result is a supremely professional batteryless system camera, rugged and travellable with image quality that is enviable from even the best of digital cameras.
The stout body is designed with rubber grips, two camera strap lugs and a built-in spirit level. An optional lens guard mounts under the camera, while the finder with interchangeable masks mounts on the top-mounted "cold" accessory shoe.
Horseman's 120 roll film holders mate perfectly to the back of the camera, offering a choice of 6x7, 6x9, or 6x12 cm formats and an optional ground glass back for precise composition. Both the focusing scales and the spirit level are visible through the viewfinder.
Other accessories include a neckstrap and center neutral density filter to even out the exposure with wide angle lenses.
This is the "Professional" version of the camera, which features the capacity to vertically or horizontally displace the camera and lens axes. Vertical displacement is known as rise or fall, which is very useful during architectural photogpraphy. Horizontal displacement is known as lateral shift, useful in a number of scenarios such as avoiding camera/photographer reflections while still retaining particular vantage points. This model can rise or fall by 17mm and laterally shift by 15mm.
Finder Masks
Standard
Pre-Shifted Mask Set for 10mm Rise/Fall/Shift
The Horseman 90mm f/6.8 Grandagon-N Lens is a Rodenstock 90mm f/6.8 Grandagon-N with a standard Copal #0 shutter, but built into a Horseman-specific helical focusing mount and barrel assembly made to fit upon their SW612/SW612 Professional medium format cameras. Used with a 6x12 film back, this lens produces a normal 64° x 35° field of view, and upon the 612 cameras the helicoid focusing mount allows a minimum focusing distance of 4.3' (1.3m). It is an ideal 'standard' lens for this special camera, and generous amounts of shift are also permitted on the 612 Professional.
The 90mm f/6.8 Grandagon-N is a highly-corrected 6-element lens design with an f/16-22 recommended working aperture. Unlike many of the wider lenses for the 612/612 Professional, it does not require an expensive center filter for this format.
This 612 Roll Film Holder for the Horseman SW-617 allows for six, 6x12cm (56 x 112mm) exposures on 120 film. It features ratcheted film advancing and a film index card holder. The minimum lens coverage for a 6x12 image is 126mm.
This is the Horseman 21511 Optical Viewfinder ONLY for SW-612 Cameras.
This 5-element viewfinder covers a maximum viewing angle of 105°. Optional interchangeable finder masks match it to different focal length lenses.
This Horseman Mask is an accessory to be used in conjunction with the Horseman SW viewfinder and an SW-612 or SW-612 Pro camera. The mask approximates the view provided by a Horseman 90mm lens unit.
This Horseman Mask Set is an accessory to be used in conjunction with the Horseman SW viewfinder and an SW-612 Pro Shift camera. The mask approximates the view provided by a Horseman 90mm lens unit as it would appear with 10mm of shift on the horizontal or vertical axis.